Why is TurboTax download cost $20 more than CD from BestBuy?

[jerrykrinock]

I find these prices for TurboTax Deluxe 2018:

Download from Intuit:               69.99 USD

Buy CD at BestBuy store:          49.99 USD

Why is the price of the CD and box apparently negative 20 dollars?  Do I need to scrounge up an old computer with a CD ROM drive in order to save 20 dollars?

[NCperson]

that appears to be the case.  Intuit doesn't control what Best Buy sells their product for (and from another thread Amazon is offering the same price as Best Buy so Best Buy is forced to price match)

[jerrykrinock]

Intuit does control the price they sell to retailers, though. I've been thinking about this. The cost of sales of a unit of software is close to zero. Therefore, to maximize sales, the software maker, Intuit, wants to sell to as many as possible, each at the highest price they will pay. Some people will pay more, some less. This has always been incompatible with the traditional market in which you sell to everyone at the same price. But, ah, people who have new computers which lack CD ROM drives are apparently willing to spend more money on computers, and probably software, than people who are hanging on to their ten-year-old computers that have CD ROM drives. So Intuit can get more sales dollars by charging more for the download and less for the CD ROM. Very clever!