is it me or are DVDs starting to get a tad expensive? (1 Viewer)

[Keith_R]

I just got done perusing Bestbuy's DVD section on their website and noticed something kind of disturbing. I noticed that a lot of newer releases are kind of pricey. Movies that are kind of new but have been out for months are even expensive (ie. Akira = $25.00.) I still saw DVDs priced in the $20.00 range but it seemed as though a lot of DVDs are going up in price. What is going on? is this because of the current economic situation?
Edit: I would like to add that the MSRP on most new releases seems to be up. Certain titles are having extremely high MSRPs.
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-Keith-
My DVD's
[Edited last by Keith_R on November 16, 2001 at 03:39 PM]

 

[Tom-G]

Keith, compared to the coupon days of Reel.com the prices are ridiculously high!
In all actuality, the prices don't seem exorbitant. If you keep on the lookout, you can still find a lot of good deals. Check http://www.dvdpricesearch.com

 

[alan halvorson]

It's my impression that DVDs are getting cheaper overall, but for some reason, Best Buy prices are trending up. There are many deals still to be had if you're a good shopper.
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They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa To the funny farm. Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!!!!
- Napoleon XIV

 

[Dave L]

As a long-time veteran of the LD days, DVD prices still seem cheap to me, although, you are right, there does seem to be a noticeable upward price creep.

 

[Michael Caicedo]

I don't know about that, maybe it is a Best Buy thing. Recently though, I've been very happy with some outstanding packages at very reasonable prices. Got Shrek for 16.99 at BB, the Snow White DVD was ridiculously cheap if you count the extra disc you got with pre-order. Star Wars TPM was a very nice package for under 20 bucks.
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Michael Caicedo
Winter Park, FL
- At my signal, unleash hell...

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Keith, compared to the coupon days of Reel.com the prices are ridiculously high!

Ah, yes. Remember the good ole days? The days of 40% pre-order discounts combined with $10 off coupons? I remember buying new DVDs like Pee-wee's Big Adventure for less than eight dollars, including shipping!!
Poor Reel. I can't help but feel that I contributed to their demise, but they sure did help me rapidly expand my collection.
Link Removed

 

[Sean Conklin]

is it me or are DVDs starting to get a tad expensive?

Some maybe, but not if you can find 'em in perfect shape at a pawn shop for $8 each or 3 for $20.(thats what my local pawn shops charge)And you can find new releases as well, if you don't mind checking in 2 or 3 times a week.
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Sean
"Self Realization....I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said.......I drank what?"

 

[Joseph Young]

If you go to one of the 'Tower'ing behemoths of video/DVD retail, you will notice unusually high prices on DVD. They love to follow the MSRP to the exact cent (with the exception of many mainstream sellers).
This has never been any different, though. I am lucky enough to have more than 3 Fry's in my vicinity, and they rival BB in terms of price (and are more palatable than Walmart or BB -- no J6P but engineers and techies).
Cheers,
Joseph

 

[Rob Tomlin]

As to BB in particular, I definitely think their DVD prices have gone up. Even the new releases that are advertised in their flyer are more than new releases use to be sold for.
It was great when they were competing head to head with Circuit City for the lowest DVD price on new releases. Now, many time the ad says "Guaranteed Low Price" or something like that.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

The prices from most studios have gone down for the most part, with notable exceptions from Di$ney and Dreamwork$ pushing that $32.99 list price. I want a 12-inch disc if I'm gonna pay that much!

 

[David Lambert]

BB is definately trending up on their prices. The discount on a DVD that SRP's for $24.99 might be $2-$3 instead of the customary $5.
I think this is to make up for the loss-leader prices on the hot new titles. They are selling items like Forrest Gump and Shrek for at or below cost for the first week they are out, and then returning some of those titles to almost-as-low prices in the weeks afterward. This gets folks in-the-store. If they can sell a few of the other titles, it makes up for it.
As to the competition...CC is no longer real competition where the prices are concerned...or the inventory. They're a joke: high prices, just a hair below the mall stores like Suncoast. They don't have any depth anymore, and what depth they DID have isn't being replenished as it sells. They just got a big stack of catalog titles...JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

But year-round the stock just isn't there, and the prices never are, and they have never heard of customer service.
Other than that, their top competition is Costco and Sam's. As I've said elsewhere, Costco always beats Sam's and only occassionally beats Best Buy.
So, BB figured out that they can make a slightly higher profit and still be better than most. They're hardly perfect...the C&D/Wonka issue shows that. But, in fact, that's ANOTHER way they save money...slow-freight in the titles they think they can get away with it on, instead of paying for the overnight shipping. And, where they can, get it through a wholesaler instead of getting drop-ships from the manufacturer.
I still shop around...everywhere. But I find myself getting almost 1 out of every 3 titles at Best Buy. 31% of the time, they are. The Best Buy, that is.
I wish there was MORE competition, to keep prices lower and get everyone trying even harder. But, alas...
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DAVE/Memphis

MORE TV ON DVD, PLEASE!
Do you like TV on DVD? Then check THIS out!
.....http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/.....

 

[Ken Stuart]

The trick is to be patient and wait for the older-title-price-reduction. Check out the following site where the price reductions are listed in advance:
http://www.videotropic.com/pricereductions.asp
For example, I just picked up Luc Besson's "The Messenger: Joan of Arc" for about $11 after a recent reduction in MSRP.
On the other hand, the Almost Famous Director's Cut is being released with a higher than usual MSRP, but I'm going to buy it anyway, since I don't want to wait to see the full version.
Generally, I'm most patient with films like The Messenger which I have already seen...
[Edited last by Ken Stuart on November 17, 2001 at 01:41 AM]

 

[Peter Overduin]

The one trend I have noticed in particular is that on line retailers have lost the edge in pricing. I can no longer find anything on line - except for an odd sale - that is cheaper than B&M.
It has been quite some time since I pre-ordered a new release. For ex, I bought Tomb Raider for $22 Canadian at Future Shop. That's about $16US. Unfortunatley, Canadian etailers are absolutely horrendous. Chapters/Indigo is completely appalling, C&L isn't much better, HMV (how do they even sell enough to maintain a web site with their pricing?). And the list goes on

 

[Carl Johnson]

MSRP seems to be higher but pretty much all new releases can be found for >$20 at either Circuit City or Walmart locally.

 

[Dave H]

I shop around very carefully when I buy a DVD and ninety-five percent of time I end up buying from Best Buy or Deep Discount DVD.
Today was an exception. I bought Clockwork Orange (remastered) for $16.99 at Borders books using a 15% off coupon. It came out to $18.01 with tax and this is cheapest I could purchase this title from anywhere.

 

[Bryn]

It is to be expected, though. People were saying at the the time that those prices wouldn't last, as a lot of companies were loss-leading to clear out their competitors.
For some, like Reel and Express, that didn't play out too well - the market held up pretty well, they lost a lot of money without getting more market share in return, and it was all over rover for them.
Increasing prices are probably a sign that a lot of that early competition for market share is gone (it's easiest to build at the beginning of a product's life cycle) - and that you can't loss-lead forever!
For some of us, though, this is all less of a crime than our local exchange rate against the US dollar!

 

[Jon Robertson]

I thought DVD MSRPs were getting MUCH cheaper, with extra features, anamorphic transfers and sound remixes (both DD and DTS) being loaded on in abundance.

 

[TimSniffin]

I thought DVD MSRPs were getting MUCH cheaper, with extra features, anamorphic transfers and sound remixes (both DD and DTS) being loaded on in abundance.

I agree. When you can buy a legitmate 2-disc set for $19 when only about a year or so ago it would have been $29, that's nothing to sneeze at. Plus, I picked up Running Scared at BB for $12, which is less than I would have paid for a VHS tape back in the day....

 

[Steve_Ch]

I picked up a copy of Dark City at Borders for $12.95, a copy of Showgirls at Frys for $8.99 and ordered my Planet of the Apes (2 disc set, and from Ron's review, it's a landmark release) for just under $18 at 800.com and what do run of the mill no frills music CD cost now? $15?? No I don't think DVDs are getting more expensive. BTW, when the 2 disc set Abyss was released, preorder was $29, as compare to the $18 for POTA now.