I'm starting a "new tv" fund, where anybody who wants to give me a christmas present can just contribute to instead of actually buying me something. I figured I would do this through amazon, but I just got a $100 gift certificate from work, and can apply that to several merchants. tiger direct and crutchfield are on this list. question is, should I try to sell my gift cert to someone at a discount and stick with amazon, or go with crutchfield or tiger direct? I'd rather not go through the hassle of selling it, but it may be the most cost effective thing to do. I expect to be making a purchase within the next 6 months or so, and will likely choose an lcd or dlp projection set. thoughts? thanks in advance.

greg

can anyone speak to their answers? the question is...does amazon usually provide savings of more than $100 on a <$1,200 set?

I got a tv from amazon. The big benefit was I joined the prime with free 2 day shipping.
The cost was about equal to other shipping methods for the tv. So I got the free shipping benefit the rest of the year on all my dvds etc. I found one or two other heavy items to buy too, so wound up with net shipping cost savings as well.

What I would do is hold on to the gift certificate, if it won't lose any value, until you want to buy something. Then go to the sites you are talking about and see how the prices are at that time. Amazon is often cheapest, but not always. And the particular tv may be less expensive at your other options then.

At that point, you can sell or keep the gift certificate or buy the tv at amazon and get some accessories or cables, whatever, with the certificate.

IMHO Crutchfield is grossly overpriced... Great service & products yes, but horribly overpriced if you're money-conscious.

I think my draw on crutchfield (aside from just having great service) was the fact that I could get a 100+ lbs tv shipped for free. I like the idea of waiting a while, though.