i was just curious, what is the avg. price for tv sets you guys buy? i wanna buy some tv sets, but is there a big difference between the price at the store compared to CH? i know you can get dvds for as little as $5, which is awesome, but what about TV sets. thanks!

Sets don't see to be as good a deal at CH as the $5 average movies are. Eventually at a B&M retailer, TV sets drop below the $20 mark consistantly. At CH they're usually at least $30 or more for most and shipping on sets is steep. Occassionaly you can get a deal on certain sets at CH but the retailers are usually better.

Purchase sets as fulfillments and then the relative/average price of them will be MUCH less than anywhere else.

they always charge shipping on sets... as far as i can tell.. and it's steep, like $6 a set... makes them pretty worthless relative to how much you would pay in a store....

i paid about $65 including tax for the first 4 seasons of smallville... if i buy it on CH right now, i'd pay $211 including tax and shipping...

if you want something right away, say i wanted to buy smallville season 5 right now, it's priced at $42+$8 shipping plus i could get a free movie with it (including a $30 title like Lawrence of Arabia)...

so for that order, the cheapest normal price of Lawrence of arabia is $23 at overstock and the cheapest price for smallville season 5 is $30 at amazon

so you're paying $50 + tax at columbia house and finishing up 2 fulfillments... whereas if you bought the titles elsewhere, you'd end up paying $53

But again, this only works if you have a set that you want that's very new and if you have a movie that is relatively expensive on the outside market... in most cases, you're best off waiting a bit for the set to come on sale somewhere before buying...

Yes, TV sets have come down in price a lot in recent years, at least on titles that have been out for awhile. I saw the first three Smallville sets for $15 or so (don't remember exactly) at Target yesterday. If one is willing to wait a year or so then most sets seem to become bargain priced somewhere.

That said, if one wants a new release set now, the ones priced at $39.95 or more are usually much cheaper at Columbia House because they count for two fulfillment credits. Each fulfillment credit lowers the "relative cost" of the set by about $14. This is how it works:

A standard membership has an average cost of DVDs of about $5.86 (counting the $5 off web discount, although it has been tricky to get of late):
Enrollment: 6 x 49¢ + $9.95 = $12.89 (7 DVDs)
Fulfillment: 2 x $19.95 +$4.98 (shipping) - $5 (webdiscount) = $39.88 (2 DVDs)
Total: $12.89 + $39.88 = $52.77 (9 DVDs)
Average DVD cost: $52.77/9 = $5.8633

I will used this number as the "value" of a regular DVD.

Now, consider fulfilling with the Smallville: Season Five box set, which is priced at $41.97 on your account, I believe:

Enrollment: 6 x 49¢ + $9.95 = $12.89 (7 DVDs)
Fulfillment: $41.97 +$7.99 (shipping) - $5 (webdiscount) = $44.96 (1 Set)
Total: $12.89 + $44.96 = $57.85 (7 DVDs plus 1 Set)
Relative Cost of the Set: $57.85 - (7 x $5.86) = $57.85 - $41.02 = $16.83

Can you find Smallville: Season Five for less than $16.83 elsewhere? If not, then it is a good deal at Columbia House. And that's not counting a free DVD using a B1G1F sale offer code.

In general, sets priced at less than $39.95 at CH aren't very good deals, because they count for only one fulfillment credit. Sets priced at $39.95 and up are often very good deals (but older sets can be had on sale at other stores for very low prices, if one keeps an eye out for bargains, as you have said). However, it is also possible to get some first or second season sets as enrollments in the TV Edition of the DVD club, and that can be a pretty good deal (but selection is limited).

Here's one of my recent orders:

Lawrence of Arabia Limited Edition
Widescreen 2582708

Pinky and the Brain: Volume 1
Full Screen 4440608

Just Like Heaven
Widescreen 4332904

The Killing
Full Screen 3214400

Total Items Ordered: 4
Order Total: $36.18 ($34.13 before tax)

I can't find how the order breaks down.... but, let's look at this order by itself (without tax), forget the fact that it counts as a fullfilment...

The Killing was only $3.18, and Just Like Heaven was $2.99 in terms of shipping... so, I'm paying $27.96 for Lawrence of Arabia & Pinky & the Brain Volume 1....

The cheapest place I found Pinky and the Brain is about $27 from DDD with the 20% off... so, already i'm almost coming out ahead... then the fact that it counts as a fullfilment and i get Just Like Heaven for $3 and Lawrence of Arabia for just $1....

So if you really want the set, its worth it...

thanks guys! helpful info.

no problem... and one more thing, my above order included the $5 discount from signing in from an e-mail link

I think CH boxed sets are outrageous. I hope I'm allowed to post this link (and you would need to register), but aside from CH, this is where I go to find out the best price of DVDs that I'm interested in.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...splay.php?f=26

I'm not spamming you guys either, as I have no affiliation with this site other than as a poster (same username too).

That's a good site rayny, but they get plenty of their DVD deals from dvdtalk. And that has nothing to do with this club section. Just read this thread and you will see that CH boxsets can be far from outrageous.

Well, when I can get the Gilmore Girls, Charmed, The Dukes of Hazzard, Stargate (which I did get for $20 each season - not from CH though), etc for a good price at CH, I'm all in. Right now, these are the titles my kids (hubby wants Stargate) are asking for for Xmas, and well......

So while you may be able to get one or two titles reasonably priced, overall, I have to say that's not so.

I'm certainly not dissing CH though as I have had many memberships with them thru the years and I am pretty loyal to them overall.

Thanks to this site though, I just joined CH again tonight (our 2nd membership at this time and hopefully it will be approved) where I only have to buy 1 more DVD to complete my enrollment. I was thrilled have found that code, so I posted the above link as my way of giving something back. I don't know where the posters go for their information there, but I do know many are just young kids who post every sale they run across and are thrilled to share. I also use their video game sales as a way of getting great deals on games for my son.

Edit: I guess this is where I should post my apology. I came here looking for CH deals and it's the only board I read. I didn't realize till just now that there are other boards dealing with DVDs sales in genral. I will enjoying reading those as well.

No need to apologize. Yeah, there are lots of great barains to be had for dvd's these days. The CH option tends to be good for "relative" cost bargains. If you have any funcash on your accounts you might want to check the thread that deals with that, you can get some real steals with it.

I have 14 items in my cart at CH right now (waiting till the 5th to submit it because that's when one of the movies releases) and the price is like $163 and I found a code here which raised the price by roughly $3.00, but it also raised the fun cash amount from $20.00 to over $60.00. I'm pretty excited about that too!

I won't use it for sets, but I will enjoy spending it none the less. I know I'll preorder Descent, prolly get the new World Trade Center movie, and for the last one, it's still up in the air.