Venom

hey,

i noticed something new on blockbuster receipts and that is a Own It price listed for each title rented.

it may stem from a suposed lawsuit in which "the no more late fees" advert is misleading.

so now on their receipts it gives a date that shows how much more it will cost to own this title. as known before, BBV subtracts the cost of the rental from this "buy it now" price. around here the rental cost is 3.99, which may vary.

what is interesting is that when you use their online rental service you get two monthly free rental coupons, which could possibly reduce the out of pocket cost to own a movie by 3.99. given BBV high prices this may not make a difference or a deal, but it might in seldom discounted titles.

for instance;

i rented* Zatoichi (2003), i used a free rental coupon and the receipt says
"own it 03/30/05 for only $9.00 dollars more."

since i used a free rental coupon, the out of pocket cost to own it to me would be 9 bucks. DDD sells it new for 20.51.

now, it would be used from BBV but i assume the copy you buy would be the copy you have, meaning it would of been watched and any defects or scratches would be known. and just with other used BBV product it would lack a real case and most likely a insert if one usually came with the title.

and lastly, BBV may require you to actually pay the 3.99 or void the whole thing since a coupon was used. i got no idea. the receipt says what it says with no restrictions.

so, any thoughts about this?
any BBV employees who could comment on this working or what not?

nonametofame

I noticed this just yesterday too after renting some PS2 games. I rented Transformers and apparently I can own it if I pay another $10. The free rental coupon was good for the $6.99 rental. I know a used copy of Transformers doesn't go for too much so it's reasonable to assume its full cost was $16.99. I think it's safe to assume that there shouldn't be any further restrictions. What I don't know is if they'll provide the original artwork and cover for the game. They only seemed to have one for their display case and I doubt they have any extras. Still though, $10 for a PS2 game aint half bad.

dick_grayson

yeah, but this whole "rent to own" thing doesn't work, since you only own the disc, right? It's not like they mail you the case/insert. I don't know why anyone would want to rent to own just the disk.

Shap

This may be good for OOP titles (my Blockbuster carries Blues Brothers & Mallrats) if they still charge MSRP instead of the eBay value. Worth a shot.

daddydaryl

I would assume that if you ask a BBV employee, they could get you a case and cover since it would technically then be a Pre-Viewed Dvd.

Ronin4223

This is how I got my copy of Frighteners.......

chileorgullo

how I got my

armageddon criterion
big trouble in little china 2 disc
casino
hard boiled (fox lorber)
fight club 2 disc

DonnachaOne

You assume incorrectly. Official policy dictates that they have to throw out the case and cover.

Note - that's OFFICIAL policy. Whether or not your BBV employee might be aware of that, well...

Venom

so for those who have purchased rental copies from them;

did anyone use a online rental (or any other) coupon to make the deal better?

did you get the disc you get original case?

DonnachaOne

Guy I know at Blockbuster was going to give me the case for an OOP Romper Stomper after I had rented it long enough to buy it, but the manager stopped him from doing so. I simply returned it; I don't need to jump through hoops for OOP DVDs...

Venom

interesting.

chileorgullo

nope white cases, but the dvd is the dvd.

tonyc3742

Why is the policy to throw out the case and cover? They obviously keep some of them, to represent the title on the shelves, and you'd think sales of complete items would be higher than sales of incomplete items.

chileorgullo

why do they replace the covers with the blockbuster generic case?
I remember back in the days of VHS they rented the original case, but it was in a plastic thing that you had to squeeze the movie out of.
they don't have to rent out the regular cases, still do heavy duty for security, but I don't know FWIW it's nice to have the original artwork and list of special features instead of a big blue blockbuster thing. it's a better alternative than to throw them away.

DonnachaOne

With a lot of DVDs, especially the older ones, they might have only one copy. So, when I kept Romper Stomper out, of which there was one copy, they were going to throw out the case; they didn't have the movie to rent anymore, so why would they keep the case on the shelf? (That was why I thought I might be able to keep the case...)

Also, they're a rental place and make more money renting something out over and over than selling it - they don't want to give people incentive to snap their library up for a couple bucks. I'm sure they'd love it if people bought up the catalogue titles that might rent once a year though (except for some of the more well-known and well-rented ones).

tonyc3742

But now their policy is 'rent to own'. In the past, sure [although a lot of titles do eventually get sold as PVT.] But even that wouldn't really matter, because people who 'lost' the disk, wouldn't come in and say "Hey, I lost Salo, but can I have the cover?" In those cases, where the disk was 'lost', okay, I can see tossing it at that time.
If you 'rent to own' a title, you're going to pay whatever BB asks for it; I think they charge either MSRP for a newer title, or the PVT price for an older title. They're not just giving them away.

Ronin4223

Thats how it worked for me and Frighteners. It was the only copy on the shelf. I told the guy that I couldn't find it new and was just going to rent it and go ahead and keep it. I asked if I could have the case and he told me if there weren't any more on the shelf, to go ahead. It was the original dvd case, even had the insert in it.

DealMan

Blockbuster CSR's are trained to give the customer the amaray and rental insert upon customer request when an item is sold off to an account.

The price is determined by the new BBV DVD price minus the rental fee for newer releases, or the PVD price minus rental fees for older titles. They do not charge you the price of the coupon if you used one.

So for example if a PVD retails for $6.99 and you rent that title with a coupon, you could keep it and only pay $2.00.

unclehulot

Anyone remember the EARLY days of Netflix, when you could rent to own for a pretty decent price, and they DID send the original case to you? Didn't last too long. The other early NF oddity was the .02 dvd they sold of Clinton's Grand Jury Testimony!