Al, at inventory time, a business pays taxes on it's stock. If you have stock carried over from the previous year, you pay tax again. Granted, large well-run operations turn their stock over about 2-4 times a year, but you'll find the "bargain bin" full just before inventory.

On e-bay, they have probably made their profits on an item, and quite possibly just want to move the last of a batch that's soon to hit the sell-by date. Batteries sure fall into that category.

May have been Abbott and Costello, LOL.

Recently bought a VGA "Y" cable from Amazon under 4 bucks with shipping. Some of those on line prices are a lot better than the stores, including Walmart.

Got a couple of HP ink cartridges from PeachtreeInk (extended ink supply) Walmart price about $74, PeachtreeInk about $32 with shipping.

I wonder how long BestBuy will be around?

>>> One opinion... <<<

I agree, I used to go to BestBuy frequently in Sarasota. Haven't been to one in the last 5 years.

What made you stop?

Foe me, it was the super high prices on accessories... $40 for a patch cord??? Keep it.

AhHa! That's variable pricing at it's best. Very low profit on higher priced, competitive items. (laptops, Tvs, etc) NEED a patch cord now? Pay the price at the closest place.

Here we have a "Fry's Electronics" which I like a whole lot better than BestBuy. the store is probably 3-4 times bigger than BestBuy and their inventory is tremendous.

I'm sure there are many other factors involved, but part of the reason it's hard to find lithium-ion batteries is because they have a shelf life. Lithium ion batteries permanently lose some capacity just from sitting on a shelf, so most companies try to avoid maintaining too much stock of batteries, especially for older phones when they are only selling replacement batteries and volumes are low.

Gillette (sp?) used to say give away the razor and sell the blades.