Pre-ordering DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Elena S]

Can anyone with experience in pre-ordering DVDs tell me which company(s) is fastest at getting them out to you? I've heard that some ship so that they're received on the release date, whereas others ship ON the release date. Has anyone received a DVD on the release date or even before? Thanks for your help and insights.

 

[ScottRichard]

I pretty much preorder all of my TV DVD sets from either Deep Discount DVD or Amazon. With Deep Discount DVD, I always receive my preordered sets the day before release date or right on the release date (a few times they've actually arrived on the Saturday before release date!). With Amazon, they've always come a day or two after release date. I've been amazed that preorders arrive so quickly from Deep Discount since if you just order a DVD that's already released, they're actually pretty slow, and Amazon is faster in that regard. Oh, and I always choose the free shipping option with Deep Discount.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Technically, pre-order DVD's and CD's are not supposed to ship until their release date. Meaning that companies are bound by the Street Date law which happens to be part of the scan law that says a company cannot sell an item before the street date. While pre-orders aren't affected, companies are bound by this law that they cannot ship the item before its release date.

 

[Ollie]

I've done two pre-orders from Deep Discount DVD. That Girl was received ON the release date. Doris Day Show-S3 was received two days after release date.

I pre-ordered Hazel-S1 from DVD Empire, and it was just shipped yesterday, the day before the 8/1 release date.

I've head that Amazon is pretty good about shipping so that pre-orders are received on or before the release date, but have no personal experience with them on pre-orders.

 

[Jason_V]

Like Scott, I've had very good success with DDD. I don't preorder a lot, but on the occassions I have, my order has come in on release day or the day after. Not too shabby.

 

[Ollie]

Wow! I wasn't aware of this law. My local Sam's Club had Charlie's Angels - S3, out on the shelves on Saturday, 7/1, three full days before release date.
I wonder if this is something widely known by retailers, or do some just choose to ignore it?

 

[Mark Talmadge]

I know ADV Films, which releases a ton of anime DVD's and sci fi releases has had a large problem with store chains such as Best Buy and the such. FYE/Record Town/Camelot has a problem with pre-selling Paramount DVD's and ther list goes on and on.

When a retailer pre-sells a DVD or CD item the studio that distributes that item can refuse from shipping that store chain any of its DVD's. This is problematic with store chains trying to get a jump on their competitor. If I were you, I'd file a complaint with the studio that released that Charlie's Angels set. I file complaints about Best Buy all of the time. I know I ended up buying one anime DVD a good 10 days before its official release date at Best Buy.

 

[Steve Meil]

I've had very good experiences with mostly Amazon and sometimes Deep Discount DVD. Amazon is usually a couple of dollars cheaper on most items (not all). They usually arrive somewhere between Mon and Wed. On amazon you can track your package. I have been usuing the free delivery.

 

[Steve Meil]

I've had very good experiences with mostly Amazon and sometimes Deep Discount DVD. Amazon is usually a couple of dollars cheaper on most items (not all). They usually arrive somewhere between Mon and Wed. On amazon you can track your package. I have been usuing the free delivery.

 

[Elena S]

Thanks for the responses. I tried pre-ordering a DVD from DDD, even asking for expedited shipping. It came 3 weeks after the release date after much complaining from me. The next time I placed an order from them I ordered 3 different DVDs. They sent me 2 of the same one. When I complained they said I would have to ship them back at my expense to get the mistake corrected. I haven't ordered from them since.

 

[Katherine_K]

I work in an office but I try to walk the TV on DVD section in my store every couple of days because our recieving crew is fined by our own company if they cause a break in the street date. I think this might be my general attitude about retail, but I am leary of doing things that might cost individual employees money.

 

[Steve...O]

It isn't a law. Nobody will go to jail for breaking street date. However retailers can lose advertising co-op dollars (or suffer other penalties) from the studios for breaking such dates. Yes, it is widely known. Some retailers may ignore it, but more often than not, it's the carelessness or ignorance of the retailer's employees that result in street date violatoins.

As for the OP's question, all I will say is that I support HTF sponsors whenever possible.

 

[TravisR]

Whenever I've ordered from Amazon (be it a DVD, CD or book), they've almost always gotten it to me on Tuesday. There's maybe two or three times when I've had to wait until Wednesday or Thursday.

 

[Barbara.G]

I always pre-order from DVD Empire. When I ordered from Amazon, they NEVER arrive until a week after they are released. You can also track your package there too.

 

[Don Giro]

This happened to me a few months ago. I ordered Season 3 of "Scrubs," and my confirmation e-mail showed 2 copies. I know for a fact I didn't order 2 copies or click the "place order" button more than once. What sucks about DDD is that once you place an order, you can't go back and adjust or cancel it, so I had to ship a copy back at my own expense.

The only other thing I can say negative about DDD is that if you order multiple titles with expedited shipping and one or more items is backordered, the backordered titles are sent out "media mail," which usually takes a week in my experience.

I use free shipping, and get discs from DDD about a week after they street, even if I order months in advance. This doesn't bother me because their prices are usually good, and I can catch up on other stuff while I wait for my order to arrive. Plus, they have that amazing biannual sale.

However, if my order totals more than $25 (which is true for about 99% of my orders), I usually go with Amazon. Notice when you place an order with them that if you change your shipping option to "free," the EXPECTED ship date changes by about four days. I usualy receive my orders within a day or two after the e-mail notification.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Interesting how everyone has different results with the online stores. Maybe it has something to do with the shipping location. I almost always order from Amazon and get most releases by Thursday, 2 days after the street date. I always order free shipping since my orders are more than $25.00. I use DDD occasionally but I have noticed that in most cases. new TV/DVD releases are cheaper from Amazon than DDD. DDD's prices are sometimes cheaper with sets that have been released for a while and most movie DVD's are cheaper with DDD. I prefer Amazon most of the time since I think they have a more user-friendly return/exchange setup. I don't have to pay for shipping fees when returning a set for exchange. DDD doesn't pay (for me, anyway) return shipping costs. I always receive my shipments faster from Amazon, even using the free-shipping option. I also like Amazon's "User Acct" setup better than DDD's (viewing past orders, etc). I have only used one other online store once, and that was a bad experience. To give DDD some credit. they have improved their online store considerably during the last year or so. The "search" function is a lot better than it used to be, and they got that E-mail 'notification' issue fixed a while back.

So, bottom line is that I order new TV/DVD releases (which is almost all of my buys) from Amazon and order previously-released TV/DVD's, if they're cheaper, from DDD. I order what few movie releases I buy from DDD most of the time since they seem to be cheaper in price for the movies.

 

[DavidofLondon]

I do most of my pre-ordering from DVDPacific they tend to ship around 10 days or so before the release date. Although as I live in England that tends to mean I still don't get it until the release date but I occasionally get it before release date despite international shipping.

However they may be shipping early to take into account the shipping time and might not ship that early to US addresses, I don't know never asked any R1 people, maybe someone else on the forum can answer that.