Long lines, few bargains as Circuit City fire sale begins

Bargain hunters descended like vultures upon shuttering Circuit City stores over the weekend, but from what I'm hearing, true bargains are hard to come by. Also: Don't worry, your extended warranty is still good.

The Circuit City liquidation sales began in earnest Sunday, just a couple days after the bankrupt retail chain announced it's throwing in the towel after 60 years of business. (Based on the 600-plus comments on my Circuit City post Friday, many disgruntled shoppers are more than happy to see the chain go under.)

Reports from the various shopping fronts detail long lines at the more than 500 remaining Circuit City stores over the weekend, with CNET News.com witnessing "pandemonium" at a southern California stores ("consumers swarming everywhere … seemingly snapping up anything that wasn't nailed down"), while Harry McCracken of Technologizer found long lines but a "sedate" scene in a south San Francisco outlet.

While the lines were lengthy, real bargains were apparently in short supply. ZDNet reports that the most popular items—flat-panel TVs, gaming consoles, and iPods—were either just 10 percent off of had no discount at all, with furniture and cables (ho, hum) getting a 30-percent sticker-price shave. (And remember, liquidation items are often marked up before discounts are applied.)

Circuit City—which has handed over operation of its remaining stores to four liquidation companies—expects the sales to continue until about March or so, and as ZDNet's Larry Dignan suggests, the real bargains might not emerge until the very end.

Meanwhile … what about extended warranties and gift cards? Well, Circuit City's shopping home page was replaced with a lengthy liquidation F.A.Q. over the weekend, complete with all the details.

In a nutshell: Extended warranties are, indeed, managed by an outside vendor, and will be honored even after Circuit City has given up the ghost.

Also: Circuit City gift cards will be honored during the big liquidation sale. Once the sales are over, though, unused gift cards will be useless, so make sure to cash them in now.

Finally: All sales are final—no returns or refunds. If you bought something at Circuit City before January 16, the 14-day refund/exchange policy is still in effect.