You’re getting screwed. For all the money (or “dinero” in my native tongue) my parents spent on my education, I can’t think of a better way to describe the obscene prices big name electronics retailers charge for simple audio and video accessories, in particular, HDMI cables.
An HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable is the preferred connection used to connect HD TVs and sound systems to HD programming sources such as cable boxes and blu-ray players.
As these cables have become almost a necessity, large retailers seem to have found their goldmine, marking up prices to solicit profits anywhere between 400 to 1000%! What’s most upsetting is the thought of my unsuspecting friends, parents, or even grandparents walking into one of these stores and getting fleeced!
Are big electronic retailers villains? No; as a huge proponent of capitalism, I’m a large fan of everyone competing on an equal playing field in the free-market. I just want you to know what the playing field looks like.
Be smart! A great website I love to use when shopping for anything electronics (iPod accessories, cables, yada yada yada) is http://www.monoprice.com/. 6 ft HDMI cables on this site can be purchased for approximately $6, a drastic difference from what you’ll find at your neighborhood electronics retailer, where they start at $29.99!
Additionally, http://www.slickdeals.com/ and http://www.bensbargains.net/ are daily deal sites that often have these accessories on sale as well.
Be an educated consumer and know what things cost, don’t just go for what’s convenient. Save the colorful spending for Vegas, not cables.
An HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable is the preferred connection used to connect HD TVs and sound systems to HD programming sources such as cable boxes and blu-ray players.
As these cables have become almost a necessity, large retailers seem to have found their goldmine, marking up prices to solicit profits anywhere between 400 to 1000%! What’s most upsetting is the thought of my unsuspecting friends, parents, or even grandparents walking into one of these stores and getting fleeced!
Are big electronic retailers villains? No; as a huge proponent of capitalism, I’m a large fan of everyone competing on an equal playing field in the free-market. I just want you to know what the playing field looks like.
Be smart! A great website I love to use when shopping for anything electronics (iPod accessories, cables, yada yada yada) is http://www.monoprice.com/. 6 ft HDMI cables on this site can be purchased for approximately $6, a drastic difference from what you’ll find at your neighborhood electronics retailer, where they start at $29.99!
Additionally, http://www.slickdeals.com/ and http://www.bensbargains.net/ are daily deal sites that often have these accessories on sale as well.
Be an educated consumer and know what things cost, don’t just go for what’s convenient. Save the colorful spending for Vegas, not cables.
Podcast on the way, so definitely let me know what you think... and thanks for checking out the blog!
ReplyDeleteFrom James J. Liu via Google Buzz: best source for cheap HDMI cables: meritline.com. they regularly have sales with 6' cables for <$2
ReplyDeleteFrom Dale Curtis via Google Buzz: It's not just HDMI cables either. I've been wiring my new apartment and needed a 50ft CAT5e cable and several pairs of banana plugs. Locally each item would cost $40 and $7 respectively. On Monoprice: $4 each.
ReplyDelete