Best Buy -- Many Superbit DVDs now $9.99 (2 Viewers)

[ChrisBEA]

Last week I got Heavy Metal and Gattaca, had to have them adjusted at the register. The next day they were all retagged at 22/24.99.

Sooo, today I just bought some online for instore pickup:
Lawrence of Arabia
Hollow Man
Dracula
Johnny Mnemonic
The Patriot

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm having to do the same with a few that I wanted, but those SB titles were priced at $22.99/$24.99 (with yellow stickers over the white stickers with the $9.99 price) at my nearby BB, so I'm doing the online ordering/in-store pick-up to get the $9.99 price on the SB's available.

 

[Craig W]

I have a feeling that this was a huge pricing mistake since two of the Best Buys I was at last week had the $9.99 price tags covered up with a new stickers at $22.99+.

I was able to score the following titles marked at $9.99 at another Best Buy:

The Patriot
Hollow Man (rang up $22.99, but corrected to $9.99)
XXX
Hook
Black Hawk Down
The Dark Crystal (rang up $22.99, but corrected to $9.99)
Air Force One
Resident Evil
Underworld
Desperdo
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Legends of the Fall

Of course the one other title I really want Labyrinth was not in stock at this Best Buy.

I think what happened was that many of these titles have a standard barebones disc counterpart and somehow the prices for those editions was applied to the Superbit versions. Although some of the stores had a Superbit display none of them had signs indicating the reduced price or even which titles were on sale. I chalk this up to a price mark blunder by BB that was in our favor. I have not seen other stores reducing the price on Superbit titles.

I should stress though if I was not setting up a 92" screen home theater I would probably pass on the Superbit titles. Superbits are what the original releases should have been in the first place.

 

[Ernesto.Morin]

I don't think it is a price error. How do you explain the web site sale prices then?

 

[Patrick Sun]

I did another online order for 5 more Superbits for in-store pick-up yesterday, and the clerk was amazed at the price for the Superbits (since they are normally $23-$25). I almost picked up 2 more SB's that were actually marked $9.99 in the store, but I'll think on it for now.

 

[Mike Frezon]

C'mon, Patrick! You know the deal-hunter's maxim: Ya snooze, ya lose!

That, and if you are ever at a garage/tag sale, pick up any item you are interested in right away...or else the person behind you will pick it up!

 

[Doug Schiller]

My Best Buy has a display with a yellow label that says, SuperBits - $9.99 so no price mistake here.

They had a large selection but I was only intereded in Lawrence of Arabia (which they had) and Das Boot (which they didn't).

Most of the other titles including the 2 disc extras (Patriot, Hollow Man, Snatch, and Punch Drunk Love) were available.

 

[Todd Stout]

I ventured into the Best Buy in Rancho Cucamonga, CA yesterday and saw that most of the Superbit tiles appeared to have white $9.99 stickers covered up with yellow $22.99 stickers. There were two copies of Black Hawk Down that were priced $9.99 but the others weren't. I also wanted The Patriot and Vertical Limit so I had one of the sales associates check the prices on those two. The Patriot rang up at 9.99 but Vertical Limit rang up at $22.99 so I just bought The Patriot and Black Hawk Down.

I then ended up near the Best Buy in Montclair, CA so I decided to take a look around that store as well. They had Vertical Limit marked $9.99 but it rang up at $22.99 at the register. After calling someone in the DVD department and a manager, along with making me put my name and phone number on some form, the cashier adjusted the price to $9.99.

There are a few others that I want to pick up now as well so I'll have to take a look at the Best Buy near where I work tomorrow while I'm at lunch. I have noticed that there are a lot more Superbit titles on the shelf at the two stores I went to yesterday then there were just a week or two earlier. I am guessing they just want to get rid of them. I wish they'd get this pricing descrepency worked out and make it easier to buy some more of these.

 

[Paul D G]

To add to the confusion, I've often checked the local BB to check the price of the Gattace SB (hoping for a price drop or a more reasonable price) and they never had it in stock. After hearing about this "sale" I drove down and they had about a dozen copies sitting there. So they definately got new stock in for this.

-paul

 

[Frank@N]

Regarding pricing, I think the jig is up on SuperBit.

They now seem to be priced the same as the regular DVD release of the same title.

If I were buying Gattaca for the first time, I'd get the SB (but unfortunately I already bought all these titles).


I'm surprised even SB titles can look good at that size.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The price for most of the SBs are still $9.99 on bestbuy.com.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well, I had to check this out...(note to self: must get life...) even though I'm not in the market for any SBs at the moment.

At my local Best Buy (Albany, NY) this afternoon, they also had a separate display near the front of the store with several titles all marked $9.99. However, back in their DVD section they also had another end cap dedicated to SBs only. While most titles were marked with the white $9.99 labels, some also were marked $23.99 (yellow sticker). And that includes some copies of the same title! No wonder there is rampant confusion.

I also looked around on the shelves and found the same disparate pricing patterns. There were, pointedly, no shelf signs promoting a "sale", however. Just displays featuring SB titles...with the majority marked $9.99.

 

[Todd Stout]

I just came from the Best Buy in San Bernardino, CA and noticed that every Superbit title that I came across was ticketed $9.99 except for Heavy Metal which was marked $24.99. I ended up grabbing Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Lawrence of Arabia, and Resident Evil and all four rang up at $9.99.

 

[WilliamG]

I went BACK in today (after buying Spider-Man 2 and Air Force One - see my earlier post) to check this thing out again. Lawrence of Arabia was marked high ($21.99 I *think*) so I had the guy back at the computer between the video games and DVD's to scan it to check the price before I bought. Answer:$9.99! I should say that this was the same copy I saw in days previous, so it was not marked down to begin with. Seems like a scatter-gun approach to me. Don't know, but I like it.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I went back and picked up my last 5 SBs that are $9.99 during this sales period. I don't think I'll want anything from the SB collection (probably picked up 18 SBs this past week).

 

[Tom B]

Went to two Seattle area stores yesterday:
Northgate - Superbits were in the normal DVD department, all had white $9.99 tags. Lots of stock.

Alderwood - end cap next to DVD dept also had a lot of stock, but all were yellow tagged at > $22.00.

I picked up
Hollow Man
Lawrence of Arabia
Men in Black
The Dark Crystal
Gattaca

Still looking for Labyrinth. :frowning:
Tom

 

[Frank@N]

Just for the record, could someone knowledgeable run down a list of 'lossy-less' SB titles.

That is, titles that had no extras to begin with and therefore don't lose anything on the conversion.

I believe 'BS Dracula' was one, not sure about 'Gattaca' or 'Anaconda'.

'Patriot' and 'Air Force One' had commentaries that weren't carried over.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I saw the big Superbits display when I went in Best Buy earlier this week, but I didn't really pay any attention to it. Now that I know what the deal is, I'll go back for Spider-Man 2 (and maybe Spider-Man).

 

[David Tolsky]

I went in to my local BB to purchase Sin City and noticed the "DVD Insider" freebie magazine and picked one up. In it there is a full page ad for SUPERBIT. Shows 6 titles and says, "These and ALL Superbit titles on sale for $9.99. Funny thing is, when I found the isle display full of SB titles, there is no big sign, in fact, no sign of any kind labeling the $9.99 price. There was a lot of small print on the display though. The sales clerk said the sale was on till early September. It didn't matter what the SB's were marked, they all rang up at $9.99. Picked up Spidey 2, Underworld, Heavy Metal and Once Upon A Time in Mexico.

 

[Carlo_M]

unfortunately there's one SB that doesn't ring up at $9.99...

Closer

:frowning: