4 Hours Only! Cost + 7% At Compusa In Store Only!

[aznbomber]

actually, now a days most people that are selling laptops dont make as much as you think. 10% is already considered quite a bit. You have to take into account of the 3% credit charges that most people use and etc. I can tell you for sure that the profit margin on laptops is around 5 - 10% at most from most stores. (I am talking about the midrange to economic models, not the high end ones)

 

[Ghettocowboy]

Originally posted by: aznbomber
actually, now a days most people that are selling laptops dont make as much as you think. 10% is already considered quite a bit. You have to take into account of the 3% credit charges that most people use and etc. I can tell you for sure that the profit margin on laptops is around 5 - 10% at most from most stores. (I am talking about the midrange to economic models, not the high end ones)

I dont know about that. I bought a laptop 2 months ago at Fry's for $700 no rebate. Other places like
CompUSA, Staples, OD, and OM were selling the same laptop for $1100. Bestbuy was selling this laptop for $999. I am pretty sure Fry's made some of the profit for selling it at that low price. Thus others places make a lot of profit if they can sell the same laptop $400 higher. Now that same laptop is $900 at Fry's and other places still selling for around $950-$1100. And CompUSA once had a promotion on this laptop but with a massive $400 rebate. So you are telling me that they are only making 10-15% profit?? I say they make at least 30% of everything they are selling and some items they are selling, their cost are less than 50% of the retail price.

 

[pkananen]

i worked at CUSA for 1.5 years. Most retail prices for computers are not even 10% above cost. Laptops sell for around 8% above cost, deskies less.

 

[ingenuiti]

I dont know about that. I bought a laptop 2 months ago at Fry's for $700 no rebate. Other places like
CompUSA, Staples, OD, and OM were selling the same laptop for $1100. Bestbuy was selling this laptop for $999. I am pretty sure Fry's made some of the profit for selling it at that low price. Thus others places make a lot of profit if they can sell the same laptop $400 higher. Now that same laptop is $900 at Fry's and other places still selling for around $950-$1100. And CompUSA once had a promotion on this laptop but with a massive $400 rebate. So you are telling me that they are only making 10-15% profit?? I say they make at least 30% of everything they are selling and some items they are selling, their cost are less than 50% of the retail price.

Hardware manufacturers do not have profit margins that high let alone retailers.

 

[Devistater]

Another thing to consider is that since you brought it up, rebates. These are often manufacture rebates, and thus often dont affect the bottom line of retailers directly. So a $400 rebate is probably well be below compusa's cost.

An easy way to try and estimate cost. Use pricewatch and newegg, the lowest prices are typically very close to cost.
Some items where supply is small and demand is huge this may not work very well, like the asus sli motherboard, or the latest radeon (x850 or some such). They are highly inflated prices because of supply and demand.

 

[usernamemax20charact]

If you stop by CompUSA, don't forget to pick up some free candy and soda on your way out. :laugh:

 

[Squalish2357]

Welcome to multi-level capitalism
EVERYONE involved in making the product gets a margin, there's a lot of shipping going on to get the parts in one place, there's dozens of manufacturers that make the parts inside that little router box, much less a laptop computer, which has another layer of OEM abstraction from the "raw material etc" cost that some people like to think.

Retailers don't generally have a ton of margin, electronics retailers sell highly complicated things that have had hundreds of people's work go into manufacturing, transportation, etc, however marginally.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: Ghettocowboy

Originally posted by: aznbomber
actually, now a days most people that are selling laptops dont make as much as you think. 10% is already considered quite a bit. You have to take into account of the 3% credit charges that most people use and etc. I can tell you for sure that the profit margin on laptops is around 5 - 10% at most from most stores. (I am talking about the midrange to economic models, not the high end ones)

I dont know about that. I bought a laptop 2 months ago at Fry's for $700 no rebate. Other places like
CompUSA, Staples, OD, and OM were selling the same laptop for $1100. Bestbuy was selling this laptop for $999. I am pretty sure Fry's made some of the profit for selling it at that low price. Thus others places make a lot of profit if they can sell the same laptop $400 higher. Now that same laptop is $900 at Fry's and other places still selling for around $950-$1100. And CompUSA once had a promotion on this laptop but with a massive $400 rebate. So you are telling me that they are only making 10-15% profit?? I say they make at least 30% of everything they are selling and some items they are selling, their cost are less than 50% of the retail price.

Im in computer sales there (go ahead flame me, but $600 every 2 weeks isnt bad when going through college) and we have very little mark up on laptops. Thus the reason we try to sell all the extra stuff. Actually to get any commision at all we have to have 2 items on a ticket. It really sucks when I spend alot of time with a customer then all they want is the laptop so I get no credit.

 

[OhNoPoPo]

I think there is a loose definition of "cost" being tossed around here, and it's pretty much useless to argue about who's right because, in certain ways, both groups are right.

- The "Hey, I've worked at retail, I've seen the "cost" screens and we make like $1 on a laptop" camp: I don't think this is true. What you are seeing is a "cost plus" figure accounting for costs from the distributor plus the costs of running CompUSA (paying executive, employee salaries, other overhead). The money you above the "cost" you see on the screen is what accounts for the profits recorded by CompUSA, CircuitCity, etc. That's why the industry is suffering so much...very few companies are making enough money to report an actual profit.

- The "CompUSA's cost must be like 50% of the selling price" camp. Though, I bet CompUSA pays pays a LOT less than the "cost" being shown on retail employee screens, there's no way they can sell things at their distributor cost + 7%. That's simply not what they're advertising, and I agree, it's pretty deceiving.

I remember a long time ago, the USA Today Datebook section had these big ads for a "cost + 5%" computer PC seller. I called them and after I heard their quote, I learned never to get excited over these "cost + %" sales anywhere.

Wow, I think I rambled on long enough.