FIRST RULE OF this particular Bargain Shopping. DO NOT BUY ON LINE. WHY? There are several reasons why. Its online which should be your LAST option if you cannot find what you are looking for after all the other options.
Second, online requires you give personal information and credit card info which is not always guaranteed safe.
Depending on which site you use, what one person's idea of "like new", "used", "good", "acceptable", etc are not the same as yours. Even though most websites have a guide on what condition falls into which category and such, it doesn't always mean each person will do so or follow said guides.. I know this insinuates many things, yet there are people out there that do lie, falsify. There are honest people out there, yet how would you know this. Plus if they ship regular postage, its not a guarantee it will arrive in time and I am sorry, in transit damage can happen. (Worst case scenario the disc pops out of the holder and gets scratched.)
Another reason is that if you buy new not only are you paying full price, you are paying to have it shipped to you. So, full price on top of shipping costs....no thank you.
And finally, if you do not check the seller's ratings you could be in for trouble.
IF YOU MUST purchase online make sure its from a reliable source, CHECK the seller's rating, check the feedback. If its mostly good or excellent feedback then you can be assured. AVOID mostly neutral or negative feedback like the plague as that seller will more than likely give you trouble.
NOW ON TO THE HUNTING!
For bargain hunting you want to keep this in mind, YES it does involve travel in the beginning, or mostly research if you have access to your own home computer. Familiarize yourself with your area be it in your home town or closest shopping district. Be aware of the good will/second hand/donation to low price/resale stores. Also be aware of the pawn shops. Same with the game stores and rental places if there are any rental places left, this is important later on.
Once you have these spots down its a matter of planning days to visit or at least calling ahead. SOME places if they have what you are looking for will hold it for you, some not so much. It varies.
Some key names to keep in mind - I do apologize if there are none of these stores in your area but I am sure some exist under different names, I just don't recall all of them.
Big Lots, Good Will, Salvation Army, Pawn Shops (there is a whole list of names there) Wal-mart or walmart like stores, Local resale stores, local second hand stores, sometimes grocery stores known for selling dvd's block buster, hollywood video, RedBox, Gamestop EB Games, Movie Trading Co or other new and used video resale stores.
I am aware some of these are now defunct or no longer in business yet bear with me.
Big Lots, Good Will, Salvation Army and Pawn shops are GREAT for discounts on dvd's. Some may never have been opened and due to not being sold in the big name stores wound up here, or were donated. BE WARY as some resale stores DO NOT check for the quality of the disc and their sales are final so please ask to see the disc and check for scratches before buying.
There is nothing wrong with going to these stores, I know for a fact some of our anime was found at Good will. We found Slayers VHS set, you don't find VHS anymore so that is rare. It was like new to the point the receipt was still stuck in the case. It was two sets, one was for $46, the other for $49. We ended up paying $6.99 each for both sets. Very good deal.
With Big lots or similar stores they do have a standard and do check and make sure the disc is still in and rewrap/reseal if need be.
Pawn shops are the same way, if you can find it they do try and check to make sure the dvd or vhs isn't totally ruined.
Walmart, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video Red Box, Gamestop and Movie Trading Co and other similar stores are great for anime for these reasons.
A little known fact for Walmart. On the week of the dvd release there is a discount in the system. DO KNOW that I am NOT SURE if this is per area, per store, or per district. HOWEVER I DO KNOW that each time we would purchase dvd's of new releases in the past the price was at least a few dollars LOWER than what the price said. Its true, sadly I didn't take pictures or keep the receipts.
For the video stores be it rental or otherwise I have done this in the past. I have gone in either to rent or browse and have found some have a for sale section of either new or used dvd's, games and anime. Sometimes they have to get rid of stock to make room for new releases. Sometimes they empty their old movie shelves because there is no room, not being rented enough or corporate says too. Sadly one of the blockbusters is shutting down in my area. We went to see what was going on. Some of the dvd's although used were in GREAT condition, why? people weren't renting them! Yes thank you netflix you are great, but I prefer the dvd as there are days my computer doesn't want to work with streaming. Go figure. (I appreciate the help with trying to fix that issue, and no offense I am not going to try, its been narrowed down to our area and our service there is nothing wrong with the computer.)
So if you STILL have a movie rental place or game store check in with them for time to time as they mark down their items. Used games/movies, stock they want to get rid of aka clearance items. Even redbox will mark some of their dvd's for sale in their machine to make room for the new releases. Yes I have gone to redbox and they have the option of do you want to buy this. Sadly that often means scrolling through everything.
Movie Trading Co. or other stores similar to this (such as vintage stock) they are VERY particular about what they buy back and their prices are fair for buying. They take care of the game/disc etc and rewrap the case in plastic so its not just an empty case. They do have their dvd's behind the counter to prevent theft as most places do but still they take extra special care of theirs. They are also GREAT for games, I found a PS1 (Play Station One) game, even some atari games in one of their stores! It boils down to knowing what you want, knowing where to find it and going on the right day.
Game stop and other game stores often have clearances. Even more so since they are going to stop carrying Play station 2 games....so their stock is marked down.
* Husband provided the ideas, I put it to the blog, so we worked as a team, huzzah!
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