Get the best electronics deals

Buying electronics online was more pleasing for Consumer Reports readers than buying at a walk-in store, according to our survey on almost 30,000 buying experiences. And the proportion of major electronics purchases that readers made online more than doubled from 2006 to 2011.

No wonder some big stores are cutting back. Best Buy, the biggest remaining chain, said it would close 50 of its 1,000 or so locations in 2012. Best Buy and Staples plan to shrink the size of many of their stores. Walmart, after years of expanding its electronics offerings, has stopped selling Amazon's Kindle tablets and e-book readers.

Retailers blame their sales woes in part on so-called showrooming, the consumer practice of checking products out firsthand in stores before buying them online. Some 18 percent of the 10,000-plus readers we surveyed who bought electronics products online fessed up to showrooming. More than half of that group eventually bought from Amazon.com, which accounted for almost two out of three online purchases in our survey.

Although online purchases have increased greatly in recent years, about twice as many respondents bought in stores as on the Internet. And though online shoppers were more satisfied overall, the best walk-in options got high marks, too, as our Ratings reveal.

Wherever you shop, a few simple steps can help you get the best deal on a major electronics purchase.

Consider coupons and gift cards. It's worth checking sites such as Techbargains.com for coupons and other deals. Relatively few of the readers we surveyed searched for online coupons before shopping in stores or on the Internet, but one in four of those who did found it to be worthwhile.

Another useful tactic: Check retailers' ads and bargain sites to see whether they offer gift cards that can save you money on a future purchase from the retailer or manufacturer.

Haggling can pay off. Negotiate for a major electronics item? Absolutely. Only one in eight of the in-store shoppers we surveyed tried, and those who did so this year were a bit less successful than in 2011. But hagglers who prevailed saved a median of $86.

Negotiators for a TV set had the greatest savings, at $114, while those who bargained for a camera saved a healthy $63, up from $53 last year.

Negotiation was typically more successful at some stores, including independents, than others. Yet even one in four hagglers at Apple Stores, which are known for stable pricing, managed to get a break. You can also bargain online: 2 percent of online shoppers tried and half succeeded, most by phone or e-mail.

Our advice: Go to a walk-in store armed with evidence of the lowest price you've found online and ask whether the store will match the price or at least come close. You may have the greatest success in getting stores that also have websites to match their own online prices.

Skip the extra contracts. It's more likely than ever that you'll be pushed to buy an extended warranty on your major electronics purchase; about three-quarters of in-store shoppers were, up from two-thirds in 2011. P.C. Richard was again the pushiest retailer with those plans, which we think are seldom if ever a good buy.

At Best Buy, you might also be pitched on the chain's paid Geek Squad technical support. More than three-quarters of respondents who bought such services in stores and used them judged them excellent or very good. But free retailer tech support services (offered by stores such as Costco and Apple Store) pleased 87 percent of those who tried them.

Read Resist the extended-warranty pitch for more tips and advice.