$50 batteries? Yes it's true.

[Zeprider]

Fact remains that these batts are not in stock online or in most GS stores nationwide. Best Buy nor Target has to honor anything. Count ourselves lucky that we had a chance to skirt some rules and buy in. Buy two save $199. Good grief that's a savings.

 

[Deleted member 68677]

Warning.. I bought three of these batteries today with this deal from Best Buy and 2 were defective being very very careful

 

[Stiggy]

Maybe another downstream effect of all this will get rid of a glut of batteries that seem to be dying on the shelves.

 

[TaraFirma]

Disagree. Many of us tried and failed to get an unbelievable deal on these but, this person is not a douche because you didn't come up with one. Whoever this was, working at the store, is just doing what's prudent.

He's not a douche because I couldn't buy a battery. He's a douche because of the condescending tone he used when he told me there was a reason they sell their batteries at the price they do.

 

[stones]

He's not a douche because I couldn't buy a battery. He's a douche because of the condescending tone he used when he told me there was a reason they sell their batteries at the price they do.

Sorry. Guess I couldn't hear his "tone" from your statement.

 

[TaraFirma]

Yeah, I know. It's all good.

 

[DanMan32]

To apply firmware to the battery, you have to have the firmware package bin file on the SD card installed on the AC. This file should be matching or newer than your current firmware. If newer, then you are upgrading firmware on your entire AC, be sure to apply to all of your other batteries.

 

[HWCM]

Something is not right there.

It shows a broke cell. But the voltage is near full. That can't be right. It should only be reading 12 to 13v. Not 17. No argument that its not healthy.

You are incorrect.
The P3 batteries are 4S (four cell) It should be at least 16.5 volts. 3S (three cell) batteries are around 12V.

 

[DanMan32]

He's referring to the fact that one of the 4 showed almost 0v, with the other 3 full. That would total near 12v but instead 17v was showing which indicates the 'bad' battery showing low is really at normal full voltage.
Cells may be all good but intelligent management is not.

 

[wchevron]

I was able to score a 2nd one at another Target. At first the women said they don't match GS. I said on your website it says you do? She then had me pull up the battery on the GS website, I had brought in a printed copy. Pulled it up and showed her and she let me buy it. Although I don't think she was happy about it.

 

[BigAl07]

I really don't get people getting upset when employees at Target and Best Buy do their job...

This was always a "glitch in the matrix", with Gamestop trying to sell a few batteries at a heavy discount in a few stores, and people taking advantage of price matching. BestBuy and Target both have clear policies: they only match items available online or in stock in local stores, so in the majority of cases people who got a battery (or more), got it because some employee didn't pay enough attention to the policies.

Corporate must have noticed the high number of heavily discounted batteries being sold, and sent a note to all stores to stop matching those batteries, as per policy. Retail margins are very low (average 30% for Target), so all those batteries were sold at a loss. They have pretty good tools at corporate, so alarms must have flashed when they started selling so many items at a significant loss.

Usually price matching lowers the profit, doesn't force them to sell at a loss. And in real cases of a stock liquidation, price matching might lead to a small loss, but for a small amount of items,since local/online stock for the competitor is limited and quickly sold. If all their employees followed the rules, there would have been very few $50 batteries.

Hope no employee/manager is forced to pay out of their pocket for the mistake, or face disciplinary action over this

While I agree with some of what you said, a margin of 30% is not what I'd call "very low margins". I've been in retail from entry level up to management for almost 30 years and the "average" margin of 30% is very much a "Fair" margin not very low.

 

[robca]

While I agree with some of what you said, a margin of 30% is not what I'd call "very low margins". I've been in retail from entry level up to management for almost 30 years and the "average" margin of 30% is very much a "Fair" margin not very low.

That's the average gross margin (should have said so, sorry). Net margin (once you pay salaries, building cost, energy, merchandise losses, credit card fees, etc) is around 4% for Target. 30% gross margin is one of the lowest in the business, actually, according to industry data I found

My point was that even at a 30% gross margin, Target selling a $149 battery at $49 implies a real loss. That battery probably costs more than $100 to a retailer like Target, so for each battery people are buying at $49, the retailer is losing more than $50 plus their selling costs. If they matched an online store selling at $127 (B&H photo), they would lose some margin, but not real money (they would still sell at more than their cost, albeit not enough to maintain the margins)

 

[T3chguy404]

Just tried at my local target. They said since it's market as unavailable they wouldn't accept it :/

 

[stones]

Just tried at my local target. They said since it's market as unavailable they wouldn't accept it :/

This will be the norm fairly quickly across all Target and I'll bet Best Buy stores as well. Management is going to recognize that they've just gave away profits and actually lost money on this event. It is what it is.

 

[dg8882]

Gave it a try at my local Best Buy, didn't give it to me because it wasn't actually for sale.

 

[Roccot312]

Just got done flying my new batteries..... smooth no problems. Very happy. Now to return or exchange the one with a bad cell ( didn't fly this one ) and then to skin the two good ones

 

[Wolfiesden]

He's referring to the fact that one of the 4 showed almost 0v, with the other 3 full. That would total near 12v but instead 17v was showing which indicates the 'bad' battery showing low is really at normal full voltage.
Cells may be all good but intelligent management is not.

Thank you.

At least someone gets it.

 

[SebastianJ]

Thanks a lot Matt! Just went to my local Target, and got one no problem. Last one they had in stock, a part 133 in white retail packaging. The guy at guest services gave me no trouble at all. In fact, he said he was glad I found the deal, and that they sell everything for too much money!

 

[Matts175]

Thanks a lot Matt! Just went to my local Target, and got one no problem. Last one they had in stock, a part 133 in white retail packaging. The guy at guest services gave me no trouble at all. In fact, he said he was glad I found the deal, and that they sell everything for too much money!

LOL. He probably already had his 2 weeks notice in. I need to find THAT guy.

 

[osirhc]

I had success at a local Target near my parent's house. Just found this thread while visiting and had to try it out. Best Buy right off the bat said they wouldn't because it was unavailable online and the only store that said it had it in stock was in NY (I'm in South Central PA, not close enough). First Target I went to I thought the girl at customer service would do it but when she called her manager for the price override he had to verify it through an iPad they use. He called over another manager who finally told me they couldn't do it because it was marked unavailable online and they only price match online, in stock products. I then went to the second Target in this area and the woman at customer service was having troubles with her iPad to verify the price (by the way, you can go to GameStop's website and simply search "phantom 3" and the battery comes up for the 49.97 price - this is exactly what Target does to verify the price). She then told me she had to verify it was in stock and since her iPad was acting up she asked me to do it on my phone. She wanted me to add it to my cart as if I was going to buy it online. Since it was out of stock online I selected that NY store and tapped hold or reserve for me. It then asked for contact info. I simply showed her my screen and said that it looks like they'll hold it for me, and she accepted that with no problems. She called up a manager for the price override who simply overrode the price and allowed me to swipe my card, no questions asked and no problems. I thanked both women (the first woman kept apologizing to me for her iPad troubles the whole time, I didn't mind at all). It took about 5-10 minutes in all but totally worth it for this price. I walked out of Target with a big ol' smile on my face!

Edit: sorry for the upside down photo lol not sure what happened there.