Buying a flat screen tv from the States

My opinon only piaa -you are wasting time/money to buy a TV from the mainland and ship it here. K-Mart (Sears) in Sunny Isle -across parking lot from WAPA, Cost U Less, K-Mart West & East have a variety of flat screen high definition tv's. K-Mart West runs sales from time to time on TV's. Thanksgiving morning seems to be a day they always have a sale going on for a particular model/brand. Sale price is usually a few hundred $$ off the regular price. K-Mart (Sears) also has special sale prices during different times of the year.

Jumbie -STX

Below a certain size they can actually mail.
I buy mine on island.

Mike's Electronics has a great selection as well if you are on STX.

Thanks everyone 🙂

I am on STJ and do know of a company that will ship (B&H Photo) - not cheap but the selection is huge and I'm not sure if LED TV's are available on STT yet (anyone know?) as we might be leaning towards one of those - the actual cost of the TV plus shipping is approx the same as a tv here (I think anyway) but again the selection might just be a selling feature but I'm not 100% - I guess a trip to STT is in order tomorrow 🙂

Thanks again

Pia

A NOTE ABOUT SHOPPING LOCALLY (stx) for flatscreen TVs:

Do your homework. A lot of the Kmart/sears/sunny isle inventory is older and priced at their higher introductory price. In many/most cases you can order a newer jazzier model for the same price, or you can get the somewhat older models they represent at considerably lower prices online. I STRONGLY recommend you take a pad and pencil and write down model numbers you like, then research those products online.

If you have a smartphone you can research those items directly from the store, and if you have an Iphone, I recommend an app called 'red laser' which will scan barcodes through the phone's camera and look up prices for things (almost anything!) online for you.

It's not so much a case of high pricing at Kmart as a slow product pipeline. Flatscreen TVs are evolving and being introduced so quickly and their prices decrease so rapidly once another model is introduced. In the months it takes for an order to be placed consolidated shipped and delivered to the VI a new generation can be out and driving prices down.

I second the recommendation for B&H Photo.

I like to research electronics at CNET.com

Good luck.

We bought 55" LED - really, really nice picture - from Price Smart in April. We had checked all the other places mentioned above and Price Smart had what we wanted (new technology). We considered shipping from the US but by the time we did that.......between time, aggravation, shipping costs and potential "taxes" or whatever they're called - we wrote the check.

OK so here is what we have done - ordered from B&H Photo 🙂

The TV went ordered is $120.00 cheaper including shipping with a 3-5 day delivery from B&H than the exact same TV at Pricemart (you have to order it online from Pricemart they do not carry it in the store) and as it has to be ordered from Pricemart it has a 30 day delivery lead time.

Hope this helps someone who maybe in the same position when needing to order electronics.

Pia

Pia - This will be helpful information if it works out as you expect, so please keep us posted!

There is no such thing as an LED TV. The TV is an LCD TV with an LED back light instead of a light bulb.

Yep you are correct but on most of the electronic websites you search by a) Plasma b) LCD or c) LED - LCD (or at least the sites I was looking on) and they abbreviate them to LED - but you are still correct 🙂

Pia

I bought my TV from B&H as well. No trouble getting it whatsoever. Their product prices are usually so much lower priced than anything you can get here, and often times cheaper than places throughout the states as well, so the extra shipping charges are no big deal. I've found that things are still cheaper from B&H than getting something locally. Of course, their are size and weight restrictions when sending things via USPS, so you can't get a humongous TV. They must have had a glitch in their system when I ordered. It was $10 more to ship it Express Mail...they only charged me $45 to express mail a TV 😀

but if it breaks during shipping.....have fun dealing with that mess

I usually get my best tv deals from woot.com. The TVs that they sell locally here on island are generally cr@p and the, at least the cheap ones are and the good quality ones are AT LEAST a grand more then stateside. But you can get a good quality TV from the states for about 400 to 600 (depending on the size you want) and then just ship it to a place like VI Cargo. Usually the stateside stores will offer free shipping so you are really only paying shipping/customs from FL to USVI.

So my recommendation is to buy whatever TV has the best deal stateside and then freight here from FL and you will save a ton!

I usually make good deals at Boolchand's. Friends have gone there with me and done well too!

Unless you pay VI Cargo to inspect the TV on its arrival in Florida and then insure it with them you can have a real problem if the TV is damaged during shipment. Once the merchant delivers the TV to VI Cargo they consider their job done. VI Cargo without inspecting the TV before forwarding it to the VI may not accept any liability for damages.

Also if the TV is dead out of the box what are you going to do? Ship it to a repair depot? Try to find someone locally to fix it?

I had a competent tech on the island try to repair a flat screen I owned that went dead after three and a half years. It took over four months to get parts and other parts when the first parts didn't work and the tech went to plan B. I finally scrapped the TV and bought another. Just as it is hard to get electronics shipped directly to the USVI it is just as hard to get repair parts shipped here. For instance I had another Toshiba TV that went bad in warranty and Toshiba would not ship repair parts and instead sent me a check to purchase a replacement TV.

Jim

I've bought about 15 to 20 TVs (at least) from stateside for us, rentals and for work and NEVER had a single problem. The way manufacturer package electronics now days is usually excellent. They ship it to the stores and often the stores stateside even ship to customers in the US. So the problem your talking about rarely exists with high end electronics, the manufacturers have learned there lessons about having to replace things.

And I'd MUCH rather risk being out 100 to 200 bucks to ship it back, then a grand or more. The TV prices for a decent quality TV on stx is often $2k to $3500. I'm not going to pay that much ever when I can get it for $400 to $1k. It is so worth the effort.

Same thing with computers, never had one bit of a problem, at least until I started messing with or employees did. 😉

I'm willing to pay a bit more for immediate gratification and the security of knowing I can return it if there's an immediate problem. I also like the fact of supporting the community. Unless it's something that I can't get here, I prefer to buy in person. I was looking at flat screen tvs last week, and really appreciated seeing the different models live. We ended up with a model from Radio Shack only because our old tv died before end of World Series. Price was no object then.

In 20 years of buying things through the mail here, I've never had a problem that the shipper wouldn't fix immediately and to my satisfaction.

I had concerns about the shipping before I bought from B&H. But these people can pack!!!! They did an amazing job. They double boxed the TV and it easily held up to any abuse the PO dished out. I totally see your point about supporting the local economy. I prefer to do this as well. But living on St. John, well, instant gratification is not a phrase we know much about, and at last check, I couldn't find a new TV for sale here. 😀

I quit buying from Coldwater Creek and Spiegel for a number of reasons. Won't buy from Dell, either. If you shop around, you can buy some things cheaper here than online. When the stores here like Big Planet, Bougainvilla, Water World, etc have sales, their prices are usually cheaper than online. In fact, Bougainvilla is having a 50% off sale this weekend starting today. Guess I'll be going to STJ this week!

Unless you don't mind paying more for lower spec goods I highly recommend buying off-island and shipping direct if it's an option or through VI Cargo. In addition to B&H as mentioned I check Fry's weekly for their specials which can be very good.

As an example Cost-U-Less has a 55" Vizio TV for a little over $2,400. It's literally two generations old and the current LED-backed variant with internet apps sells for $1,600 or so at places like Costco. You can ship them here for the better part of $200 from VI Cargo (this was the price about 2 years ago.) Also, buying from places like Costco gives you a longer warranty. If your product craps out and you have to pay $400 round trip to fix it you're still better off than most local options.

That's my favorite smartphone app! I run around the house driving the family crazy looking for items with price tags to scan. Sometimes, not surprisingly, I'm stunned by how much more we pay locally but for some items I occasionally get surprised to find we're somehow paying the same or less (e.g., the large double boxes of cereal at Cost-U-Less.)

A NOTE ABOUT SHOPPING LOCALLY (stx) for flatscreen TVs:

Do your homework. A lot of the Kmart/sears/sunny isle inventory is older and priced at their higher introductory price. In many/most cases you can order a newer jazzier model for the same price, or you can get the somewhat older models they represent at considerably lower prices online. I STRONGLY recommend you take a pad and pencil and write down model numbers you like, then research those products online.

If you have a smartphone you can research those items directly from the store, and if you have an Iphone, I recommend an app called 'red laser' which will scan barcodes through the phone's camera and look up prices for things (almost anything!) online for you.

It's not so much a case of high pricing at Kmart as a slow product pipeline. Flatscreen TVs are evolving and being introduced so quickly and their prices decrease so rapidly once another model is introduced. In the months it takes for an order to be placed consolidated shipped and delivered to the VI a new generation can be out and driving prices down.

I second the recommendation for B&H Photo.

I like to research electronics at CNET.com

Good luck.

We also pay less for ground turkey at CUL, I think. I think they recently increased the price, but I think it's still less than $2/lb.

The Presto Pressure Cooker at CUL was same as Stateside price ($39) when they first advertised it, but I noticed they raised to price to $49 last time I was in there. They must have realized their mistake. 🙂 I could kick myself for not getting it when it was $39. Stupid me.

<>

Couldn't help observing that a pressure cooker is just the thing to cook the chopped turkey legs and wings found at CUL. Makes a good meal out of a reliably available, reasonably fresh meat item. Throw in some pumpkin and ginger along with the omnipresent cabbage and you've got gourmet fare.

Best,

Islandlola