Cheapest Place to Get Electronics?

I am very price sensitive, so when I heard about a place boosting sale of electronic goods at the lowest price in Singapore AND yet still offers $20 “cashback” for every $100 spent, I knew I had to take a look.

So off I went, to Audio House Singapore located at 72 Bendemeer Road, #01-20/21/22 Luzerne Building Singapore 339941 recently when they went totally cashless at the outlet. To make any purchase at the outlet, you will need to sign up for a free account at https://audiohouse.com.sg first.

To be absolutely honest, I am really concerned about the pricing only and from what I can see, the prices here are really competitive. I am guessing that the savings from having just one central location, and having customers do their own browsing, selection and purchasing, were being passed on to consumers. Since they claimed that they will match any prices anywhere in Singapore, you can rest assure that the stuff you get will be the cheapest IF you do your homework beforehand.

Now back to the membership. Since it is free, there is absolutely no harm in signing up for it as you will get $20 cashback for every $100 spent. Effectively that would mean another whooping 20% discount over what is already the cheapest price in Singapore. Sounds too good to be true? Well it is, because there are terms and conditions tied to the usage. I do not think it is wise to name the $20 credit as "cashback" because it gave people like me, the impression that that would be deducted immediately or given back to me as cash. The truth is, the $20 value is credited into the member’s e-Wallet for use in multiples of $20 per $100  on the next purchase.

Example

• You buy a fridge for $1,000. You will accumulate $200 in your e-Wallet.
• Next you buy a TV for $900, you can use up to $80 credit in your e-Wallet to offset the purchase amount.
• The remaining $820 will have to be paid via cashless mode, attracting 3% or $24.60 into your e-Wallet again.

So in theory all is good, except that you will NEVER get to utilize ALL of your credit balance in your e-Wallet. Which is essentially a smart move on their part. It is more of a membership point system if you ask me, with fanciful terms such as “cash back” and “e-Wallet”. But if you were to just focus on the price of the item you intend to buy, and treat everything else as an extra, you will be much happier. Cheapest price they said, and I believe they will honour that promise.

Oh and if your sign up for the free membership between now to 20 Nov, you get $100 credit free to start you off! That means you should spend up to $500 to fully utilize the "free" credit. Thanks for the invite Audio House Singapore!