JoeDoakes

I saw some lightning deals on Amazon on Black Friday of recent film releases, but I don't see anything today. It seems like last year and before they ran a few weeks of lightning deals on a fairly wide range of material and this year--nada. Does anyone know what's going on with that?

popegregFKAgoblin23

Most of them are over I think. They did not do a very good job of promoting them this year (in fact, it almost seems like they were hiding the deals).

Amazon Movie & TV Deals Calendar

drmar35mm

Amazon has been pretty lame in the Blu Ray and DVD deal department all year, and this BF season has been no different. I've bought from a few Amazon third-party sellers this year, but I'm damned if I can think of a direct Amazon order I've made.

That'sAllFolks

They've always been the PM store, with a few good deals throughout BF week. The only unique deals this year have been Back to the Future Trilogy and now Sopranos complete. Even my free month of Prime did not really pay off, since I only ordered 2 things from them (which I could've easily gotten in stores). I just had some credit to burn, which it seems I couldn't even find enough deals to use that. By the time they PM'd I'd already bought the item from somebody else. One more reason, I'm becoming more and more anti-Amazon.

davidh777

The deals were being tracked in the Amazon-specific threads in Blu-ray Bargains and DVD Bargains.

BobO'Link

Not just Amazon but *all* "BF" sales pretty much sucked this year. "Cyber Monday" was even worse! The *only* deal I got yesterday was a new dishwasher at 50% off from Sears of all places! At least my wife is happy!

madcougar

I've picked up a dozen or so DVDs and blu rays on BF over the last 10 years. This year, I bought 1. I made a comment to my girlfriend that physical media must be on its last few legs as it's getting harder and harder to find.

GoldenWheels

Agreed....I always try to fill out my blu collection and this was the worst year of the last 3 IMO, easily.

(Of course, since they discount the same stuff a lot, if I didn't own any of them already FROM previous years, I suppose the titles/deals would look better. Ah, the days when a 5$ Bond blu got my pulse racing! )

BobO'Link

I noticed that too. There were many titles they offered that I purchased last year for *half* of what they were offered for this year! That *really* got my goat! Same stuff at higher prices!

berigan

Oh I hear ya, on becoming more and more anti-Amazon. While I find a few deals via re-sellers (mainly zoverstocks) Amazon themselves...blah. $25 to $35 for free shipping(I know they have to make money, but some different shipping tiers would make more sense)
What really burned my britches was getting an email about BF lightning deals and seeing a 1 TB external harddrive, normally $59 going on sale at 8:10 PM EST. So, I get on amazon before 8, only to see prime members got them all long before...and the rainchecks or whatever they call them, were filled too. And it was a lousy $10 bucks off.
Do they think doing crap like this is going to make the average buyer want to pony up $100? Just pissed me off.

BobO'Link

I have Prime but don't feel like non-prime shoppers were treated fairly. They should have had *some* stock set back for the non-prime start time and not allow any prime member's wait list to take precedence when the additional stock went live. When I saw how it was handled I got a bit pissed myself as I figured if I missed the Prime early version I could always just try again in a half hour!

Like you, I don't think that move will get them more Prime members but will make non-Prime shoppers mad enough to take their business elsewhere.

Of course, like in all prior years, I was totally amazed as just what sells out and how quickly some of it does sell out. Like you indicated, $10 off a HD and it sells out! That's a regular weekend sale price or monthly sale from newegg - *not* a BF LD price! And people jump on it like they'll never get that price again.

That'sAllFolks

I thought it was funny when Grinch (live action) sold out within minutes at 9.75 and then showed up later for 9.99 for a few days. Either people don't pay attention to prices or don't know Amazon's deceptive dealings. It used to be a LD was a special price you might not see for 6 mo. to a year. Now they LD something and then it may show up as the regular discounted price for several days.

I don't think Amazon particularly wants the business of people like us. Those scouring boards looking for good deals. They want the middle classed American who is not "too" concerned about price and doesn't worry about paying a few dollars more for the convenience of "2-day" shipping.

Amazon has even changed the way you can access Amazon Warehouse Deals. They no longer allow you to sort by price, so you can't look for low priced deals. Really, that (along w/ maybe the VOD), is the only reason I would consider Prime. Amazon prices are nothing spectacular, the best only being PM's to other stores. I guess when I lose my BBY elite status in Feb. it may be more of a problem. I don't know.

BobO'Link

I saw *several* items that did the same thing over the course of the long weekend. A few DVDs I ordered via LD became $.02 more later in the day and stayed at that price all weekend. That absolutely annoyed me as I'd sit at the computer waiting when I could have been doing something else and still scored essentially the same deal.
Yep. People like my daughter who didn't bother getting the top Christmas Wish List item for my grandson until it started selling out everywhere. She wound up calling Gamestop and driving 1.5 hours to get what she could have ordered from Amazon just 2 days before. This in spite of me telling her "It's selling out everywhere... you need to order this *now*!" She'd get Prime just for 2-day shipping. I get it so I can have smaller orders plus not have to have a $35 order to get a "deal" on something. Of course that monthly fee eats into those "deals" and without prime I *know* I'd spend less money at Amazon because of the rather high minimum "free" shipping threshold.
I *do* like that they PM other stores so I *don't* have to drive to BB or Target or WM looking for something that is quite probably not in stock or short supply (the online stock checkers are very inaccurate). They also don't yet charge sales tax in my state so that's another minor plus.

If they keep the "slow shipping" offers going I see that as a fairly decent incentive. While I normally don't purchase eBooks, MP3s, or Digital Video I *will* take advantage of the current offer and get a few Digital Movies that are otherwise only on MOD (a format I'm not quite ready to trust). I also got several "free" books for the grandkids for Christmas with the eBook/Book credit one. So far that's almost paid for the membership this year.

Pizza

That's a little sexist. You don't do dishes?

BobO'Link

Yes, I do but I couldn't care less if we have a working dishwasher or not. I washed dishes as well as cleaned up after a meal several times over the Thanksgiving break. While she was working on Thanksgiving dinner I kept the pots and pans cleaned up to make it easier for her to cook (and yes, I cook as well but she was "in the zone" and wouldn't let me help). She seems to think life is horrible without one. Keep in mind that she does *not* work outside the home. And, no, I do *not* mention that - ever... my mom didn't raise any dummies!