Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, iPod Family, Retail, Holidays
5 reasons to love Costco during the gift-giving season
The topic of Costco came up several times in the sidechat during last night's talkcast. Since so many good ideas were bandied about, I decided to collect a few into a post today. Here are our top reasons to love Costco for holiday gifts.
That amazing return guarantee. Yes, Costco no longer has a 1-year return policy for televisions and higher-end electronics but they still offer great consumer protections and fabulous customer service.
Their slightly out-of-date iPods. Costco provides a reliable resource for anyone looking to buy older-generation iPods. They clearance them out with excellent prices and good availability. Costco currently carries iPod Nanos and Videos (which still work with free video out!), as well as the newer Classics, and Touches.
Discounted iTunes cards. You can pick up iTunes gift cards for about 10% off face price at Costco. That comes to $44.99 for a $50 iTunes Gift Card plus $0.50 for shipping and handling.
Cheap Apple TVs. If you held off buying an Apple TV because you were waiting for good pricing, now's the time to shop. There are some amazing deep discount deals out there for Costco Apple TVs, although the pricing and availability seem to vary by store. Apple TV is no longer listed at the main Costco.com website so you'll have to call around to find whatever stock is left.
Accessories. Costco is a great place to pick up iPod compatible alarm clocks and docks as well as speakers, headphones and so forth. If you're into such things, you can even purchase a "High School Musical" iPod dock or a "Barbie Petal Sound System" for iPod. Although we'd rather...not.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike said 1:20PM on 11-19-2007
So what kind of prices are we talking about for the Apple TV?
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Pete said 2:02PM on 11-19-2007
Not to mention CostCo's business practices; they treat their employees extremely well, and are really progressive with things like benefits and pay (unlike some other "Clubs" that a guy named Sam started. And no, I'm in no way affiliated with either.
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neil said 2:31PM on 11-19-2007
this Costco-holic has never seen a discounted prior-gen iPod - what am I missing?
Disclaimer: I'm in Costco at least 3x/week!
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jen said 3:03PM on 11-19-2007
We loves the costco! They have better stuff, nicer folks and you dont fel like you are supporting bad business practices, and I read somwhere that they never have more than a 15% markup. They have great returns policies and all that too. Got to love the founder/res/CEO only pullin a $100K salary becasue its all he needs.
I haven't seen older ipods, just current, and they have good prices on WD Mbooks too! $300 something for a 1TB!
Also the hams kick ass. Great seafood deals too.
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Robert Thille said 3:17PM on 11-19-2007
I just took my 160GB back to Costco, Rohnert Park, CA to claim the $50 rebate they now have. It was a little complicated because I originally bought it @ Santa Rosa, CA 3 weeks ago for $389 and Rohnert Park didn't have them at all at the time. Now Rohnert Park has them @ $389 with a $50 instant rebate (so you pay tax on the full $389).
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LugNut said 3:38PM on 11-19-2007
I'd buy an Apple TV today, but I believe the rebate is indicative of a significant, soon-to-be-coming update. I don't want to buy yesterday's technology.
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Mark Ross said 4:32PM on 11-19-2007
Hey Mike @ #1:
At my Costco, it's just the 160gb version for something like $388 I believe.
I still think the best deal going on Apple TVs is a refurb from the Apple Store. $229 for the 40gb (I stream everything so 40gb is no big deal) and mine came still shrinkwrapped in original packaging, so I think it was just overstock and not actually a used unit.
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jerome said 5:32PM on 11-19-2007
Gotta love the Costco in the UK too...we still have a 3 year return to base, refund warranty on TVs etc..last year I got a full refund on a 2yr 11month-old projector! Costco rules the worlds.
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Quix said 5:41PM on 11-19-2007
"If you held off buying an Apple TV because you were waiting for good pricing, now's the time to shop."
Actually, the time to shop for me will be when Apple adds some much-needed functionality (DVD drive? Remote control via iPhone/iPod touch?), offers HD downloads (at a reasonable cost), or cuts the price.
The AppleTV as it currently exists is too little for too much. I'm hoping for a holiday update, though we're getting a little far into the holiday shopping season already so I worry Apple will let this thing stagnate a while longer. Which would be a real shame.
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mentalsticks said 6:54PM on 11-19-2007
@9: I agree. I bought the aTV hoping, nay expecting a future update - especially as Jobs at that time at least suggested that there would be many of those. Then later, he told us that the aTV was 'just a hobby'.
I hope this Costco rebate is not the beginning of the end of the aTV - which wouldn't surprise me though.
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halhiker said 7:38PM on 11-19-2007
At my Costco the $50 iTunes card is no longer available, however, there are a now TWO sets of iTunes cards. One has four $15 cards for $57 and the other has 4 $25 cards for $94. Obviously they are looking at the gift giving market with the coming Christmas season.
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Rubbinz said 9:46PM on 11-19-2007
Costco? It's all about the food, food, food... for ME. And copious amounts of cheap TP. "Gift-giving"? your card's in the mail.
Kidding aside... I was going to give some iTunes GC's this year to the plebe's at work but decided to give some GC's for Amazon's sweet delicious DRM-free MP3 service instead.
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Priya said 10:39PM on 11-19-2007
I am looking to purchase a macBook 13" white. Is that too discounted at costoco? I havent found the price of this product low anywhere. I am a member at costco.
Priya
http://www.goforads.com
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Neil Anderson said 1:27AM on 11-20-2007
Costco, the place college kids eat for gratis. Got to love all those free samples.
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strdust said 3:19AM on 11-20-2007
Costco does not carry mac book only ipods.
If you are looking for a macbook depend on where you are and if you have student status considering looking at refurb or at your local college campus.
@ the guy that return a nearly 3 years old projector, stop abusing the policy and ruin it for everyone.
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Rob said 7:48AM on 11-20-2007
I have found that Costco sells Apple products that Apple is DESPARATELY wanting to clear out (usually because the product is being discontinued or a newer version is being introduced). e.g. Costco was selling the white iMacs, trying to clear them out, just before the new Aluminum iMacs were introduced.
Some major print publications (e.g Forbes?) have described the AppleTV as the "iFlop". I strongly suspect that Apple will be either discontinuing the AppleTV or introducing a newer version. (I hope the later. I would like to see an AppleTV with a remote that has a VOLUME control and a larger hard disk).
I have seen the AppleTV being discounted to as low as $338. (Just goes to show how much of a markup Apple puts on its goods).
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Nick said 1:32PM on 11-20-2007
I went in search of the cheap Apple TV this weekend and ended up just snagging one for $200 shipped off eBay. The people who work at Costco are absolutely moronic. The said they didn't carry Apple TV's literally 5 steps from the 160 GB display when I asked if they had 40GB ones.
http://www.macnewsonline.com/
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kaelb said 9:30PM on 11-20-2007
@Priya:
Have you checked out SmallDog?
http://www.smalldog.com
They have great prices, thats where I got my macbook.
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