Is it just me or does Amazon not have good prices anymore?
12-12-01, 07:51 PM
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Is it just me or does Amazon not have good prices anymore?
I'm looking at DVD's over at Amazon to buy anime, but its all 10%, 12%, 15% off only... what happened to the good prices? For live action, what I can get at Amazon in US funds I can get in Canadian funds at Future Shop for a price thats almost equivalent to the US price...
Example :
Pearl Harbor : Our Price: $22.49 Us
Pearl Harbor : Sale Price: $23.99 Cdn
That means I can get it here for a price of what... 16$ Us maybe... perhaps even less with the crazy exchange rate of 50% off. I don't know, I wanted to buy some dvd's since I got 6 months worth of back pay at work, but wow, the prices are awful! Are there any sites where I can get anime or other dvd's at a good price? (not Express from which I don't order anymore as they never answered my Emails from 2-3 months ago)
Example :
Pearl Harbor : Our Price: $22.49 Us
Pearl Harbor : Sale Price: $23.99 Cdn
That means I can get it here for a price of what... 16$ Us maybe... perhaps even less with the crazy exchange rate of 50% off. I don't know, I wanted to buy some dvd's since I got 6 months worth of back pay at work, but wow, the prices are awful! Are there any sites where I can get anime or other dvd's at a good price? (not Express from which I don't order anymore as they never answered my Emails from 2-3 months ago)
12-12-01, 09:53 PM
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I was just thinking the same thing today. Most of their best selling titles are equal or more expensive than the B&M store. On brand new releases (every Tuesday), their prices are so much more expensive than B&M that I question why would anybody pre-order from them.
Case in point: this week Jurassic Park III is $16.99 or lower in Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-mart, no shipping of course (80 cents tax). On Amazon it's $20.24, plus shipping of $2.98 = $23.22, assuming you are buying only 1 item. That's 36% higher than B&M stores. You'll need a 40% off coupon to justify buying from them. And even then, you'll receive your disc later than the date of release.
JP3 is not an isolated example, when Shreak, Pearl Harbor, Godfathers, and this week's Rush Hour 2, they have similar margins of price delta.
To be fair, in B&M stores, prices usually bounces up a little after the week the DVD comes out. At where I am, Best Buy and Wal-Mart always sell their stuff at discount, while Circuit City have their discs at list most of the time.
Beeeil
Case in point: this week Jurassic Park III is $16.99 or lower in Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-mart, no shipping of course (80 cents tax). On Amazon it's $20.24, plus shipping of $2.98 = $23.22, assuming you are buying only 1 item. That's 36% higher than B&M stores. You'll need a 40% off coupon to justify buying from them. And even then, you'll receive your disc later than the date of release.
JP3 is not an isolated example, when Shreak, Pearl Harbor, Godfathers, and this week's Rush Hour 2, they have similar margins of price delta.
To be fair, in B&M stores, prices usually bounces up a little after the week the DVD comes out. At where I am, Best Buy and Wal-Mart always sell their stuff at discount, while Circuit City have their discs at list most of the time.
Beeeil
12-12-01, 11:36 PM
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I only use Amazon for preorders since they are 25% off. And their prices are only good when you combine them with STL discounts, coupons, free shipping promotions, and the many Giftcertficate.com promotions to purchase nonpromo GCs. Otherwise I agree they are expensive.
12-13-01, 04:06 AM
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Amazon's DVD prices aren't very good at all, with most I see carrying only a 10% discount. They fare a little better with new releases, pre-orders, and "hot" titles, though. But if you're looking for catalog titles or obscure things, you can do better elsewhere.
I do, however, like their prices for books. 30% off of most books over $20.00 is a pretty decent discount, with 20% off of most others. They don't seem to discount MMPBs any, though that's not much of a problem because even with a discount, you'd still end up paying only slightly under or slightly over retail for those items once shipping is factored in.
Their CD prices aren't bad, and they seem to go by MSRP with a small discount of 10-15%. Which isn't too bad, considering the "shopping mall" music stores often price significantly OVER MSRP.
I do, however, like their prices for books. 30% off of most books over $20.00 is a pretty decent discount, with 20% off of most others. They don't seem to discount MMPBs any, though that's not much of a problem because even with a discount, you'd still end up paying only slightly under or slightly over retail for those items once shipping is factored in.
Their CD prices aren't bad, and they seem to go by MSRP with a small discount of 10-15%. Which isn't too bad, considering the "shopping mall" music stores often price significantly OVER MSRP.
12-13-01, 08:06 AM
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For the most part, Amazon's prices have never been good. They were widely used by prople in this fourm when there were tons of places giving away Amazon GC's. I find that online places are the best places to get old movies on DVD or DVD's that aren't real popular. For example Cross of Iron is best purchased online where as you can get the best deal for The Patriot at your local B&M store on sale.
