Best Buy "Upgrade and Save" Program Gives You $5 Off Blu-rays for DVD Trade-ins

[Saturius]

I've looked but there doesn't seem to be a list of approved titles anywhere. I'd rather have a list so I can show them physical proof because I'm nearly 99% certain that If I go into one of these stores, that no one there is going to know what the hell I am talking about. What's everyone else's experiences been like? Did it take long? Did you get a lot of bewildered looks? Was it fast and easy? Even if it works I'm not sure I'd be willing to go through the hassle due to potentially uninformed staff.

[Jordashebasics]

In some googling, I found that Best Buy's site actually keeps the ads from the previous times they've run it, which did restrict the titles.

This morning, I went through my DVDs. I picked out any titles I would consider moving to Blu-ray with. Then I made a quick spreadsheet-
the movie, Amazon's price, and Best Buy's price.
The general result was, from 20 titles:
7 titles had the same price from both. An 8th title had .75 difference.
1 title, Best Buy had the better price (that was Goodfellas, with a savings of .50)
Then there 3 titles where Best Buy's price was much higher - $5 or more. Those were Aliens, and Dead Alive, and Rocky Horror. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was close, with a $4 price difference.

Ultimately - if you look into it, you should be able to save a passable amount, usually 2-4 dollars apiece.
The real benefit is that you get rid of the DVD copy at the same time.

When I came in, they put a sticker on the front of each of the DVDs. I went over to customer service, and they printed off a receipt, and handed me a coupon for each DVD I brought in. They didn't check the titles or anything.
Then I went off to the Blu-ray section and looked around.

I realized just now that since I'm not tethered to getting what I sold back, I can sell back titles that I've already upgraded!

[thaggas]

I haven't had any problems with Best Buy. I spend Sunday morning going through Best Buy's site looking for Blu-rays that are 14.99 or less and that are in stock at my store. Then I pick out DVDs to turn in. I got Three Amigos for $7, Crazy Stupid Love and Ferris Bueller for $5. Not bad.

Although, you have to be watchful, because you can lose special features. The Ferris Bueller Blu-ray doesn't have the John Hughes commentary on it, so I held onto the DVD and moved it into a double-disc case with the Blu-ray.

I think the trick is to shop by price, not title. You'll never find exactly what you want, but you can get those fringe titles that you've always considered getting if the price was right.

It's getting much better. It used to be that it was really restrictive. Each time they do this they loosen the rules. Last time, they said no music titles. I had to convince the clerk that From The Sky Down was a documentary about U2, but not a music title, because there was barely any music in it. Today, I see a Foo Fighters title in their ad, so they must have fixed this too.

[XP918]

Beats what most disc exchange shops will pay. I was able to get Saving Private Ryan, Big Lebowski, Eyes Wide Shut, Blazing Saddles, and To Catch a Thief for $48 tax included. It would be nice if it worked like a $25 discount, but their game, their rules.

[Jordashebasics]

I went to a different Best Buy today, and got Kick-Ass, To Kill a Mockingbird, 40-Year old Virgin, Mission Impossible 3, and Shakespeare in Love. Total cost was also roughly around 50.

I'd actually advise looking through their selection before trading the discs in. There are plenty of other movies I would have been glad to get, but they didn't have any of those discs.

[MrAngles]

I've looked but there doesn't seem to be a list of approved titles anywhere. I'd rather have a list so I can show them physical proof because I'm nearly 99% certain that If I go into one of these stores, that no one there is going to know what the hell I am talking about. What's everyone else's experiences been like? Did it take long? Did you get a lot of bewildered looks? Was it fast and easy? Even if it works I'm not sure I'd be willing to go through the hassle due to potentially uninformed staff.

All titles are approved, there is no list. At this point since they've been doing it for about a year you shouldn't get any trouble from the employees. You walk in with your DVDs, get them stickered by the security guy so they know they're yours, take them to customer service where they make sure there's a disc in each case, give you a coupon and send you on your way.

It's not that great of a discount since most of their Blu-rays are more expensive than Amazon's and Blu-rays are generally overpriced.

I think the trick is to shop by price, not title.

This is the key. Personally I just go down my Amazon wish list and check the prices on Best Buy's website. They always have at least one of them on sale for the same or less than Amazon charges, and when you take another $5 off of that it's a no-brainer. If you don't have a list of titles you want then just sort their blu-rays by price and check out everything priced between $9.99 and $15. I can't imagine those CW sets they had on sale last week ever going lower than $19 each, so it took all of 5 seconds for me to decide to take advantage and get them at $14.

[Dr Kain]

I thought this deal was lame last year, I still think it is lame. It sounds cool, but if you have a ton of DVDs to get rid of, it sucks because you can only use one coupon per movie. I was still working for BB last year and this guy traded in nearly 100 movies (not at one time, but throughout the first month), but there were onluy like 60 titles that were actually part of the promotion, and the manager told him there was nothing he could do about the remaining 40 coupons except rebuy the same movies again to use them. I was not too happy when I heard that. And they wonder why they have to shut down 50 stores.

[MrAngles]

I thought this deal was lame last year, I still think it is lame. It sounds cool, but if you have a ton of DVDs to get rid of, it sucks because you can only use one coupon per movie. I was still working for BB last year and this guy traded in nearly 100 movies (not at one time, but throughout the first month), but there were onluy like 60 titles that were actually part of the promotion, and the manager told him there was nothing he could do about the remaining 40 coupons except rebuy the same movies again to use them. I was not too happy when I heard that. And they wonder why they have to shut down 50 stores.

Sure it would be great if you could use multiple coupons per movie and pretend that Best Buy is like an FYE that gives you $5 for every used DVD, but that's pretty unrealistic. Seems like a no-brainer though to pick out the movies you're going to buy BEFORE trading in you DVDs. At least, that's what I do.

[cupboy]

How long are the coupons good for? Just the same day you are there? Maybe I'll end up buying Chinatown at Best Buy after all for their inflated $21.99 price.

[MrAngles]

How long are the coupons good for? Just the same day you are there? Maybe I'll end up buying Chinatown at Best Buy after all for their inflated $21.99 price.

As far as I know the idea is for the coupons to be used while you're in the store during that visit.

[cupboy]

Looks like they're good until something like May 12. I used mine immediately though.

[Dr Kain]

Sure it would be great if you could use multiple coupons per movie and pretend that Best Buy is like an FYE that gives you $5 for every used DVD, but that's pretty unrealistic. Seems like a no-brainer though to pick out the movies you're going to buy BEFORE trading in you DVDs. At least, that's what I do.

Except that was not specified until the week AFTER he traded in everything. We got a memo stating that in the middle of the promotion.

[MrAngles]

Except that was not specified until the week AFTER he traded in everything. We got a memo stating that in the middle of the promotion.

Well it's certainly a bad situation for him, and I'm surprised that the customer service people let him trade in that many movies in the first place, particularly since I'm pretty sure there was a limit of 5 on that first go around. But even if it wasn't explicitly stated (which I'm pretty sure it was) it was pretty obvious that they were only going to accept one trade-in per purchase. In any case it's saved me a bunch of money and as far as I can tell it's the best deal that Best Buy has offered on Blu-rays to date. I can't even think of the last time I've made a movie purchase at Best Buy that hasn't been with the upgrade and save promotion or on black Friday.

[cupboy]

Apparently the program is rather popular and has resulted in Chinatown being sold-out in all Best Buy stores in the area. There was one left when I got mine on Monday.

[ingramba]

I sure wish Fry's did something like this, but then again their prices are almost/always better than BestBuy!