Bargains Forum - no more Best Price threads?
 

Um...

Bad idea.

The great thing about the 'What's the best price' threads is that you end up getting the best price.

If you just have a price search engine you don't get info on the rebates, coupons, etc that end up getting you the best price on a release.

I don't agree with it either. Are we supposed to post the lowest price for every DVD we find? That would completely clog the forum. When someone asks about a specific title, then there is at least some filter because it indicates titles people are interested in.

A recent example: There was a $5 Tower coupon that coincided with a Tower sale on Columbia releases which included Superbit titles. I mentioned it in the Tower thread, but didn't want to start an entirely new thread just to mention some deal people may or may not be interested in. So a person looking for a deal on Superbits quite possibly wouldn't have seen it since a lot of us quite often ignore Tower coupons because their prices are usually high. However, someone then asked about good deals on the October Superbits and I was able to respond to them there.

I conquer with you guys.

No, that's not a solution.

Those threads are discussing a specific deal, not listing the best deal.

Again, this is a very bad move, and I wonder if it isn't driven by the advertizers, if so this signals a change in the weather that bodes ill for my staying on this site.

I came here to find the best deals, not to read ads. I'm more than happy to read ads, and support this site, if I can find the best deal, but this 'new rule' is going to prevent the main reason I come here.

I suspect it is for business reasons too. I would rather see more emphasis on reminding us to click through the links when we shop online. I know I was negligent in doing that for a long time and I suspect others are as well. Now I've gotten to the point where if my wife wants something from Land's End, I'll come to DVDTalk first, click through a link to Amazon, and get the item through there.

I started a "Best price on Aladdin?" thread because I was locked in a preorder price and needed to know whether or not to cancel my preorder. DVD Price search is a useful tool, but it can't tell the future. Within a few hours of starting this thread, I got enough educated guesses to roll the dice until the street date. I saved a couple of bucks and got a monkey doll, so sometimes those threads can be helpful. Oh well.

this is a stupid idea.

why would it be a good idea to have 2,000 threads with each one stating every price that every store is selling a certain dvd for?

You can bet your ass that in a thread like that someone will come in and post a better deal if there is one.

Sorry but I've got to disagree. I've gotten great deals through DVDTalk but NOT ONE has been through a best-price thread.

Examples:
The Hulk $3 deal
The Chabrol set for $16

I think the motivation is that if someone asks something like "What's the best price for 'Dawn of the Dead'?", that question will more than likely already be answered:

1) through a price search website
- or -
2) in existing threads (if a particular retailer has a coupon, if there's an advertised special, in the Target/Best Buy/Circuit City threads)

I think it would be tremendously useful if someone or a group of people would compile a list of each week's releases and post the best deals for those titles. Kinda like the weekly thread on the HTF, but instead of being limited to a few retailers, it would show the best price from sites like Deep Discount DVD or a store with a coupon.

I like the Cheapassgamer.com approach -- their bargains forum is for posting bargains only. Requests for the best prices go in a separate area. Maybe DVD Talk will eventually add a request forum too.

They might but they also might have posted that 'best deal' in the Amazon Deals thread or another store price thread, or in the New Release thread.

If there's a 'Best Deal on XXX' thread then you're sure to find it.

Unlike others (and management), I have no problem with the "best price" threads... and, in fact, I think they have been every useful for high-profile titles.

Search? I do see your point though.

I think it's a mistake to do away with Best Price threads as well. It's more convenient to find just the info you want about a specific title...without having to go through several other threads looking to see who has it the cheapest. The search engine is not always your friend in this case. just 2 cents.

xpfshost

So I search on 'aladdin' and I find 63 threads, I then read each one, scanning though all pages to see if I can find the best deal.

or

I open the 'Best Deal' thread and I'm done.

What do you think about the idea of having a Bargains forum that only contains Bargains, and then a subforum where people can post requests?

Again, not useful. I come to the Bargains forum looking for a good deal on a title, then I have to go to another forum to see what the actual best deal is?

Best Price threads are a MUST!!

I thought the goal of the bargain forum was to find the best deal and post it. :hscratch:

No. You'd go to the bargains forum for a list of specials, coupons, sales, etc. If you read the bargains forum regularly, you won't need a requests forum.

If you don't visit the bargains forum regularly and just want quick info on a title...or if you want to post a request...go to the requests forum.

This way, if you want to know the flat-out best price for a title, there's one central place you can go. If you want to read about actual bargains, you don't have a bunch of "what about _______?" cluttering up the forum. Seems like a great solution to me.

Also the suggestion that one should hope to find someone who posts 'better price' listed in a thread like:

Aladdin $29.99 at OnlineDVDVendor

Goes against suggested forum rules. It could be conceivably regarded as an off topic post or even a threadcrap to suggest folks go elsewhere to find a better price.

Why not create another a sub-section of the bargain forum dedicated solely to these types of threads, i.e. the best price on an individual titles. That way, those that want them will have them all in the same place, and those that want to avoid them can just view the main bargain section.

Already been mentioned. :)

Cluttering up?

I'm confused.

If I want to find the best price on an item, I want to find the best price on that item.

Just because I don't want another item does not mean that a thread indicating the best price for that unwanted item is 'cluttering up' the forum. It is there to help fellow DVDTalkers find the BEST PRICE FOR THAT ITEM.

How is this a problem or complicated?

I would argue that the threads cluttering up the forum are threads on specific deals like:

10% off Aladdin at OnlineVendor - $20.99

That thread serves no real purpose if you can get Aladdin for $15 shipped from elsewhere.

Yes.

To use some recent examples:

"$4.80 rebate on The OC: Season 1"
"BlockBuster - Get $8 minimum on October 3rd"
"Short Circuit $3.99 at buy.com"

Those are bargains.

"what is best price for van helsing ultimate edition?" is not a bargain. Someone might reply with something that applies, but for a general user seeking out deals in general, those threads clutter up the forum and make it more of a pain to find meaningful deals.

Segmenting requests out into a separate area means people who just want to see bargains can see bargains, and people who want requests or one-stop information on a specific title can find that too. Everybody wins.

I found nothing wrong with the Best Price threads as well, and i'm surprised that people felt they actually clogged up the threads. I don't see how it makes it harder to find real bargains... if anything i believe it helps. Those threads are ususally where someone comes up with particular coupons or deals. DVD Price Search engines are hardly the best way to find the best price on new releases (which these threads are ususally confined to).

I don't think a seperate 'Requests' forum is necessary, and would end up being less useful. Subforums in general seem to attract less traffic.

Ah, finally. The "Best Price" threads are gone.

Always hated those things...

No, everyone wastes time.

Again you're assuming that a 'best deal' thread is useless because it is just a post requesting info.

You are not recognizing that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE POSTS ends up having the best deal in it.

So rather than having multiple threads listing every store's price on an item, you can have one thread that discussing the plusses and minuses of the various deals.

A vote for Best Deals is a vote for less clutter.

I get the feeling that nothing meaningful is going to come of discussing this with you, so I'll drop it. But seriously, where are you getting this "20 threads for every store's price on every item" thing from? No one's saying that.

Every single best price I got on a title I've bought in the past 3 months is from either reading a Best Deal thread or posting one.

I am exaggerating to make a point, but you made it for me. Specific posts on specific prices for an item mean you will have multiple (not neccesarily 20) threads on the price for an item.

Example:

Aladdin is coming out the best pre-order is let's say $19.99

Then on release day there's a $15.99 best price

Then a week later there's a coupon combo that gets you the title for $11.99

Using your logic of 'only posting deals' you have 3 threads created.

Using my logic of 'best deal' you have one thread listing all three.

Re: Bargains Forum - no more Best Price threads?
 

Hmmm... I wonder what the 'strong feedback' actually was? And does this feedback thread counter it in any way? Seems the feedback was one-way when the decision was made and the decision never factored in the people who liked it the other way.

BTW, here's my 'strong' feedback: I liked the 'best price' threads! They made it much easier to find prices on release dates that included rebates, specials, etc. The on-line search engines and few ad threads don't give the whole picture.

Another point I've not made is that the vauge deal threads like:

"BlockBuster - Get $8 minimum on October 3rd"

Can hide a 'best deal' for Aladdin in there. The way I'd find it? I'd do a search for Aladdin and stumble across it in the 63 threads in the bargain forum (yes, there are 63 Aladdin threads in the bargain forum) or I'd have to read each of the threads for each of the vauge deals.

"BlockBuster - Get $8 minimum on October 3rd"
"BestBuy Madden coupon"
"Frys 10/19 ad"

No, there won't.

If there's a coupon, it'll be posted in a coupon thread. It'll cover a large number of titles. I don't need to post a thread about every single title Deep Discount DVD offers if they have a coupon. If it's a new release, it'll be covered in one of the new release threads. People don't post the way you're suggesting. They do for very specific deals (which are the examples I listed), but generally, most threads cast a much wider net than that.

You're making my point for me.

I want to buy Aladdin. I make no secret that I'm CheapBastid I want to pay the absolute minimum for Aladdin. How am I served?

I look in or create a 'Best Deal' thread for Aladdin for myself and other Bargain conscious DVDTalkers.

Or I search through coupon threads, frys ad threads, posts on specific deals, rebate threads, and waste my time and your bandwidth.

How many DVDTalkers want to find out about a general deal? Folks come here to find deals on titles they're looking for, thus the value of the 'best deal' thread. Yes, there will be 'best deal' threads on titles you specifically are not interested in, but they are there for the folks who come here to get the 'best deal' on those titles (which they happen to be interested in).

Odd that.

=)

Exactly. In a separate forum since a request is not a bargain. We're going around in circles here. I'm going to let Geoff or whatever other mods/admins came to this decision post. I agree with them, but they can support their decision better than I can since I wasn't a part of it.

Again I say.

BEST DEAL THREADS CONTAIN THE BEST DEALS

They are not just random useless posting by dooling idiots. Since they contain the Best Deal on a title, they are by definition Bargains.

Almost all of the "Best Deal" threads I start offer the best deal I can find, and ask for others to contribute.

That's the whole point of DVD Bargains, isn't it?

Most of the experienced users know that DVDPricesearch, etc aren't always the best deals. Many stores don't even show up on the price-search engines.

i dont like the "Best Price" threads in the bargain area, it clutters it up and it always seemed to me like laziness on the part of a poster. i vote for a seperate sub-folder for Best Price and if its too much trouble just to click on that folder to get what you want, then the laziness thing is very very true.