CVB

I asked a lady in the dvd department - in one of the Orlando stores - if the sale was this month. She told me the fifty percet off sale would start on December 9th.

Does the sale have different start dates in different parts of the country?

jjcool

Just looked at my Criterion Wishlist. Only 7 titles on it, one I already had gotten last sale and forgot to remove. 4 have been on there for years, and 2 are new. Will definitely get Thin Red Line. Not sure yet about Charade. Havent seen Charade before, so it would be a blind buy for me.

Maxflier

No. It is the same everywhere.

BuckNaked2k

December 9th??? Now there's an outlier. Last year the sale was in November, and other reports have indicated a November start date this year as well. I'd be very surprised if the start date was December 9th.

jwstl

She may have confused it with another sale. There's another sale B&N has every December...I think it's the B2G1 DVD sale but I'm not positive.

zombeaner

I'll probably just get Antichrist, Modern Times, and Night of the Hunter. I've managed to keep up pretty well with the current titles I wanted.

HistoryProf

absolutely positively going to get:

The Magician blu
Crumb blu
Thin Red Line blu
Paths of Glory blu
House blu
Night of the Hunter blu
Modern Times blu
Actuality Dramas of Alan King

then i'll see what I can afford after that. which is probably not much

HistoryProf

12/9 is a Thursday...no sale starts on a thursday....she just was mixed up w/ 11/9 - a Tuesday. these always run from a Tuesday to a monday 2 or 3 weeks later.

But it seems many people have confirmed it's starting next tuesday (the 2nd) and apparently running 3 weeks. That would be in line w/ last November - the summer sales have been 2 weeks, but the November last year was 3. so if it is again this November we've got ourselves a pretty set pattern.

which is awesome.

BuckNaked2k

I'm reserving that word until I positively confirm in-store acceptance of the $5 off coupons.

Dwarefy

Could someone explain for me the deal with the 5$ coupons ?

I'm new to the "criterion barne and noble sale" and just made my first order
last week (apocalypse now).

As I know, there seems to be a free membership for new members but the free shipping it gives doesn't apply to customers outside the US (like me) but still gives 10% off everything else (in our case movies)

But the coupons I don't understand, are they valid a infinite number of time on X amount spent ? Is that why they are so talked about ?

Thank you very much ! And I'm glad to see so much enthusiasm over criterion. So far , what I heard about them being less know movies and often the word masterpiece stick to their release seems to hold some truth.

kndy

It starts on the 2nd (B&M stores) but as usual, online it starts a day earlier on the 1st.

The coupons are mean to be used once. But the thing is, they have no system to know who used it more than once (especially with those with cities with multiple B&N stores). So, people have been going in once or twice a day and using the $5 off coupon. And it all depends on the salesperson you've dealt with. Some management have enforced it with their employees and some haven't. So, it's really YMMV.

But because the last two sales, there was rampant abuse of the coupons, no one knows how it will be this time around.

On another forum it said that in January, the B2G1 sale will take place.

BuckNaked2k

To add to what kndy said, the printable $5 off coupons (see post #1 in the main B&N coupon thread), have been used with varying degrees of success by many DVD talkers during the last 3 Criterion sales. Essentially, a Criterion title with a $40 list price is $20 during the sale, minus another $2 with the member discount, minus another $5 with the coupon, for a net of $13 per title. Of course, you need a membership for the coupons to work at all.

Some stores are tough, adhering to the fine print very carefully, and allowing only one use per sale. Others have been very liberal, allowing a stack of coupons for a stack of movies. Most have been somewhere in-between. If you are smart, and spread out your visits during the sale, and go to different locations, you should be able to maximize your coupon usage.

Mosskeeto

In other words, unless you can find your way into the B&M stores in the U.S., you'll only be able to use the one-time membership coupons ONCE. There had been some % off new accounts codes which were briefly accepted the night before the last sale officially started. They closed that loophole in a few hours but some success was reported and just required new e-mail address to reuse the same code.

Dwarefy

Haha but thanks it's not that worth it :P

In my case, the membership is worth nearly nothing. I won't have free shipping because I'm outside the US and the rebates are only valid in store. I still get the 50$ in coupons for joining though. Am I right on this ?

Thanks !! I can't wait for the sale to start! Hope it's november 1th !

BuckNaked2k

I'm not sure about $50, but they are very specific coupons:

Membership Purchase

You should also check this post (and its thread) regularly: Barnes & Noble Coupon Thread. LASERMOVIES does an amazing job of updating it almost daily, and it contains all the current B&N deals.

P.S. - I see you are "outside the US", but didn't specify where. A lot of DVD Talkers are just a short trip across the border and can visit B&M locations. I can't tell if you're in Vancouver or Vienna.

Mosskeeto

I believe the deal you're referring to is the combination offer:
$5 off $20+ DVD, $5 off $10+ CD, and $5 off order with a (final checkout) total of $50+.
All coupons can used in one transaction for the best result but the total has to be over $50 before the last discount can be applied. One use per membership.
The sale started online the night/early morning before the B&Ms opened. Then some people were using the single use "New Members" discount and registering different email accounts. Worked great for boxsets, Eclipse sets with a high MSRP. Those codes were closed quickly and many multi-orders cancelled once they caught on.

Dwarefy

Haha yeah that's what I was waiting for in term of "50$ of coupons"

No, I don't live next to the borders, I'm in Quebec. Nearest is Maine, and with one B&N it's not worth the 5hours back and forth trip to save 5$ once or twice haha !

Thanks for the thread, too bad I can't have the membership with some kind of shipping discount. As of now, except for criterion releases and US/Canada only releases. It's way cheaper for me to order from amazon.co.uk , I still have not paid any customs, and shipping is around 5$ + 1.5$ per item. While when dealing with amazon.com , I pay import fees up front with 8$ shipping + 3$ per item. Sometimes we have better editions, then amazon.ca and futureshop are my choices, only ebay when there's a good saving to be had (slow and must often change the cases for new ones..). But recently I'm surprised at what I find in the UK, when a title is overpriced here (twelve monkeys at 22$,more 25 with taxes) I can have it for much less at around 12$ there.


But now the spot light is on barne and noble ! every criterion title at 50% is a incredible bargain in itself. I have yet to buy my first criterion and really looking forward to it !

Surprised House is already 40% off less than a week since it's release.

Dan

I bought about seven titles during the second B&N sale, and had them shipped to Canada. It wasn't TOO bad, but still cheaper than Amazon's shipping. And definitely cheaper than driving to the nearest State.

HistoryProf

stopped by the B&N a mile from me and my favorite cashier was there. she saw me and said "HEY! 50% off Criterion sale starts next week!" She remembered me from my binge in the last one

put House and The Magician on hold to get Tuesday to start...I get paid Friday, so that will have to tide me over until the weekend. Going to try and not blow my wad early and spread out the fun. I can't get nearly as much as last time though

Laser Movies

Believe or not I just got a shipping confirmation email from B&N for a Criterion DVD that was back ordered since the last sale. Actually it took a call to customer service today to finally get them to ship a copy of Port of Shadows. They kept claiming it was out of stock even though the web site said it usually ships within 24 hours. They finally checked with the warehouse and found out they had a few copies. Looks like I might get it by the time the next sale starts.

gryffinmaster

That happened to me last year. Talk about feeling flattered and embarrassed at the same time.

In other news ... Next week!

Dwarefy

Wasn't the last sale in July or something ? And you've been waiting all this time.
You are a very patient man indeed. I mean, I'd have waited maybe a week or two but would have phone up well before the end of a month. I'd say they forgot about your order until you phoned them this week. Please, I need more details about this event. You couldn't possibly been waiting since july !

adrenaline78

so what are the "MUST HAVES" this time around? The last sale I bought Revanche (Liked a lot) and Mystery Train (didn't like).. So i've had mixed results on my purchases.

zombeaner

My only must haves this time around are the new ones: Night of the Hunter, Antichrist, Modern Times. There are a couple of older ones I would like, but I'm not going out of my way to find them.

Laser Movies

I've learned sometimes you need to be patient with orders. Currently going through a 2 month wait for some blu-rays at Deep Discount, but that's another story.

Yes, I ordered the DVD on the last day of the July Criterion sale. I knew going in that it would probably be a long wait, and it was possible I would never get it. According to the Criterion web site Port of Shadows was OOP. Also when I placed the order it was already listed with a 1 to 2 week wait to ship. I did receive several emails from B&N that they were having problems getting it in stock, and once I had to approve a 30 day extension to avoid having the order canceled. There was really not much I could do but wait it out or cancel. I decided to wait to see what happens since I was in no hurry.

I admit I sort of forgot about the order over the last month and didn't think to check it until yesterday. I was surprised to see it now said it usually ships within 24 hours, after several months of seeing 1 to 2 weeks to ship. I decided to call customer service to see what was up with my order since it had not shipped yet, and never received any updates from B&N on the status. The CSR initially tried to blow me off and say it wasn't available, but after a lengthy conversation, getting put on hold three times, and finally getting a supervisor involved was told they had a few copies available at the warehouse.

However the CSR also now informed me that my original order was canceled, even though it was still listed as open on my order status page. She said I could place a new order. I complained that I ordered it during the Criterion sale for a lower price and assumed the order was still open. I mentioned a new order would cost me twice as much now because it took them so long to get the DVD title in stock. I politely told her it wasn't my fault for the long delay, and it was unfair to expect me to pay more for it. The CSR then said they could place a new order over the phone and adjust the price the same as the original order. Since it didn't appear they had many copies on hand I decided to go ahead with the new order with the adjusted price. About six hours later I got shipping confirmation.