6 Secrets From Best Buy Employees That'll Change How You Shop

How knowledgeable is Geek Squad staff? Why do Best Buy employees always try to push protection plans on customers? We've found answers to some of your most curious questions by searching through iAMAs from a Canadian sales rep in the store's computer department, a former employee, and an employee of three years who's worked in multiple departments. You'd never guess one of their biggest shopping tips ahead! Check out six secrets about Best Buy.

"We can do major deals on the warranties! Sometimes, we can do half-off two year or three year, you just have to ask!"

"Laptops and game systems have almost zero mark up on them. Sometimes when you see a computer on sale, we are losing money. But cables are dirt cheap! I had to buy an HDMI cable a few weeks ago, and I got the fancy Rocket Fish one, the regular price was $69.99 CAD. I think I only paid $15 CAD for it . . ."

"For the most part, no. A couple of them were my friends, so I knew my tech was in good hands. However, I found that I had a monumental amount of more tech knowledge than most of them and therefore cannot trust my stuff with them."

"Geek Squad repair agents and Geek Squad counter agents are different. The repair agents are genuinely the smartest people I know, but they also don't speak to customers, so they're not the ones you talk to at the counter or on the phone. The counter agents, in my store at least, are all fairly new, but also all very interested in computers and are eager to learn. They try not to lie to people, but sometimes they just don't know what they're talking about because they've never encountered it before. Nobody's there just to talk out of their asses, though, and all the counter agents want to be repair agents when the opportunity arises, so they're all fairly smart."

"The protection plan was EXTREMELY useful in some cases. But for some other things, it was stupid and a waste of time. For the most part, I didn't agree with it, and wouldn't sell it if I thought I was wasting your money. By 'wouldn't sell it,' I mean I would offer it, but I wouldn't actually try to convince you to buy it. Oh, and if you asked me if it was worth it, I would look around, and then say 'LOL NOPE.'"

"We make a lot more money on protection plans, accessories, and other things than we do core products. We lose two percent on almost every computer we sell, so we need to push some other stuff to make anything off of it. Nobody likes doing it, but the average person does need some attachments in order to make their experience as satisfactory as possible."

"The biggest tip is to simply ask for better prices on open items. Most supervisors and managers are SO desperate to sell their at-risk inventory that they will pretty much give you it at cost if you're getting other stuff. My brother bought a $1,600 TV a few years ago for $799 because he bought a $100 protection plan on it and it was really close to costing us money."

"We do not work on commission at all. We do, however, bonus quite nicely dependent upon the store's performance."