Penny Guides at Best Buy [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

joshnickerson

02-02-2009, 09:34 PM

Picked up a Wario Land guide after work. There were lots of other guides still there, which is un-usual for this Best Buy, which usually trashes them as soon as possible. Thought about loading up and shoving them on the 'bay, but decided it was best not to be greedy... despite what Wario says *L*.

carlcarlson

02-02-2009, 10:41 PM

Yeah you wouldn't be making much on ebay anyway. Once a guide gets pennied it's basically worthless unless it's a LE or something. I get them to keep and trade, I know there's no flip value in them.

darkslime

02-02-2009, 10:50 PM

ooh, good drop today. this is the drop I've been waiting for.

Hopefully they're not pulled already.

GM80

02-03-2009, 03:18 PM

Awesome, thanks! Picked up Assasin's Creed, Mass Effect, Ninja Gaiden II, and Spore Limited Edition Bundle for 4� ... with lots more of each still on the shelf!

carlcarlson

02-03-2009, 03:30 PM

I might as well add that if anyone gets extra copies of any of the Final Fantasys, Too Human, Tales of Vesperia, or Oblivion, I've got some guides for trade. Maybe we can work something out.

Deadman

02-03-2009, 11:01 PM

My Best buy had two of the guides from the list - Fable II and Zelda Twilight - but they both rang up full price. The manager said he had never seen anything about a guide price drop. O well.

AZ Legend

02-03-2009, 11:47 PM

Is there an official list of guides dropped? Is there anywhere that explains the process of obtaining these as well or do i just walk up to an associate and ask for penny guides??

maxlords

02-03-2009, 11:48 PM

If anyone can pick these up for me, I'll pay $3-5 per guide + shipping:

Assassin's Creed $3
Dragon Quest IV $5+
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles:Rings of Fates $3
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 $4
Final Fantasy IV $5
Fire Emblem $4
Hellboy: Science Of Evil $3
Lost Odyssey $4
Ninja Gaiden 2 $4
Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood $4
Tales of Vesperia $5+

They're not doing this in Canada. *sniff*

Oobgarm

02-04-2009, 05:52 AM

I managed to get a couple listed but almost all of them had been destroyed already.

Generally, most drops like this are on Monday mornings. The Media associate working that morning likely doesn't do the pull; it's usually a member of the merchandising or inventory teams, and it's usually done before open that day.

Best way to get these is to ask for the guide you want by name. But since they're penny guides, they're supposed to be thrown out and not sold at all. If some get out it's not that big a deal, but it's usually frowned upon if someone is taking huge stacks of them to the register.

carlcarlson

02-04-2009, 08:48 AM

Is there an official list of guides dropped? Is there anywhere that explains the process of obtaining these as well or do i just walk up to an associate and ask for penny guides??

That is about as official a list as you'll get. Best Buy doesn't release lists because the guides aren't supposed to be sold, they are supposed to be destroyed. Oobgarm has it right, your best bet is to ask for a guide by name if you don't see it on the shelf. If the associate is nice he/she might hook you up, otherwise you missed out. Whatever you do, though, DON'T ask for "penny guides". That will almost always get you the "we can't sell those" speech.

Of course you might just have a lazy BB and the guides will all still be on the shelf!

GM80

02-04-2009, 01:49 PM

After I picked some up yesterday, I went back this morning and *poof* ... they had vanished. Someone must have seen my transaction on the daily report :)

AZ Legend

02-04-2009, 05:52 PM

Oobgarm

02-04-2009, 07:41 PM

Pretty much. GameStop worked the same way last I heard, but good luck getting those since employees usually get them.

carlcarlson

02-04-2009, 07:49 PM

So go in ask for the guide by name, if they have it just take it to the register and it should ring up at a penny? Im going to try it next monday. Ill just check for list around the internet on excpeted guides going to be pulled. Also does it work the same way at Game Stop?

Well at this point if it's not on the shelf you are kind of screwed. Asking for it will really only work on the drop day. By now the guides are probably long gone. Also, they don't drop every Monday, just the first Monday of the month (and that doesn't even happen every time).

I've had my best luck at Gamestop by going on drop day and then talking to whoever is working. More than likely they've got a stack of guides just behind the counter and if they like you they'll share. They are much harder to score at than Best Buy in my experience, but then again I've only made it on drop day once, and I was able to score twice that time.

Having said all of that, both Best Buy and Gamestop just had HUGE drops so they probably won't be getting rid of much for awhile.

The 1 2 P

02-06-2009, 09:29 PM

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr306/THE-1-2-P/HPIM1010.jpg

Thanks to an inside tip from my buddy Carlcarlson I was able to snag these all from Best Buy for a penny each. From the long list of guides the only one I wanted that wasn't there was Ninja Gaiden 2. I left the rest, although not all from the list were there.

Yeah you wouldn't be making much on ebay anyway. Once a guide gets pennied it's basically worthless unless it's a LE or something. I get them to keep and trade, I know there's no flip value in them.

I again have to disagree with you there. As someone who has been getting pennied out guides from Best Buy since the first Silent Hill was a penny, I have ALWAYS made a decent amount of money on these guides. What you make is usually really random but I can pretty much guarantee you that I will make atleast $5 on every one. If they somehow don't sell on ebay after a few listings I can always take them to a local video game store that will give me $3-8 for them. Make not seem like a lot but multiply it by 8-20 guides and it starts to add up.

carlcarlson

02-07-2009, 04:30 PM

I again have to disagree with you there. As someone who has been getting pennied out guides from Best Buy since the first Silent Hill was a penny, I have ALWAYS made a decent amount of money on these guides. What you make is usually really random but I can pretty much guarantee you that I will make atleast $5 on every one. If they somehow don't sell on ebay after a few listings I can always take them to a local video game store that will give me $3-8 for them. Make not seem like a lot but multiply it by 8-20 guides and it starts to add up.

That's never been my experience, but that's great if it works for you. Every time I grab a guide with intentions of putting it on ebay I see every one else has had the same thought, and none of them are selling. I guess maybe if I wait until that wave dies down it will work better. And I didn't know local game stores took guides, that's not a bad idea.

The 1 2 P

02-07-2009, 08:07 PM

I guess maybe if I wait until that wave dies down it will work better.

Thats a good idea, especially with rpg guides because they almost always rise in value the longer they are no longer available in stores.

And I didn't know local game stores took guides, that's not a bad idea.

It all depends where you live. Theres a chain down here that sells used video games, cds and dvds. They actually have downsized from four stores to one but they still have the best trade in rate around. If you can see if you have a local Play N Trade. I've never been there but I think they take strategy guides in as well.

joshnickerson

02-08-2009, 09:44 PM

I stopped by my Best Buy again on a whim, and all the pennied guides were still on the newly reorganized rack... though now they were all marked $9.99. Which is still a decent 50% off deal. I'm just glad I picked up the one I needed last monday :)

The 1 2 P

02-11-2009, 12:43 AM

Today's guides from Best Buy:

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr306/THE-1-2-P/HPIM1026a.jpg

My Besy Buy had three so I got two. I completely forgot last week that the special edition bundles were on sale as well as the regular edition. Surprisingly the regular edition didn't sell on ebay this week, despite being sealed. Hopefully the special edition will sell.

Deadman

02-15-2009, 01:35 PM

This is unbelievable! WTF is up with these guides and Best Buy? Is this a nationwide deal, a regional thing, or a store-by-store basis?

Today at a new Best Buy, I found:

Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway (x2)
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duals
Wario Land Shake It! (x2)
LOZ: Twilight Princess Wii
Fracture (x2)

All of the above are on the list. All of the above have been spotted by other members here and reported to be .01 each. Well, they all rang up at $14.99 each! I know this is a "hush hush" situation, but I was ticked and just asked the lady about them getting clearanced out "cheap" and she called the head of inventory up and he had "no idea" what I was talking about. He did say that this Best Buy was a vendor-backed (?) BB and that they don't really Zero out anything, if it gets discontinued or whatever, they ship it back to the manufacturer.

Anyway, this is the second time it's happened to me in the Dallas area and I'm getting TICKED!!

Oobgarm

02-19-2009, 06:16 AM

It's a YMMV situation. A good number of books are pennied out since they drop off almost every store's planogram, but there are some stores that keep certain books longer than others. And you checked a new Best Buy, so it's highly unlikely they'll drop anything off the sales floor at a new location.

I tried to get the Spore LE book at my store and it was still full price. And the inventory person is right about discontinued items being returned, but books are discarded.

There's really nothing you can do but wait, and since that last list was so massive, it'll be a while before it happens again, I think. I'd say we're close to 10 unique guides now instead of nearly triple that at the beginning of the year.

c0ldb33r

02-19-2009, 06:54 AM

And the inventory person is right about discontinued items being returned, but books are discarded.
Do they destroy them or just throw them out? Could you imagine someone dumpster diving and find all those guides.

Oobgarm

02-19-2009, 07:19 AM

They're tossed. But Best Buy uses a closed dumpster that's only accessible from the inside, far as I know. Specifically to avoid what you mention. (not guides, but other stuff)

carlcarlson

02-19-2009, 08:08 AM

Some Best Buys have an open dumpster, and yes, people do dumpster dive and come up with a ton of guides. Many times BB will tear off the front cover to prevent the guides from being resold though.

Also, as far as the YMMV, that shouldn't be the case. It's a corporate thing, so every Best Buy should have the same data. You may be right about new stores though, they may be struggling to catch up. Also, some guides have been reported to have been raised back to normal price, Spore being one of them. I was denied on one of those as well.

Deadman

02-19-2009, 12:27 PM

I had to meet someone to complete a Craigslist deal, so he chose a Best Buy parking lot about 45 minutes from my house. I got there early so I checked out the guides, and this store had a huge display of them! I grabbed about 5 of them (all from the list- which I now have basically memorized) and asked for price checks. They all scanned cover price. I truly am stumped on this whole deal. This is an older BB, probably been in that same location for 10 years or more and still no deal. I've decided it's a regional thing and am giving up on the search.

erehwon

02-19-2009, 12:46 PM

This has also been noticed over on CAG reduced price game guide thread. Some guides were marked down to a penny and then latter marked back up, which is something new. I'm just glad I was able to get what I wanted the day of that last drop.

The 1 2 P

02-23-2009, 07:05 PM

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr306/THE-1-2-P/HPIM1032a.jpg

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 1 cent
Lost Odyssey 1 cent

These are more Besy Buy finds. Whats interesting is that the Star Wars: Clone Wars strategy guide I got for a penny from here was now ringing up at $14.99. It's a good thing I grabbed two of them back when it was on sale.

Oobgarm

02-23-2009, 08:08 PM

I've noticed the prices going back up, too. Had some High School Musical headphones that pennied last week. We got rid of them, and then they went back up to $9.99 this past Sunday. Doesn't matter, as we never sold them outside of Christmas.

I wonder if it's a way of 'punishing' the stores that don't get rid of them when they drop initially.

makaar

02-23-2009, 08:15 PM

Not to change the subject entirely but Pre-Played in Madison, WI usually has strategy guides from as far back as PS1 for 2-7 bucks...I've found some great ones there like every Turok guide for N64 and they even had FF7's guide for 5.99 back a couple years ago. Also $0.99 NES games often...

As far as Best Buy, I've seen them throwing displays away for newer video games but they have a closed dumpster...and they seem to have a thing against giving them to people that want them...bastards... :)

MarioMania

03-02-2009, 01:30 AM

I'm going to BB tomorrow to look if I find deals on some Guides

Oobgarm

03-02-2009, 06:08 AM

Madden 09, Midnight Club, and SOCOM for PS3 have hit the penny mark if you can find them.

The 1 2 P

03-02-2009, 07:20 PM

Madden 09 have hit the penny mark

I bet it still doesn't sell for a penny. Thats the one guide that my store has tons of. All I really wanted was Ninja Gaiden 2 but of course it was sold out. So I just used all the other guides I got to sell on ebay.

carlcarlson

03-02-2009, 08:13 PM

All of the following pennied at Best Buy today. Some of these are from prior drops that were then raised back to full price for some reason (I'm looking at you Spore).

007: Quantum Of Solace
Battlefield Bad Company
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Bioshock(PS3/360 version with red circle on front cover)
Codes and Cheats Winter 2008
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Fracture
Infinite Undiscovery
Madden 09 Limited Ed.
Midnight Club: LA
NFL Head Coach 09
Pokemon Pocket Pokedex
Silent Hill: Homecoming
SOCOM: Confrontation
Soul Calibur IV(softcover)
Spore Limited Ed.
Star Wars Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels/Jedi Alliance
Warhammer Online(bundle)
Warioland: Shake It!
WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009

Nothing terribly exciting for me. Infinite Undiscovery would be alright, but I'm not going to actively hunt for it.

MarioMania

03-02-2009, 11:45 PM

There was nothing at the BB where I was today

The only one I'm really looking for is Soul Calibur IV LE

The 1 2 P

03-03-2009, 05:07 PM

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr306/THE-1-2-P/HPIM1038.jpg

Silent Hill: Home Coming
Bioshock
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

I got two copies of each, all for a penny at Best Buy. Next time I'll probably grab the Quantum of Solace guides. Thanks for the heads up Carl.

MarioMania

03-07-2009, 03:15 AM

Anyone wants to find me a Soul Calibur IV LE Guide

The 1 2 P

03-07-2009, 04:45 AM

Anyone wants to find me a Soul Calibur IV LE Guide

I only found one during the last drop but I used it to replace my regular edition because I sold it(the regular one) as soon as I finally got the LE version.

c0ldb33r

03-07-2009, 09:27 AM

Anyone wants to find me a Soul Calibur IV LE Guide
me too

Cryomancer

03-07-2009, 11:04 AM

If someone would be so kind as to send me a couple of those DQ 4 guides, I would scan one for posterity.

MarioMania

08-25-2009, 07:01 PM

Is BB doing the penny thing again soon??

carlcarlson

08-25-2009, 08:42 PM

Is BB doing the penny thing again soon??

Yeah actually they just had a drop on the 24th, which is really weird because it's usually the first Monday of the month. I missed it but there wasn't really anything that caught my eye. I'd post the list but CAG seems to be down at the moment. The only one I remember is Dead Space.

edit: CAG is back up

Bionic Commando
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Dead Space
Killzone 2
Need For Speed Undercover
Pokemon Visual Guide DK Hardcover
Terminator: Salvation
Xmen Origins: Wolverine

MarioMania

08-26-2009, 12:40 AM

aww

Tomb Raider Underworld is not on the list

The 1 2 P

08-26-2009, 01:42 AM

My Best Buy actually had Dead Space marked down to a penny on the shelf so I snatched two. I'll probably pick up the Killzone 2 guide tomorrow.

MarioMania

08-26-2009, 11:07 PM

The only guide I'm really looking for is Tomb Raider Underworld for the PS2

The 1 2 P

09-24-2009, 04:40 PM

New guides that I know of:

Resident Evil 5 limited edition
Prince of Persia Collector's edition
Left 4 Dead
Fear 2

The only one I didn't snatch was Fear 2 because none of the Best Buy's I checked had them.

Oobgarm

09-25-2009, 07:54 AM

They've been really good at pulling these off shelves at my store, but I was able to convince them to sell me a Prince of Persia LE guide for $5.

NESGamer24

09-25-2009, 09:32 AM

Quick Question. Are these guide drops all controlled by the individual Best Buys or is it by corporate?

Everytime I go to my best buy and look at the guides I never see any prices, just printed on the cover, but no best buy price sticker. How would you know they are a penny, is there a price sticker on them?

joshnickerson

09-25-2009, 09:44 AM

I believe the guide drops are corporate, but the way the penny guides are handled seems to vary from store to store. Most stores will have them pulled off the shelf and destroyed (or more likely, snagged by a few lucky employees), while a few might actually drop it down to a few dollars. I've only been to one Best Buy where they actually put a 1 cent price tag on the guides and put 'em back on the shelf.

But for the most part, you'll need to know when the guides have dropped and hope you get there before they're pulled.

Shadow Kisuragi

10-23-2009, 10:53 AM

Are these guide drops all controlled by the individual Best Buys or is it by corporate?
The guide price drops are corporate - in the computer system, the guides show as $0.01 for price. I had an employee look up the guides for me last night.

Unfortunately, all of the guides are out of stock in the STATE! :(

MarioMania

10-28-2009, 04:59 PM

Did Street Fighter 4 drop to $.01

carlcarlson

10-28-2009, 06:05 PM

Did Street Fighter 4 drop to $.01

yessir, at Best Buy.

Nirvana

10-29-2009, 12:15 AM

Damn if anyone can get me an SFIV guide I'll Paypal you $5

I just want it for collectors purposes

carlcarlson

10-29-2009, 11:36 AM

Damn if anyone can get me an SFIV guide I'll Paypal you $5

I just want it for collectors purposes

I've got one, but I'd prefer to trade it. If you could get ahold of a Star Ocean 4 guide (also pennied) we'd be in business.