One (1) Bulb @ Home Depot: $9.00; Six (6) Bulbs @ Amazon: $12.49

So crazy. Similar stories?

Why is that crazy? If you are living in the dark you probably don't want to wait a day to replace your light bulb. Seems like if that was the case it would be perfectly reasonable to spend more for the immediate fix.

Simply put, I find the discrepancy astonishing. This particular bulb is quite definitely, for lack of a better term, optional, as opposed to vital. I obviously get that the economics in some way, work. I still find it astonishing.

bought a cat toy at Petco n Route 10. Checked receipt when I was back in the car since it seemed like total was just too high. I was charged $29.99 (thought price was 19.99). Checked on their own website and it was 9.79! I was told, when I went back in, that they can't compete with even their own online prices, but would match it!!

did you need one bulb or 6?

I don't know why this is the case, but the price of light bulbs at Home Depot have always struck me as expensive...even older incandescent ones. Prices so high that I would always pick them up at Lowe's if I was there. (Lowe's also had a better selection of three-way ones in our preferred wattages)

Lately I've been picking up led bulbs at Costco when I spot a sale price on a size we might use. Their quality is superior to those squiggly ones I purchased at HD in the past.

FilmCarp said:

did you need one bulb or 6?

Even if I only need one bulb I always buy multiples. That way when another one burns out three months later I don't have to run out to the store.

this sounds like an appliance bulb or something.

I went to CVS Millburn last year. Their website price to print a photo was about $2 - they were to handle it. I went in and printed it myself and double checked the price. Their in store price was about $6 for me to do the work. They didn't mind that I tore up the prints and went to Staples- $2 and a young woman did a little extra.

Recently I've been spending a lot of time looking for a new camera. I don't recall which website had a camera body & lens for $699. Same make model at same site w/o lens- $749.

For some reason, I thought this was about flower bulbs, but really, who buys one tulip bulb?

Then the light bulb went off (or on, as it were). ; - )

Lots of people would hesitate to order 6 fluorescent overhead lights online for fear they'll receive a box of broken glass.

You get value you if you shop around. This is nothing new. Merchants can charge higher prices because some people don't shop around, for various reasons. They have a captive market of at least some size.

I discovered the same thing the other day when I needed to pickup some Avery shipping labels and went to Office Depot...The box of labels in store was listed at $90.00, I then found the exact same item available on Amazon for something like $20...I showed the listing to the cashier and they price matched, just like that!

I don't know about HD, but a lot of the big box stores work the same way....so before you go to the register, see what price you can find online and ask if they will price match.

soresident said:

bought a cat toy at Petco n Route 10. Checked receipt when I was back in the car since it seemed like total was just too high. I was charged $29.99 (thought price was 19.99). Checked on their own website and it was 9.79! I was told, when I went back in, that they can't compete with even their own online prices, but would match it!!

davidbuckley said:

So crazy. Similar stories?

I have ceiling lights throughout my house and two of them burned out at the same time. I was recuperating from surgery and couldn't drive, so I needed delivery. I price compared everywhere online and indeed Amazon was the best priced (well below HD and Lowe's -- and Shop Rite). I had to buy in bulk, but, hey, I'll never probably have to buy these bulbs again. And they came very well protected -- nothing broken.