Reduced Price Guides-Discussion Thread

[quote name='onikage']I was only able to find guides at 1 out of 4 locations this time and wasn't able to find Mario Kart, which was the only one I really wanted myself. It seems like all the stores in the Raleigh area have been pulling them the day they .01, at least since the last big drop.

[/QUOTE]

Well I guess I'm not making the trip north to Raleigh for some guides.


[quote name='Pookymeister']No luck at the other BB - only was able to score the Gears LE and Afro.

I was hoping for Metal Gear, Madworld, Mario, and the GTAs but i doubt the last BB i havent checked out will have them.[/QUOTE]

And that's where I came in! package sent!
 
Could someone explain this whole "penny drop" idea to me? I'm a noob and quite frankly think it is too good to be true. I mean, a strategy guide for a penny?
 
After reading up on these penny guides, I think I'm going to go tomorrow and look at my local BB for some of these on the list. If you are looking for one, I'll see if ours has it when I go. Just PM me before, like 9AM. I'll probably be on all night.
 
[quote name='mbradley1992']After reading up on these penny guides, I think I'm going to go tomorrow and look at my local BB for some of these on the list. If you are looking for one, I'll see if ours has it when I go. Just PM me before, like 9AM. I'll probably be on all night.[/QUOTE]

Good luck. I noticed with this drop Best Buy has been very good with pulling the guides. If you didn't get there on Monday morning you probably missed out.
 
[quote name='mbradley1992']After reading up on these penny guides, I think I'm going to go tomorrow and look at my local BB for some of these on the list. If you are looking for one, I'll see if ours has it when I go. Just PM me before, like 9AM. I'll probably be on all night.[/QUOTE]

You can't expect to be making big hauls like some you may have read about here. In fact, it might get you denied to go up with a stack of guides. The main thing is to be aware of what is pennied when visiting one of these stores and you may come upon some that they missed. While the BBs lately have been good at pulling, several I visited still have guides from older drops on the shelf even though the newest drops were pulled.
 
[quote name='PapaSmerf']You can't expect to be making big hauls like some you may have read about here. In fact, it might get you denied to go up with a stack of guides. The main thing is to be aware of what is pennied when visiting one of these stores and you may come upon some that they missed. While the BBs lately have been good at pulling, several I visited still have guides from older drops on the shelf even though the newest drops were pulled.[/QUOTE]

The thing is, that last big drop(the messed up one)really fucked up my chances around here of getting ANY guides anymore from the closest store.

I went in and grabbed 5 guides as a test run and by the time I got out to my car and came back in to grab more, the media manager had been alerted and I got denied on the rest of the 60-75 that were just sitting there.

So, anymore if I find guides that're pennied at BB around here, I just go for ALL of the ones I want and if I get denied then I leave a big ol stack on the counter at the register and let them deal with 'em.
 
Well, I would disagree with just letting them deal with them. I mean, good point, and I don't blame you, but I'm just not the kind of person that would be a jerk if they didn't sell them to me.

Ok, yeah I would. :) Anywhoo, I went in this morning, and they did not have any recent drops, but I did find some for some games that I have that were older. I got Crackdown, Oblivion GOTY, PGR4, Warhawk, and Assassin's Creed LE. Pretty good for my first time. They didn't make any kind of fuss to me about it, but the people in line behind me were like "What?! .01 guides?! Really!". It was a great feeling.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Spore LE pennied out a few months ago @ GS or BB, if memory serves.[/QUOTE]

Yessir it has.

Boy, I'd kill for a MGS4 LE guide :whistle2:#. I think all of my local Best Buys sold out of them within the first month of the game's release.
 
Holy fucking Christ I got assraped with PMs. So here's the list of what I found. An asterisk means I can get others..

Mario Galaxy
Gears 2 LE
GTA: Chinatown Wars*
GTA: Lost/Damned*
Mario Kart Wii*
Haze*
Madworld*
Afro Samurai*
Super Mario Galaxy
Resistance 2*
 
I verified the following guides are NOT pennied out, just for shits n giggles because I really wanted them and was hoping - Zelda Twilight Princess (white version, $14.99), Fallout 3 BIG one, GTA 4 (regular not Lost & Damned), and Star Ocean.

I picked up extras of just about everything except for Metal Gear Solid 4 LE. That's pretty much the only guide I didn't find. I have extras of:

GTA 4 Lost and the Damned
Saints Row 2
MadWorld
Resistance 2
Afro Samurai
Pokemon Ranger
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Mario Kart Wii
Super Mario Galaxy
Gears of War 2 LE (missing plastic shrinkwrap)

Although I'd only be interested in trading for other guides, and only for guides that probably no one in their right mind would give up (like super rares/PS1 RPG guides type stuff). Otherwise I'll just resell them via craigslist/amazon.

Although I would trade multiple extras for a MGS 4 LE guide, or rarities...
 
[quote name='karkyco']
Although I'd only be interested in trading for other guides, and only for guides that probably no one in their right mind would give up (like super rares/PS1 RPG guides type stuff). Otherwise I'll just resell them via craigslist/amazon.
[/QUOTE]

Hahaha... Good luck with both of those ideas.
 
[quote name='karkyco']I verified the following guides are NOT pennied out, just for shits n giggles because I really wanted them and was hoping - Zelda Twilight Princess (white version, $14.99), Fallout 3 BIG one, GTA 4 (regular not Lost & Damned), and Star Ocean.

I picked up extras of just about everything except for Metal Gear Solid 4 LE. That's pretty much the only guide I didn't find. I have extras of:

GTA 4 Lost and the Damned
Saints Row 2
MadWorld
Resistance 2
Afro Samurai
Pokemon Ranger
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Mario Kart Wii
Super Mario Galaxy
Gears of War 2 LE (missing plastic shrinkwrap)

Although I'd only be interested in trading for other guides, and only for guides that probably no one in their right mind would give up (like super rares/PS1 RPG guides type stuff). Otherwise I'll just resell them via craigslist/amazon.

Although I would trade multiple extras for a MGS 4 LE guide, or rarities...[/QUOTE]

Good luck with that. At even $2-3 a pop the local game stores can't sell them and I tried putting a MASSIVE list of guides on CL a while back. I had ONE offer for ONE guide and that was it.

The offer was for like $1 too, which wouldn't be bad since I only paid .01 for them, but the person flaked and didn't respond back.

As for selling them though, I'm wishing I NEVER did sell off all the ones I had, since sometimes it takes FOREVER for them to go up in value. I'm just glad I kept one out of three copies of the Half Life: Raising the Bar hardcover book, since that thing goes for around $100 now.

But I'll still annoyed that I probably let 2-3 other copies go in 2-3 for 1 guide trades within the past 2-3 years on CAG.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Good luck with that. At even $2-3 a pop the local game stores can't sell them and I tried putting a MASSIVE list of guides on CL a while back. I had ONE offer for ONE guide and that was it.

The offer was for like $1 too, which wouldn't be bad since I only paid .01 for them, but the person flaked and didn't respond back.

As for selling them though, I'm wishing I NEVER did sell off all the ones I had, since sometimes it takes FOREVER for them to go up in value. I'm just glad I kept one out of three copies of the Half Life: Raising the Bar hardcover book, since that thing goes for around $100 now.

But I'll still annoyed that I probably let 2-3 other copies go in 2-3 for 1 guide trades within the past 2-3 years on CAG.[/QUOTE]it is easier to sell things on amazon because there is more market than on cl or the local game store, and you would probably get more offers if you had prices for each one. i sold about 50 guides on cl and individually priced each one.
 
[quote name='darkslime']it is easier to sell things on amazon because there is more market than on cl or the local game store, and you would probably get more offers if you had prices for each one. i sold about 50 guides on cl and individually priced each one.[/QUOTE]

That's what I should do, but every time I posted an ad some resellers ended up flagging it, so I said fuck it and stopped putting up ads on there for now.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That's what I should do, but every time I posted an ad some resellers ended up flagging it, so I said fuck it and stopped putting up ads on there for now.[/QUOTE]

You mean resellers were sinking so low as to flag your ads to deny you a sale? That sucks man.
 
Hit my 2 BBs today and picked up a crazy amount of guides. Including a MGS4 LE and a GOW2 LE guide for a penny a piece. I have to get them all together to have an idea of what I got, but it was over 50 guides - and I left a bunch on the shelf just because I felt bad picking up so many...


Oh - and each time I got a young girl as my cashier and all they talked about what what a great deal a penny was. No problems whatsoever.

CRG
 
[quote name='crazedracerguy']Hit my 2 BBs today and picked up a crazy amount of guides. Including a MGS4 LE and a GOW2 LE guide for a penny a piece. I have to get them all together to have an idea of what I got, but it was over 50 guides - and I left a bunch on the shelf just because I felt bad picking up so many...


Oh - and each time I got a young girl as my cashier and all they talked about what what a great deal a penny was. No problems whatsoever.

CRG[/QUOTE]
You must be grabbing multiple each in order to get over 50 guides. I wish I had such luck here. Any chance that you can spare some extra guides?
 
[quote name='eau']You must be grabbing multiple each in order to get over 50 guides. I wish I had such luck here. Any chance that you can spare some extra guides?[/QUOTE]

Yep - I want to get together a list and post it in the trading area. I did grab multiples. Since they had gone and no one seemed to be picking them up in this area, I picked up a few extras of each. In some cases, between the 2 stores, I picked up more than a few...

A few highlights -

Saints Row 2
Mass Effect
Haze
Resistance 2
Legend of Spyro
Super Smash Bros Brawl
Super Mario Galaxy
Madden 09
GTA Chinatown Wars
GTA Lost and Damned
Spore LE
+ a bunch more...
 
[quote name='crazedracerguy']Yep - I want to get together a list and post it in the trading area. I did grab multiples. Since they had gone and no one seemed to be picking them up in this area, I picked up a few extras of each. In some cases, between the 2 stores, I picked up more than a few...

A few highlights -

Saints Row 2
Mass Effect
Haze
Resistance 2
Legend of Spyro
Super Smash Bros Brawl
Super Mario Galaxy
Madden 09
GTA Chinatown Wars
GTA Lost and Damned
Spore LE
+ a bunch more...[/QUOTE]
I don;t have anything to trade but I'd love a MGS4 LE. Would you accept payment?
 
[quote name='dcgm']I don;t have anything to trade but I'd love a MGS4 LE. Would you accept payment?[/QUOTE]

I only got one of those - and I'll probably keep it. I am going to make a run to a couple more local Best Buys tomorrow to see if I can stumble across anything else.
 
[quote name='oscargrouch']Potomac Mills Best Buy in NOVA was clean, nothing to be had.[/QUOTE]

It was probably a freakin goldmine until crazedracerguy hit it.
 
Now that things have cooled, I'm thinking I'm going to get rid of my extra MGS4 guide. Don't think I need it. Best offer, I guess? God knows I got enough interest in it. Meh.

Seems retailers are getting more and more on the ball, and while I can't blame them for wanting to get full credit, I don't understand not just handing them to a customer who wants to buy them. Insanity. It's 'destroyed' as far as the company's concerned, who the hell is it hurting? They just rip the covers off and throw everything in the trash anyway..
 
[quote name='boneless']You mean resellers were sinking so low as to flag your ads to deny you a sale? That sucks man.[/QUOTE]

That mainly happened when I was trying to sell games or systems. I'd get the typical lowballers and just after that my ads would be flagged.

Back in February of 2008 I put up my collection of PS2 and Xbox games(98 or so) for sale as a giant lot with a price that I'm sure the people in the "Craigslist Stupidity" thread would have a good laugh at($450), with the intention of selling them AS A LOT.

So, one by one, I received offers for Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2, Futurama and a couple of other games that would have a premium on them. Each time I told the buyers that I was intending to sell the games AS A LOT.

After rejecting about 3-6 offers, my ad was flagged and deleted.

While a good majority of those games WERE bought during clearances and sales, there were also some I paid full MSRP for, but I figured @ $4 or so per game it was still a steal for someone who wanted a good sized collection.

I eventually sold it on CAG to someone who took the whole lot in one shot, but that was after the requisite 'offers' from people who shall remain unnamed but who went after only the same ones as the assholes from CL.
 
[quote name='180husher']It was probably a freakin goldmine until crazedracerguy hit it.[/QUOTE]

Nope - right state, wrong store.

And, actually, quite a few of the guides I picked up were from the 3/2/09 price drops... so they had been sitting a long time on the shelf...

007:QOS
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
NFL Head Coach 09
Spore LE
Silent Hill: HC
Madden 09 LE

I couldn't exactly feel bad about picking up a bunch, seeing as no one had gone through them for 3 months... I probably left more than I picked up...
 
Do the MGS4 LE guides fetch anything on ebay? I'm seeing ~fair results. Maybe in the past they've done better?

Ah well. My local BB's strat guide section is empty now. They pulled pretty much all of them. And not just penny guides, but ALL. Looks like they're in the back room.
 
[quote name='jaysapathy']Do the MGS4 LE guides fetch anything on ebay? I'm seeing ~fair results. Maybe in the past they've done better?

Ah well. My local BB's strat guide section is empty now. They pulled pretty much all of them. And not just penny guides, but ALL. Looks like they're in the back room.[/QUOTE]

They've done that around here too. It usually happens when someone(typically me)has found and bought a shitload of guides. They yank every last one to the back to re-organize so no further guides end up walking out the door for .01 each. :lol:

While they may think that's a great tactic to use, it actually helps me out even moreso, since then I can just ask a female clerk in media to go check the back for me for X or Y guide. If they have the pennied ones still in the store and haven't been dumpstered, it makes it SO easy to cherry pick what I still want.

Of course, I could always be denied at the register, but that's always been the part of the guide hunting equation that fills me with the most trepidation. It's usually a 50/50 crapshoot, even if you get the guide from the back.

As for the MGS 4 LE guide doing decent on Ebay, some guides may have an initial spike in value, then they go back down in price. However, you should hold onto 1-2 copies sealed for a year or three, since once it's been out of print for a while it may spike again in value.

That's what happened with the Half Life hardcover book I have.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']

That's what happened with the Half Life hardcover book I have.[/QUOTE]

No way! I'm surprised you haven't mentioned this one before!
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']They've done that around here too. It usually happens when someone(typically me)has found and bought a shitload of guides. They yank every last one to the back to re-organize so no further guides end up walking out the door for .01 each. :lol:

While they may think that's a great tactic to use, it actually helps me out even moreso, since then I can just ask a female clerk in media to go check the back for me for X or Y guide. If they have the pennied ones still in the store and haven't been dumpstered, it makes it SO easy to cherry pick what I still want.

Of course, I could always be denied at the register, but that's always been the part of the guide hunting equation that fills me with the most trepidation. It's usually a 50/50 crapshoot, even if you get the guide from the back.

As for the MGS 4 LE guide doing decent on Ebay, some guides may have an initial spike in value, then they go back down in price. However, you should hold onto 1-2 copies sealed for a year or three, since once it's been out of print for a while it may spike again in value.

That's what happened with the Half Life hardcover book I have.[/QUOTE]

Resident Evil Archives is another one that has really gone up over the years.
 
[quote name='Josef']Resident Evil Archives is another one that has really gone up over the years.[/QUOTE]

Don't I know it... My wife wanted a copy when it came out and I didn't buy it. Looked a few months ago and... well... she won't be getting a copy. Ever.
 
[quote name='crazedracerguy']Don't I know it... My wife wanted a copy when it came out and I didn't buy it. Looked a few months ago and... well... she won't be getting a copy. Ever.[/QUOTE]

I don't know, sounds like a really nice birthday gift ;) Of course, you have to give her an idea of how much you spent on it because otherwise it looks like some cheap book.
 
[quote name='Josef']Resident Evil Archives is another one that has really gone up over the years.[/QUOTE]

That's one that I really wanted too, even though I never really liked the RE series. But at the time when it pennied the stores locally had ALL gone into 'destroy' mode, so I was SOL.
 
I'm a little ticked at my supervisor. She is the one who collects the guides and takes them out of the system. We had one new gears le and she went and played arts and crafts again and gutted out a picture of the chainsaw dude. Plus she threw everything else away afterwords.

The only thing I got out of this was that I figured out how to look up the junk out records and discovered that the average Strategy guide pull usually happens on the first Tuesday of the month. So the next possible date is on Tuesday July 7th.

So for anyone I would make a trip to your local store that day preferably early at the start of the day.
 
[quote name='cyclone0001']I'm a little ticked at my supervisor. She is the one who collects the guides and takes them out of the system. We had one new gears le and she went and played arts and crafts again and gutted out a picture of the chainsaw dude. Plus she threw everything else away afterwords.

The only thing I got out of this was that I figured out how to look up the junk out records and discovered that the average Strategy guide pull usually happens on the first Tuesday of the month. So the next possible date is on Tuesday July 7th.

So for anyone I would make a trip to your local store that day preferably early at the start of the day.[/QUOTE]

What store are you referring to? If it's Best Buy, they usually penny out the guides on the first Monday of the month. Your store may not take them off the shelves until Tuesday (which would be good for you and everyone else in your area).
 
[quote name='Josef']What store are you referring to? If it's Best Buy, they usually penny out the guides on the first Monday of the month. Your store may not take them off the shelves until Tuesday (which would be good for you and everyone else in your area).[/QUOTE]

Well if its supposed to be Monday, then my supervisor is always a day late because the dates are on Tuesdays. And yes I'm referring to Best Buy.

Fortunately, I was talking to the person who pulled the guides for my supervisor so I gave her a list of everything I want for her to save for me.

Never again will the clutches of my Supe get her hands on guides I want for her wicked dissecting in the name of "Arts and Crafts"!!!!
 
Anyone else noticing Best Buy has been cracking down on the penny guides?

Yesterday, hit up the Green Bay, WI Best Buy for a digital picture frame, and decided to go by the guides and see if any were still there. I was amazed. They guides from like 3 different drops. Bioshock, endwar, Gears of War 2 Limited, and like 3 others. Long story short, even though I went to the tv department to buy my stuff (away from managers), the dude ended up calling a manager over the radio and I ended up not getting the guides.

Have they sent out some massive memo to crack down on this? I feel so betrayed when I don't end up getting them. lol.
 
[quote name='iemcj']Anyone else noticing Best Buy has been cracking down on the penny guides?

Yesterday, hit up the Green Bay, WI Best Buy for a digital picture frame, and decided to go by the guides and see if any were still there. I was amazed. They guides from like 3 different drops. Bioshock, endwar, Gears of War 2 Limited, and like 3 others. Long story short, even though I went to the tv department to buy my stuff (away from managers), the dude ended up calling a manager over the radio and I ended up not getting the guides.

Have they sent out some massive memo to crack down on this? I feel so betrayed when I don't end up getting them. lol.[/QUOTE]

I just know that ALL Best Buys near me pulled the guides this time, though some a few days after the drop. So it sounds like some memo was sent out, or something.
 
I found them at about half the stores I went to, others were pulled... A couple drops ago I was only able to find that batch at one store...
 
If the reps in media actually pulled the guides the night before the drop after they closed or the morning of the drop before they opened, there wouldn't be any guides for them to sell for a penny.

Since they don't do that, it's fair game as far as I look at it for whatever's on the floor.
 
The whole pulling of guides is entirely YMMV. Stores in my area never pull guides unless they recieve orders from corporate to do so and they have no problems selling the guides. I went yesterday and got another 25 guides for my club to use as prizes in gameroom for our upcoming convention and there were still MORE guides left on shelf.
 
More guides dropped today

I dont know how to put my font as red but

STAR OCEAN SECOND DEPARTURE
GRAND THEFT AUTO CHINATOWN WARS
VALKYRIE PROFILE
SILENT HILL HOMECOMING

(more guides dropped, that was all i was able to pick up and i can 100% confirm, but there are others that dropped as well.
 
Picked up 1 each Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile today at lunch, but the manager tore the covers off. They had more copies, but I could not stay and watch that.
 
[quote name='Cheapass24']More guides dropped today

I dont know how to put my font as red but

STAR OCEAN SECOND DEPARTURE
GRAND THEFT AUTO CHINATOWN WARS
VALKYRIE PROFILE
SILENT HILL HOMECOMING

(more guides dropped, that was all i was able to pick up and i can 100% confirm, but there are others that dropped as well.[/QUOTE]

You want this thread:

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219547

But, it's day old news there. This is where you come to brag, complain and BS about the guide drops.
 
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