JoN8282

i just fufilled last week - this code could have made that much, much better...

lizard

Wow! That is a weird code but a good deal to be sure. My results were the same as others above:

• Sets get priced at regular price,
BUT a same-price set can be had for free.

• Sets that ought to be two fulfillments show up as just one (everything at $19.95 or higher is just one fulfillment credit).

• Pre-orders seem to come up at full price but when placed in the shopping cart were actually discounted. But a $16.95 pre-order counted for fulfillment (usually they don't). And it allowed a $19.95 DVD added after it to be counted as free. So a pre-order acts as if it is full price but is actually discounted to the usual pre-order price. Like I said: weird.

• The offer stacks fine with "free shipping for three" and the "$5 off first time web orders" discounts.


Buying two $44.96 sets this way gives a relative cost per set of about a dollar more than buying just one set plus two $14.95 DVDs on sale for $7.48 each (and getting two fulfillment credits for the set). But it gives two sets at the discounted price and one gets a pre-order plus a regular $19.95 DVD rather than two $14.95 DVDs. (The reason it isn't better is because the fulfillment credit for the full price set is only one rather than the usual two.) Still well worth doing though.

So, my order:
Set 1, regular $59.95, special price $44.96, cost was $59.95
Set 2, regular $59.95, special price $44.96, cost was FREE.
Pre-order DVD, regular $19.95, pre-order price $16.95, cost was $16.95
Regular DVD, regular $19.95, cost was FREE.
Minus $5 first time web order discount (this was actually subtracted from the price of the first set, in the usual screwy Columbia House way).
Shipping was FREE.

Total: $59.95 + $16.95 - $5 = $71.90 for two sets, one pre-order, one $19.95 DVD and two fulfillment credits.

Thanks to redrum for posting this deal!

dadaluholla

So you can't get a free dvd with a pre-order title? And my pre-orders are still coming up as 19.95.

lizard

You can get a free DVD with a pre-order. I think the limits are as follows:
The pre-order must have a regular price of $19.95 or higher.
The free DVD must have the same value as the regular pre-order price.

It is likely that one has to put them in the shopping cart in the right order (pre-order first) but I haven't tried all the permutations.

Edit: For example, add two copies of Team America to your shopping cart (a 5-17-05, $19.95 pre-order) and the first one is $19.95 and the second one is free.

Or, clear the cart and add The Americanization of Emily (a 5-10-05, $16.95 pre-order) then Star Trek: First Contact: SE, a regular $19.95 DVD. "Emily" is $16.95 and "First Contact" is free.

monkfish

Possibly time to fill up on one or two of the half dozen criterion titles that columbia house stocks.

My quandary was whether to get just 2 of the criterion disks ($20 average incl tax shipping)....or save $2 on shipping and get 2 more of the newer releases for about $10 each ($15 average on 4 dvds)

Don't have an unfulfilled account and have already used my $5 off the first order thingy.

Jim

Thank you very much for the code. I only have 1 fulfillment left, but this will still work out very well. Now time for some strategizing before I place the order.

thejester

Thanks OP for the code clarification. And yes, it is a "funny" B1G1 code.

Anyways, since you can only get 1 fulfillment per 40+ set, I decided to go a different route -

The Mummy: The Legacy Collection 3625902 $24.95
The Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection 3626009 Free
Son of the Mask Platinum Series (Pre-Order) 3820602 $19.95
Racing Stripes (Pre-Order) 3767704 Free
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason 3622305 Free
The Aviator (Pre-Order) 3612207 $19.95

Subtotal $64.85
Shipping & Processing Free
Tax $5.36
Total $70.21

As you can see dadaluholla, one of my pre-orders (matched with another Pre-O) came out free.

NICE code - that & the free S&H!!!

dadaluholla

Lizard, I tested it with the Team America and it did show up as 1 preorder at 19.95 and one free. But with this last unfulfilled account i was wanting to pre-order machinist and million dollar baby. When I put them both in the cart they come up as both 19.95 and I have to add a third full price title to get a free one. This is screwy.

preferably I'd like to get machinist and MDB at the special pre-order price and then get one free with each. its just not working.

Sweet Baby James

Million Dollar Baby $19.95(counts as 1 fulfillment)
Aviator $14.95(web coupon-counts as 1 fulfillment)
Team America FREE
$34.90 plus $2.10 Tax=$37.00

I tried every different combo that I could think of with different priced movies, but I could never get a second movie for free with this order. It always showed up at 50% off instead of being free. On another unfulfilled account, I was able to get two free DVDs with the purchase of two regularly priced DVDs. They were all in-stock movies(no preorders), however I didn't receive the $5 off first time order coupon. It rang up at $39.90. CH has so many glitches that it is extemely frustrating because you feel that you didn't get all that you could have. I'm still very pleased in fulfilling my account with these 3 movies for just $37.

dadaluholla

Sweet baby james, I wouldn't mind placing an order just like yours aside from changing aviator to machinist but for some reason the MDB and Machinist combo isn't getting the job done.

bossfan

Since some of you are much better than me at determining the permutations of a good deal I would appreciate it if someone would offer their opinion on whether this is a good deal or not with this code.

The Ultimate Matrix Collection $74.95 regular price
The Godfather DVD Collection Free
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Collector's Edition $22.95
Grave Of The Fireflies Collector's Series Free

Total with the $5 first time discount is $97.90 with free shipping.

It seems like a good deal to me if I look at it as follows:
Ultimate Matrix and Godfather collection is costing me $32.47 each (74.95 - $5 / 2 ) and I get one fulfillment. Plus I assume that if I figure in my initial LMTD 7 enrollment selections at $12.89 then the relative cost of these are even lower?

Eternal Sunshine CE gives me my other fulfillment that I need plus I get Grave Of The Fireflies CE for free.

viking99

CH's shopping cart isn't working for me right now. Hopefully it will be back up soon, with this deal still active.

lizard

Dadaluholla, It is strange but those titles don't seem to work, as you say. Perhaps only near term pre-orders in May qualify for the promotion?

Edit: No that isn't it either. If there is a pattern I haven't spotted it yet.

JoN8282

Bossfan -

just plugged that scenerio into my CH excel spreadsheet and figured it out like this -

if the main goal is to get the box sets, then your deal above is good - all the math and discs and shipping equated, the relative price of both set's would be 28.76 each - amazing.

if the main goal is to get the absolute best deal - then it still would be more cost effective per disc (though more $) to join with LMT - get 7 for 12.89, then fufill with 1 boxset, then repeat for the other. that way you would get 14 regular dvds and both sets for 148.68 (including shipping cost on box sets - if you got buy 3 get free shipping, and such, then it would be 18 regular discs and 2 sets for about 160 dollars depending on your free choices....

if you cycle through accounts alot - it may be more beneficial to do it that way - if you want a quick bang - your deal is very good - in fact, won't get much better w/o serious creative cycling.

viking99

Lizard - that reads like Calculus (maybe I need more coffee). Can you better explain this? I just got a new account number this morning and I'm anxious to take advantage of this deal. Thanks!

JoN8282

viking - he meant that a fufullment credit is worth more then a free set. i'll try to break it down better for you - it's the same scenerio i gave bossfan above

LMT - 7 DVDS - 12.89
1 Set + 2 50% off dvds (to get free shipping) - 5$ webdvd = 9 discs, 1 set account fufilled.

then just repeat for the second set - it works out to a better deal per disc then getting 2 sets for the original price, and only one credit.

bossfan

You guys are amazing, this is why I posted for opinions because I knew that you'd come through. I do have several more enrollment orders lined up. So if I understand correctly I am better off putting in another enrollment order and then fulfilling each account with a box set and 2 14.95 discounted DVD's ? Of course this assumes that free shipping is still around after I get my second account opened? (Oh boy do I have a headache now!)

Anyhow thanks for the quick responses, I'll see if I understand it all.

JoN8282, if you have a spreadsheet that calculates these scenarios I'd love to get hold of it. If I post my hotmail address would you be willing to send it to me?

redrum

you're welcome guys

i only got Heat SE and Apollo 13 because i'm a lil short on money but getting a free dvd is always cool

viking99

OK, I had more coffee and studied this some more. I'm coming up with the following delta for the B1G1 code vs. the normal free shipping costs:

By using the B1G1 code, I would pay a true cost of $17.04 for a $44.96 set and get two 19.95 titles in lieu of two 14.95 titles.

The real cost under free shipping for a 44.96 set is 18.58.

edit: This is giving me a headache. I think the above numbers are now correct. Some key data points under the current free shipping w/3 deal:

The equivalent baseline cost of a DVD is $5.57 (vs. the normal 5.86; assumes 9.95 title for third dvd in fulfillment order)

The total cost for an account "cycle" = 55.74 (12.89 + 19.95 + 19.95 + 7.95 - 5)

bis22

I already placed an order to fulfill my TV club account, but luckily I called in time to cancel it. I'm getting:
Spaceballs CE
Groundhog Day SE
Orgazmo
Team America
Phantom of the Opera
Closer

Thanks, OP!

JoN8282

bossfan -

right now - the excell sheet is very very crude and part of it is done in my head still - i would be embarrased to send it out, however i will sit down maybe later tonight and make something pretty - once that occurs i would have no problem mailing it out to anyone who wanted it.

to answer your question - yes - im positive that opening 2 LMT accounts and fufilling with the box set's is cheaper in the long run. The only way your scenerio is a better deal is if you have run out of selection you wish to use for enrollment, in that case, it's still very nice.

the most basic way to figure out what the best deal is, without the complication of figuring "true cost" on box sets and such (which is what my spead sheet attempts anyhow), is just to do # of titles / price

your scenerio is below

97.90 for 4 titles = 24.48 a title

LMT x 2 with box sets for fufill and no other discs, and paying for shipping is:

12.89 for 7
59.96 (matrix) - 5.00 (webdvd) + 7.99 s/h = 62.95 to fufill
12.89 for 7
56.96 (godfather) - 5.00 (webdvd) + 7.99 s/h = 59.95 to fufill
_______
148.68 total for 16 titles - 9.29 per title

you spend 50.78 more for 12 more titles.

now if you want to get into the fancy fancy calculations - we can do it like this with the numbers from above...

using the LMT code, $5 webdvd, and getting free shipping on 3 titles for your fufillment - i have figured out that normally costs me $59.20 so, 5.92 cents per disc.

I set that value as what a regular dvd should cost - because if you just LMT cycled, that's what you can get it for - now let's go to your 2 scenerios.

97.90 for 2 regular titles, and 2 sets
-5.92 what one title should cost
-5.92 what one title should cost
_______
86.06 Total on Set's
/ 2 (two sets)
____________
43.03 per set (not much better the the regular sell price)

as you can see - it doesnt work out so good - now let's do the other scenerio...


148.68 for 14 regular titles, and 2 box sets (paying for s/h, webdvd, no other titles)
-82.88 (5.92 x 14 titles - to take out the cost of regular dvds)
________
65.80 (remaining price for sets)
/ 2 (divided by 2 sets)
________
32.90 per set (much better )


-------- hope that made sense- but as you can see - you can tell it's a better deal just by doing the simple total number of titles divided into price... getting box set specific prices are more calculations, but in the end, they will wind up lower that way. Remember, fufillment credits are very valueble, they are what let's you cycle accounts

it seems to me the best way to utilize this weird b1g1f code is to just fufill accounts with pre-orders, and 20-23 dollar titles, picking up the freebies...

figure... LMT using webdvd, and free shipping on 3 usualy can nab you 10 titles for around 59.20 - now it nabs you 12 for the same - 4.93 per disc - awesome. Plus you pick up 4 non enrollment titles, instead of 2 - excellent.

*see responce to grivet - further math on next page*

bossfan

JoN8282

I'll have to read your scenarios a couple of times to digest it but with a quick look it does make sense. Thank you for taking the time to lay it out for me.

If you do get around to putting a spread sheet together then please let me/us know. I am "CH challenged" when it comes to the fancy calculations so I would be interested in something that would help to sort it out.

JoN8282

hope it becomes clear for you - wish i had a better use for my mathmatical brain then figuring out how to get the best price on dvds lol...

i'll take a stab at the excel spreadsheet now - i'll post back in a few...

viking99

I'm coming to a similar conclusion. However, I'm also seeing good value in using this code for sets that are normally in the higher $30 range. Specifically, the Benny Hill sets for $37.46. I can get a second for $12.50, which is a smoking deal. The Warner Film Noir classic collection is in the same price category. Since these sets are under $40, they would only count as a single fulfillment credit under normal circumstances. Free shipping is a bigger bonus for sets as well, so the current combo may be the ultimate time to buy these.

grivet

JoN8282

Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious but why aren't you including bossfan's 7 LMTD enrollments in your calculations? As I see it bossfan spends $110.79 (97.9 +12.89) for 11 titles per his original plan versus spending $148.68 for 16 titles over two accounts per your plan. With two accounts he is spending $37.89 to get 5 additional enrollments at $7.58/dvd which is a higher average than normal. It looks to me like his original plan is better than the two account route you outlined above particularly since he is getting an extra fulfillment-only title(Eternal Sunshine).

Now what'd I screw up?