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Panasonic plasma pricing & promo strategies question..

post #1 of 8
5/22/12 at 12:41am
Thread Starter 
I'm looking to buy a plasma fairly soon and I've pretty much narrowed my choice to the 50" ST50. I'm just wondering if I should pull the trigger now or wait a while.

I know that there was an obvious price drop towards the end of last year on the ST30 sets but I'm definitely not willing to wait (yet another) year to buy my new display.

Cutting to the chase. It would be great to buy the 50" ST50 for something like $1099.00 with two free pairs of 3d glasses. Sounds reasonable, right? Does anyone see this happening in say..the next couple of months?
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post #2 of 8
5/22/12 at 3:16am
I think it's reasonable. jjc943 in the Panasonic ST50 Deals thread reported getting a 50ST50 at PC Richard for $1079. Don't know about the free 3D glasses promotion, though. Is that included with every TV now?

I'm also interested in this TV and hope it'll drop to ~$700, but that's probably not likely to happen anytime soon. There's been some drops on the 60" version, but not much movement on the 50"/55" sadly.
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post #3 of 8
5/22/12 at 6:43am
$1097 from Paul's TV, free shipping, no tax in most states, with code "SLICK50". Call, and they might offer you free glasses or more money off (since you are not going through an affiliate site, like Mr. Rebates (3% cash back)).
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post #4 of 8
5/22/12 at 10:51am
Thread Starter 
Wow! That Paul's deal is very tempting. Thanks for the information! The only thing that I worry about is having to pay for return shipping and restocking fees if by some off the wall chance I need to return the set.

I was hoping to buy from Amazon since they offer "free" returns. I realize their prices are generally a little higher to help them compensate for their returns policy, though.

Now, it may be a different story if Paul's does offer the free glasses at that price. hmmm. I'll have to think about this.
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post #5 of 8
5/22/12 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
To add to my original question... At what times during the year do retailers step down their prices? Are the price drops fairly predictable throughout any given year? Thanks to anyone who wants to chime in.
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post #6 of 8
5/22/12 at 3:19pm
perhaps maybe late summer (end of august) to early fall prices will drop. time is money - think of the time you'll wait for the price to drop. That's time that could instead be spent enjoying your ST50 earlier on in the 2012 model cycle (now being about the third month of the ST50's availability) Buying it closer to the end of the year to get to your target price will be buying it closer to inevitable announcement/availability of the ST60, which will outperform the 50-series models.

If Amazon is your retailer of choice, then they're offering the ST50 for $1,188 right now. Panasonic sets coming with free glasses happens, but not often. My best suggestion would be to pick up two pairs of the Samsung SSG-4100 glasses, which are $19/ea on Amazon right now and fully compatible with the ST50, save for being more uncomfortable compared to Panasonic's 2012 glasses. You'll be about $120 over your target price, but IMO it's a drop in the bucket compared to the enjoyment of roughly ~3-4 extra months of viewing a new 2012 model rather than waiting for the perfect price.
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post #7 of 8
5/22/12 at 4:22pm
Thread Starter 
fatuglyguy, Thanks a lot for the advice. I can see the logic in what you're saying. I'd be embarrased to say how long I've put off this purchase waiting for the perfect TV at the perfect price. I think I'll go ahead and do this now with Amazon. No sense in waiting any longer at this point.
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post #8 of 8
5/27/12 at 12:40pm
Thread Starter 
JustBusiness, I tried your SLICK50 code all of last week at Paul's website and it knocked the $1099 price down to $937, which was an incredible price. I decided to wait a few days before I purchased because I wanted to take more time to see the TV in person this weekend.

The big problem now is that the code isn't working today! I called Paul's and they didn't show this model selling at the $937 price last week. All I know is, the code was working as of yesterday. The customer service rep wouldn't honor this price so I told them I wasn't interested. I guess I said this mainly out of principle because I know the code worked yesterday.

Do you have any inside information about this? I was ready to give Paul's my money today with that code but they didn't want it.
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