Drop in price?

smiller · Feb 22, 2017

JoseD said:
phantom 5 must be coming soon

No, this is a common pricing practice for Amazon. There's no reason to think that it necessarily has anything to do with a Phantom 5, very unlikely that Amazon or anyone else would have certain knowledge of such a thing with no other leaks.

PhantomEvan · Feb 22, 2017

smiller said:
No, this is a common pricing practice for Amazon. There's no reason to think that it necessarily has anything to do with a Phantom 5, very unlikely that Amazon or anyone else would have certain knowledge of such a thing with no other leaks.

I also don't see why the phantom 5 would come. We just got a p4p.

GadgetGuy · Feb 22, 2017

JoseD said:
best buy 1320 also

Best Buy did officially put it on sale! $1321!
If the P4P batteries were available at BB, it would likely have been $1499 with an extra battery.
DJI - Phantom 4 Pro Quadcopter - White

RPP · Feb 22, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Best Buy did officially put it on sale! $1321!
DJI - Phantom 4 Pro Quadcopter - White

Wow, the drop is real then. Still, no such reduction yet either on BH or Adorama.

DanMan32 · Feb 22, 2017

Not surprised. Seems many of those boutiques stick to MSRP.
Interesting though: BB still lists the P3P and the P3A at $799 though availability is a question.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

RPP · Feb 22, 2017

DanMan32 said:
Not surprised. Seems many of those boutiques stick to MSRP.
Interesting though: BB still lists the P3P and the P3A at $799 though availability is a question.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

BH Photovideo is not boutique. It is the largest camera gear online vendor, I think.

SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro · Feb 22, 2017

Yes the largest and awesome shipping!

GadgetGuy · Feb 22, 2017

RPP said:
Wow, the drop is real then. Still, no such reduction yet either on BH or Adorama.

It's not a real price drop, just a Best Buy sale price for the week, but that's the precursor to an eventual official price drop. When Amazon has currently reduced the price, it avoids the hassle of price matching at the BB register.

However B&H itself has a pricematch policy, and should be willing to match the $1321 Best Buy sale price (saving sales tax!), for as long as the BB sale price lasts (likely only 5-7 days more, depending upon when the BB sale started). I will be calling B&H tomorrow!
-----------------
About B&H | B&H Photo Video
"Did you know that B&H offers a price-matching policy? If you have an issue with the price of any product, please discuss it with one of our sales professionals via Live Chat or by calling 800.606.6969. They will do their best to find a way to serve you."

smiller · Feb 22, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
It's not a real price drop, just a Best Buy sale price for the week, but that's the precursor to an eventual official price drop.

Yes, Best Buy usually follows Amazon's deals, for as long as Amazon has them. So really not any more of a precursor of a price drop than Amazon's deal was in the first place, just BB having to mimic for whatever period of time. Eventually the price will drop of its own accord but I'm not sure I would take Amazon's deal as necessarily heralding anything other than Amazon simply doing its thing. As usual only time will tell. When you see smaller vendors dropping as well (rather than just Amazon/BB), then that's a real price drop.

And unfortunately Amazon and BB are charging sales tax in most states now, so if you live in one of those states when you add the tax back in you aren't that much lower than 'full' price from a smaller vendor that doesn't collect sales tax. This whole thing might just be Amazon/BB trying to compete with vendors who do not charge tax.

JPhilyaw · Feb 22, 2017

1320.00 in NC at bestbuy

V7Sport73 · Feb 22, 2017

Well, I'm not a P4P owner yet. I was saving my money. But when I saw the P4 on Newegg.com for just $799 "new" not refurbished I caved and sent in my P4P savings. So now I will have to wait for the P5 to come out so I can afford the P4P. I'm thinking buy the P4P when it hits $1,100

smiller · Feb 22, 2017

JPhilyaw said:
1320.00 in NC at bestbuy

But again, that's $1,320 plus around 7%, and Amazon charges tax as well in NC and many other states, so the net savings aren't quite what they might seem over small mail-order vendors who do not charge tax.

RPP · Feb 22, 2017

smiller said:
But again, that's $1,320 plus around 7%, and Amazon charges tax as well in NC and many other states, so the net savings aren't quite what they might seem over small mail-order vendors who do not charge tax.

The Amazon price with tax still comes $60 or so under $1499. There are also other vendors listed on Amazon that offer lower prices without tax but in my case I tend to stay clear of vendors without an established reputation.

smiller · Feb 22, 2017

RPP said:
The Amazon price with tax still comes $60 or so under $1499. There are also other vendors listed on Amazon that offer lower prices without tax but in my case I tend to stay clear of vendors without an established reputation.

My point wasn't that the savings are zero, just that they aren't as large as they might seem. And FWIW there are several small vendors who do not charge tax that have established excellent reputations. Either or, but just sayin'.

SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro · Feb 22, 2017

And a huge vendor has no sales tax as long as you don't live in NY or NJ, B & H photo....

smiller · Feb 22, 2017

SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro said:
And a huge vendor has no sales tax as long as you don't live in NY or NJ, B & H photo....

Yes, they don't charge tax outside of NY/NJ... but they also charge the full $1499 list price for the P4P. There's just no free lunch...

SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro · Feb 22, 2017

Lunch? **** I missed lunch again!! DOH

GadgetGuy · Feb 22, 2017

smiller said:
Yes, Best Buy usually follows Amazon's deals, for as long as Amazon has them. So really not any more of a precursor of a price drop than Amazon's deal was in the first place, just BB having to mimic for whatever period of time. Eventually the price will drop of its own accord but I'm not sure I would take Amazon's deal as necessarily heralding anything other than Amazon simply doing its thing. As usual only time will tell. When you see smaller vendors dropping as well (rather than just Amazon/BB), then that's a real price drop.

And unfortunately Amazon and BB are charging sales tax in most states now, so if you live in one of those states when you add the tax back in you aren't that much lower than 'full' price from a smaller vendor that doesn't collect sales tax. This whole thing might just be Amazon/BB trying to compete with vendors who do not charge tax.

However, since B&H has a price-match policy (see my earlier post #128 above), you can leverage the lowered Best Buy and Amazon prices to buy from B&H without the sales tax at the lower BB and Amazon price!

Best of all worlds!

RPP · Feb 22, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
However, since B&H has a price-match policy, you can leverage the lowered Best Buy and Amazon prices to buy from B&H without the sales tax at the lower BB and Amazon price! Best of all worlds!

When I called Adorama to ask for a price match, they took into consideration the tax Amazon would charge me in California and matched it at that price. I reckon BH will do the same.

GadgetGuy · Feb 22, 2017

RPP said:
When I called Adorama to ask for a price match, they took into consideration the tax Amazon would charge me in California and matched it at that price. I reckon BH will do the same.

I'll find out tomorrow, when I call B&H about my latest P4P purchase, which I just received. I will argue that I can legally still buy from Best Buy in a state with no sales tax. Either way, I get money back from B&H, and even BB needs to refund me the $15 price change since the Amazon drop to $1321!

As a side note: I have now purchased five P4P aircraft, and only the most recent purchase from B&H is glitch free on video recorded in 4K 60fps! All BB purchases and three from B&H in December all had bad cameras! Make sure you get a good one! I now know they truly exist!