[Ryan1524]

hi everyone, i was just playing around with the canadian edu apple store, and i was never asked for a student id or anything of the sort. it only asked which university i go to, which is of course a free choice (no student id was requested). i picked a university, and that was it, i'm inside the edu store with all the reduced prices. i tried to follow the order process and i went up to the 'Place my Order' button where they asked for credit card and shipping info. of course i didn't continue because i'm not buying just yet, but i'm curious, if no verification is asked of a supposedly edu purchaser, then what's stopping the general public to take advantage of this discount???

i'm not in uni yet, so does that mean i can use the edu discount anyway?? if so, not bad...

can somebody who used the discount shed some light on this. thx very much.

 

[triplezoom]

I just used the discount to order a G5 and it did ask me for student/staff ID right after it asked me which educational institution I went to.

 

[Ryan1524]

i managed to go up to the 'Place My Order' button (credit card submission) without it asking me for a student ID. is that odd?

it asked for a student id BEFORE they asked me for the institution, but i left it blank and it let me pass.

 

[Trevor...]

It's not enforced,

 

[monokitty]

Um, when I clicked on the Education page, on the Terms and Agreement page, there was a form space where I was asked to enter my student number or ID, but even if you leave it blank, you can still proceed. I highly doubt Apple verfies if you're part of Education or not.

 

[RicktheChemist]

DO you think Apple would give you a super deal without asking for verification? That would not make sense.

I am sure there are ways to verfiy if you are a student or not, such as matching the ID number to a student profile and to a VISA card number.

At work, we check IDs for every edu software package we sell..

Cheers,

RtC

 

[Urban_Legend]

Hahahaha a SUPER DEAL??? Not bloody likely...the best deal I could find was a savings of $400.00 edu for the 15" Powerbook. There is not much savings for a student when shopping at Apple. Anywhere from $10 to what? $500 if you're lucky? The iSight is still full price. The iPods are $50-100 cheaper etc.. like I said it is not a SUPER DEAL and it depends on what you buy.

 

[Trevor...]

From time to time there are okay deals, but there really hasn't been anything special since the end of 2000 when they had G4's and iMacs that no one wanted stacked to the ceiling.

Usually the bookstore or even normal resellers will have better deals than Apples academic prices, and unless your buying like $10,000,000 worth of hardware they won't really do anything where school prices are concerned.

 

[Ryan1524]

the edu discount can only be used on one each of powerbook, ibook, imac, or emac. (not sure about the G5 or the iPod). and it can only be sued once for each school year. which eliminates bulk buying by one student. and it's only 5 - 15% discount. i know the savings are only about...300-400$, but for me that's quite a lot of money.

i suppose they can also check the name with the university by us giving them the institution and our name, but what if we already paid? it didn't ask or enforce verifcation until the very last step of the online purchase (credit card). and i'm sure it can't check our name within that split second while it processes our order. so what is it really? how does it work?

and what if i need to buy the machine BEFORE i begin the school year, because i would certainly not buy a computer a few days after i start school. i'd like to get prepared before that, and as a switcher, i'd like some time to get used to the OS.


and as said before, edu discounts are not that much, and not everybody goes digging for deals like i did. so maybe apple just let any limited number of people who did it to take advantage of it???

 

[monokitty]

he edu discount can only be used on one each of powerbook, ibook, imac, or emac. (not sure about the G5 or the iPod).

Both the iPod and G5 have EDU discounts. You save $300.00 off each G5 model. That's not too bad in my opinion.

 

[Leanne]

Assuming Apple would verify the username with the student ID, what if you were a parent purchasing a computer for your child to use at college, but you were using your name and mailing address because it was going on your credit card?

I've always wondered about the EDU store too. Although it does have the user agreement at the beginning before you check in, so by going past that you're breaking their rules right there. Is that what they depend on?

 

[james_squared]

Hello,

I don't recall any verification of an employee number when I purchased an eMac. I think the Terms of Agreement stipulate that Apple may check the validity of your status as a faculty/staff/student of a K-12 or post-secondary institution. I don't think verification is an automatic process as the costs involved could be high compared to the probability of catching someone who is misusing the 'discount.'

James

 

[Guido]

I recently bought FCP 4 from the apple store and got the education discount. I am Faculty at a local College. But when I called to order it they didn't ask for my faculty number or emloyee number or anything. Also it was cheeper then the schools price. And if you look at the price on the Apple canda store for FCP 4.0 it is a huge saving!!!!!!

 

[Ryan1524]

well, i'm going to buy it for school purposes anyway, so would it be fine if i bypass the Student ID request and simply buy it, even though i'm not registered on the uni yet?? and technically i'm not breaking the agreement, since i 'will' be in a school...right?

 

[murbot]

I know for a fact that they do not check anything when you are making an Education purchase. I have 2 friends who just bought PowerBooks at the online Education store, and neither are in school.

Jerks paid WAY less than I did.

 

[sansabelt]

Sweet.

I'm thinking about switching and I'm probably going to buy in Jan after Macworld SF.

If this is true, it'd a nice little price drop after the macworld price drop.

-sb

 

[Guido]

I was at a local mac store (in the GTA ) on Saturday and we were talking about the ed discount. The store owner said he has called Apple about this, because he is lossing business cause of it. Of course they said they would look into it. But I don't see Apple doing much about it. I wonder if Apple will let the stores offer the discount?

 

[Ryan1524]

anyway, i've just checked the Edu store, and they've changed the login system. now you can't leave the Student ID field blank. it'll ask keep asking you to put one in. i put my High school ID (althou it asks for a Univ one...) and it works. actually, i put ANY number and it works. i guess it's only for the records...nothing's really verified.

 

[sansabelt]

Guido,

They should. It could be a great closing tool to close the big sale.

-sb

 

[Ryan1524]

i think they should let students, ANY students get the discount. because it's clearly going to be used for educational purchases. american HS students can get the edu discount, why shouldn't us? i mean, i'll want to buy a PB BEFORE the univ school year starts...which means most likely i won't have the univ student ID, YET when i'm gonna buy it. i don't think that should stop me from beefitting from the edu discount.