# Tivo Premiere at $199. Best price?



## bd3521 (Aug 3, 2010)

Is this the best price for a first tivo owner at $199? Seems lowest price is $275 on google product search
$199 Amazon


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## magnum68 (Aug 22, 2004)

bd3521 said:


> Is this the best price for a first tivo owner at $199? Seems lowest price is $275 on google product search
> $199 Amazon


WOW! prices are really coming down. My guess is that tivo is having a hard time selling these new premieres. I have 3 of the premieres and I'm very happy with them.


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

PremiereXL is 374.34 shippied via Amazon. Check out the link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036OR91A/ref=asc_df_B0036OR91A1212252?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-535-01-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B0036OR91A

Not too shabby. By the time they gets the bugs fixed and the HD menus fully operational, the price should come down even more.


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## bd3521 (Aug 3, 2010)

magnum68 said:


> WOW! prices are really coming down. My guess is that tivo is having a hard time selling these new premieres. I have 3 of the premieres and I'm very happy with them.


Seems like a great way to reduce the cost of the equipment + service is to get it new for $200ish. Going for it


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

bd3521 said:


> $199 Amazon


:down:

That is just insulting! So a brand new customer can get a Premiere for $10 *LESS* than the best "special" offer TiVo will make to a current HD owner, which is currently $210!


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## Ladd Morse (Feb 21, 2002)

$199 is a good price ($70 less than buying directly from TiVo), but I can find no way on the TiVo website to get the discount on Lifetime service, so the total cost from Amazon is actually more than purchasing directly from Tivo.

Am I missing something?


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

Ladd Morse said:


> $199 is a good price ($70 less than buying directly from TiVo), but I can find no way on the TiVo website to get the discount on Lifetime service, so the total cost from Amazon is actually more than purchasing directly from Tivo.
> 
> Am I missing something?


Yes you are. Many people are not interested in "lifetime of the box" service. If you are, then the TiVo deal (after you login to their site and select an existing box with lifetime) is a reasonable deal.

If you don't have "lifetime of a box" service already, or you are not interested in "lifetime" service, then TiVo's "special" upgrade for existing TiVo users *SUCKS*. And I would guess that is probably the majority of TiVo owners (non "lifetime" or not interested in lifetime).

And with the way the Premiere has been going, I bet far fewer people are interested in a plan that costs them tons of money up front and relieves TiVo from counting them as consumers that can speak with their wallets, later, if things don't improve.


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## stickballkid (Aug 14, 2010)

Are these brand new?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

A new customer is waaaay more valuable to nearly any business than an old customer. Many companies have specials for new sign ups that existing customers cannot utilize. People may argue it is not fair, but it is reality.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

jrtroo said:


> A new customer is waaaay more valuable to nearly any business than an old customer. Many companies have specials for new sign ups that existing customers cannot utilize. People may argue it is not fair, but it is reality.


Monetarily, a new customer with "lifetime" service is no more valuable than an existing customer that upgrades to "lifetime".

And for non-"lifetime", gaining a new customer is no better than losing an existing customer.

This is not a cell phone with forced contracts. It makes no sense to make your own upgrade offers *WORSE* for existing customers than they can just buy a new box on the open market.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

stickballkid said:


> Are these brand new?


It is sold *BY* Amazon, not just through Amazon. As far as I am aware, Amazon [itself] does not sell used equipment. So yes, it is new. And it includes free shipping.

Note, the horrible upgrade "deal" from TiVo is on the Premiere not the XL. If you want the [ridiculously overpriced for $20 worth more disk space and $5 worth of premium remote] Premiere XL, then TiVo's offer is better: TiVo: $350, Amazon: $374


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## SugarBowl (Jan 5, 2007)

it's $265 now at amazon.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

SugarBowl said:


> it's $265 now at amazon.


Wow- that didn't last long. I wonder what happened? Maybe TiVo saw this thread and agreed with me that it wasn't "fair" and had them bump the price? Maybe it was a pricing error that was just caught? Hmmm...

Looks like the XL jumped up too, to $408.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Nothing happened. Amazon's pricing has always fluctuated. Sometimes it changes every few minutes.


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## rogmatic (Sep 17, 2009)

There was a $199 price at Best Buy for a few days as well - I suspect that there is some price testing going on right now.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

innocentfreak said:


> Nothing happened. Amazon's pricing has always fluctuated. Sometimes it changes every few minutes.


$100 less on a $300 item isn't just "fluctuation"!!! Maybe $5 or $10. But that was a 33.333% price cut.... very abnormal.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

rogmatic said:


> There was a $199 price at Best Buy for a few days as well - I suspect that there is some price testing going on right now.


Have to move that mountain of Premiere product inventory that languished in the warehouse once word got out on how bad the new software behaves and functions. The only price pressure on this unit is down.


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## energizerfellow (Jun 20, 2007)

As an existing Lifetime customer can you get the $199 Lifetime service plan on a new Premiere bought from a 3rd party (i.e. not directly from Tivo)? How about a used/refurbished Premiere?


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

No any lifetime deal like that has to be bought through TiVo.


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## energizerfellow (Jun 20, 2007)

innocentfreak said:


> No any lifetime deal like that has to be bought through TiVo.


The service, yes, obviously. The only way to enforce this activation-wise that I can see is to have a DB of hardware IDs sold through the in-house store and allow only those IDs to receive the discounted service SKU(s).

What would happen if, say, I bought a Premiere with Lifetime directly through Tivo, sold the new hardware unactivated (i.e. unopened) to a 3rd party, then activated a different box from Best Buy under the same account I bought the Lifetime Tivo with? What pricing SKU(s) would the 3rd party see when they activate said "Lifetime" hardware under their own account?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

energizerfellow said:


> The service, yes, obviously. The only way to enforce this activation-wise that I can see is to have a DB of hardware IDs sold through the in-house store and allow only those IDs to receive the discounted service SKU(s).
> 
> What would happen if, say, I bought a Premiere with Lifetime directly through Tivo, sold the new hardware unactivated (i.e. unopened) to a 3rd party, then activated a different box from Best Buy under the same account I bought the Lifetime Tivo with? What pricing SKU(s) would the 3rd party see when they activate said "Lifetime" hardware under their own account?


The TiVo comes already activated from TiVo, you don't have to do anything to activate the new TiVo from TiVo-inc. So you can't just sell the TiVo you just got unactivated even if you never opened the box. How could sell one TiVo for more than you paid if you have to purchase another from Best Buy
Example: Best Buy TiVo cost $199 + $299 for lifetime = $500 (if you getting the offer from TiVo you must have a qualifying TiVo so you will get the $299 Lifetime Price.)
From TiVo-inc. the TiVo cost $299 + $199 for Lifetime =$500


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

lessd said:


> The TiVo comes already activated from TiVo, you don't have to do anything to activate the new TiVo from TiVo-inc. So you can't just sell the TiVo you just got unactivated even if you never opened the box. How could sell one TiVo for more than you paid if you have to purchase another from Best Buy
> Example: Best Buy TiVo cost $199 + $299 for lifetime = $500 (if you getting the offer from TiVo you must have a qualifying TiVo so you will get the $299 Lifetime Price.)
> From TiVo-inc. the TiVo cost $299 + $199 for Lifetime =$500


As long as you activate the box from BestBuy before you sell the box from TiVo, it should work.


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## t1voproof (Feb 6, 2010)

Amazon must have sold out, only 3rd party sellers now.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

t1voproof said:


> Amazon must have sold out, only 3rd party sellers now.


Don't you think that was the first thing we checked? No, it has nothing to do with 3rd party sellers.

"Price: $262.69 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com."


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## dgbarnes (Apr 16, 2003)

Find a friend who is a Best Buy Premiere Silver Rewards member, and through August 31st, they can buy a TiVo Premier for $199 with three-months free service. I just bought two. You activate when you get home so you could buy them for anyone.


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