Reader Rob writes:

I read your printer woes and wanted to confirm for you and your readers the reasoning for the [high] pricing on cables and computer accessories.

I worked part time for [a major retailer] a few years ago as a computer tech (great employee discounts!) but now work in IT.

Retailers only make a few percentage points profit margin on computer systems and printers (the so called "big ticket" computer items).

They make up for this by upselling you on the accessories and charging a fortune for them.

Things like a 10-foot USB cable (which costs the store under $5) are sold for ten times that. Printers almost never include them. Same holds true for ink, software, mice, etc.

Cables, particularly, are a gold mine for retailers. Audio-video cables for home theater and computers have been the biggest marketing success of the past 20 years in my estimation.

Why buy a $40 USB cable at [a major retailer] when a $10 one from an Internet store can do the same thing? Great question and one [the retailer] doesn't want its casual shoppers to think too much about.

They will throw Monster cables at you telling you they are much better for signal and picture quality, etc. Bull.

A digital cable passes a digital signal or it doesn't. There really isn't much difference in brands or price other than workmanship. Don't believe the hype.

The difference between a $15 generic HDMI cable purchased online vs. the $125 Monster HDMI cable at [a retailer]? Not much other than the fancy packaging.

Analog cables like component video or S-Video may show a tad bit of quality difference if you are comparing on similar equipment with large screen TVs,but the "regular Joe" would never be able to see the difference vs. cost.

Just an FYI from someone who knows.

Thanks a lot, Rob. I did not use the name of the store because I could not independently verify what you are saying. But it makes a lot of sense to me.

First Published: January 23, 2007, 5:00 a.m.