Where to buy DVDs/Blu-Rays? (1 Viewer)

[bretmaverick2]

With Amazon raising prices, what are other sources for good deals on these product?

- I won't be insulted if this thread isn't allowed and disappears.

 

[Wezzo]

I use ImportCDs.com a lot. They're often cheap on MODs and Shout Factory titles.

 

[Bob Gu]

importcds also owns Deep Discount, Critic's Choice, and a bunch of other sites and paper catalogs. All the sites have different pricing, postage, and sale/coupon opportunities.
Get on their e-mail lists for coupons and sales, which are usually listed at the various sites.

I usually price things at Amazon, importcds, DD, CC, and, sometimes, oldies.com. and then choose the least expensive. Sometimes I splurge and buy direct from Warner Archives. (Since the WAC site move to Colorado they don't charge me sales tax anymore.)

This week, I liked the total pricing on importcds for The George O'Brien Western Collection and another single WAC title. I ordered on Monday and I received the two items on Thursday. They really have improved the shipping times, on in-stock items, from when they shipped things with a DHL handoff to the Post Office which added a week to the shipping time sometimes.

I told my self I was not interested in getting The Batman TV series collectors set, but could not resist the pricing on the first two seasons at Deep Discount, for the plain DVD release during a Warner's TV sale earlier this week plus a 15% off coupon listed at the site, ($33.77). So I ordered on Wed. and it shipped already. (Well Season 2 Part 1 is backordered.) I won't be surprised if I receive it Saturday, since it ships from the same place as importcds.

 

[Alf S]

On the very rare occasion that I actually buy a disc I grab it from whatever local store has it on deep discount sale. Usually kids movies. Or from the cheapo depot movie bins at Walmart and Target.

 

[Mike Frezon]

With Amazon raising prices, what are other sources for good deals on these product?

- I won't be insulted if this thread isn't allowed and disappears.

No reason for this thread to disappear. We encourage healthy shopping habits, competition and free enterprise here at the HTF!

Just see Weekly RoundUp of price comparisons on each week's new releases as a prime example.

I, for one, am ALWAYS curious to hear where people are going to when shopping for media. The landscape has changed so severely in recent times that it's hard to keep up.

 

[David Norman]

The obvious choices. Though selection and pricing can be spotty. Most New Release items are going to be the same as Amazon anyway and the majority of Amazon's deals these days start here anyway and all will Pricematch Amazon.

Best Buy -- Reward Zone points, FS for meeting their Elite criteria or often just for having their CC
Target -- REdcard discounts plus get FS and extended return periods, Cartwheel discounts help a lot
Walmart -- still throws a nice deal. For folks that like Digital (or sell Digital codes) the Instawatch program has some interesting possibilities.

Barnes&Noble probably gets most of my Movie $$ for many years as long as you are patient enough to wait for their good sales and use their extra discounts.
90% of my Criterion purchases have come from BN averaging around $14-15ea instead of $25+ at Amazon as well as an increasing amount of my specialty studios who don't regularly discount items. Free Shipping still starts at $25, Their membership is $25 yearly (or a 60 Free Trial is you aren't sure) and allows FS on most packages plus the 10% discount on
instore purchases or now in-store originated shipments to home which makes it sort of like shopping at a store with a really big backroom. One of the few major retailers where
you can often get 15+% discounted GC through various services.

Deep Discount (+sib DVDPlanet, rarely ImportCD) sales still get a lot of my purchases -- their service is back to pretty acceptable, they've killed Amazon on Black Friday TV sets deals 3 years in a row, and they regularly have 10-15% discount codes on top of decent prices on their sale items.

Disney Movie Club from just about all my Disney items.

Fry's can have some good deals if you happen to live in B&M distance. Web deals are a bit spottier

Amazon UK/IT/DE -- honestly have bought far more media here over the last 2-3 years than Amazon US

For those with MovieStops (very regional) some of their store offer a very interesting Trade Used, Get new disc program though apparently not all stores
use the same criteria on allowances

For Used disc - Hastings, HalfPrice Books, Ameoba can offer quite enticing deals.

 

[Alf S]

Best part of getting pretty much anything local (and same day I want it) is Target, WM, BB, ALL price match Amazon anyway, so I get what I need, on the day I need it, and I'm in and out enjoying whatever it is I get that very day.

 

[dvdclon]

I have gotten good deals from Bullmoose. They're a media chain in the Northeastern US. I hear good things about other regional outfits like Amoeba. Most of these seem to have newsletters you can subscribe to for the latest deals.

 

[BobO'Link]

Mostly from Amazon (including Canada, UK, etc.) as they PM most of the better deals Target, BB, and/or WM have and they actually offer what I want. Few local vendors stock titles in which I'm interested, carrying only newer titles and little-to-no catalog titles.

DeepDiscount if they beat the Amazon price *and* there's a active coupon.

Hamiltonbooks.com (closeouts/overstocks on books/CDs/DVDs) for the odd/random title and/or OOP stuff.

goHastings.com for used, which I find myself purchasing more of these days.

Other than Target, most local vendors have severely reduced their media sections. If I purchase locally it's usually because I've looked at titles while in the store shopping for something else and they have a title in which I'm interested at the "right" price. Since Amazon PMs most of them (Target, BB, WM) I don't have to spend time going out for most of their sale titles and just get those from Amazon. Frankly, I buy from WM if there's no other choice, BB if it's in stock and I want it today, but their pickup process takes far more time than I'd like (actually longer than WM's site-to-store pickup), with Target getting the bulk of my local $$ as they have the best selection, including catalog titles, and overall best prices, but what I spend there pales to what I spend at Amazon.

I *might* do some local PM to Amazon but it's such a pain to deal with (I don't own a "smart" phone so they have to look it up themselves). I usually get a wait of 5-20 minutes every time I try that process. It took WM *15* minutes to check a local price against *their own web site* a few days ago! I waited because it was a $30 difference.

 

[Paintbeanie]

I usually use moviesunlimited.com if I don't use Amazon (as long as the DVDs are still in print, sometimes their out of print DVDs are kind of pricey).

 

[Rick Thompson]

Best part of getting pretty much anything local (and same day I want it) is Target, WM, BB, ALL price match Amazon anyway, so I get what I need, on the day I need it, and I'm in and out enjoying whatever it is I get that very day.

Assuming they have said disk. Since they almost never do (outside of latest best-seller releases), I save myself the grief and go Amazon (except for Warner Archive and niche labels like Twilight Time, where I do their site). Because they don't have the catalog titles, the brick & mortars don't even get the latest/best business from me, especially as Amazon more times than not delivers it to my door on day of release.

 

[Flashgear]

I'm in Canada, and Amazon.ca with my Prime gets probably 75% or more of my disc spending...I'll get next week's Kino Lorber blu of THE VIKINGS on day of release for about $19 US...for pre-orders, Amazon's mysterious price algorithms inexplicably offer upcoming releases at par or even lower than Amazon.com (our dollar exchanges currently at 73 cents US)...season 1 pre-order of the Beverly Hillbillies at about $17 US, Blacksheep Squadron at about $14.50 US...season 2 of Man From UNCLE at about $17 US...I'm not complaining...not always the case anyway...CBS/Paramount catalogue and VEI complete series are priced at accurate exchange...Criterion are usually very pricy and unless it's something I can't stand waiting for, I only jump on infrequent sales... I get most of my Warner Archive through Oldies.com or sometimes ImportCD as third party through Amazon...I get my Twilight Time through Screenarchives or TT's new site...I sometimes buy used through Amazon marketplace and have had no adverse experiences...

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I won't bother repeating all the same places mentioned by others here that I tend to use, but I will add this: if you're not obsessive about buying "brand new", you should really keep an eye out on your area flea markets and pawn shops. Results will, of course, vary from place to place (and visit to visit), but many of my US blu-ray purchases come from the pawn shops now.

Also, I didn't see it mentioned, but the price-search engine DVDPriceSearch.com is a good way to keep a general tab on who has the currently lowest price amongst the online US retailers.

Just a couple weeks ago, I got the entire Alien Anthology BD collection for five dollars.