Why can't stores just return the units?

[zipbags]

I have read that Best Buy and other stores are having firesales on hd-dvd units. What prevents them from just returning unsold units?

[Kirsty_Mc]

Maybe the stores act as VARs (Value Added Resellers). They have actually bought the goods and it is up to them to sell the goods at a profit. It's a no loss situation for the middlemen / distributor. A sales regime that has been prevalent in the computer industry for years

[cking2729]

I would think Kirsty is correct. I highly doubt it's like what Nintendo pulled in the early 90s with the "try taking a risk by selling our product and we'll buy back what doesn't sell at 100%." Even if the retailers didn't purchase the products outright, they are going to be taking an inevitable operations loss on anything and everything HD-DVD at this point. You can bet that 98% of the time it takes for HD-DVD to completely kill over will be due to everyone trying to save face and money.

You might want to ask an Insider for an official answer.

[Marcusarilius]

Originally Posted by Kirsty_Mc

Maybe the stores act as VARs (Value Added Resellers). They have actually bought the goods and it is up to them to sell the goods at a profit. It's a no loss situation for the middlemen / distributor. A sales regime that has been prevalent in the computer industry for years

Then BB should be smart and not lie and sell a crap, dead product. Just take the hit they should for not having enough business insite and smarts to not purchase so many DUD players. Won't be many return customers after pulling a stunt like that. The returned fire sale units are probably stacking up in the back.

[OokieSpookie]

Also the stores carry many other things from Toshiba, and it is bad business.

[cking2729]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

Then BB should be smart and not lie and sell a crap, dead product. Just take the hit they should for not having enough business insite and smarts to not purchase so many DUD players. Won't be many return customers after pulling a stunt like that. The returned fire sale units are probably stacking up in the back.

What's sad is that the sales reps at my local Best Buy and Circuit City were still pushing HD-DvD on customers as of 2 days ago. It could be they are truly ignorant to the situation (which is highly likely), but this is where the higher ups in the company should intervene. Like I said a minute ago -- right now everyone, retailers and HD-DVD PG members alike, are all working to save face and more importantly 6 critical things: Washingtons, Lincolns, Hamiltons, Jacksons, Grants, and Franklins.

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by cking2729

What's sad is that the sales reps at my local Best Buy and Circuit City were still pushing HD-DvD on customers as of 2 days ago. It could be they are truly ignorant to the situation (which is highly likely), but this is where the higher ups in the company should intervene. Like I said a minute ago, right now everyone, retailers and HD-DVD PG members alike, are all working to save face and more importantly -- 6 critical things: Washingtons, Lincolns, Hamiltons, Jacksons, Grants, and Franklins.

It is not totally their fault.
I mean for f's sake, if the BDA can not put the nail in the coffin with everything lined up like it is then it is nobody's fault but theirs.
It is completely pathetic that this is still dragging.

[Maxell]

Best Buy gets an extra charge per unit returned to vendor. They would rather sell almost ANYTHING through instead of returning them. That includes putting them up as "open items" for returned products.

[Zaphod]

The only exception to this that I know of is Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Due to their overwhelming buying power, Wal-Mart they typically doesn't have to pay for anything until it is swiped at the cash register.

As far as Best Buy they don't have to pay anything until the stock is in their possession for more than 30 days. At that time they have to pay. That is why they only stock a couple of this or a couple of that and they are constantly out of stock. It is because they only want to stock what they can move within those 30 days. I'm not sure if this is a store policy where they have to pay corporate for the stock they have in inventory, or if this is corporate having to pay their distributor.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by zipbags

I have read that Best Buy and other stores are having firesales on hd-dvd units. What prevents them from just returning unsold units?

A) No one TOLD them to return the stock yet (certainly not Toshiba), and
B) Until such time, if someone wants to buy one (sucker!), what right does the vendor's chief decision-maker have to stand in their way, especially if
C) one sale, at whatever desperately slashed price will help recoup the costs of wholesale stocking them in the first place?

...Paid much attention during Business 101?

[Maxell]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

The only exception to this that I know of is Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Due to their overwhelming buying power, Wal-Mart they typically doesn't have to pay for anything until it is swiped at the cash register.

As far as Best Buy they don't have to pay anything until the stock is in their possession for more than 30 days. At that time they have to pay. That is why they only stock a couple of this or a couple of that and they are constantly out of stock. It is because they only want to stock what they can move within those 30 days. I'm not sure if this is a store policy where they have to pay corporate for the stock they have in inventory, or if this is corporate having to pay their distributor.

I'm not sure about this, but in my store there isn't enough space to hold over 30 days of stock, especially the bigger and faster selling stuff. In my opinion Best Buy already does a great job in keeping things in stock compared to other stores.

I work the trucks and see many of the better selling products being constantly restocked, such as the Sony S300's.

[ESUNintel]

I'm glad the store I work at (a Best Buy competitor) started shipping about 3 times more Blu players than HD-DVD players. We started getting no more than 4 HD-DVD players a week, last week only 2. We currently only have 3 left, and they are selling at $100 less than they should (on sale this week). We've (meaning the other guys and me) have never pushed HD-DVD, and receive no incentive to push HD-DVD (nor Blu, but we know it'll make customers happier with their new 120Htz 1080P Samsung or Sony), so we have no rush to sell the these 3 players. If they remain in the back for over a month, they'll get moved to the clearance room at 10% off, and continue dropping 15% every 2 weeks till some one buys them.

[ESUNintel]

Originally Posted by Maxell

I'm not sure about this, but in my store there isn't enough space to hold over 30 days of stock, especially the bigger and faster selling stuff. In my opinion Best Buy already does a great job in keeping things in stock compared to other stores.

I work the trucks and see many of the better selling products being constantly restocked, such as the Sony S300's.

The S300's sell like crazy where I work, as of last week it seems the Sharp Blu player has taken its place though.