Turns out, Amazon doesn’t always have the best deals on flat panel TVs

By Ryan Waniata November 15, 2013

Amazon Prime Interface — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s easy to find the best price on a flat panel TV these days; just go to Amazon, right? Not so fast. A new report released by the price monitoring service 360pi reveals that the world’s largest online retailer doesn’t always match up to pricing elsewhere on the Web, or at retail locations. In fact, the study shows that over 25 percent of the time, Amazon was not the cheapest place to shop for that new TV.

Not only was Amazon beaten 25 percent of the time by other authorized retailers like Target, Best Buy, NewEgg, Walmart, and TigerDirect, but sometimes it wasn’t even close. The report, conducted in August of this year, shows a quick snapshot of the percentage at which the king of cyber sales was gouging customers on some of the market’s most popular flat panel TVs. And for those who assume Amazon always offers the low-ball price point, the results are pretty surprising.

Samsung’s popular UN55ES8000, for instance, cost almost 70 percent more on Amazon than other retailers. Other top picks on the list include Panasonic’s L42ETS, LG’s LN5300, the Sony KDL50EX645, and Haier’s LE55B1381. Savings on those TVs ranged from 10 percent to nearly 50 percent from other retailers over Amazon’s lowest price.

Overall, of 222 flat panel TVs from the 20 retailers monitored by 360pi, 56 of them were more expensive on Amazon than the lowest price available, 113 were the same price, and 53 were lower. While Amazon is obviously still a good starting point, the numbers show it pays to look around – sometimes handsomely.

So there you go, a little heads up as you mount your assault for holiday shopping this year. Do your due diligence, and you might just walk away with a few extra hundred dollars in your wallet.

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Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…

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