I managed to save a lot of money on a new set of Bose headphones. Learn how to combine discounts from American Express and TopCashBack to save almost $80!
I’m in the market right now for new audio equipment, particularly something I can travel with. I have a cheap-o pair of noise-cancelling headphones that I got on Amazon for about $40 two years ago, but the quality of those headphones has really gone down, plus they’re incredibly bulky.
After reading Pizzaman’s review of the new Bose QC20 (and QC20i for iPhone/iPad users), I went to a local Bose showroom to try a pair myself. It took less than a minute to convince me that these were a great option.
The normal MSRP for the QC20 and QC20i is about $300. Obviously, I would buy these online through a shopping portal to earn miles or cash back. The best mileage portal I could find was the AAdvantage eShopping Portal for Bose.com, since I would earn 2500 AA miles (for spending $250 or more) + 1500 AA miles for a Bose.com purchase + about 900 AA miles for the actual purchase. After tax, I’d pay $327 and earn about 4900 AA miles, which I’ll value at about $50 given it’s been mileage devaluation season lately.
However, after some digging around, I found an great way to get cash back and take about 25% off the total purchase price.
Amazingly, Sharper Image is still in business. There’s a promo code, AFF30, which takes $30 off any $250+ order. There is a $10.95 Shipping & Handling fee that you can’t take off by using this promo code, so it’s really more like $19 off.
If AFF30 doesn’t work, you can also try Welcome10, which gives 10% off (the same as $30 off!). Thanks @vDerekS on twitter!
There are two deals on top of that: TopCashBack is offering 12% cash-back on all SharperImage.com purchases. If you don’t have a TopCashBack account, feel free to use my referral link. I will earn $10 if you do so, but it won’t affect your cash-back earnings (and you can always refer others yourself later on).
Meanwhile, American Express has an AMEX Sync deal for $25 off any purchase of $125 or more at SharperImage.com You can sign up for this by linking an American Express card to twitter and tweeting #AmexSharperImg. Or, you can log in to your American Express online account and look for “Offers For You” and sign up under the card you prefer to use. The upside to this is that you’ll also receive any Purchase Protection associated with your American Express card, which I value for electronics like this.
Here are my calculations for this deal:
- MSRP: $299.95
- Shipping & Handling: +$10.95
- AFF30 Promo Code: -$30.00
- TopCashBack (12%): -$33.70
- AmexSync/Offers: -$25.00
Total: $222.20 (26% discount off MSRP)
Sure, $222 is still a decent chunk of change, but considering how often I travel and otherwise use headphones or earbuds when working, I see this as a great investment for the price. Plus I don’t have to carry around my bulky headphones anymore.
If you’re interested in the larger QC15 headphones, those are the same price. Unfortunately, I don’t think they sell the QC3, which are normally $50 more.
Has anyone found any similar deals for Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones?
Edit: Check out Adam’s comment down below for a deal through LivingSocial!
