Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread XII(Stock locator trick FAQ added to OP)

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IAmTheCheapestGamer

IAmTheCheapestGamer

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First off, let me welcome you all to the new guide thread. Second, I'd like to ask you all to please keep conversations not pertaining to guide drops to a minimum to avoid cluttering the thread. It's not that I don't enjoy the chit chat, but that it may stop others from locating information on the newest drops.

That being said, let me thank Cheapy for creating this site, without which I would've spent probably 10 times what I HAVE spent on games and guides. Moreover, let me thank each and every one of my fellow CAGs for continuing to contribute to making this site a great place to find out about sales and clearances of the items we as gamers use most. Without a great community, NONE of this would be possible.

Now, with that out of the way(and before I get to rambling), let's get on to making this new thread.

Useful Information(and links):

Game Guide Trade Thread(KEEP ALL TRADE REQUESTS HERE OR IN PM'S):

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175548

PLEASE keep ALL trade requests in there or PM's. Thank you.

Reduced Price Guide Discussion Thread(KEEP ALL DISCUSSION NOT RELATED TO GUIDE DROPS HERE!!!):

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169252

What is the purpose of this thread?

The purpose of this thread is to let our fellow CAGs know when a guide has dropped to a low price(it's NOT ALWAYS A PENNY), so they can go out and grab guides for themselves and for trading with other CAGs.

Anytime you have guide drops to report, post them here. Please specify at which store you found them and which guides you found and list them in alphabetical order. Thank you. Please, whenever possible, use RED font to make the drop info stand out. Thanks again.

What are penny guides?

Penny guides are guides which have been on the market for a while and the publisher(or store chain) decide that the remaining stock of these guides have little to no chance of selling, so they issue an order to pull them from the shelves and destroy them. At that time, they are also marked as .01 in their inventory system, except in the case of BBV, which marks them .01 only AFTER pulling them.

Most stores have an agreement with the publisher that states that if they destroy the remaining stock of those items, they will receive a credit for their value from the publisher. This is why many stores are usually annoyed when we CAGs come in and buy the guides AT the penny price, since otherwise they would've received a credit for those items.

According to an employee at a local BB, they also have a recycling program for the pennied stock, so as to not clutter landfill space with the guides. As to how true it is, I cannot confirm, but I would hope that the paper is at least recycled instead of just dumpstered.


Prior Reduced price game guide threads:

Guide Three:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...ighlight=guide
Guide Four:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/....php?p=1496376
Guide Five:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...ad.php?t=85976
Guide Six:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=116918
Guide Seven:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=131717
Guide Seven and a half:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=142400
Guide Eight:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=167157
Guide Nine:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=187222
Guide Ten:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219547

Finally, below is a list of website links, each of which goes to their respective guide page. Whenever possible, I will update the links with better ones(if available).

Amazon
Barnes&Noble
BestBuy
Gamestop
Overstock
Strategyguides.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, Guinaevere and anyone else who has created and maintained the guide thread before, as well as to all of those who find out either advance information on drops or provide a list of which ones dropped when we do have a drop.

The post below this one contains a list going back at LEAST six months of the more current guide drops, which stores they occured at and which ones dropped. Note that sometimes(Oblivion guide, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory)there are multiple versions of a guide, be it that there are Prima versions, Brady versions and the occasional Nintendo and Doublejump guides.

Please specify WHICH version has dropped when mentioning possible guide drops. Thank you.

Common Guide Drop Related Questions(FAQ):

FAQ - If you are new (or a vet with a few questions) look here SECOND! (After reading the above!)

Q: What Are Penny Guides?
A: Penny guides are guides which have been on the market for a while and the publisher(or store chain) decide that the remaining stock of these guides have little to no chance of selling, so they issue an order to pull them from the shelves and destroy them. At that time, they are also marked as .01 in their inventory system, except in the case of BBV, which marks them .01 only AFTER pulling them.

Most stores have an agreement with the publisher that states that if they destroy the remaining stock of those items, they will receive a credit for their value from the publisher. This is why many stores are usually annoyed when we CAGs come in and buy the guides AT the penny price, since otherwise they would've received a full credit for those items.

According to an employee at a local BB, they also have a recycling program for the pennied stock, so as to not clutter landfill space with the guides. As to how true it is, I cannot confirm, but I would hope that the paper is at least recycled instead of just dumpstered.

Q: Do all guides from all stores drop at the same time?
A: No. While most chains have nationwide drops within their own store (as in every BB will have the same drops coast to coast), not every different chain drops at the same time (what drops at BB is NOT necessarily dropped at GS). When in doubt, check post TWO for drop info.

Q: I found a penny guide and a clerk denied me! I'ma report 'em!
A: Whoa, hold your horses there, pardner! First of all, not a question. Second, just because something is on the shelf, the clerk does NOT have to sell you that item. Most stores are PRIVATE property and as such can deny you just about anything they want - including a sale. The best advice is to not be rude, not be arrogant, and just try hard to get them to have pity on you.

Q: Why don't the clerks want to sell me their penny guides? Aren't they just throwing them away?
A: As stated above, the stores are ordered by the publisher to trash the guides, and are then given credit for those guides. If they don't do this, the publisher won't give them the credit - it's like losing a sale. On the employee level, selling a penny guide can sometimes get them in trouble (or even fired!) I know it seems silly, but this is their job we're talking about! Respect the man (or woman) behind the counter and you'll get a lot more guides than otherwise!

To expand on this, if you come off as DEMANDING, then you'll likely be barred from the store and possibly banned from ALL of their stores entirely. Moreover, you may be charged with trespassing if you continue to press this, as retail stores are PRIVATE PROPERTY.

The penny price is NOT an actual price that the stores HAVE to sell the merchandise for, it is a 'marker' in their system to the employees to pull/destroy those items. The fact that we as CAG's get ANY of these means that employees are not doing their jobs correctly and we are very lucky to even get them in the first place.

So don't press your luck and ruin it for everyone by being an asshole to a manager/cashier who just wants to keep their job by doing what they're supposed to.

Q: Should I just ask if the store has penny guides then?
A: No, since that denotes that you have some insider information as to the runnings of these businesses.

Q: What if the clerk wants to know how I know so much about guide drops?
A: If asked where you got your info about guides that pennied, simply say either 'the internet' or 'a friend of mine told me they're on clearance'.

Q: But clerks will know what a penny guide is, right? I can talk to them like anyone else here...
A: Never use the word pennied to ANY store clerks unless you have built up a good rapport with them. Even then, it may seem a little fishy if you know more about their shop than they do.

Q: Are guides labeled as a penny on the shelf?
A: Sometimes. Most times, no. GS seems to label everything that gets a price drop, so often times guides will be stickered. But even so, they most likely won't sell them to you. A sticker does not mean 'have to sell'.

Q: I tried to buy a guide that this thread said was pennied and it didn't ring up as such! What gives?
A: Either 1) Our source was wrong (this rarely happens and is usually verified a FEW times within maybe an hour of posting), or 2) The clerk changed the price or 3) There are multiple versions of the guide and the one you grabbed is a newer version that has NOT pennied as of yet. Some examples of this are: The Godfather and Oblivion.

Q: What's the easiest way to get penny guides? This sounds like TONS of work!
A: Best Buy is probably the best place to get guides, followed by GameStop, GameCrazy, Toys R Us and then Blockbuster. From what I've seen though, probably 95% of guides that people get are snagged at BB - the rest come from the other stores. But it never hurts to try!

Q: Has there been a drop recently?
A: If you are asking this question you didn't fully understand the OP - go back and read it once more. When a drop happens, it will be posted, and then placed in the second post - trust us.

Q: How do you guys know so much about penny guides?
A: We sometimes have inside sources with the information from the stores themselves; other times, fellow CAGS just like you or me simply take suspected guides to the register and ask them to ring them up, to check their prices. Feel free to do this yourself, and help give back to the community by telling us what you find! However, DON'T ask "Has anyone checked XXX lately?", unless you are in the right thread (discussion area).

Best Buy Stock Locator FAQ to find stock for deleted SKU's(works for games and guides):

Here's a good little trick that some of you may already know. If you want to find out if your local Best Buy has stock of an item, but the page(and SKU) for it has been deleted you can STILL find/create a stock locator page for it.

Here's how to do it:

Google the item you're looking for the SKU for. Once you find it, take that SKU and copy/paste it into the URL for another item's stock locator page on BestBuy.com after where it says skuID=(example: blahblahblahblahskuID=2085453), then hit enter to reload the page with the new SKU in place of the old one and search away.:D

Unfortunately no such method exists for Gamestop at this time.

Thanks to GrilledWitOnions for creating the above FAQ, which should eliminate the need for such questions popping up in the thread from this point on out.

PLEASE USE THE THREAD TOOLS DROP DOWN MENU TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW THREAD, RATHER THAN WASTING A POST TO POST 'TAGGED'. THANKS!!
 
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[quote name='Arakias']You just became him. Congrats![/QUOTE]
Those operations take time, and I don't think my health care would provide for that.
Nothing on the site dropped (that I can recall) at BB, so I'm assuming there's nothing. Then again, BB could have it on their site, and never send it even a month after ordering it, so who knows.
 
Went into a BB today to grab Justified BR and saw a Borderlands GOTY guide. Walked over to the CS desk with my order from 12/23 that says "waiting on stock at store" and said i want it for $15. They couldn't figure out how to do anything with the order but still overrode it to $15 for me.
 
[quote name='drawingboard']Those operations take time, and I don't think my health care would provide for that.
[/QUOTE]

This is all you need:

hampunch.jpg
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']Went into a BB today to grab Justified BR and saw a Borderlands GOTY guide. Walked over to the CS desk with my order from 12/23 that says "waiting on stock at store" and said i want it for $15. They couldn't figure out how to do anything with the order but still overrode it to $15 for me.[/QUOTE]

Same here, but with Fable 3 CE. What ended up happening was I spent half an hour calling the 1-888 best buy number and alternating between explaining my situation to 3 different customer service representatives and then getting disconnected. Finally, the last CS person on the phone said I could cancel my online order, get the in-store CS people to price-match the 50% off price, and then come back in and retroactively apply the $10 certificate when it was re-credited to my account in a couple of days.

You could ask the CS phone representatives to manually adjust the "Backordered" status of your order to become "Available", but that takes at least an hour to be processed through their internal system (from what the CS reps told me) and into the in-store computers.

Hope this helps some people who are stuck in the same boat.
 
I went in BB today and they had relocated and cleaned up the guide section. The previous section was literally overflowing with guides and a lot that had previously been there weren't in the new section. It was especially odd since there were a few from old drops that were still there but some that had never dropped were missing (too many to have all been purchased).
 
Hmm, now if it's not too much trouble neocisco, I just need an alphebetized list of all those that were removed and pennied, and their location and quantity at each BB in my area. By midnight. Please. :lol:
 
I just got back from vacation and visited a few GS when I went shopping in some malls in southern cal. There were still some Enslaved and Spiderman guides from the last drop on the shelves. I taught my nephew how to get some penny guides. Good times.
 
i got really lucky at my gamestop where a manager friend works. shes been out for a bit having her new baby and was back at work today. she pulled a ton of pennied guides out and gave me some. walked out with 2 spidermans,2 resonance of fates,and enslaved. really wanted the starcraft 2 collectors but oh well. all 5 are avail for trade for other rpg guides or id trade all 5 for starcraft.
 
Just got my first pennied guide from BB (White Knight Chronicles). They have so many Alan Wake's and Bioshock 2 guides. I might go back later LOL.
 
I found out I have competition locally. Some bastard selling the pennied guides at the one local new flea market type place that got set up in an old WalMart building. They're selling them for $1.99 each there, which still ain't bad but not as good as $.01. fucker.

I'm willing to bet it's probably one of the employees at BB like the one bitch who used to hoard from both local stores here.:bomb: Of course I nuked her perfect Ebay account feedback with a negative for 'overcharging for shipping'.;)
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I found out I have competition locally. Some bastard selling the pennied guides at the one local new flea market type place that got set up in an old WalMart building. They're selling them for $1.99 each there, which still ain't bad but not as good as $.01. fucker.

I'm willing to bet it's probably one of the employees at BB like the one bitch who used to hoard from both local stores here.:bomb: Of course I nuked her perfect Ebay account feedback with a negative for 'overcharging for shipping'.;)[/QUOTE]

:::note to self:::

be sure to block IATCG on eBay buyer's list ;)
 
Guide drop at gamestop:
Left 4 dead 2
Lost planet 2
prince of persia the forgotten sands

this is all I know, possibly more all that was at my local store. Posting from my phone so sorry about no red text.
 
[quote name='Ultragamer']Guide drop at gamestop:
Left 4 dead 2
Lost planet 2
prince of persia the forgotten sands

this is all I know, possibly more all that was at my local store. Posting from my phone so sorry about no red text.[/QUOTE]


WTF, these must be old drops, right?
 
sweet, thanks Ultragamer for the post. I only need LP 2 I think..(checking now to see if L4D 2 pennied at BB, sad that I can't remember what I've got :lol:)
 
[quote name='ballbarfer']WTF, these must be old drops, right?[/QUOTE]

Nope, just dropped today. Left 4 Dead 2 dropped at bb a long time ago.
 
[quote name='Ultragamer']Nope, just dropped today. Left 4 Dead 2 dropped at bb a long time ago.[/QUOTE]

They are still listed on the gamestop website. Don't they usually get delisted from there?
 
[quote name='gauu']meh if thats the drops theres nothing good at all. im waiting for birth by sleep and mario galaxy 2 to drop =(.[/QUOTE]

well he did say 'probably more'.. don't you want to be the one to check? ;) ;)
 
[quote name='Trance Addix']Does one have to do anything special to buy a pennied guide at BB? Or is just pick it from the shelf and go to check out?[/QUOTE]

yes, easy as that as long as you have a cool cashier. Some pretty big red flags are always thrown up, but sometimes people just don't care. Some people like to pick up other things just to 'mask' the penny price. I only do that sometimes. They're going to see it up there for 0.01 no matter what. You can always grab one or two guides with correct change (to make it less hassle) then if you're in, put those in your car and go back in and HOARD!!
 
[quote name='token2k6']yes, easy as that as long as you have a cool cashier. Some pretty big red flags are always thrown up, but sometimes people just don't care. Some people like to pick up other things just to 'mask' the penny price. I only do that sometimes. They're going to see it up there for 0.01 no matter what. You can always grab one or two guides with correct change (to make it less hassle) then if you're in, put those in your car and go back in and HOARD!![/QUOTE]

I see, thank you. Never bought a pennied guide before. :)
 
[quote name='Ultragamer']Crackdown 2 also dropped at gamestop

Edit: add Animal Crossing City Folk as well[/QUOTE]

Saw Crackdown 2 had a $2.99 red sticker and decided to wait. Guess I'll go back and hope it is still there
 
Add Pokemon Platinum to the GS list for today.

EDIT: I was also able to pick up Enslaved and Spiderman Shattered Dimensions from the 12/16. This was at the same location that I tried to pick up the same guides back on that day and was shot down. Guess they never threw them out. I am absolutely thrilled to snag Enslaved! It was the only one I really wanted out of the last drop and the whole situation was depressing (manager showed up right before they were going to sell them to me and said I had to pay full price).
 
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Ok full list as of now for Gamestop drop

Animal Crossing City Folk
Crackdown 2
Left 4 dead 2
Lost planet 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
Pokemon Platinum
Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands
 
Metal Gear Solid 4 LE or regular?


[quote name='Ultragamer']Ok full list as of now for Gamestop drop

Animal Crossing City Folk
Crackdown 2
Left 4 dead 2
Lost planet 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
Pokemon Platinum
Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands[/QUOTE]
 
I'm just going to start posting when I go to gamestop...It seems to be the day after I check prices on guides. You guys may want to check the mini Lunar guide and the Warrio one.


Edit: Probably the Naruto one too.
 
well it looks like the gamestops here are all on top of guide pulls. both of my usual score stores aee all pulled the pushover store in the boonies had the guides behind the counter, i asked about them and they told me they couldnt sell em to me.... but yea they have before. I wonder if that guy screwed Portland area gamestops for pennied guides . im kind rage right now.

sorry, posting from a mobile device.... still rage tho.. guess i shoulda found a mall cop or somethin.... cake!
 
Do you guys usually buy something else when you go in for the penny guides? Most of the employees at the Gamestops in my area are knowledgeable about penny guides and know they aren't supposed to sell them, but they tend to look a blind eye if I buy something else. I have wondered whether or not they would let me have them if I went up to the register with only a handful of penny guides and nothing that actually made them any money.

At Best Buy, it's a whole other story since most cashier's are ignorant about pricing and could care less about the store's margins on products, so there I've been able to just grab a handful of guides with nothing else.
 
Found a nice manager who gave me a LP2 that I spotted on a shelf in the back room.

That was the only one I wanted anyways.
 
[quote name='JordanPlayer']I think I've only had luck at something like 1 out of 30 Gamestops... I just wait for BB lol[/QUOTE]

Don't worry, I only managed to get Lost Planet and Left 4 Dead 2 from this drop, all the other locations turned me down. So you're not the only one who doesn't have luck at Gamestop.
 
haha forget penny guides, they pennied out a bunch of pc games yesterday, they call them sleeve games. The ones I remember are Prince of Persia, Far Cry 2, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and about 5 others. Just ask your store to print out a list of games < 2$ and then your in the know :)
 
[quote name='stoned99']haha forget penny guides, they pennied out a bunch of pc games yesterday, they call them sleeve games. The ones I remember are Prince of Persia, Far Cry 2, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and about 5 others. Just ask your store to print out a list of games < 2$ and then your in the know :)[/QUOTE]

Far Cry 2 pennied? I may have to check that out, everyone seems to like playing that at lan parties, would be nice to pick up a few copies. Wish there was a way to check stock on these.
 
[quote name='stoned99']Just ask your store to print out a list of games < 2$ and then your in the know :)[/QUOTE]

I could imagine most stores looking at you like you have three heads if you came up to them and asked them to do that.

For the minority that still have some luck with penny guides at Gamestop I did notice today that they have 108 guides listed online from (IIRC) 126 when I last looked at about noon yesterday.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Second and third posts are updated. Thanks to all who provided info on the drop.[/QUOTE]

IATCG, you might want to change the drop date to 1/26/11 in the 2nd and 3rd posts. It shows 1/26/10 now.
 
Few more drops a Game Stop today:
Splinter Cell Conviction
Lego Indiana Jones 2
NCAA Football 11 (spiral-mini)
Tron Legacy (spiral-mini)
Metal Gear Peace Walker (spiral-mini)
Lunar Something for PSP
Alan Wake Reg. Ed.
Dante's Inferno
Just Cause 2

All .01 Unfortunately a bunch of these already previosly dropped at Best Buy.
 
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Ahhhh fuck. Why can't GS just drop all the guides they're gonna drop on one day as opposed to doing Prima ones one day and BradyGames the next?:bomb:

Will update 2nd n 3rd posts in a bit. Thanks jaybsooner, but for future reference, please don't call the store by a weird name n use RED to note any drops next time.

Thanks.
 
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