I Work at Best Buy: Here Are 5 Insider Secrets You Should Know

Best Buy is widely considered the go-to place for consumer electronics and gadgets . Whether you’re in the market for a new car stereo, an upgraded washing machine, or some human expertise to assist in setting up that video game console, you can’t go wrong at Best Buy. Or can you?

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GoBankingRates spoke with Best Buy employees Nick and Hannah (using pseudonyms) to unearth five insider secrets to help you shop smarter , avoid pitfalls and elevate your overall experience.

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Timing Is Everything

When it comes to deals, Best Buy offers daily, weekly and annual promotions, so look out for those.

Daily promotions occur every day on different items and are available for 24 hours or until the item sells out. Unfortunately, you won’t know specifically which items since this info is never disclosed ahead of time – even to employees. So refresh your browser each day. There are also weekly promotions that drop every Sunday and last until Saturday night, making Sunday an excellent day to shop.

Annual promotions are typically timed with holidays or seasonal events. For instance, discounts on laptops occur in August and September for back-to-school specials, sales on TVs occur right around Superbowl Sunday, and markdowns on almost everything happy around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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Don’t Trust Geek Squad Counter Agents

While Geek Squad’s repair agents are highly knowledgeable and sophisticated, the counter agents often don’t have the same expertise. Most are new and trying to learn on the job so they can ultimately work their way up to repair agents. This means it’s not uncommon to feel as though they’re not particularly helpful.

But while counter agents do try their best to assist, they may inevitably wind up pointing you in the direction of a repair agent, creating another expense.

Membership Savings Are a Ruse

While Best Buy boasts savings to customers who sign up for a membership, the membership only saves you money on an item priced by Best Buy. For instance, if a ticket price lists a $200 item that could be reduced to $150 by signing up for a Best Buy membership, that means Home Depot and Target are already pricing the item at $150.

“It’s the illusion of a deal without a deal,” stated Nick. Best Buy will, however, honor price matching from its competitors, but they generally rely on customers being too distracted by the “savings” and not doing due diligence. And while some upper-tier, paid memberships do offer access to discounted repairs and protection plans, you’re not saving much when you factor in the cost of that membership.

Consider Open-Box Items

“It’s not grounding breaking, but open-box items commonly go overlooked when it comes to savings,” Hannah said. She also explained that how much you can save depends on a couple of factors. The first is the condition of the item, which is determined by an in-house ranking system.

The other factor is if you are purchasing a second item. Oftentimes, the store is desperate to get rid of high-risk inventory. So if you make a second purchase in addition to an open-box item, Best Buy may give you the open-box item at cost (which can be as much as 50% less than the original ticket price).

Employees Have Incentives to Sell Accessories

Best Buy doesn’t make money when you buy a computer. In fact, the company may lose money. This means the store needs to sell you items like accessories and protection plans to turn a profit.

Fortunately, most customers will need some of these items anyway for their devices to function properly so it’s not a total scam. Just be mindful of what you’re buying, and don’t purchase every add-on or cool accessory an employee shows you.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : I Work at Best Buy: Here Are 5 Insider Secrets You Should Know