Reduced Price Guide Thread XIV (FAQ in 2nd Post)

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The Reduced Price Guide FAQ/OP has been moved to the SECOND post. Read this first!
[customspoiler="Disclaimer"]
All credit goes to IAmTheCheapestGamer, floormat, and guinaevere. They ran this thread for years, and I can safely say we would not have penny guides here without them. Thanks for your work!
[/customspoiler]

Private message me if there is something incorrect or needs to be changed in the non-wiki pages.
Below is two years or so of guide drop info. If you want to see the full list, please refer to the third post of the Reduced Price Guide Thread XIV that can be found HERE.​

Note that date may be of confirmation, and not of drop.

CE/SE/LE=HARDCOVER GUIDE
Red=Gamestop drop
Blue=Best Buy drop
Pink=Toys R Us drop

 

Recent Drops (Last Six Months)

Dropped 3.23.16 at GameStop

Game Stop 1 Cent

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate CE

Just Cause 3

Halo 5 CE



Dropped on 3.26.14
 

Gamestop

Battlefield 4

Disney Infinity

Grand Theft Auto V

Remember Me

Super Mario 3D World

Dropped on 2.26.14

Gamestop 

Assassin's Creed IV: CE

Battlefield 4 CE
Grand Theft Auto CE

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds CE

Skylanders Swap Force CE

Wonderful 101

Dropped on 2.14.14

Toys'R Us

Rage
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Mass Effect 3

Star Wars The Force Unleashed II

Dropped on 10.31.13

Gamestop 
 
Animal Crossing
Assassin's Creed 3
Borderlands 2 LE
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Cheat Code Overload: Winter 2013
Codes & Cheats Vol. 1 2013
Dead Island Riptide
Diablo III

Disgaea D2

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Legendary
Epic Mickey 2
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Halo 4
Hitman Absolution
Injustice: Gods Among Us

Injustice: Gods Among Us LE
Last of Us

Last of Us LE
Lego City Undercover
Madden 25
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Ni No Kuni
Pokemon Black & White 2 Pokedex
Resident Evil 6 LE
Resident Evil Revelations

Wind Waker LE
Dropped on 9.25.13

Gamestop
Army of Two The Devils Cartel
Dead Space 3
Metal Gear Rising Revengence
Star Trek
Super Mario Bros. Wii U
Epic Mickey 2 Limited Ed
Halo 4 Limited Ed
Hitman Absolution Limited Ed

Dropped on 9.04.13

Gamestop
 
Call of Duty Black Ops II CE
DMC: Devil May Cry
Dishonored
Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider CE       
 
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Confirmed drop:

Skyrim hardcover
Witcher 3 hardcover
Mass Effect A hardcover
ESO morrowwind hardcover
Pokémon sun moon softcover

Witcher seems to be the hardest to get.
 
Actually had the manager say today “where do you find out about the guides?” Told him that I game site I follow has guys that watch the list of guides and then say when something disappears. He said he’d rather give them to someone than trash them, anyway. Told me that if he ever pulled guides before I came, he’d just stick them in the back and save them for me.
 
crazedracerguy said:
Actually had the manager say today “where do you find out about the guides?” Told him that I game site I follow has guys that watch the list of guides and then say when something disappears. He said he’d rather give them to someone than trash them, anyway. Told me that if he ever pulled guides before I came, he’d just stick them in the back and save them for me.
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wish stores near me still have cool people like that. Tried at one store, there this new guy (probably seasonal) saw the MEA guide rang up as penny and he immediately override with the sticker price :wall:

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk
 
FlawlesslyFatal said:
wish stores near me still have cool people like that. Tried at one store, there this new guy (probably seasonal) saw the MEA guide rang up as penny and he immediately override with the sticker price :wall:
Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk
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They could be fired for that. Once it hits a penny, the distributor issues a credit for what GS paid at cost. They are only a cent for inventory tracking. Selling them is a HUGE no no.
 
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Struck out at the second location but the first location had 1 copy each of ME:A and ESO:M. The two employees there were actually nice about the whole thing. I didn't even ask, I was looking at the meager selection when the guy asked if I needed help. Told him I was just browsing, when he asked if I had either ME:A or ESO:M. He just turned around and grabbed them from the counter behind him and gave them to me. They must have just pulled them, as another employee was still trying to find room for a crap ton of Odyssey guides. Last time I tried there a month or so ago a different employee told me they ship them back. Right, sure you do.

I was hoping to grab The Witcher III and Skyrim as well. Oh well.

 
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I've been striking out everywhere on these lately. Earlier in the year I had about a 50% success rate at the 6 or so stores near me with just 1 guide left on the shelf for one of the pennied guides at the time.

Was really excited to see the Mass Effect and Witcher guides drop last week (as I finally picked up both of them recently) and started making the rounds, but found none at the first 5 stores. A few places had a Prey guide but I got denied with the usual "we have to send these back to get credit". Made it to the last store and found 1 more of both the Mass Effect and Witcher guides, and tried to temper my excitement as I brought them up to the counter. The girl working didn't even know what they were at first (excitement grew), and then was confused when they rang up at a penny (more excitement), and then said "well, I guess I can let you... oh! Doug! I can ask Doug about these!"

Doug then proceeded to grab the guides and say no no no, and told me that a few employees had actually ruined penny guides because they would hide the guides so when they pennied out they could grab them themselves... So they are keeping track of what they have left to either send back for credit or destroy.

Thanks Doug.

 
Thanks Romeo, today I picked up:

4x Prey

Skyrim CE (thing is freaking massive)

Watch Dogs 2 CE

Was rejected on Skyrim CE at one store, and Morrowind CE/FO4 CE/Prey CE/one other at a different store.

 
Darby27 said:
Thanks Romeo, today I picked up:
4x Prey
Skyrim CE (thing is freaking massive)
Watch Dogs 2 CE

Was rejected on Skyrim CE at one store, and Morrowind CE/FO4 CE/Prey CE/one other at a different store.
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You’re welcome. It wasn’t all me though, test effort here. I was just able to confirm the drops from the stores.

When I saw your post just now I forgot it was Wednesday and worried I missed a drop today.
 
Actually saw a Skyrim in a store the other day but got denied as always.

Anyone in the LA area have a store that you can get guides from at all any more?

 
Interesting tidbit: Lego Jurassic World and Batman Arkham Knight both ring up as .02 at TRU if you scan the upc, but as full price if you scan the ISBN.
 
Darby27 said:
Interesting tidbit: Lego Jurassic World and Batman Arkham Knight both ring up as .02 at TRU if you scan the upc, but as full price if you scan the ISBN.
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I noticed lego Jurassic World a few months ago. I keep getting denied or they scan the ISBN and I decline but they keep putting it back on the shelf.
 
I presume everyone knew about the GameStop CE guide sale today. I went and grabbed an AC Origins guide. This is one series I’ll buy the guides for no matter what, yet at a reasonable price. I missed the old half off guides coupon from Best Buy. Those were the days.
 
Thanks to hard work of fellow CAG, I lurked on this thread and began drooling uncontrollably, decided to go hunting after work.

When to a GS, almost had an heart attack when I saw the small mountain of penny guilds on the floor, at least 3-5 copies of each of those listed. I only really wanted that holy weapon of a brick Skyrim and the oh so fucking sweet sight Witcher 3 CE guides, but couldn't resist and grabbed one of each MEA and pokemon S&M (for the kids). 

Lined up for 30 minutes as they sold a few Xbox and even a PS4. When it was finally my turn, the manager whispered to the employee to not to sell me any of the penny guides.

I did the usual - well, it's on the store floor, and I lined up for ages, and these heavy tomes basically fused into part of my arm, oh please just at least give me a couple? Just Skyrim? 

Nope, wont budge at all. 

After arguing with them a few more minutes, they called the police and told them I was harassing them. LMFAO.

No penny guide for me. 

Man do I miss the days of BBY penny guild hunts. 

Nevertheless, glad to see there are still stores cool enough to be decent with giving them out. 

Morale of the story: Do not dare harass GS employees. 

 
I always give perfect reviews to stores that are nice enough to give them instead of trashing them. I don't know if I'll ever be cool with the notion of just trashing anything. Hell give it to goodwill and get a tax wright off.
 
Most of my local stores know me, because I like to just walk in and shoot the shit on the regular, and I’ve never been turned down for a penny guide. Even in he stores to the north that I only get to occasionally, I’ve never been turned down... Lucky, I guess.
 
Most looked forward to drop now is the SNES classics book to match the NES one I picked up a while back. Since I bought the AC Origins guide the other day for $10, I don't have to worry about that one too much.

 
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I have 1 walmart listed as 4$ for pokemon guide @ brickseek but I couldn't find it  :bomb:  didn't even see a single game guide. I asked an employee at the video game section and he has no idea what a game guide is. I also checked the pokemon cards section near the checkout counters

 
trig said:
I have 1 walmart listed as 4$ for pokemon guide @ brickseek but I couldn't find it :bomb: didn't even see a single game guide. I asked an employee at the video game section and he has no idea what a game guide is. I also checked the pokemon cards section near the checkout counters
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places I've seen my local Walmarts put strategy guide: endcap near video games, random shelves middle of the walkway, or clearance section (look for yellow balloons).

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk
 
trig said:
I have 1 walmart listed as 4$ for pokemon guide @ brickseek but I couldn't find it :bomb: didn't even see a single game guide. I asked an employee at the video game section and he has no idea what a game guide is. I also checked the pokemon cards section near the checkout counters
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I had a similar experience, guides disappeared entirely from the store I frequent or they were moved to a random clearance endcap

 
One guide that pennied out this last week is the Pokemon Sun & Moon Pokedex HC.  I usually ask at my main GS when I drop in if anything has pennied out & they usually hook things up more often than not. 

 
Joe Fongul said:
One guide that pennied out this last week is the Pokemon Sun & Moon Pokedex HC. I usually ask at my main GS when I drop in if anything has pennied out & they usually hook things up more often than not.
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Crap I was waiting for that one. May be too late now.
 
I'm willing to send up to a $50 PSN gift card to anyone that can scan receipts of the stores they've been buying penny guides from. $5 per receipt. You can block out any personal information on the receipt, just need the store name, address, and item on the receipt. Thank you.
 
It’s interesting that some stores sell them for $.01. Most stores give them away since they are marked for field destroy.
 
Good luck on locations. Seems someone is trying to shut down guides. Luckily about all of them just give them away. I travel throughout the country and hit all different spots ( given without ringing up ). IATCG Dat you ??
 
TheTattler said:
I'm willing to send up to a $50 PSN gift card to anyone that can scan receipts of the stores they've been buying penny guides from. $5 per receipt. You can block out any personal information on the receipt, just need the store name, address, and item on the receipt. Thank you.
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"This member is no longer active."

That was fast. If that was IATCG, it's like he's not even trying anymore
 
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