Why do DVD prices go up and down like the stock market? Everytime I go into Futureshop I see price changes on old and new movies. For instance, last month American wedding (single disk) was $17, now its around $30

American Wedding is $19.99, I just checked Futureshop.ca. What you might of seen is an older price tag. Movies typically go down in price, not up.

A side note: If you go to Futureshop and you purchase a movie that has an advertised price but the price they ring up is wrong (not matching the sticker price), they have to either give it to you for free (up to a $10 value) or reduce the price by $10.00 on the lowest sticker price. If the cashier argues with you about it, just point down on the counter and they post it there.

Thanks Chemical, I didn't know about the price thing.

I have noticed that prices do go up and down though.

Prices do generally go up after the first week or so of a release.

For example: If you went into Best Buy last week, Star Wars was $41.99. As of this past Monday, the set is now $49.99 there. This is commonly done as the early buyers (movie geeks like all of us here) are more price conscious than the average public. So now all of the hard core fans have their Star Wars sets, and the casual fans will buy it for $8.00 more.

Ummm, that's just a "sale." Detergent goes on sale a week at a time too.

Yes, but it's common across the board with all major new releases at the big stores. They all start out cheaper in the begining and then raise in price,... which is partly what he was asking about.

True, but technically the price on Star Wars, for example has not changed - the MSRP is still $69.95, it just that the stores offered a bigger discount the first week or so. Of course, bottom line is still the same - it'll cost you more than it did last week.

That is the very SIMPLE point I was trying to get across.

I see that prices are going down.

Here's how pricing works:

Studios set a MSRP - manufacturer's suggested retail price. This price then determines the wholesale price that stores will pay for a DVD, as well as the price that the consumer will ultimately pay.

So, say a studio releases a new DVD for a MSRP of $29.95.

The store is under no obligation to sell the DVD at that price, and may choose to sell it at a lower price if it so desires, or even higher if it wants to. (Though higher-than-MSRP rarely happens.)

Usually, a DVD with a MSRP of ~$30.00 will sell in stores for around $20-$25. Unless it's at the mall, and you can expect to fork over the full $30.00.

When a lot of titles are first released -- especially major releases -- you'll sometimes see stores selling them for as low as $15-$16, which might even be below that store's wholesale cost. This is a move to either attract people to the store or undercut their competition.

After the first week of release, these low prices will generally go away and the DVD will settle back around $22-$25.

It looks like the price is going up, but it really isn't. The sale is just over. The important thing here is that it's the STORE that sets the price, which is turn based on their wholesale cost/MSRP.

At a later date, the studio will also likely re-adjust the MSRP to something like $19.95, which means the DVD will then retail for even less. Usually near the $15 range.

That first week sale is not what the sticker price is. You will notice this at BB. The sale is dated on their flyers and on tabs on the shelves. The box will have $19.98 or what-ever but from Tuesday to Saturday it will sell for $16.98 or something like that. If you wait long enough and they have alot of copies you may eventually find it in the 9.99 bin up front.

The beauty of having a large collection is you can sit back and wait for alot of the fringe titles to drop in price. Lately I've been seeing TONS of titles released in the last 6 months going for less than $15 everyday. I cringe to see the under $10 titles I paid $20 for so there are lots of releases I just wait on now.

I have the impression that children's movies tend to be higher priced and hold their price longer.

They also seem to rarely go on sale (Yes, I know Ice Age is on sale this week at Best Buy, that's why I say "rarely" instead of "never"). I hardly ever see good deals on kid's movies.

I'm just waiting for HD-DVD and saving my money. There's really no point in buying movies anymore. I mean really, you buy a movie and the next month a better edition comes out for a cheaper price. It's just a pain to keep up when you have hundreds of titles.

I'm gonna be kicking myself because I know damn well the LOTR is going to be a HD-DVD set in a year or two, will probably contain a lot more footage than the current EE sets, as well as a few other titles I will have to have on HD-DVD.

When HD-DVD comes out, I'll be s**ting bricks as all the DVDs we're bought now will probably drop in price......but I love watching movies and will still continue to buy them now.

Oh well, what can you do

I have no plans to upgrade any of my existing movies to HD-DVD (except for Star Wars).