Harold Chasen

While trying to figure out how to maximize the use of the current 20% off Borders coupon with my 10% Personal Shopping Day, I realized what I really wanted was a list of discs that were *less than* 30% (or so) off MSRP at the major online stores like DDD. I couldn't find any way of doing such a search though - even DVDPriceSearch only provides an "at least x% off" search option. I used to keep such info on my wishlist, but with all the sales the past year I've burned through most of those!

Since B&M places like Borders and Barnes&Noble typically only take coupon discounts off full MSRP, it would be great to be able to come up with a list of only those discs for which that's a good deal. There must be some!

Anyone have any ideas?

FangsFirst

I suggest building a wishlist, then just shopping a few sites, generally you can at least get a good idea of what kind of price to expect.

Of course, step one is use bordersstores.com to find out if the item is in stock at your local Borders. If it is, multiply the discount, then use the result to compare to prices at various websites.
That's how I've gotten some nice deals for the past year and a half or so from those. keep in mind, incidentally, that it's not 20% + 10%, it's 20%*X*10%--ie, 28% total.

Harold Chasen

Yeah, that's what I've been doing. I was hoping someone might have something more automated, like a "Less Than X% Off" search for DVDPricesearch. Borders sales like the Buy 3 Get 1 Free only really generate good deals for stuff that's already on sale, like New Releases. But I have noticed from time to time there are discs that never seem to be discounted very much or simply aren't available at online sites.

FangsFirst

Right, which is why I suppose the *main* suggestion I have is to have a wishlist (I user intervocative's dvdprofiler for mine) and just sort of look through titles to search on main sites to get an idea of how available or discounted they are. It at least narrows searching when you have a specific list...

RonMexico

Where can I find that 30% off coupon?

ctyankee

I get the premise ... as Border discounts off full retail find the items that rarely discount (elsewhere) and thus find lower price at Borders than at other places. I doubt that's a long list but that not my main point.

I'm just suggesting that the whole premise is rather weak.

The other approach is to just avoid DVDs that don't discount really well.

FangsFirst

Huh?
Do you just buy movies on the principle of their cost?

That seems weird. Why would you avoid DVDs that don't discount well--or rather, why would you avoid them *PERIOD* just for that reason. If it's a film (or whatever) you're interested in, shouldn't the cost be relative, rather than completely irrelevant? IE, "Before discounting, it's not worth it, but if it reaches price X it becomes worth it"?

I dunno. Maybe I just misunderstand the statement...

ctyankee

It's about leveraging the limited dollars most of us have for buying DVDs.

Many would benefit from not owning pricey DVDs (whether they are expensive before or after a discount). This allows us to buy more with that limited budget.

If something is expensive, why not just get it at the library or Netflix or get it used etc.?

Now, if you HAVE to have it in your collection ... it's already there so let's leave that aside.

But the point some have raised is whether there is a systematic way of figuring out what is a good discount for something not largely discounted.

And yes my viewpoint is simple, there are enough great films that are heavily discounted already that one need not consider such a list. Sure there's such a thing as relative value, but with DVDs heavily discounted all over the place is that really the issue?

Other than the Criterion's, DVDs usually come down so I see little advantage of NOT waiting. Even then, one can make the argument that even though the Criterions are discounted 40 to 50 percent, the starting point still makes them less of a value. I would certainly agree that depends on the title and the subjective view of the individual consumer. But I find that most I can get at the library and most I don't want to see more than once. And honestly, I still buy too many of them because reality is there are 2 or three great films that I could pick up for the one great Criterion title at 45 percent off.

Just look at other threads where people have long lists of stuff they haven't gotten too ... heck we all have that stuff ... but heck don't compound the problem with impulsive purchases that aren't great deals from the get go.

Just my take ... I could be wrong.

FangsFirst

Ah, no, that makes perfect sense, but with some titles there's a point of diminishing returns. I have some titles on my list that are too obscure to be on sale (no store would carry more than 2-3 copies) and have been around long enough that they've hit that 9.99/12.99/14.99 pricepoint that they are so unlikely to move from any time hence. But for some reason they're also, strangely, too cultish to ever be thoroughly discounted either.

Or, on occasion, titles that go OOP.

These are the things I'm usually looking for for things like this.

Or older classic films that are not *ULTRA* classic, like "lower tier" films in a big star's repertoire, or from particular studios. You could wait forever for them to show up in a 4.88 dump of randomness at a wally, but there's no guarantee that'll ever happen. Some of them just sit there and stagnate at that price, never dropping, never discounted, just sitting at that price.

Now, as far as netflixing, I'm not of the mind to ever rent myself, even with the loose parameters of something like Netflix. I end up finding myself wanting to watch those movies I thought I could just rent too many times, or too randomly (ie, no time to wait for it to come into a store or come in the mail) to justify that. That's of course just personal though.

And I avoid used DVDs on the whole unless I can actually see them (even then I often don't), which is severely limiting insofar as such purchases.

So there's a market for this sort of thing. If it isn't yours, so be it, but there are some of us oddities

ctyankee

True. Good point.

agitprop

I've had good luck in the past getting OOP titles at Borders. Even managed to find some OOP Criterions and other goodies that I swapped with other DVDTalkers.

chileorgullo

is the least discounted dvd bamboozled? it is always quite expensive

Harold Chasen

Well these are some interesting responses to the question I posed. I suppose it was prompted by having several Borders stores in the area and wondering how to maximize the occasional sales and coupons and member reward discounts. When I can put together a purchase of something I want that's significantly cheaper than I could already do online, I feel like it's a good deal. When it comes out to just breaking even, I usually don't bother. Keeping a wishlist is a good idea, and I've done that for years, but keeping the current online prices updated is just not gonna happen. Sometimes I find it easier to look at a list of things on sale to identify things I might want. That's all I had in mind.