Best Buy DealTree, False Advertising to increase their sales value, Internet

At a risk of hijacking this post...I should clarify my intent as I was confronted by Robert of Buffalo regarding my reply. It is all really technicality and won't effect the outcome of this report much.

I will state again, I don't really get what was with those unactivated software cards...as far as I know they have no value to a re-seller..did Dealtree state these had any value? I would absolutely have a case if any value was implied on those cards..and i could not get them activated. If I could get them activated..that is another story.

Now as far as my statement..."or thrown out since by law some of this stuff can not be resold at a Best Buy store.."

Granted I may not be able to post a specific law which says specifically what they can or can not resell as far as damaged, salvaged or leftover parts..but let me explain how it is implied. (bear in mind returned or open items must be labeled as such, sold with a discount and be warrantied same as a new item and subject to the same return policies as a new item)

First off..go into ANY BestBuy store..and ask if they sell ANY merchandise "as-is" or with no warranty. You will find they do not and will not sell any such merchandise. Anything you purchase from the STORE, will have some form of a warranty and be subject to a return policy. There are specific laws/standards/regulations in place regarding what distinguishes a flea market,a pawn shop, a wholesaler, a junk yard, an auction house and a mom and pop from a huge chain that employees so many people, and has massive buying power. But as well there are federal laws and standards, state laws and standards, consumer rights..the regulations and laws go on and on..taxes..it never ends. Just trying to find any simple regulations regarding the retail sale of damaged goods yields incomprehensible information such as this...

Versioning: Selling different packages" of price and quality
level Damaged goods: When firms reduce the quality of some of
their existing products in order to price discriminate.
Damaged goods is an example of how firms practice
versioning.

If a retailer violates the law on retail returns and refuses to accept a return or imposes hidden fees, they can be liable to the customer, in a civil court action such as small claims court, for at least the price of the goods. To have a claim, the customer must return or try to return the merchandise within 30 days of purchase.*
*California Consumer Affairs
C. Damaged Goods
A damaged good is one for which cq (q) ! 0 , that is, it is weakly more expensive to produce lower quality goods. Deneckere and McAfee (1996) derive conditions for optimal price discrimination with damaged goods. They demonstrate that it can be both profitable and Pareto improving to offer a damaged good. They assume a continuum of types with unit demands, and restrict attention to two product qualities, qL and qH . Consumers have quasi-linear utilities
V qH ( ,!) = ! and V qL ( ,!) = "(!) .The necessary and sufficient condition derived by Deneckere and McAfee is a special case of our more general condition. Specifically, in Deneckere and McAfees model, V (q,!) " c(q) is log supermodular if and only if1! " cH>$# (!)$(!) " cL,or !(") # cL# " # cH ( )!$ (") > 0 . To see how this is related to the condition derived byDeneckere and McAfee, note that the price a single product firm would charge isp = V qH ( ,! ) = ! where ! is defined by ! " cH" (1" F(! )) f (! ) = 0 . So V (q,! ) " c(q) is log supermodular if and only if !(" ) # cL# (1# F(" )) f (" )!$ (" ) > 0 , which is the necessary and sufficient condition for the provision of damaged goods derived by Deneckere and McAfee.5 Note that it follows from our increasing percentage surplus condition that price discrimination is less likely to be profitable for damaged goods. In particular, when consumers utility is V (q,!) = !q , by Corollary C price discrimination is never optimal if cq (q) ! 0 but isoptimal for all cost functions satisfying cq (q) > c(q) q .

But to simplify... everything sold in the store must have a warranty/return policy, and NOTHING in the retail store is sold "as-is" or without a warranty, certainly BY LAW, they could not sell a non working consumer electronic product unless they warranty it..which would make no sense. (who in their right mind would warranty an item that is known to be non operational?)And certainly BY LAW, they could not sell anything with liquid or water damage on it, since that is not covered under any warranty as well, by BestBuy or any manufacturer. So even if they told a customer that an item has water damage..but they are willing to sell it at a discount but the warranty is void, the state law says they would still have to give a refund. I would imagine if they were allowed to do this and were in no violation..it would actually make economic sense for them to do so since as long as the consumer was informed the item is damaged, and can not be returned, the sale would be more profitable then going off to be sold in a lot auction for pennies on the dollar. Seems these types of items go off to the liquidators..along with other non working returns and inventory.

In a nutshell...all the stuff they can not sell retail or warranty it (aka JUNK and PARTS)...now goes to the liquidator......where the items are auctioned off "as-is" with no warranty unless implied and stated.

I hope this clears it up somewhat.

I mixed up Robert from Irvine (not Irving) with the Buffalo one.

...but I can concede, I can not find any law regarding the legality of reselling damaged goods by an electronics retailer. I would need a team of lawyers to find it, if it is even there.

What I personally witnessed years ago before they got into recycling damaged goods...was a lot of used/damaged merchandise was simply thrown into the dumpster. I was told they were not allowed to sell it. Perhaps the laws have changed, or i was given the wrong info..it is possible.

What I also personally witnessed...was ANY electronic merchandise that got even a drop of water on it, was sold to liquidators for pennies on the dollar. I was told they were legally not allowed to sell water damaged goods...even if the drop of water got on the sealed carton. Surely a business that has been around since the 1960's and is still growing...would not sell something for pennies on the dollar to a liquidator if it could be legally re-sold retail to the public for a small discount?
 
As a matter of fact..when I saw this happening, I offered to buy the goods...but they would not do it. It is not a store based decision..but a corporate level one.

I buy from dealtree auctions myself..as a matter of fact Robert...one of the distribution warehouses was in Irving..but they recently relocated to Chino. That is how I discovered the Irving exit was a garbage dump. I have also seen the "lot" auctions and knew better then to bid on them..as there is a chance you can get a lot of merchandise that is 100% useless for anything but parts. I was smart enough to realize that..and not greedy or risky enough to take a chance. I only bid on items where the specific condition of the item or items is accurately described..and have been very happy, and make out very well.

or thrown out since by law some of this stuff can not be resold at a Best Buy store..

And what, pray tell, is this "stuff" that cannot be resold?  What law specifies what can and cannot be resold at Best Buy (or any other merchant?)

I went to the website..and looked up the product conditions for "Returns"...


Returns:


Returns products are units that have been sold to an end user and are returned. In most cases, no testing or repairs have been attempted on these items. The packaging will be in various states including: opened, distressed and/or missing. There will be units lacking components and/or accessories. Returns products most likely function or retain some functionality from the original equipment manufacturers specifications.

Granted, they imply "most" will "likely" function...but this sounds like a gamble to me with no percentages stated of what is guaranteed to work..or any industry standards. So it is bid at your own risk.

As far as placing a retail value on that unactivated software...yes, I would agree 100% that is a ripoff. I do hope they make good on that. I also hope they give you some customer service but be aware that to a mutli billion dollar retail business...some dude who spent 2 million on their garbage that in the past was sold for pennies on the dollar to liquidators..or thrown out since by law some of this stuff can not be resold at a Best Buy store.. is not exactly top priority.