Barnes & Noble Semi-Annual 50% off Criterion Sale (2 Viewers)

[PMF]

Tomorrow is the final day of November and I thought the B&N 50% sale was advertised as running to the end of the month.
Now, it seems that their site has removed all references to the sale; and I'm out in the cold, until 6 months from now.

 

[Ruz-El]

Tomorrow is the final day of November and I thought the B&N 50% sale was advertised as running to the end of the month.
Now, it seems that their site has removed all references to the sale; and I'm out in the cold, until 6 months from now.

Criterion have a couple of flash sales on their site between the B&N ones. Seeing how the coupons didn't pan out I'd wait for one of them. You may pay a little more shipping, but they see more of your dollar spent when you buy direct which helps them out more at the end of the day.

I only picked up a couple from B&N this time due to hitting the flash sale so hard just before. I'm from Canada so no coupons to entice me and I had to pay shipping regardless. I think I'm close to getting another $50 Criterion store credit if I didn't earn it this last time.

 

[David Norman]

The sale ends at the end of CyberMonday almost every year. Most BN sales tend to end on Monday night.

If you need Blurays, are in the US, and really don't want to wait until late Feb for the Criterion Flash Sale or teh July sale -- BN should have a 40% off all Bluray (instore at least) starting 12/20. There is at least a decent chance coupons will be allowed in that sale which would end up making the price at or slightly less than teh 50% sale without extra coupons. Since that sale is used to drive store traffic online coupon are often curtailed though if the codes are allowed there should at least be some 20% codes alive ($20.40 for a std Criterion)

 

[Rodney]

Any information on when the next B&N Criterion 50% Sale starts? My shopping list is getting long, and I missed the last flash sale.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

They're usually in July and November but I don't think they've officially announced the dates yet.

 

[David Norman]

I mentioned it in the 40% sale thread -- an employee on reddit who has been very accurate in the past said July 11.
My clerk yesterday confirmed it to me that their internal memos also said July 11 though interestingly no end date.
Normally it lasts 4 weeks, though on occasion it might be 3. The last 2 times it started at 3 it was extended to 4 weeks though

 

[David Norman]

I think the dates have now been confirmed by multiple BN stores and employees

BN Summer 2017 Criterion 50% Off Sale slated to start Tuesday July 11 through the end of business 8/7

Quick summary:
50% is taken off MSRP, not currently listed BN prices. The sale includes all instore and BN.com Criterions that are available to order (OOS and 3rd Party items are not eligible). The most common Bluray is 39.99 so the price will be 19.99.

Prices online become active starting sometime after midnight ET July 11, but often it takes a couple hours or more for all the titles to adjust. The end date online is close of business on Monday Night 8/7 and is approx 11:59pm ET though some titles may not go back to normal prices until 8/8 1-2am ET.

The sale usually includes all in production and in stock DVD and Bluray including those that release during the sale -- i.e. the July 25th releases are normally 50% off starting at the beginning of the sale.

While not 100% unheard of, any titles listed for release 8/8 or later likely will not be discounted as a pre-order.

Member Discount 10% off Sale Prices is allowed for in-store purchases or store generated ship to home orders for items that may not be in stock at your local store. This is esp helpful for those people with Non-media BN stores.

Other coupon discounts have often been available, but online this was are always unpredictable from sale to sale. Some sales they are allowed, some not, and sometimes it changes during the sale. In-store extra coupon discounts were allowed from the 1st sale in 2009 until Mid July 2016 when Criterions were made ineligible for most coupons. This policy continued during the Nov 2016. Until the sale starts next week there is no way to know for sure, but initial conversations with employees suggest the "Criterion Exclusion" will be be in place for the upcoming sale.

 

[B-ROLL]

David thank you in advance for keeping us up to date on these sales. It is GREATLY appreciated

 

[David Norman]

BN Coupon Code VACATION -- won't know if Criterions are eligible or not until sometime after the sale goes live sometime between Midnight and 2am ET tonight (usually only some of the items change price at a time so it can take a while for all of them to go live) , but I'll put it here just in case it's live and especially if it works at least for a short period of time

VACATION
Take 10% Off Your Purchase of $35 & 15% Off Your Purchase of $60 Or More
Exp 7/13 2:59amET


Probably worth one try, but in the last hour or so, both Criterion DVD and BD have been blocked from teh coupon. Several hrs ago teh web exclusion list added Criterion DVD the list of items so it looks like everything has been added to the system now.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

VACATION is not working on the Criterion titles, but still 50% off with free shipping is a deal.

I picked up the following Blu-rays:

His Girl Friday
Straw Dogs
Life in America (release date 7/25)
Mildred Pierce
Roberto Rossellini War Trilogy

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I picked up The Lodger and Ace In The Hole. I may come back for more later, the $25 free shipping threshold isn't too hard to hit.

 

[David Norman]

The VACATION code was working for some titles overnight, but it was very hit or miss. Mostly trial and error to figure out what was allowed and what wasn't. I haven't heard any early in-store reports yet, but I'm expecting some soon.

The website prices seemed to have a lot more items that had delayed price switched than normal and even a couple hours ago there were still several that were full price. That will eventually fix itself, but not the smoothest beginning in history.

 

[skylark68]

I was interested in picking up "Sweet Smell of Success" but it is still listed as full price.

 

[Nelson Au]

One of the titles I was willing to pay full price for is Being There. But I waited for the sale so I could bundle a few more titles.

I'll go to the brick and mortar store this weekend, but I might try the on-line way to buy.

I've been looking forward to Being There. I didn't see a review of it on the HTF, though I didn't need to see one. I'm sure the Criterion transfer will be great. It just seemed like a title that is going under the radar. Good movie!

 

[David Norman]

I was interested in picking up "Sweet Smell of Success" but it is still listed as full price.

About 20% of the titles were still full price this morning. Around noon a lot of them started to switch, but it seemed like in small numbers like the IT folks were having to do it manually. Definitely unusual -- usually by 2-3 am 90-05% are switched and by 8am ET only a handful usually fall through the cracks

I just checked the site and it looks like everything is now flipped. 830 DVD and 480 Blurays

 

[DavidJ]

Bought a couple of discs in-store today using the 20% coupons I got it the mail. It was my first time buying movies at the front register so I was a bit worried there would be an issue with the coupons. They didn't apply automatically so the cashier had to call for a manager. He applied them without issue.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I purchased the Before Trilogy at bn.com earlier today for $49.99.

I realized later in the day that Amazon had price-matched the BN sale.

 

[albert_m2]

This was the first time that I was unable to use a 20% coupon. However, I also had to check out at the front. It was also the first time nobody was in the media "room."

 

[TonyD]

I saw that yesterday.
A woman was trying to buy a DVD.
No one was back there. Lady was setting off the alarm.
Finally just went up front after a couple minutes.

 

[David Norman]

Some people are getting a few coupons to work though most of the 15/20% types aren't going through automatically and are requiring manual overrides at best. Neither of the stores I went to today did that -- both read the coupons and noted it wasn't excluded, but wouldn't go any further due to the sale (last 2 sales it was about 50/50 whether the clerk would do it).

The one coupon that is still plugging along and seems to always work is the Member $5 off 50 total Purchase.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/promos/bn-promo.jsp?cid=1f980a

19.99 x 3 minus the 10% member and $5 -- 3 for $49 plus tax ($16-17 ea) is still better than pretty much anyplace else. Walk in walk out, don't have to wonder if Costco is carrying them which most of mine quit anyway. Don't have to wait for Amazon to deem a sale to almost match someone is OK and the then destroy them shipping.

Scorsese #2 box with a 5/50 for $51 which is about the same as the online 20% off gave me on Tuesday morning before they locked down all the sets.

Also used the 15-20% off GiftCards I carried over from December finally got used plus a $100 'Free' Reward GC from my CC points

Now just have to wait for Lost in America to release, then can prepare for the next Criterion Flash sale I'm guessing in October again. I had a couple nice discussions with the clerks as usual (got to love BN clerks). I was buying The Lodger and she asked if I'd seen Rope or Cabinet of Doctor Caligari and Nosferatu (probably mid to late 20's female which surprised me a bit she even knew Silents) and I countered with M as my favorite from roughly that time period . Then she asked if I'd seen Gummo (actually no), so I gave her the Hausu suggestion in the weird and wonderful category --would have suggested the The Happiness of the Katakuris, but I didn't think about it at the time. The older clerk (still younger than me) at the other store was asking about some of the WAC I ordered last month -- he was big into the 50's westerns and thrillers I ordered,