Costco is best known as a place to sample food while finding great deals on bulk items. I’m a Costco member and my family is still busy with the ketchup bottle of 114 ounces I bought for a 4th of July party.
But Costco is also a leader in selling many other products, since headphones to appliances and books. And what about electronics? Should you buy a TV at Costco?
The short answer is, depending on what you’re looking for, it might make a lot of sense.
First, let’s go over a few Costco Basics . Memberships start around $ 60 per year and allow you to shop at any Costco in the world, as well as at Costco.com. There are other types of memberships that are more expensive, including an executive membership for $ 120, which offers a 2% cash back on purchases, up to $ 1, .
Costco does not offer day passes or trial memberships, but non-members can purchase products, including televisions, at Costco.com. However, they will have to pay a 5% surcharge and will not be able to see the price of any of the items promoted as member exclusive offers. That’s a real downside in my opinion – as the retailer offers a lot of member-only TV deals.
Note: Costco accepts credit cards only if they are backed by Visa, so they don’t you can pay with American Express or Mastercard. Costco also accepts cash, checks, and most ATM and debit cards.
Costco offers many TV brands and screen sizes
Costco has a pretty decent variety of TV brands, both in stores and online, although it has fewer brands and models than you’ll find in a specialty electronics store like Best Buy. Costco tends to focus primarily on better-known TV brands; Their current selection includes TVs from Hisense, LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio.
It’s a pretty good list, but if you’re looking for a model that did well in our TV ratings from another national brand, such as TCL, or a lower-priced device from a home brand such as Insignia (Best Buy) or Onn (Walmart), you will have than to buy elsewhere.
Additionally, we found that Costco tends to focus on larger TVs, especially 55 inches or more. At the end of October, Costco.com had 34 televisions with screens of 65 inches in stock and 38 televisions of 65 inches or more, including some models from 86 inches. So Costco is a good choice if you’re looking for a big TV, and of course many of us are doing exactly that.
Costco offers smaller, less expensive TVs, but not as many. We only found a TV of 30 inches and a handful of models under 48 inches. The only devices of 48 inches are two OLED models, which cost considerably more than LCD televisions.
No matter what type of TV you are looking for, you will find more options on the site Costco website than in warehouses.
Costco TV prices are competitive
Can be difficult Find out if you’re really getting a good deal on a TV at Costco and other stores. Nearly identical TVs from the same manufacturer may have different names for that model, depending on which store you go to. This makes it difficult to compare prices and take advantage of price match guarantees. A retailer is not required to match the price of one of its competitors if the televisions have different model names, even though the sets are almost identical.
Despite all this, we consider Costco to be very competitive against other major retailers when it comes to TV prices. In fact, it’s not difficult to figure out the warehouse club models on your own, so you can compare deals and look for reviews in Consumer Reports’ ratings , available to members.
Often, model names differ by only a few digits from what you’ll see at stores like Walmart or Best Buy. For example, with LG televisions, models sold in stores have the AUA suffix, while televisions sold in other types of stores use the PUA or PUB endings. That OLED TV LG OLED 65 CXAUA from 65 inches you find at Costco will be very similar to the LG OLED 60 CXPUA from Best Buy or Crutchfield.com.
Samsung TVs sold at Costco usually be differentiated by a single number or letter. For example, you will find the Samsung QN 65 Q8DA at Costco and other stores and the Samsung QN 65 Q 80 A at Amazon and Best Buy.
Sony TVs usually differ by just one or two digits. The Sony XR – 65TO80 J is sold at electronics stores such as Best Buy and Crutchfield, while than model Sony XR – 65TO80 CJ can be found at Costco and Sam’s Club.
In most cases, TVs work very similarly and there is often a price difference of $ 100 each. Sometimes they are exactly the same price. For example, the two Samsung TVs are priced at just under $ 1, 200 at Best Buy, Costco and Walmart; Both Sony are about $ 1, and Costco.
Those are list prices, but Costco tends to sweeten its offerings by including an extended warranty as part of the purchase price or by pairing a TV with another item, like a sound bar, at a lower price than if you bought them separately.
Some stores include installation with the purchase of a TV. However, when you buy a TV at Costco, you only get delivery to the room of your choice, excluding assembly and installation. You can purchase a basic installation for $ 20 and Costco will mount your TV to the wall for between $ 100 and $ 120.
Guarantees and returns at Costco
The policies of guarantee and Costco returns are among the best in the industry. The wholesale store extends the standard manufacturer’s warranty on televisions, along with other select electronics, to two years from the date of purchase.
If you have a Visa Costco Anywhere card, you’ll get two years of protection.
Costco also offers three-year extended warranty plans, which are administered by Allstate. Unlike other extended service plans, where coverage runs at the same time as any other plan (so a three-year plan covers you only two years after the one-year manufacturer’s warranty runs out) , Costco coverage begins after all other warranties expire.
That means you could get up to seven years of coverage if you buy a TV at Costco with a Costco Anywhere Visa card and also buy a Allstate Protection Plan. In this case, the first two years would be covered by the Costco membership, the next three years would be covered by Allstate and the last two years would be through the credit card.
Costco also offers members free technical support for televisions and other electronics. The online helpdesk is open from 5 am to 10 pm ET, seven days a week, excluding holidays.
But there’s some bad news about Costco customer policies. Overall, Costco’s return policies are very good: You can return just about anything, for any length of time. But the retailer canceled that policy for TVs and some other items at 2017.
Now, you have up to 90 days to return a TV. It’s still a pretty generous lead time when compared to many other retailers. At Best Buy, for example, you only have 20 days to return a TV, unless you pay for the $ TotalTech Technical Support membership service a year that extends the return period of televisions to 60 days.
Walmart and Target have return policies of 30 days for televisions. Crutchfield has a return policy of 60 days, but if you bought online you will have to pay between $ 135 and $ 175 in shipping costs, depending on the size of the TV. (Crutchfield has only two stores, both in Virginia.)
Another thing to consider if you’re buying a larger TV from a Costco store is whether it will fit in your vehicle. Despite having a decent sized van, I had to borrow a van to carry my TV from 75 inches home. Costco doesn’t ship store-bought TVs, but partnered with GoShare for deliveries. According to the budget I received for the delivery of that television from 65 inches, it would have cost me $ 114 shipping plus $ 1. 94 per minute if delivery time exceeded 55 minutes.
Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2021, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with the advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports is an independent nonprofit organization that works with consumers to create a just, safe, and healthy world. CR does not endorse products or services and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2021, Consumer Reports, Inc.