Television Purchase

[Damman]

Have been doing some shopping for a television here in BA and am a bit perplexed with the pricing. If I were to purchase the television using a local bank credit card, there is about a 15-20 % discount on some models. However, I cannot get the deal with cash. The retailers will not deal. The purchase has to go through the bank. The 20% discount seems quite substantial to get your banking business: open an account. Got to be a gimmick in there somewhere. The explanation is probably quite simple, but the Gomer is lost for a reasonable Gringo explanation, especially in these economic times: cash is King.

Also open to suggestions on where the best deals can be gotten: Falabella?

[Seaman]

My experience is that the best deals are to be found at supermarkets.

I got my Philips 42" LCD at Carrefour for a price which was >$500 lower then any of the other regular electronics stores.

I know that Jackson got his 37" LCD at Cotto. So I would suggest to have a good look at Jumbo / Carrefour / Cotto.

Don't ask me why you get 20% off with a local credit card. I got mine with an international credit card but got 0% discount. (As a result my CC company contacted me since I spent about US$2500 in a supermarket which they thought was strange. )

[Mike Cockburn]

Argentina has a strange discount system.

Holding a bank account here is quite expensive. 15-20 pesos a month is the normal rate (unless your employer opens it) It includes 1 dollar account and 1 pesos account, + creditcard. In my country, all bank account are free, the credit card is also free.

I think the bank is collaborating with the stores. They are financing part of the discount with their bankfees. Perhaps the store has a loan at that bank, and in exchange for cheaper prices for the bank customers, the store obtains an interest discount. I think it is a win-win situation. For both the store and the customers.

I was thinking of changing to Santader Rio, in order to get the discounts at Carrefour, but the account fee is significantly bigger than the fee at HSBC.

The debit card discounts, usually works. The discount is instant, and the clerks tell you if it doesn't work. When it comes to the credit card discount, the bank gives back the discount at a later time.

[Jackson]

Here's how this works:

First, in Argentina manufacturers can and do require all retailers to sell the manufacturer's products at the manufacturer's MSRP, which explains why the same electronic products are the same price everywhere. The political support behind this practice (which is illegal in the USA) is that it would be unfair to retailers and their employees to subject said retailers to unfair price competition from other retailers, thus possibly causing some employees to lose their jobs.

Of course it's the consumer that gets fuck in this process, but since when has the customer been important in Argentina?

Second, the retailers have (of course) found ways around this. Smaller retailers will simply sell products to you off the books, and the larger retailers have developed a system wherein they can give you a discount based upon your payment method, not the actual product itself. The way they do this is by reporting the sale at the full price (for the manufacturer's benefit) while taking the discount elsewhere in their accounting. Ergo, they offer discounts when you pay by credit card, but not when you pay by cash.

Third, to be specific, Coto has a number of offers, including a 10% on certain days (usually Fridays) for paying with a credit card. With this specific offer, they do not distinguish between foreign or domestic cards. I've been taking advantage of this discount for some time now, including making major electronics purchases and doing my regular weekly grocery shopping on Fridays, all for the 10% discount. As a bonus, these purchases also reduce the fundsthat I would otherwise need to transfer to Argentina for living expenses.

Thanks,

Jackson

[BadMan]

Hey Jackson,

Are you sure about this?

I was under the impression it had to be an Argentinian credit card?

Regards,

BM
Third, to be specific, Coto has a number of offers, including a 10% on certain days (usually Fridays) for paying with a credit card. With this specific offer, they do not distinguish between foreign or domestic cards.

[Jackson]

Hey Jackson,

Are you sure about this?

I was under the impression it had to be an Argentinian credit card?

Regards,

BMBad,

They have different offers for different days of the week, including offers incorporating various combinations of debit cards, bank credit cards, and their own in house credit cards.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Aqualung]

Hey Jackson,

Are you sure about this?

I was under the impression it had to be an Argentinian credit card?

Regards,

BMNo, it makes no difference.

[BadMan]

Thanks for the info guys.

I am going to have to check it out. 10% discount sounds like a pretty good deal if all I have to do is use a credit card.

Regards,

BM

[Facundo]

Muchachos,

I've been doing this discount-purchase thing for some time. My experience has been the argentine credit / debit card gives you the actual discount. For example, my Citibank Visa gives me anywhere from a 10 to 30 per cent discount depending on the purchase. Within a few days the discount shows up as a credit on my monthly statement. Also, they return monthly 25% of the IVA (end up paying an effective IVA rate of about 15 instead of 20 %)

Jackson, does Coto or the actual foreign card company give you the discount?

I agree with you, the savings are incredible using debit or credit cards. So far for the month of February my discounts total more than 400 pesos for purchases like, gasoline, groceries, etc.

Gracias

[Damman]

Thank-You Gentleman for the info. Shopping for big ticket items here has been an eye opener. Get half the TV for twice the price. Then we have the sales tax thing: 21%. Jesus H F. Christ! Bust my balls. Oh well, it is what it is. Did experience one retailer who was willing to deal for cash. Became very skeptical at the time, but upon my new found wisdom, he may be my go to guy. Corruption is good when I can reap the benefits. Again, thanks.

[Jackson]

Jackson, does Coto or the actual foreign card company give you the discount? Yes, that's the point of this discussion.

Coco's various offers usually provide a 10% discount when using ANY credit card on the specified days, and a 15% discount when using their own in-house card, again on the specified days.

The Coto discount is taken off right at the register, there's actually no involvement by the credit card company. The amount charged on your card is the discounted price.

Thanks,

Jackson

[MCSE]

Then we have the sales tax thing: 21%. Jesus H F. Christ! Bust my balls. It's a VAT tax, not a sales tax. It's different. Also, it's different that in Argentina when you read the prices taxes are already included, final price it's advertised.

[MCSE]

In general depending on the store you can get a good discount, for instance: Fravega (electronics) it's associated with BBVA bank, so you can get 10% to 15% discount, while Garbarino operates with Santander-Rio bank. However, if you talk to the manager / sales man they can equalize the discount using a different credit card, I was looking for a stereo which was cheaper in Garbarino and they offered a 10% discount paying with BBVA Visa CC.

Garbarino also maintains an outlet store as well as Fravega does, you can find good stuff in there from time to time. Coto management it's different, they have one day discount when paying with debit, another day 15% off paying with ANY credit card, but at the same time they inflate some prices especially on weekends. So, you can see for instance a wine with a big "15% off paying with cc" but the same wine you can find the next day 10% cheaper with no discount tag. I would like someone to explain why is buying dinner at the supermarket sometimes can be as expensive as having dinner at a reg restaurant?