Question about Costco...

Hi all....

I just looked at the HP and Compaq deals at costco and I realized that it is a lot better than hp.com with student discount... So I would buy my new lappy at Costco..

Here goes my dumb question.. Around my place there is no Costco offline store ( nearest store is 4 hour drive from here!) So, I need to buy a laptop at online store. To purchase a laptop at online costco.com, Do I have to buy membership card in advance? If yes, is there any way to buy something at costco.com without membership card?

Thanks

 

u need membership. You can still buy without, but you will have to pay 5% MORE of your total price. so say 100 dollars for member, it will be 105 for you.

 

Thanks for the quick answer... tides.

The price of laptop would be definitely over 1000$ and that means extra charge will be over 50$.

I think buying a membership for 50$ is better choice.

Thanks

 

You can join the membership online. I am not sure if you can make the purchase immediately or not. You better check their website or call them to find out. Sometime I just feel blessed, we have 4 Costco within 30 miles and 4 more within 40 miles (including one in Canada).

Just find out for you:
A membership number will be emailed to you within 2 business days.

 

btw, if you really have no use for costco membership after purchase laptop... just go and return membership card. They will refund it back. I love my costco card !

 

Go to www.fatwallet.com and sign up. Then go to the stores section. There is a tab at the top of the page labeled "stores". Find HP. They offer 3% back on HP purchases and it was cheaper than CostCo for me.

fatwallet direct stores link:
http://www.fatwallet.com/stores.php

fatwallet direct HP store link:
http://www.fatwallet.com/store.php?store=320

 

If you read the original post, he said the Costco deal is a lot better than at HP.com. I like Fatwallet also, but you can only get the 6 month satisfaction guarantee from Costco not HP.com. I have Costco Executive Membership and their AE card that would also give me 3% rebate.

 

The costco deal is better than the hp.com deal but going thru fatwallet you get an even better deal than costco. I did. The fatwallet link takes you to the HP EPP site, which coincidentally is the same price I got quoted over the phone (phone and EPP thru fatwallet were the same). However, I got an additional 3% off thru FW which wound up being $43.30. Give it a try and see.

 

Yeah. Checking the EPP price is not a bad idea since the price structures change all the time and there may be time that certain purchase program will beat the other (e.g. EPP vs educational discount vs Costco). It also depends on the configuration and options. Last time I found the Costco had a better deal on a DV4000 but the sales tax kill it. At that time HP.com did not charge sales tax for my state. Even more interesting at Dell that the price depends on the path you click through to configure the system even within the same purchasing program. So not only trying EPP, SB, and Education, you need to try different entry point (basic model, suggested config, promotion config) to see which way is cheaper (on top of the available coupons specific for different sales division and offer requirement).

 

Costco return policy is unbeatable. I just returned a customized dv8000t to their warehouse( local walk in Costco) I used mastercard for online order.. instore they only allow AMEX card and not master card, so they gave me back $24xx in CASH instead of credit it back to my card. The entire return process took less than 4 mins. Talk about hassle free!

Talk about customer service.. no wonder Costco's stock price been up up !! I would definitely order thru costco even if the price is 50 dollars more. Just for the convinence of able to return it within 6 month if there are problem(say light leakage or whatnot) with it. (assuming HP support not doing their job and you want to return it )

 

I also looked into purchasing an HP notebook through Costco and compared some of the DV5000 models they sell against HP's direct sale price. The Costco models appeared cheaper by about $100 (slightly more or less depending on model). However, Costco is not offering free shipping while HP is. HP is offering a free all in one printer with a notebook purchase. The printer is valued at about $70. So if you need a printer the HP deal is fairly equal to Costco's pricing when you include shipping charges. If your not interested in a printer, then the Costco deal is still better.

I noticed Costco also lists the new DV2000 model as being available, but it's for online purchase only. Are these systems generally available in the B&M stores for someone to look at??

 

shipping is free in costco. when you check out at end you will see. (I jsut looked up dv5000s and shipping is free like other models.)

BTW costco shipping is 3 days fedx air by default.

 

Looks like Costco actually has 2 separate areas on their website pertaining to HP notebooks. One area is just for customizable machines and they advertise free shipping on all of these. The other area is for preconfigured machines and they do not advertise free shipping. Instead the price is listed and the term "+ shipping" is listed. Which computer type did you confirm the free shipping on??

 

did not notice that, I never bother looking at preconfig models. I recall I did customized but I did not change anything, and added to cart and looked Shipping, which was free.
have you compare preconfig specs and price to identical customized specs $? if very close, then customize way is better since 3 day air Fedex shipping.

 

overclock, i have a question about fatwallet. if i order the laptop through their link, does fatwallet put the 4% cash back in my acct?

 

You have to register with fatwallet in order to get the cashback. You will then have an "account" with fatwallet. There is a waiting period of 3 months before the cash is deposited into your FW account. Then you can get the cashback in a check or transferred to your Paypal account. Real simple and real easy. They offer cashback for several merchants, Dell, HP, Staples, Buy.com, J&R, a ton. My last check was for $792.