PhantomStranger

That one is still independently owned by the people that started it.

It's amazing how high their site ranks in Google searches. Search on most any Blu-ray and DVDempire's page is usually one of the top five results after the Amazon and Blu-ray.com listings.

Super D's webfronts must have made someone at Google very angry or their site design is atrocious. It's tough even searching those sites from Google. I know that Google attempted to exhort money from the larger shopping sites a few years ago for higher search engine results. I'm guessing that Super D didn't play ball.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, I think DVDEmpire is still an independent company, but I suspect that their business is mostly subsidized by their porn business.

They have an advantage over Amazon with free shipping at $25 and no sales tax, but their prices are so high you're better off buying from somewhere else if you're price conscious.

If you're interested in porn, their sister site, AdultDVDEmpire, is about the only major porn DVD seller standing after the Bush administration shut down and seized Fivestardvd in one of their obscenity busts. They've also moved into digital purchases and streaming rentals.

Josh-da-man

I remember back in the day when internet start-ups were burning through investment capital and selling everything below cost that buy.com had some really good deals but their customer service was atrocious. They eventually improved, and I recall ordering a bunch of books from them at a really steep discount. Only ordered a few DVDs from buy, though.

I primarily used reel.com with their 40% off pre-orders stacked with $5 and $10 coupons. Good times, but most of the stuff eventually ended up dropping in price to even less than we were paying at reel with all of the discounts.