hey everyone, I was just wondering if anyone knew a good {relatively cheap} place to buy either New or Like New DVD's? besides eBay... thanks for your input
I'm all about cheap DVDs. Over 80% of my 300+ collection is pre-owned. But I avoid buying them online because you can't inspect quality prior to purchase. Netflix is one of the few I'd trust because of their refund policy and I've been a subscriber for 3 years. Here's my favorite two "brick and mortar"-type stores to buy pre-owned DVDs: + MovieStop (GameStop spinoff company) is my primary source for pre-owned DVD bargains. They have around 50 locations currently: here's a list. Also, their trade-in value tends to at least be higher than what you'd get at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, unless you're wanting cash back. They also have a buy 2 get 1 free sale on used Kids/Family DVDs every Saturday, and offer coupons occasionally, and semi-regular Buy 3/Get 1 free used sales. Furthermore, if you trade in 4 DVDs towards a pre-order, you get $5 bonus on your trades. And they're now offering a store card if you get a subscription to Entertainment Weekly which is like $15 for a year that gets you discounts on used and an extra 10% on your trades. And they have a few focus pre-order titles where you can get up to a $19.99 value free with 4 DVD trade-ins. A few of my recent bargains here: Animaniacs Vol 1 -- $15.99 Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends Complete Season 1 -- $9.99 Superman: TAS Vol 1 -- $9.99 Beast Wars Complete Second Season -- $9.99 Justice League S2 -- $15.99 And technically, all of these were actually cheaper because they were all B2/G1 free deals. + CD Warehouse. They offer the best cash value on trades that I've found, but that's still not saying much. Expect $1-2 cash trades for common DVD titles and an average of $5-8 for most box sets. But I go here for the bargains, not the trade-in deals. And sometimes I have found better pre-owned discounts here on box sets than MovieStop. Recent bargains: Superman The Movie 4-disc SE -- $9.99 Firefly The Complete Series -- $19.99 Pinky & The Brain Vol 2 -- $19.99 Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope LE Remastered (WS) + Original Theatrical Version -- $9.99 I also wrote an article years ago offering consumer advice on buying pre-owned DVDs. It's probably in need of an update, but it's still up on my old GeoCities Page.
Amazon.com New releases are always much cheaper than in stores, no sales tax, and any order over $20 is free shipping. I have Amazon Prime, so any order is 2 day free shipping. They also have third party sellers that offer new, "out of print", and used DVDs cheap.
I try to avoid used. Too many times from places I've bought one and it has been scratched up. One place is particularly bad. They will sell you a scratched up disk at their full price (Sometimes they are charging MORE than new at retail) but you try to sell it to them and they will only give you pocket change for it. I stopped going to them long ago. As I mentioned with them charging more. An example of this I noticed recently was the ST: Enterprise seasons. I was looking for a good discount on them. Saw them new for about $60-70. This place wanted $90 USED!! I laughed to myself. How these places do any business is beyond me.
See if there are any CD Warehouse in your area. They sell used dvds but also sell new one for way cheaper than retail. I buy my blurays from them (11-15 bucks a piece). I just bought the new Godfather bluray set brand new for 45 bucks there.
So, what's the store's name? As for avoiding used just because you've had some bad purchases due to scratches... dude, just ask to see what the disc looks like before you buy it. It really is as simple as that. And don't let them give you any crap if it's shrink-wrapped. If they sell used, they have the ability to re-shrinkwrap it. I quit buying from Blockbuster and Hollywood video because of repeated cases of scratched product, so I was just wasting my time shopping there.. I remember trying to buy the first Spider-Man movie used at Blockbuster--I had them open FOUR copies before I finally found one that wasn't heavily scratched. You do yourself a disfavor by not inspecting used product before purchasing. Great minds think alike. I've found that the lower price on new product isn't consistent from store to store with some CD Warehouse locations. CD Warehouse has also been fined by a few distributors for selling screener and media preview copies, and selling before the street date. I've bought at least 3 box sets there brand new for $10-15 less than retail, and I know for a fact that they were promo copies they received for free that were supposed to be for media review. But they saved me money, and I have no problem with that. They have to deal with the legal issues, not me.
eBay is actually really good for used DVDs. I buy most of mine from there. cd warehouse sounds good, but there are none in MA.
It is a local place called The Book and Music Exchange.... I'm betting KidDynamite can back me up on this place.
