Reduced price game guides, all stores. Thread 6

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3-17-07 Here should be most of the information that anyone would need in acquiring guides. please read ALL the information below before asking questions. most question are answered below. Again thank you 6669 for all your contributions to this thread and web site.



My wifes web site - Nice jewelry good prices.

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For hopefully the latestest most current up to date guide drops please refer to the

"CAG Strategy Guide WIKI page"

recent drop section

http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_(recent_drops)

master list section

http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_(master_lists)

they will be filetered from the thread posts to the WIKI page as often as possible. Thank you for your contribution.




Listed in the wiki is the most up to date compiled list of all known guide deals from the posts of this thread and similar threads. I will update the wikis lists as people post new guide deals. Everything listed in this thread “should” be the price listed or lower. These prices are typically company wide price reductions and not YMMV. But just because the prices are typically universal does not mean that they are guaranteed to be sold to you. Most stores have a destroy clause with the guide companies. So whether or not you get these guides depend on many many factors from how diligent a staff is to how reasonable or friendly one is. Good luck on any you may find and good luck on acquiring them. Please dont have a fit if a store wont let you have them just move on. Causing trouble rarely gets guides and most of the time stops others from getting guides in your area. If anything is incorrect or missing please post so corrections can be made.


Now you can just cut, paste, print, and GO!!!



What is a Penny Guide:

To answer this question fully, one first has to understand the longstanding legal agreemenat which [book] publishers have with book sellers such as Borders, Barnes & Noble and other chain and Mom & Pop shops, as well as other retailers who similarly sell their books.

For several decades, publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Random House, et cetera will send out X-number of a title to stores to be sold. After a time, when it is decided that those older titles have little chance of selling and the store shelf real-estate would be better used for newer publications, they issue a recall to the vendors to field destroy all remaining copies of titles A, B & C.

The stores then will pull those titles from their inventory to be field-destroyed, and in their systems mark the publications as 1¢. The 1¢ price is to indicate to the publisher that they are no-longer selling the pulled title, and it is also to serve as a Red Flag to any cashier who might ring up a title (on the chance that the titles were not pulled as legally they were required).

When the pull lists are sent out by the publishers, and the stores adjust the price in their inventory (and pull and field-destroy the books), the stores also are to report to the publisher the number of the books they pulled. (This is generally done at a corporate level.) The publisher then credits the stores full cost of the books.

So lets say, MegaChain orders 8000 copies of the Bread Baker strategy guide for their stores in North America for say, $4 a piece. They owe $32,000 to Publisher X. Bread Baker being a big seller and a hard game, then sells 6000 of those 8000 guides, leaving around 2000 guides on the shelves when Publisher X issues the pull demand. Publisher X then issues MegaChain an $8000 credit for the 2000 unsold copies of the guide.


According to IAmTheCheapestGamer, some retailers also have deals where each copy of pulled titles sent to their recognized Recycling Centers are additionally issued further credit for being environmentally responsible in the manner in which they field destroy each book.



How you can help: You can keep a printed copy of this list in your jacket, wallet, purse whatever and when you go to any store that carries guides look for guides for games that have been out typically around six months or more and ask for a price check or better yet use a store scanner if they are available. If they are anything less than cover price write it down for us. Also please when you post the info here if it looks like it’s a temporary sale, please post that as well otherwise it will be assumed to a be a permanent price reduction. If you scan a guide and it comes up a different price that what the master lists suggests please list the day and store that you had the guide scanned. Also please list if you physically saw a self-scanner’s price, physically saw a cash registers price or vocally heard a price from the store’s staff. This might sound like a lot and of course we will take what we can get but this will go a long way to having the best master list as well as ferreting out different store practices and policy’s. All help is appreciated and thank you.




Trading: I spoke with the post office and found out that the cheapest form of mailing to the 48 contiguous states would be to use “media mail” It will take a little longer but it will also allow the least amount of money per transaction when trying to acquire guides for your collection. For an average guide weight of about 9 oz its $1.42 cents. All you need to do is put it in an envelope and ship it media mail. He mentioned no one should have a problem if you use the same envelope several times to cut down on costs. He also mentioned that when shipping Media mail that you cannot have any personal correspondence in the envelope. Only books and an invoice are acceptable. If trading is in you interest you do whatever is most comfortable for you and your trading party this was merely a FYI and a good way to keep it cheap.



Helpful links to check for reduced priced guides or guides in general. You will likely never find one cent guides here but various discounted guides and possibly some that you have been searching for.


Best Buy

Best Buy guide search


Circuit City

Circuit City guide search


EB Games

EB Games guide search


Gamestop (babages,software etc,funcoland)

Gamestop guide search


Overstock

Overstock guide search


Toys R Us (uhh best link I could find)

Toys R Us guide search


strategy-guides.net (another large site of guides)

strategy-guides.net guide search


bookpool (guides typically 45% off or so )

Book pool guide search


Looking for assistance: I am looking for some staff from Best Buy’s, EB’s, Gamestop’s and stores of the like. When EB Games or Gamestop has a price reduction their shelves can be empty in a day or two to even as little as just a few hours. EB and Gamestop have daily price changes so all depending on the store’s staff they could be all gone almost immediately. If I could get some staff that can either post here first thing any day that they have a price reduction on guides or that might be able to text message me with such price reductions so that I might be able to inform CAG’ers ASAP. Whether or not us the end user would actually be able to get them from a particular stores staff is very much an YMMV but if there is anyone who can help this would greatly increase the chance’s of CAG’ers being able to pick up guides from these locations. If anyone is interested and able to help please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thank you all for your consideration.



Thank you all for making CAG what it is and for all your contributions.


Disclaimer: This list is intended to help all guide hunters. Please feel free to print yourself a copy and get what you can find. Please do not post this list on another site. {e-mail me please if for some reason you would want to. [email protected]} Please just link to this thread, add to this list and help it grow. Thank you





all guides are now listed in the wiki please go there. thank you.
 
[quote name='foofoofiifoo']So is there a list of BB guides besides the one on the front page? Or is that one accurate? Or is this like the target thread, which you just have to keep up with?

Also, Will the guides ever go out of the system? Like the really old ones?

Sorry I'm asking this again, it just wasn't answered initially...[/QUOTE]
Yes, check the wiki pages.
The wiki ones are.
The wiki is pretty up-to-date, depending on how much time we have available. You might have to go back a few pages, but I'll try to update the wikis tmrw.
Yes.
Yes.
 
roc's feather;2654535]I know this is technically a penny thread said:
devil summoner[/I] is something I tend to stay away from. Call me crazy.


And Shemp, don't listen to 66. The penny wiki editors around here are laaaayzee.
smile_eager.gif
 
[quote name='AZPunisher']Damn, that ban went way too quickly. : (

Anyway.. I don't think i've ever seen a guide for 24: The Game, either.. best to try GFAQs on that one.[/quote]

Thanks for the warm welcome back, AZPunisher.

And, to whoever mentioned the Devil Summoner guide being $4.99. It was I who covered it earlier in the thread.

Oh....and to recap, Disgaea 2's guide is $9.99, so using GS's usual method of dropping guides to $9.99 before pennying them, this one SHOULD be coming up sometime(maybe not soon, but still...) for pennying.

Just a quick heads up....and thanks again to all who have traded or dealt with me on here....and sorry for flexing my e-penis there Shrike with the bickering back and forth.

I had a lengthy convo with the one clerk who is cool and knowledgeable at my local BB about their guides. He said they get about .30 for each one sent back(I think to some paper recycler, I didn't quite listen fully :( ) BESIDES the credit from the publishers from removing them from the shelf.

Thing is, the BB he works at, PUT BACK OUT most of the guides I didn't get the other night when I got stopped by a manager type and limited to one of each.

I could say something like '3 strikes n I should be able to buy them all if they're out again', but I digress, since he was cool bout explaining policy and all. We talked for like 20-30 mins about how he and other clerks used to grab them too and how you can get stuck with MANY dupes of guides.

Was a cool night...
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I had a lengthy convo with the one clerk who is cool and knowledgeable at my local BB about their guides. He said they get about .30 for each one sent back(I think to some paper recycler, I didn't quite listen fully :( ) BESIDES the credit from the publishers from removing them from the shelf.[/quote]I'm glad to hear one of the retail clerks actually knew what he was talking about.

I'm even more glad that you had the opportunity to get some of the information as to what the softcover book pulls entail. :applause:
 
He was actually very nice and always has been regarding the books. He always spotted me coming in to 'grab more books' and always joked with me about 'what's pennied out' before I started to try and grab some.

He's definitely one of the coolest clerks in ANY of the BB stores I've been to since I started guide hunting. Though, I still do kind of wish the local stores were like the ones in NJ and would simply penny sticker the guides that're cleared out.

But, I digress, since I do understand that if any business gave away their stock for WAY under retail, they wouldn't last very long.

That makes me wonder how the one local game shop is still surviving while selling games like Dark Alliance for PS2 for $6.
 
[quote name='Johnny Postman']Yeah, what he said. :)

Also, noticed something strange in checking local EB/GS during the latest drops - a lot of stores have gotten rid of their guide section and moved most of the strategy guides into the back storage area. Only a few guides are displayed in the rack at the register (where they normally have 500 copies of Game Informer) and those are only for the latest/most popular games.

I did luck out a few places that still had the large rack/bookshelf of guides thanks to being in a city that has 50+ Gamestops but I'm wondering if this is a growing trend - makes penny guides much harder to get. Anyone else experienced this?[/QUOTE]


I've noticed this in well over half of the EB/GS stores I've been to. I have to wonder how Prima, Brady, and the other guide publishers feel about this. I would assume they want their guides on display for the general public to see. A lot of people may not be aware that a guide was released for a specific game without seeing it first. I imagine this can lead to less sales of guides at full price and, as a result, more copies of guides getting pennied out/destroyed.
 
I really want the New Super Mario Bros. strategy guide. I went to my local EB and played dumb and asked if they had it, knowing it's pennied out. The manager and some employee were there. I asked the employee while he was ringing me up for some games I bought and he said "I think we have one left in the back." So he asks the manager and she flat out refuses to give it to me. He was like "it should be OK right?" And she said NO!:bomb:

:cry:
 
[quote name='angrywolf']I really want the New Super Mario Bros. strategy guide. I went to my local EB and played dumb and asked if they had it, knowing it's pennied out. The manager and some employee were there. I asked the employee while he was ringing me up for some games I bought and he said "I think we have one left in the back." So he asks the manager and she flat out refuses to give it to me. He was like "it should be OK right?" And she said NO!:bomb:

:cry:[/QUOTE]
Dont worry. BB will penny it out eventually, and my BBs have quite a few.
 
Didnt know if this was mentioned.....Nintendo Powers Zelda Windwaker guide was 3.99 today at GC. Also Super mario Advance 4/ Super Mario Bros. 3 was 4.96 I believe at CC. :bouncy:
 
[quote name='Josef']I've noticed this in well over half of the EB/GS stores I've been to. I have to wonder how Prima, Brady, and the other guide publishers feel about this. I would assume they want their guides on display for the general public to see. A lot of people may not be aware that a guide was released for a specific game without seeing it first. I imagine this can lead to less sales of guides at full price and, as a result, more copies of guides getting pennied out/destroyed.[/quote]
I've noticed some of that at some EB/GS stores out here, and other ones that have guides all over the place. I think it depends on the square footage of the store.
 
That's how many of the stores here are, though I've noticed that quite a few of the TRU stores put the guides by system in their relevant sections.

I've only ever seen that done at ONE Gamestop brand store and 1 or 2 Best Buys.
 
Wow, are people still getting penny guides at Best Buy these days? I thought they stopped that (seems like I hadn't seen a list for a long while). The last few drops that I paid attention to (last year) were wiped clean from all my Best Buys by the employees I believe (removed and sent back, I guess). They seemed to be way too on top of it so I've given up. I don't even want to try arguing with my EB/GC's to get guides there :rofl:.

Last good guide deal I got was Zelda CE for $5 ($10 at Best Buy - $5 coupon). And I'm actually USING that one, incredible!
 
[quote name='io']Wow, are people still getting penny guides at Best Buy these days? I thought they stopped that (seems like I hadn't seen a list for a long while). The last few drops that I paid attention to (last year) were wiped clean from all my Best Buys by the employees I believe (removed and sent back, I guess). They seemed to be way too on top of it so I've given up. I don't even want to try arguing with my EB/GC's to get guides there :rofl:.
[/QUOTE]

Definitely give BB another look the next time they have drops. My BB seemed to get on top of it a while ago too, until recently. I think they had a memo go out or something months ago and at my BB they were pulling them the night before the drops. But, with the recent drop they had just about all the guides, plus I went back a week later and they still had a few left. I think with employee turnovers and a little time, they have forgotten about them at my BB. It's pretty funny to see the looks on the register jockey's face when he/she rings them up.
 
Best Buy actually had a 1 cent sign for GTA Liberty City stories on the shelf.lol I am keeping an eye on the guides for New Super Mario Bros, Animal Crossing Wild World, Yoshi's Island DS, Gears of Wars and a hardcover Pokemon Podedex guide.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']Updated the Wiki, Recent Drops and Master Lists by Store. Added a subpage for CompUSA.

And now... sleepies.[/QUOTE]
Yay!, thanx guin!
 
No, no, Thank you.

And I pulled the CompUSA section. As you pointed out CU is completely YMMV. The best policy for a store like that is for the poster to mention which store he saw a deal at, so if another cag local to him sees it, it will help.

Otherwise we'll have cags hitting their CUs and being nothing but disappointed.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']No, no, Thank you.

And I pulled the CompUSA section. As you pointed out CU is completely YMMV. The best policy for a store like that is for the poster to mention which store he saw a deal at, so if another cag local to him sees it, it will help.

Otherwise we'll have cags hitting their CUs and being nothing but disappointed.[/quote] We did have one CompUSA out here clearanced out an assload of guides for $0.98 back a number of months ago. When I found out from another CAG which store it was, I flew up there from work and scored a whole ton of them.

Most of which has already been pennied out elsewhere, though there were a few that I haven't seen pennied anywhere, like Chromehounds.

Other than that, CompUSA is so YMMV on stuff like that, it's pathetic.
 
master list and recent drop list has been removed from this thread. They will remain on the wiki. hopefully this will stop some of the problems. Don't know but I guess we will see. Thank you everyone for all your help.
 
[quote name='Orrimarrko']Not to sound stupid, but can someone explain "the wiki"?

Thanks![/quote]

its on the first post....its where we keep all the important info on the guides aswell as video game list and ebgames/gamestop trade-in prices. Theres plenty more, but I am to lazy to type everything else out. :lol:
 
[quote name='halofreak64']how do i know which ones are for a penney ty[/quote]

Most of them are for Playstation 2, Xbox, GC, 360,.....etc. But the last time i spoke with J.C. , he was upset none were made for him.
 
[quote name='halofreak64']hey im new to the penny gudes how can i buy them and how do i know which ones are for a penney ty[/QUOTE]

You check our lists, or help make the list by occasionally checking older guides (either ask or if ur store has it, the price checking scanners, but most stores don't have those anymore). If you want to buy any from previous drops, check lists. Most people have a link in their sig or have it set up under their avatar to link to trade lists, where most people (myself included) have tons of guides selling cheap.

Welcome to CAG's penny guide community.
 
[quote name='dinovelvet']Money is the preferred method.[/quote]

I find that paying via balls of dryer lint is the best method, as it gets a laugh out of the clerks and they just hand you the guides then.

BEWARE MY DRYER LINT BALLS OF DOOM!

LOL Seriously though, halofreak, I've found the BEST stores for guides(at least where Best Buy is concerned) are out in New Jersey. They tend to sticker the guides for .01, whereas the ones here try to pull them, but I always seem to find 1-2 from most drops.

Welcome to the exciting world of guide hunting and uhhhh, try not to overdo it(like I did), or you'll be stuck with BINS full of guides that NO ONE #$(&%(&%in' wants.
 
i was trying to get gamestop to sell me a bunch but there all we cant do that were going to rip them up and trash them ill try when a cooler person is working lol
 
*sniffs* I had such a beautiful write up about what penny guides are, only to be lost forever in the not-to-be-mentioned minor tiff we had here last week.
 
Gamestop is getting increasingly harder to get stuff from, halofreak, and the thing is, they may pull all the guides before a 'cooler' person is working there for you to try again with.

And Guin, go ahead and post it, since I was actually told what they do with the guides from a cool employee at BB and know now why some stores seem to pull them quick. Credit from the publisher+possible recycling $$$(.30 per guide)= double win-win for them

And actually, it's better that I can only maybe score ONE of each, since I have many dupes of guides sitting that aren't going anyplace.
 
[quote name='loxthefox']Sorry if it's been asked before, but at Best Buy has the white border GTA:LCS guide been pennied?[/QUOTE]
yes
 
Thanks.

Also, lookin' through the first twenty pages of the topic, I noticed some people talking about a price drop for Zelda:TP. Would this be for the collector's edition? My BB has a few of them and I'm going in tomorrow.
 
[quote name='loxthefox']Thanks.

Also, lookin' through the first twenty pages of the topic, I noticed some people talking about a price drop for Zelda:TP. Would this be for the collector's edition? My BB has a few of them and I'm going in tomorrow.[/QUOTE]
that was a temporary price drop that ended
 
That Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescuers Mini guide is .01 at CC. Also reduced but not .01 are:
FF Dawn Of Souls I & II $1.58
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes $2.96
 
That is the problem w/ CC. They lower prices on guides and games to clearance levels, then when they still don't sell they jack the prices back up a week or 2 later.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']No, no, Thank you.

And I pulled the CompUSA section. As you pointed out CU is completely YMMV. The best policy for a store like that is for the poster to mention which store he saw a deal at, so if another cag local to him sees it, it will help.

Otherwise we'll have cags hitting their CUs and being nothing but disappointed.[/quote]

Yeah I checked a few at the registers today at Compusa. Sadly disappointed when they all rang up $4.98! Oh well, still might be worth it to someone?

Ghost Recon AW
Jade Empire
Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 (or something like that?)

Yeah I believe the Wiki is still showing the Compusa prices on the Recent Drops page. Not sure if it takes awhile to drop off or not but someone may want to look into that.
 
I know that some of these have been covered, but since I'm not sure all of them have been, I'm going to list them anyway. Perhaps at least one of these will be new to the list...if not, oh well.

I picked these all up today at a Gamestop, all pennied-out:

Blade Dancer: Elements of Light
Condemned: Criminal Origins x2
Drakengard 2
Everquest II Atlas (PC)
Just Cause
Kameo: Elements of Power
NBA Live 07
Pups: The Official Nintendogs Companion
Scarface: The World Is Yours
Sims 2, The: Nightlife (PC)
Socom 3 x2
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 x2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Untold Legends: The Warrior's Code and Brotherhood of the Blade x3
Wild Arms Alter Code: F
Wild Arms 4 x2

Not a bad haul (except that I just bought most of these from fellow CAGs this weekend!)

CML since most of these will be available for trade.

Steve
 
whats the best way to ship a strategy guide? what should i use to ship it and where can i buy it and how much will it cost? i have a USPS flat envelope. its a bit tight though. will that be fine?
 
[quote name='trunks982']whats the best way to ship a strategy guide? what should i use to ship it and where can i buy it and how much will it cost? i have a USPS flat envelope. its a bit tight though. will that be fine?[/QUOTE]
best is to print label with paypal from usps. For $1.73 media mail you get a confirmation number that will be enough for most guides.
 
[quote name='62t']best is to print label with paypal from usps. For $1.73 media mail you get a confirmation number that will be enough for most guides.[/QUOTE]

no, i mean the packaging.
 
[quote name='trunks982']no, i mean the packaging.[/quote]
I usually use a plain manilla envelope(box of 100 at Office Depot for $10 or so), one or two pieces of cardboard, and lots of tape.
 
[quote name='trunks982']no, i mean the packaging.[/quote]

I have almost always used bubble mailers for sending 3-4 guides out, put a piece of cardboard on either side to assure the guides won't get bent and off it goes for around $5ish for 4 guides usually. This is assuming they're not insanely thick guides, like Oblivion or Dark Age Of Camelot or something like that. However, when I first started on CAG trading, I think I sent out ONE guide in a manila envelope sans cardboard. It still arrived there in one piece though.

For more than 8-9 guides, I ALWAYS use the priority mail flat rate box, but make sure I have them throw some pieces of that USPS tape over both ends to make sure it doesn't come open during shipping. Although I WILL say that in MY personal experience, the strips of glue they put on either end of those boxes are pretty tough. I know with the last batch of guides I sent out for trades/sales, I had to reopen one of the packages for some reason and it was HELL getting that thing back open. AND, the glue was STILL sticky enough to reclose it without having to tape it shut.

You can typically get the bubble mailers(I personally use 10.5" x 15" ones to have some 'room' leftover to put the carboard in) from any office supply store, though I bought my last pack from Officemax. It had 8 bubble mailers for about $10, Staples typically wants $15 for the same size pack. And actually, I was buying the mailers one at a time when I first started trading, the one dollar store had them in stock. They were actually pretty good quality for the dollar store too.

As for the list of guides Orrimarrko listed, I didn't think Scarface would be pennied at GS stores yet, since even BEST BUY hasn't dropped it as of yet. Very peculiar if it did drop, since GS is usually 3-6 months behind BB for drops.

Most of the rest of that list WAS covered though, but thanks nonetheless.
 
[quote name='shiningslade']. Also reduced but not .01 are:
FF Dawn Of Souls I & II $1.58
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes $2.96[/quote]

if anyone could get either of those two guides for me i would be very happy.
 
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