BestBuy

Best Buy offers a wide selection of home audio products, including speakers from Yamaha, JBL, Pioneer, RCA, Bose, Atlantic Technology and Klipsch. Best Buy’s website is well organized and easy to navigate. The search button proved to be an affective tool to find speakers; however, using broad terminology often resulted in lists of categories that range from car audio to ipod and mp3player accessories.

The most affective way to search for an item is to type in the brand and model number so as to avoid looking through vast selections. Locating specific items such as Bose Wireless Surround Link speakers, one of the many new arrivals on the website, took just two clicks. This proved to be consistent across all of the various categories and brands. The site offers tens of thousands of products, so Best Buy deserves some recognition for its search feature, which does locate products very quickly and most importantly, the one you are looking for— as long as you are specific in your query. We tried specific products using only the model name/number and while we did receive multiple entries, the correct product was the first product listing each time. Best Buy offers ‘free shipping’ on select portable electronics and the site allows you to track your purchase and shipment. When it comes to returns and refunds, Best Buy has a strict return policy, which requires that purchases are in their original packing and that customers have their original receipt and a form of identification. Returns must be completed in 14 days for portable audio and can either be done in a Best Buy store or via mail. If you were to choose the latter, customers are responsible for all shipping and insurance charges, unless otherwise indicated and there are no online merchandise exchanges. Financially, it makes more sense to return the item in person to an actual store than to ship it back and be confronted with fees. Defective items will be repaired or exchanged at their discretion for the same or the manufacturer’s equivalent model only. Best Buy emails out notices about discounts, rebate offers, and open box items, as well as offers online coupons at select times including during holiday sales.

Shopping online with Best Buy was a generally positive experience even though many popular and expensive items were either out of stock or sold only in stores. Best Buy does seem to carry a large variety of speakers and other electronic accessories at a range of costs.