MisterBill

I seem to recall that that one rarely gets posted very far ahead of time. People are more focused on the BF ad.

The big deal about Sears F&F night is that you get 10% off on Lands End. That stuff never goes on sale and coupons are never valid on it (except one time a while ago when I think they made a mistake).

If you cannot afford to wait a few months for your money, then you should avoid most rebates. Staples is probably the best since you register it online and typically get it back in about a month. Symantec is also very fast. The fact is that most rebates take around 2 months, plus or minus a month.

That is typical for OD. Not sure about Best Buy, and you did not mention if it was a BB rebate or manufacturer. I don't think there is that much of an added delay, if any, due to BF volume.

Ugh, Staples is one of the BEST for rebates. They have their "Easy Rebates" and for most non-software items all you do is register the rebate online and you do not have to mail ANYTHING. I am not sure who you fought with at Staples but clearly the fault was with your store and the manager there should have taken care of you (assuming it was not your fault). And to be honest, you never should have left the store without the rebate forms that should have printed at the register. It's admirable to hold a grudge like that but you are clearly harming yourself by doing so with Staples.

I got email from Kohl's that said Early Bird specials would be available online 1-3am (yes, one to three) eastern time. 50% off toys is an Early Bird special. Set your alarm clock :-).

The cashiers typically will have the coupons available from other customers and can scan them for you. I wouldn't worry about it.

What, you don't appreciate the free wakeup call???

There has to be more FAR stuff than this. Does anyone have the complete list? The problem with these abridged lists is that they just have what the source thinks is important (to them).

How much is not having to deal with BF madness at TRU worth?

I'd be really surprised if it's color given the very low price. But the WM ad should be delivered to many of us Monday or Tuesday (I think most people get them by mail, not in the newspaper), so you'll know soon enough.

So, since CompUSA will hold in-store pickup orders for 72 hours, if I were to place an order now for one of the Wednesday 4pm FAR's, it should still be there waiting for me when I get there on Wednesday, right? Knowing CompUSA, I think the odds of anyone getting around to reshelving the item early is kind of slim... ..although the manager who pulled my last item might not be thrilled to see my name again since I told him off last week, after I showed up to pick up my item and had to wait for 10 minutes while some salesperson was giving a sales pitch on the benefits of a wireless network in the middle of a transaction at the pick-up desk (where he shouldn't have been to begin with). No one bothered to offer to help me even though there were people standing around while I was waiting. I finally found another copy of the program that I ordered on the shelf (with CompUSA you don't actually get charged until you pick it up so if you don't pick it up, it's no big deal) and bought it at a regular cashier, after which I found the manager and told him off :-).

I have done return/rebuy in the past, but not much. The problem as I see it this year is that one of the largest BF sites is basically advocating this strategy as their website's slogan. Obviously buying a few days earlier and just expecting to get the rebate form on BF is not going to work as the purchase must be made on that day. But I have typically not had problems returnng and rebuying stuff. It probably is not a good idea to try it on the items with strictly limited supplies. But I figure the Sears DVD player I bought yesterday is not likely to sell out, but this way if I don't get to the store that early, at least I know that I have one. Of course, Best Buy has basically declared war on people who do things that they don't approve of, so I guess it is not too surprising to hear about this new policy. Fortunately, I do not have a store that close to me, so I don't bother with them on BF. And I think the open box thing is a non-issue for most. Only an idiot would open something they were planning to return/rebuy on BF.

The cashiers will have coupons that can be used if you are not able to get one. And I'm pretty sure they'll let you get more than one of the FOX/WB DVD sets. However, I am upset that they do not seem to have The O.C., as my daughter wants that and now I'll have to pay more for it elsewhere.

I'm not a really early morning BF person, and I've never been to Best Buy on BF (where I understand it's a zoo), but from what I have heard from my wife, KB Toys always has the longest lines, because they only have two registers, and because the employees are generally slow/incompetent (take your pick).

Circuit City will be empty because their ad has not been leaked early so no one is makiing plans to shop there :-). BTW, I trust that it's just that no one has leaked their ad, and not that their lawyers did a pre-emptive strike and told the BF sites not to even consider posting the ad. That still would not stop the spurious posts from showing up.

I agree. For a 7 year old, a Gamecube is a great system. There's little reason to spend more when they will be happy with the game selection for several years. Buy the new $99 bundle mentioned above and you don't even have to spend $50 on a game to make it usable! My son is 13 and we only have a Gamecube and he's happy with it. He's mainly into sports games and one nice thing about GC is there really aren't any of the seriously gory blood & guts games, so it's not even an issue. Talking about "growing into" a game system is ridiculous. By the time the child is old enough to care about wanting to have the more mature games, the system will be obsolete and they will want something newer, anyway.

They're $18 each at coconuts.com ($32.99 before rebates and discounts). You need to order soon so it's still a pre-order and use the new user coupon ("FIRSTPURCHASE") to get 10% off and free shipping (which in reality gives you a $6.60 credit because they already have free shipping!). Then you pay $56 and get $10 back on each one (the rebate is on the website). I know about the BB deal on the collectors set and that would be nice but I don't have a BB that is particularly convenient to me and having a $25 digital coupon there, especially now that they charge shipping, is not particularly useful. Anyone know of any deals on The O.C.? Is it included in Costco's $27.99 deal? It's not clear that it is.

Are there any hot deals on the Seinfeld DVD's on BF? I would have expected some but have not seem them listed, although I suspect that most of the non-scans are just subsets of what people think are hot. I have an opportunity to get them for $18 each after rebate, and I wonder if I should just order them.

The deal will not be final for MONTHS. I can't believe anyone would think that it would have any effect on things for the entire holiday season, no less a week from now.

OfficeMax sells out faster because they historically don't get enough of their sale items. My Staples usually has stock on most things I want, even when I get there at 9 or 10. Circuit City runs out of stuff.. Last year I tried to get the $10 Care Bear plush at WM around 9:30 or so, and they were sold out!

I wonder if the other stores will be calling CC to see what they did to keep their ad out of the hands of the snoops! Obviously they have been rather successful. CC and Staples are my two main shopping destinations on BF as the nearest BB is 45 minutes away and always a zoo and just not worth it for me.

Yes, and many times you can get them to price match themselves if the price goes down within a set period of time. However, some stores may not PM on BF. My Circuit City did not PM other stores last BF (although I was able to return and rebuy something I have bought at CC).

People who complain about CompUSA rebates have not done them in a long time and are reporting based on bad experiences they had when TCA was handling them (and CompUSA was paying them slowly). I did some CompUSA funded rebates a few months ago at web-rebates.com (Mesa, AZ) and got paid very quickly. Now, the problem is, most of these are likely manufacturer's rebates, and on those, it's pot luck because each manufacturer is different, and some are very good, but many are very bad.

Last year I wanted the stuff that Ace had FAR. I had noticed that the rebate form allowed you to purchase starting earlier in the week, so I called my local store and asked if I should come in early, or if they had enough so I could just go Friday. They said not to worry, they had plenty. Then i asked if I needed to be there when they opened and they said not to worry, they had plenty. I was still planning to go Wednesday, but got stuck at work and did not get to leave in time. I got to Ace at 7:30am on Friday, and they were out of all the free stuff, and when I complained about them having told me they had plenty and not to rush in, they could not have cared less. I am happy to say they are no longer an Ace store. Interestingly, the other Ace store in my area (not nearly as convenient as the first one) told me that they had stock of the FAR stuff all day when I mentioned this story a few months later. Oh, and I got a $10 gift certificate from Ace when I wrote a letter complaining about my experience. I was also pissed (more at myself than the store) at CC last year. I spent a long time on line waiting to PM a Gamecube I had bought earlier (which of course wasn't even necessary because they had plenty in stock). By the time I got done with that, I realized that I wanted the lamp they had FAR, and I was told I just missed them, they had them a few minutes earlier (i.e., when I got to the store). And CC also refused to PM Best Buy's ad, and no one else in my area who would PM had the Simpsons Season 1 DVD in stock to PM to :-(.