Deals before CAG

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smalien1

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Either before you found it or before it existed. I used to buy the discount type games at my local Odd Job, i remeber I got Body Harvest for N64 Like that, and, long before I knew about CAG I looked through my PS2 and realized I hadn't payed fifty dollars for a single one of my games, out of 15 or so only 3 were gifts and the others were purchased cheaply.

What are yours?
 
I before CAG I always bought preowned games from local shops, everyonce in a while I would do the trade in three and get a new release at EB.
 
I remember picking up about 4 copies of Marvel vs Capcom 2 on DC at target for $20 each when it was pretty new, but sold them to friends for cost. Around the same time a friend a mine picked up 3 copies of Suikoden 2 for $7.48 at Target on clearance, only to trade them in for like $12 a piece at EB. In retrospect, I don't thing he maximized his profit on that one.
 
Before CAG there was the .com boom (and the Hot Deals forums at DVDtalk, FatWallet, and Anandtech). Online stores were literally giving away free money to entice you to come to their site and buy something. That was just the thing...you'd take the awesome deals (usually in the form of outlandish coupons) and never come back unless they offered up another deal or coupon. Another thing that was alot more common back then was errors in pricing and those orders actually going through. Not so common today as I'm sure online stores have learned that pricing errors could destroy profits if taken advantage enough before being caught.

Needless to say, I so built my DC/PS1/N64/GBC/Saturn library from those days (and even a little bit of my PS2 library in it's first year of existance).

Oh, rent Startup.com on DVD and see just how/why these companies could give away "free" money in the from of such outlandish coupons and deals. Good flick.
 
[quote name='zionoverfire']Before CAG I mainly relied on used games at EB GS and ebay auctions that ended at odd hours.[/quote]

I did the exact same thing.
 
[quote name='zionoverfire'] ..... ebay auctions that ended at odd hours.[/quote]

Real hunters never sleep :whistle2:$
 
I used to find sutff at wal-mart. Got my metal gear solid gb for $10. Play just like the psone, just with horrible grahpics. I remember they were also selling Star ocean and Valkryie Profile for $20 bucks in a bin.
 
Star Tropics 1 & 2 sealed from TRU for $4 total. I also found out about the miscellaneous Target clearance prices about 6 months before finding out about CAG.
 
[quote name='masha'][quote name='zionoverfire'] ..... ebay auctions that ended at odd hours.[/quote]

Real hunters never sleep :whistle2:$[/quote]

Or they leave low auction bids on tons of games.
 
I just remember one, sealed Valkyrie Profile for 20 at Hastings. And to think I got dragged in there because the wife wanted some books.
 
Sega Saturn and Madden 98 for $10 for sears. 1 buck of Namco's Arcade Stick for Tekken 2 at target. Target was and is the best clearance place ever
 
Toys R Us getting rid of it's Saturn merchandise in 1999. I got a brand new Saturn for $30, and some games for $6 each. EB then had games for $0.99 to $8 brand new and a free Sega brand 3D controller with a game purchase so I built up my Saturn library quickly.

Target Clearance Games like Jet Set Radio Future for $12.48, Kirby's Tilt N Tumble for $7.44 etc. I think I started looking for clearance deals at Target in Spring 2002.

EBGames.com deals, I have been ordering from them since 1998 and they always seem to have had deals on games like right after I got my PSX in 1998, they had a lot of new games for $7.99

Sears, I remember buying N64 and PSX games from their pink ticket 50% off deals. And then a few years later after Dreamcast was out, I remember getting games like Dynamite Cop for $15 and Shenmue for $2.

KBToys.com, in summer 2000 only a few months after Dreamcast was out they had deals like Soul Calibur for $20, Tokyo Xtreme Racer for $12.50, and a few other DC games for $7.50 to $12.50

In late 2000, EToys.com had a huge clearance sale (before KBToys.com bought them out) and only 6 weeks after PS2 was out, I got Moto GP for $27, Ridge Racer V for $36, and some Dreamcast games for $5 - $10. Later in early 2001 they had a going out of business sale and I got SSX for $40.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']

In late 2000, EToys.com had a huge clearance sale (before KBToys.com bought them out) and only 6 weeks after PS2 was out, I got Moto GP for $27, Ridge Racer V for $36, and some Dreamcast games for $5 - $10. Later in early 2001 they had a going out of business sale and I got SSX for $40.[/quote]

Best deal around December of 2000 was with some website with the word FAMILY in the name (can't remember the exact name, but they sold toys, dvds, and video games...the site died shortly after...I think they were even owned by SEGA for a short while). They had a 50% off sale with a coupon code. DVDs, Games, and Acc. were all 50% with that coupon. Great way to kick off my PS2 library and get some N64, DC, PS1 games I needed.

Edit: The name of the site was Familywonder.com. Sega.com did in fact own it for awhile. You can read about it here:

http://news.earthweb.com/bus-news/article.php/528621

The BEST "deal" after that (Oct/Nov of 2001) was Amazon's TRU B2G1 coupon code mess up. Add a game, plus two PS2 Horizontal Stands, and the B2G1 coupon code to your cart and you would get a $50 game and two stands for $17 shipped. I think I ordered 18 PS2 games and 36 stands with that deal. I still have a garbage bag full of those stands today.

Oh, and back when EBGames.com was EBworld.com they had a nasty habit of selling used games as new (re-shrinkwrapped). Funny, as I consider EBgames.com the best game e-tailer out there today.

I also won't forget Best Buy B&M clearing out Saturn games for about $10 per game. I think that was in February of '98. Heard of it on Usenet, then went to 3 Best Buys the next morning and cleaned house.

Now I know longer drive for deals unless I know for sure it's in stock. I let the deals come to me on the internet.
 
[quote name='bmarquardt']Before CAG there was the .com boom (and the Hot Deals forums at DVDtalk, FatWallet, and Anandtech). Online stores were literally giving away free money to entice you to come to their site and buy something. That was just the thing...you'd take the awesome deals (usually in the form of outlandish coupons) and never come back unless they offered up another deal or coupon.[/quote]
I heard about an e-tail site in late '97 or '98 called Value America, which offered virtually everything half off (though I can't remember whether a coupon code was needed or not). That's basically how I got my original PlayStation for ~$75 plus tax when it was still going for $150. I also picked up a 2nd controller, Final Fantasy VIII, and (possibly) Bust-A-Groove with the same deal. My gaming purchases, while slow up to that point, snowballed from there.
 
Most of my stuff came from clearanced Target goods as well as when KB Toys were reducing prices on stuff that didn't sell. Best Buy was great during the time they had printable $5 off game coupons for anything $5 or more. Bought tons of clearanced N64 stuff back then.
 
[quote name='dpac'][quote name='bmarquardt']Before CAG there was the .com boom (and the Hot Deals forums at DVDtalk, FatWallet, and Anandtech). Online stores were literally giving away free money to entice you to come to their site and buy something. That was just the thing...you'd take the awesome deals (usually in the form of outlandish coupons) and never come back unless they offered up another deal or coupon.[/quote]
I heard about an e-tail site in late '97 or '98 called Value America, which offered virtually everything half off (though I can't remember whether a coupon code was needed or not). That's basically how I got my original PlayStation for ~$75 plus tax when it was still going for $150. I also picked up a 2nd controller, Final Fantasy VIII, and (possibly) Bust-A-Groove with the same deal. My gaming purchases, while slow up to that point, snowballed from there.[/quote]

I remember ValueAmerica.com and their coupons. I remember buying mostly electronics from them (a VCR, a bookshelf stereo system, and a Discman). The only game I can remember buying from them was the latest Madden (then) for the PSX and a maybe a N64 game, but I'm not sure what other games I bought there.

Now defunct, Whatshotnow.com, when it launched (in '99), had everything on their site at 33% off with no coupon required. I remember buying a N64 for $99.99 (was going for $150) and an Atomic Purple Game Boy Color for a 33% off. Not to mention most of the Dreamcast launch games, some PS1 and N64 games, music CDs, and South Park Plush dolls for 33% off.

Gamecave.com had a 20% rebate going on at eBates and that's how got my launch DC system.

There was another website, I think it was called aacompany.com, and it had a concept of "the more people buy an item, the lower the cost would be". That was a great source for PSX and N64 games.

One website was paying you $$$ to view presentations on their website and then would give you an $20 of $25 Amazon.com GC just for sitting through the online presentation for 20 minutes. I think I got at least $600 Amazon.com GC out of them. Needless to say, my launch PS2 was "free".

Giftcertificates.com (still going today), let you buy Supercertificates for 25% off. I bought Media Play gift cards that way and got my launch Xbox and Gamecube for basically 25% off ($225 and $150).
 
I got lots of good deals in used shops, clearance deals, glitches, coupons, ebay . . . heck I've always been a CAG. I did buy some full-priced games but never many. But now, I have the power of a "smart mob" (Howard Reigngold's term) behind me.

One deal does stand out . . .

Target had PS2 Greatest Hits games on sale in 2002 (before N and MS had a value line). The deal was buy 2 and get 1 free. So, I looked through and through the selection and could only find Twisted Metal Black and Silent Hill 2 . . . I grabbed one more and figured I'd return the last one and get the 2 for $13.xx each prorated. I did that kinda thing at BB before.

I returned the one and got $20 back . . . wierd . . . So I returned SH2 and got $20 more back. Then I bought another 2 plus TMB and returned the two.

Some kind of glitch in their system . . . I ended up with TMB and SH2 for free.

I didn't have any desire to exploit it any further.
 
My best one before CAG was some noname site offering Soul Calibur for the DC for $1.99 - $4.99 shipped. This was right after the Dreamcast launch, couldn't believe it when it actually showed up.

That and when 800.com launched and did any 3 DVDs for $1
 
Earthbound with box - $5.99 at Blockbuster.
Shining Force II with box - $7.99 at Blockbuster.
Final Fantasy Tactics (when it was super rare) - $5.99 at Blockbuster.
 
I bought a PS right after launch for $75. It was new,sealed, the whole bit, but I got it from some guy who had them stacked in a closet in the movie theater he worked at. Stolen? Not sure. I chose to treat it like a "tree falls in the forest with nobody around" sort of thing. Im sure St. Peter and I will be discussing it though.
 
I remember when I went into Montgomery wards one time to buy a pair of pants. and they were clearancing off all of their Saturn games, for as low as .99, I remember getting 3 dwarves, hockey, the 3-pack(virtua cop, virtua fighters, daytona) and a whole bunch of other generic games, then right before they closed for real, they clearanced off all of their NGPC stuff, i had everything!!! All the games, all the accesories, and i only spent like 30 dollars.
 
I once drove about 30 minutes to a Best Buy and bought 52 Wavebird/carrying case combo's for 1 cent a peice. Good day....
 
[quote name='bmarquardt']Now defunct, Whatshotnow.com, when it launched (in '99), had everything on their site at 33% off with no coupon required. I remember buying a N64 for $99.99 (was going for $150) and an Atomic Purple Game Boy Color for a 33% off. Not to mention most of the Dreamcast launch games, some PS1 and N64 games, music CDs, and South Park Plush dolls for 33% off.[/quote]

WHN was awesome, I got so many good deals there. I don't remember nearly everything, but I know I got a bunch of Tori Amos discs, and a couple of the School House Rock cd sets (in the denim binder). Were they the ones who sent gummy worms with every order?

There was another site, I can't remember the name, around the same time that had some amazing VG deals. I think it was some sort of auction, dutch, or reverse, or something, but I may not have that right. I got a few Suikoden II from them at release :) I don't remember the price, but I don't think it could have been more than $30 each.

And now, not such a great deal: For a while, KBtoys.com had a deal where you could pre-order Nintendo GC games (Starfox, Sunshine, Metroid), and with the game you would get a collectable giftcard with one of the character's images on it, that was worth $10 off another GC game (from a specific list, probably all first party). There was probably more to it than that, but it was so long ago that I don't remember. Basically I would preorder one, then use the $10 towards the next (maybe it was $10 off, plus a $10 card?) I thought it was the shnit at the time. Can anyone remember more info about it?

I am too young for Alzheimers.

P.S. Thanks for the reminder about startup.com. I bought it off half.com in 2003, and I still haven't watched it (or opened it, for that matter).
 
[quote name='PhrostByte']I once drove about 30 minutes to a Best Buy and bought 52 Wavebird/carrying case combo's for 1 cent a peice. Good day....[/quote]

52 wavebirds? for a penny a piece?

And, is 30 minutes considered a big drive? There are 3 bestbuys in my area, and it is about a 30 minute drive for me to get to any of them. I have been known to hit all three in the same night.
 
[quote name='guessed'][quote name='PhrostByte']I once drove about 30 minutes to a Best Buy and bought 52 Wavebird/carrying case combo's for 1 cent a peice. Good day....[/quote]

52 wavebirds? for a penny a piece?

And, is 30 minutes considered a big drive? There are 3 bestbuys in my area, and it is about a 30 minute drive for me to get to any of them. I have been known to hit all three in the same night.[/quote]

During the school semester I drive 30 minutes to school, and 30 minutes back. So I go through a tank in less than a week (4 cylinder car). I hate driving now.. and I hate paying so much for gas.
 
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