Would You Still Preorder

[Moefiz]

With all the price slashing going on at the last minute, would you still pre-order a title.

[Riff Magnum]

I'm doing it less and less, although i have Basterds and Che sitting in my cart.

[Blu-Benny]

i'm undecided. if i do pre-order a movie, i def. keep an eye on it every couple of days just to make sure it hasn't dropped in price.

[fatediesel]

I preorder from Amazon all the time. If the price drops it gets adjusted for the lower price, and if the price goes up I've got the lower price locked in.

[Agrare]

I don't typically preorder (only did so for the Steelbooks for UP and Snow White) but if I did I would continue to do it, as long as it's at someplace with a preorder price guarantee like Amazon (as fatediesel said).

Amazon also seems to match the price with all the MFG coupons that come out as well (or give a store credit for the difference) so your still getting the best deal* out there

-Agrare

*best deal being within a couple dollars of the lowest possible price available.

[Sixx]

No, I never pre-order. I guess I would if the item I wanted was out of stock, but that hasn't ever happened to me.

[Blu Titan]

I have on pre-order most of the WB releases going for $16.99. Can't go too wrong on those. I had UP and Monsters Inc on pre-order, but cancelled when credible rumors regarding the $10 Up coupon first surfaced.

[Agrare]

Originally Posted by Sixx

No, I never pre-order. I guess I would if the item I wanted was out of stock, but that hasn't ever happened to me.

I think you're referring to backorder. pre-order is before it comes out. If it's not out yet it can't be out of stock. When its out of stock and you order it, it's back ordered.

-Agrare

[Iron-Blu-123]

No, I never Preorder even price slashing. I only buy when its onsale.

[surfdude12]

in the past few weeks, i think we've shown that the pre-order system is deeply flawed. there needs to be better incentives for it, like an earlier delivery date than the general release date and automatic adjustment of prices based on competitors prices/coupons.

[Moefiz]

Earlier you were guaranteed to get the best price from the online retailers but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

[Clark Kent]

It simply does not pay to pre-order anymore because retailers are slashing prices left and right to draw business.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Now I only preorder if the price is low and highly unlikely to go down further anytime soon.

[Beast]

I normally don't. But Best Buy's recent 30% off sale had me pre-order a ton for November and December.

[benricci]

I've stopped, since Amazon seems to be in the habit lately of dropping the price a few days after release date. What's the point of pre-ordering if it's gonna be $4 cheaper the day after it ships to you and your card is charged?

I miss the old post-purchase guarantee Amazon had.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by benricci

I've stopped, since Amazon seems to be in the habit lately of dropping the price a few days after release date. What's the point of pre-ordering if it's gonna be $4 cheaper the day after it ships to you and your card is charged?

I miss the old post-purchase guarantee Amazon had.

I still preorder a decent amount, but this kind of thing is making me want to do so less.

They are doing this on purpose, and it sucks. They are basically screwing over the customers who preorder and guarantee them the business in advance. I understand that the lower price is probably to attract those who are on the fence about buying, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't offer that price to the loyal customers.


Honestly, I'm finding things to be more stressful lately than anything. This whole Up/Monsters Inc. deal recently is the icing on the cake. While I didn't get as great of a deal on these movies as some others did, I still ended up with an excellent deal for 2 new Blu-Rays, so I'm not upset in that sense. However, there were a lot of headaches involved in me trying to get the best deal that I could under the circumstances.

Granted, there's always some risk involved and it's probably impossible to get absolutely the best deal around on every purchase. However, in the past when ordering from Amazon, in general you'd end up with a very fair, and rather competitive price when all was said and done, because not only did they have the preorder price guarantee, but they would also guarantee the difference if the price dropped even lower shortly after the item ships. Even if I were to end up paying a $1 or so more than a deal somewhere else, odds are I'd make that up on another purchase shortly there after where Amazon did have the best deal.

But now, it's just becoming harder and harder to gauge these things. Some movies may be worth preordering in advance, like the $16.99 deals for Harry Potter 6 and Terminator 4, because for all we know, they may raise that price back up before or upon release. Then again, who knows, they could drop it even more. I didn't expect to get a better deal on Clone Wars season 1 than the roughly $35 price that I ordered it at from Amazon just before it came out (because most other places were wanting $5 to $10 more for it), but then a few days later it was about $3 cheaper.


It's just getting to be too absurd, and it really isn't a great way to treat the long-time, loyal customers. While I don't use Amazon for every purchase, I do use them for a good bulk of them. Probably the majority of my Blu-Ray collection has been purchased through Amazon. It's not like I'm asking them to refund me the difference if the movie drops in price 6 months later or something... that would be unreasonable and absurd on my part. But when the price drops just shortly after release (something that the "powers that be" at Amazon probably knew they were going to do before the movie was released at all), that's really unfair to those who order from them regularly.

[Agrare]

I agree with Dynamo. A lot of stores do the 30 day price guarantee (or at least used to). Maybe it's limited to big ticket items like TV's and such. And it helps get those on the fence purchasers because most people assume that once they finally decide to go ahead with the purchase that the next week it will be cheaper. These deals make it easier for people to stop putting of those purchases.

I think for dvds\blu-rays just doing a 1 week price guarantee would be good. Or maybe extend the pre-order price guarantee to 1 week after release. (or an extra week on the 1 week price guarantee to 'reward' those that commit early. Maybe if you preorder at least x period in advance (two weeks or a month mabye) we will give you the lowest price up to a week after release)

-Agrare

[BLUTRIG]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

I preorder from Amazon all the time. If the price drops it gets adjusted for the lower price, and if the price goes up I've got the lower price locked in.

fatediesel I too preorder all the time from Amazon and I get credit all the time,ok not all the time but some time,my last 3 orders had credit.

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by Moefiz

With all the price slashing going on at the last minute, would you still pre-order a title.

I never pre-order but I always add thing to my cart months in advance and watch the changes in price. But as I have to ship everything over seas, I try to bundle stuff together so I just wait until I have a few I want together.

I always have a backlog of things to watch anyway so I never need to get anything as soon as it is released, I do not mind waiting.

[coolmilo]

I have about 10 movies on pre-order now at Amazon. No matter what, the order is guaranteed to ship at the lowest price. There is no risk.