Thinking of applying for a job at Best Buy? One thing that might sway your decision one way or another is the Best Buy employee discount. Here’s everything you need to know about their discount, including items that are excluded and some insider tips that will maximize your savings.

Their Employee Discount is Cost + 5%

So if an item’s retail price is $50, and Best Buy paid $30 for it, as an employee you’d get it for only $31.50.

It should also be noted that you won’t qualify for their employee discount until you’ve worked at Best Buy for at least 30 days.

The only exclusions from the employee discount include Geek Squad services, Apple products, most computers and tablets, movies, and smartphones.

Geek Squad employees also qualify for the discount.

PRO TIP: LEVERAGE OPEN-BOX DEALS

The absolute best way to maximize your employee discount is to shop for open-box items at Best Buy, which are already deeply discounted.

This can give you savings of 60% or more off retail when combined with your employee discount.

Best Buy categorizes open-box items based on their condition. Look for these:

Excellent-Certified: Like-new items that are inspected and tested. Minimal risk.

Excellent: Near-new items with minor cosmetic issues but fully functional.

Satisfactory: Heavily discounted items with noticeable wear but still functional.

Fair: Cheapest option, often with more significant wear-and-tear.

Your employee discount applies to all these categories, but “Excellent-Certified” offers the best value for minimal risk.

Also, use the Best Buy website to check your local store inventories for open-box items. You can then reserve and purchase stuff online using your employee account.

See Also: 65+ Employee Discounts to Help You With Your Job Search

Do Not Get Caught Flipping Products for a Profit

While it’s not illegal for employees to buy stuff with their discount and flip it for a profit, several employees in the comments have said that it’ll get you FIRED immediately if discovered.

So not a good idea unless you’re about to quit your job anyways I suppose.

You Can Get the Discount on Online Purchases

To make it happen you need to have a Best Buy account and register it in the Best Buy employee portal.

I was told to make sure you ONLY do this on a computer in the store that you work-at, otherwise you’ll get rejected by the system.

Once your email is registered, you’ll get a pop-up to confirm your identity and employee number then you’ll be good-to-go.

Then just shop the Best Buy website like usual and you’ll score your discount on eligible items.

BIG thanks to employee Cesar for clearing this one up in the comments.

PRO TIP: LOOK FOR FREE STUFF ON OCCASION

Perhaps the coolest thing about working at Best Buy is the free stuff stores hand out to workers from time to time.

Could be stuff that doesn’t sell, or new items that the brand is trying to promote.

I’ve been told that products with damaged packaging, minor cosmetic flaws, or are discontinued are often given away to employees rather than discarded.

Some Best Buy locations also reward employees with free products for meeting sales goals or participating in training sessions for new product launches.

See Also: 7 Mind-Blowing Ways to Save Money at Best Buy

The Items That Are “Must-Buys” for Employees

Because the discount is cost + 5%, the secret for scoring a great deal is knowing which items at Best Buy have the largest profit margin, which means they have a “low cost” to Best Buy.

Buy those and you can REALLY save some money, easily up to 50% off the retail price.

These items are not laptops and name-brand HDTV’s, but rather things like headphones, cables, cases, and other accessories.

Especially look for deals on Best Buy’s branded items as they have big margins.

These include Insignia and Dynex HDTVs, Rocketfish cables, Geek Squad flash drives, and Modal cases.

If you’re not happy with any purchase you will be bound to the terms of the regular Best Buy return policy.

See Also: Apple Employee Discount: Score a New iPhone Every 2 Years

Best Buy Tops the Discount at 50% Retail

Best Buy recently topped their employee discount at 50% off the retail price.

But there is NO maximum number of purchases that you can make with your discount.

But keep in mind that “managers will talk to you if anything looks suspicious on your purchase”. (via BB employee Thomas)

Surprisingly, Computer Components Also Qualify

This question came from Caleb in the comments, and I thought it was a great question as I couldn’t find an answer anywhere, so I decided to walk into my local Best Buy and find out.

The first employee I talked to had no idea, but I was able to grab an assistant manager on the sales floor and he dropped the knowledge.

As Caleb noted, your employee discount won’t work on pre-builts but it WILL work on components according to the manager I talked to.

But he also said that the margin on these products is fairly small so the discount won’t be big.

Other Important Tidbits You Should Know…

There are two other small things worth knowing…

– Brands Can Limit Discounts – Brands that sell at Best Buy have the authority to limit the discount employees receive.

– Questionable Best Buy “Cost” – I’ve been told that you have to take the word for what Best Buy says is their “cost” on an item.

Some employees have questioned their “cost” as inflated.

Ask the Reader: Do you work at Best Buy or have you in the past? If so, what’s the largest employee discount you ever received?

By Kyle James

Photo credit to Mike Mozart.

Kyle James( Owner/Founder )

I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)