Never content with sitting idly on his hands, Ruslan Kogan is again making waves in the Australian retailer kiddie pool by offering a free 3 metre HDMI cable to any JB Hifi Customer who purchased an HDTV this year.
Not content with pushing Gerry Harvey closer to heart attack, Kogan seems to have expanded his war on retail to JB Hifi. This particular battle is about the exorbitant price of HDMI cables – an issue we’ve taken a stance on previously as well. Kogan has come out criticising the cost of some HDMI cables, and has decided to offer their own 3 metre HDMI cable to any JB Hifi customer who purchased an HDTV this year, for free.
There are quite a few conditions attached – the biggest being that you need to claim your cable by the end of this month, as well as send through proof of purchase to Kogan, which you can almost guarantee will be used as a form of research for the online-only TV retailer.
But then again, a free HDMI cable is better than paying $100 bucks for one, especially when Kogan’s claimed he’ll cover shipping as well.
[Kogan]
Cameron
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 10:58 AMI think it’s more interesting/exciting that you can get a 3m HDMI cable delivered for less then $10. I’ve not seen many deals like that for Aussies. Sure you can get cables for the same price at Monoprice, but you’ll be charged like $20 shipping.
Ben Shuker
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 11:03 AMI’ve never paid more than about $6 for an HDMI cable. I get them from ebay.
I have a PS3, Xbox and PC all plugged into my TV and they all work great.
Luke Eller
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 2:10 PMSame here. It’s crazy to pay JB Hi-Fi prices for HDMI cables. I’m no expert, but I imagine if cables all follow the same standard, the experience should be identical, no?
faction
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 11:07 AMDamn, I bought one earlier this year but can’t find my receipt. I wonder if a bank statement would work…
Andrew
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 11:11 AMIf you’re up for a laugh, read this review for $8,450 speaker cables:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R21766FJP94399/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R21766FJP94399
Terence D
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 4:23 PMThat is one hilarious link! Some of the other comments are great too but the one you linked is the best.
LOL
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 11:21 AMfree cables cool, as long as you don’t buy Kogan’s low quality TVs then it’s all good…
P.S. Don’t feed the Media troll….
wsDK_II
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:29 PMdo you own a Kogan TV?
i do, and there is nothing wrong with it at all, great price and good quality.
Kogan used to be down right dirt! but now they are alot better, just check out any of their 100+ reviews mate.
troll
Mik
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 11:25 AMWho doesn’t ask the retailer to throw in a HDMI cable these days?
I baught my TV from Joyce Mayne 18 months ago, told them I needed a HDMI cable, and they threw in a $120 belkin cable for free – even though they had cheap $20 cables avail.
I doubt any retailer is going to lose a tv sale over a free HDMI cable.
pew pew
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 12:23 PMHeh, for free…
It’s cute when people say oooh so & so threw x in for free!
You paid for it well and good if they threw anything in for free.
Namarrgon
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:08 PMEasy to do, when both the $120 Belkin and the $20 “cheap” cable likely both cost them under $5…
GG
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 12:01 PMAh well companies first tried to con people with so called high quality sound cables and now it’s so called high quality hdmi cables. As long as there are peope out there who are easely influenced and ignorant about some things then people will try to get money out of them. I’m happy with the cheapest hdmi cable I can find (MSY will usualy do if i need it quick)
Namarrgon
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:12 PMAt least high quality *analogue* sound cables have a chance of improving the sound (though the difference quickly becomes inaudible in a blind test).
Since HDMI signals are digital, the cables are either flawless or they’re instantly-visible crap. I’ve seen bad interference on screen when using the very cheapest of HDMI cables – when they were 15m long and carrying a high-bandwidth 1080p 60Hz signal – but at anything less (or with a slightly better cable), they were perfect.
Adam
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 12:07 PMI get HDMI cables from my local computer store for something like $10 for 1.8m and $15 for 3m.
Richard
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 12:54 PMMSY have HDMI cables starting from $5 to $29 and I thought the $29 cable was on the pricy side.
poedgirl
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:04 PMI got some HDMI 1.4 cables from Jaycar for $9 each. The big retailers are really rip offs.
Lillee
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 2:10 PMCables? One word: EBAY
The Gremlin
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 2:47 PMThis. Guy. Is. A. Marketing. Genious.
Rey
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 9:22 AMNo – This guy is a Dickhead – Says so right here:
SmartHouse.com.au – By David Richards | Monday | 07/03/2011
“Dickhead Kogan Offers JB Hi Fi $1M Bet If They Are Still Selling Apple Product In 2014″
Nick Broughall
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 9:32 AMI hope you’re not telling me you base your opinions of people from the rants of the Phantom of the Internet?
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2178689.htm
Rey
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 11:35 AMTouche – Correct you are Nick
But don’t we all now suffer from the same problem – If it’s on the InterWebs, it must be true – He said, she said ? I mean, isnt that what Kogan would have us believe ? He diatribes some meaningless crap and it must be the truth ?
But you are right – The Phanton may not be the best example to post.
Tyronomo
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 4:02 PMI bought my HDMI cable from Coles.
If I wasn’t in a hurry I would have ordered online, didn’t want to wait for shipping :P
matt
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 4:46 PMyou can walk into Big W and get the mad catz ps3 3m hdmi cable for $30. sure, thats not great compared to the online direct from Hong Kong options, but I still find it interesting that its less than 1/3rd the price because its considered a ‘cheap third party gaming peripheral’ as opposed to ‘luxury, futuristic home theatre AV cable’
also, JB and alike make VERY little profit from the ‘main event’ items like the TV, or games console, they rely in recouping from marking up the relatively cheap garnish, like wires. if people stop doing this, JB and alike will raise the prices of the TVs and consoles… and you can’t get a name brand anything from Kogan…
and actually, most retailers will give you the main item even cheaper if you buy it with a cable, i.e. effectively, most will discount the markup of the cables if you ask for a bundle deal.
Paul
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 12:44 AMI just get mine from DEAL EXTREME, gold plated, USD$9.83 shipped to anywhere in the World FREE!
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/gold-plated-1080p-hdmi-v1-3-m-m-shielded-connection-cable-3m-length-32176?r=11382684
Thanks Kogan, $10 per lead for qualified HDTV JB Hifi customers is nothing to pay for this bit of marketing genius.
Alf
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 9:54 PMlol, i tried similar crappy plastic “affordable” HDMI cables from ebay. They were “v1.4″ as well. Supposed to be 3D compatible. I got it home, and the 1.5m cable i got just gave me white spots everywhere – I got a better (non 3d) picture using my normal AV leads.
After a bit of hunting i found http://www.myhdmi.com.au and they had some pretty good prices – around $25. I wasn’t expecting the cable to be so fat and strong for the price. Replied quick to emails too. I recommend this place over any cheapo discount cables – only had to wait a day for delivery.
Elishia
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 1:15 AMi got mine online and they’re great, at http://www.myhdmi.com.au – was a pretty good deal. i’ve seen other ones at ezyhd.com.au for around the same price, check em both out.
luke
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 12:30 PMWhat?
I bought 1.5m HDMI cables from JBHIFI for $10 each?
I don’t quite understand what the big deal is.
Nobody has to buy the stupidly priced ones.
Just ask?
James
Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 11:07 AMGot my HDMI Cable here: http://www.spacehifi.com.au/contents/en-us/d1_HDMI-Cables.html
Good range and free shipping. As others have said. No need to pay crazy retail prices.
David
Friday, June 3, 2011 at 6:42 AMHello James,
Just stumbled upon our link that you posted. Thank you for the recommendation.
Just wanted to post the updated link as we made some changes recently (category URL has “en-au” now instead of “en-us”) just in case anyone needed it.
http://www.spacehifi.com.au/contents/en-au/d1_hdmi-cables.html
Mike
Friday, June 10, 2011 at 12:13 AMif he’s giving them away, they can’t be all that great quality.. i just got a cable from http://www.myht.com.au and it looks like it’ll last a lot longer than a cheapie giveaway!