text: Official Sony store or retailer? - Off-Topic
  Official Sony store or retailer?
  Started by david0110 , Dec 28 2008 03:49 PM
  I went to an official Sony store (Sony Style) today to check out their Sony VAIO notebooks. I explained what I had in mind to one of their friendly salesmen, and he helped explain some of the differences between notebook models and prices. When I asked him why their notebook prices (from the official Sony store) were higher than the exact same Sony VAIO notebooks from Best Buy and Circuit City, he said that's because the notebooks sold at official Sony stores are configured better and are made of higher quality materials than those sold at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. In other words, Sony sells the lesser quality notebooks to retailers while reserving the higher quality merch to customers that buy direct from their official stores.
  Now, I know this is true in the automotive industry (e.g. buying car parts directly from the dealer vs. from say Pep Boys or Checker), but I wasn't sure if it were true for laptops, or whether it was simply a sales pitch he was trained to use.
  Best Buy, Circuit City and similar stores do not always sell brand new items. Many are returned (open box) merchandise or merchandise the store had to send in for warranty repair. I worked in an authorized service repair center and we rec eived lots of store merchandise that had to be either checked out or actually repaired. It was returned in the same box the original manufacturer shipped it in. Even manufacturers are guilty of selling refurbished merchandise, but they are suppose to tell you.
  I would look for similar good buys at places like NewEgg.com or TigerDirect.com. I just bought a new Toshiba laptop from NewEgg and registered it online with Toshiba with no problems.