In what sounds as though it may be the best deal of the holiday shopping season, Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) launched an offer for consumers who want an Apple Watch but have shied away because of the price. But is this an offer they can’t refuse?
Best Buy is offering an Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Watch 38mm Sport with a variety of band colors for $49. The catch is consumers have to use a guaranteed $200 Best Buy gift card and trade in an iPhone 5 or newer model and buy or lease and activate any iPhone on a two-year contract. The offer is good with three carriers: Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. The deal includes a savings of $100 on an iPhone as well, and the offer is good through January 9.
Presumably the $200 Best Buy gift card would come from a gift or be included as part of another purchase a consumer makes at Best Buy. For example, customers who buy a Microsoft Surface 3 get a $50 Best Buy gift card. The ad does not say that the gift card must be a single $200 card, but it is certainly implied. Buyers might want to clear that up before trying to use a $50 card and $200 in cash.
The offer is good in stores only, not online, and there’s a long paragraph of fine print. The offer is not good on special orders, clearance, open-box, refurbished, used and Marketplace Watches. An open-box 38mm Apple Watch with a silver aluminum case and a white sports band was offered Wednesday morning for $231.99, about $17 below the full price of $249.
The regular price for the Apple Watch is $349, and Best Buy has discounted that by $100 for virtually the entire holiday shopping season. And in reality, a $200 gift card plus $49 is equal to $249, the sale price of the lowest-priced Apple Watch.
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