billcsho

The ads are disappointing so far. Following a recession, there won't be much inventory (except for HDTV) for cut throat price sales. The best BF would be the year when it just hit recession (which was 2008) that manufacturer and vendors need to get rid of the inventory get money.

I had no problem with the rebates from Kohls last year. Got all $60 on 6 small appliances back.

If I remember it right, the OfficeMax ad released in October last year was a fake one. Should it not be counted in the record?

I tried Toysrus 3 times on BF in the past 15 years. The first time was good. The second time was around 10 years and it is horrible. Very poor management. I gave it another chance last year at a different Toysrus store. It was still the same bad story. No one know where the line go. On sale items are not displayed properly but got hidden with other stuffs all over the store. I would never go back to any Toysrus store on BF.

Last year at Kohls.com, I got 6 pieces of small appliances (reg $30-$50 each) for free after rebate, rewards, cash back, coupons, and with free shipping. Even sales tax and postage are all covered.

Mine was Kohls.com last year. I got 6 pieces of small appliance (regular price $30-$50 each) for free after discounts, coupons, rebates, credit card rewards, and cash back. Paid around $100 and got every single dollar back. Even shipping was free and the sales tax was covered. Indeed, I made a few bucks. Their website was down when the sales started but resumed just before I left home for shopping at 4:30am.

I still have 2 of 6 items not arrived yet, but I am expecting them today and tomorrow. Interestingly, 2 items were delivered yesterday before I got the shipping notice by e-mail.

After my previous experience spending over 90min waiting in the check-out line within 15min of door opening, I just place order on line. It was great that I got free shipping, 15% off, and Kohls cash offer this year. Nevertheless, the shipping is so slow that I may miss the deadline for some rebate submission.

The paper for my town is gone for good. I can still buy newspaper for the city nearby (~50 miles away) though.

It is the same as the one posted previously. YMMV though as they had regional ad with different pricing in the last couple years.

I've redeemed my Discover cashback for gift cards with bonus amount. That make my purchase 10-20% cheaper. Particularly good for buying stuffs with rebates that I can even make money.

Casio has over 50 years history and it has been famous for making calculator and watches for decades. They've been making digital camera since 2002.

I am actually interested in getting something at Kohls this year that all have mail-in rebates too. If you are familiar with rebate offers, there are often free after rebate items that no other discount can match. I did even make money on rebates many times (free item plus free cash).

I had little problem with rebates, however, I am very carefully in submission and tracking. My 2006 BF has over $700 in rebates, then it went down to $540 in 2007 and $260 in 2008. All with 100% successful rate. These are just my BF rebates record, while I normally have $500-$1000 in rebate per year. Typical turn around time is 8-12 weeks. Symantec, ACE, and Staples are usually received within a month. There were a few that took over 4 months and one took more than 6 months. I'll avoid large amount single rebate unless it is from a very reliable processor such as Costco or Staples. You need to be very careful with CompUSA or CircuitCity rebates as it is the same as TigerDirect now.

ACE Hardware, Rite-Aid, and Costco also have online rebate submission.

I finished my BF shopping by 8am this morning. This year, I only shopped at 5 stores (vs over 10 last couple years). I got everything on my list. I used coupons, gift cards, and rewards without any problem. My first stop was Staples at 4:45am. Although I was 45min earlier than last year, I ended up at #17 (vs #6 last year). The good thing is most of the people in front of me are high school kids coming together and only need one item in the whole group. Scored the WD 640GB HD, 4GB thumb driver, NIS2009, and TurboTax and left the store at 6:06am. Then I went to Office Depot which was already opened 15min before my arrival. I can still find the printer on the front page but the check out line took me over 30min. Hit the road again for InkStop, Walgreens, and ACE Hardware and everything were on the shelf waiting for me. There were quite a few police car issuing speeding tickets this morning. that would make their shopping cost really high. I also did some early online shopping within the past week to get a 22" monitor, a GPS, and microSDs that all were better than BF price.

Buy the Norton Internet Security together to save extra $20. You may also save $30 if you buy NIS2009 and tax software together. These are stackable. So you can get all 3 and get a total of $110 in rebates.

My local ad is also different from the version 1 and 2 posted but somewhere in between. That was the case last year too. Most of the door buster items were more expensive than other place, however, I got the same lower price by placing the order online.

The best GPS deals were probably those came up briefly in the last couple weeks: Nokia 500 4.3" with TTS and BT $99 from buy.com V7 NAV740 4.3" with TTS $129.99 from Staples Mio C320 4.3" $99 from newegg. All can be hacked easily to use WinCE applications including other GPS programs. All 3 have TTS (C320 requires a simple hack to add TTS).

Is this the one submitted by Bostonguy? It seems there are at least 2 version of Staples ads posted on the net so far. I assume this one is from Boston area. Last year, there were also regional ads for Staples (and Walmart too) that my area had quite a few front page items at higher prices. Interestingly, they gave me the lower price when I ordered online.

There are actually quite a few reviews on the web including PCWorld and CNET, but it is too new to see more user feedback. It is ranked the best of top 5. The current street price is between $400 and $500 except one store has a $150 coupon to bring it down to $350. So I think $200 is a good price particularly it comes with free extra case and windshield mount.

Does anyone know how is BB&B dealing with their rebates as CPG who processed their rebates filed bankruptcy?

The last time I did OD rebates for for the TI-84 plus SE calculator bought in early September. I got both rebates in 5 weeks after submission. It has been greatly improved from 2 years ago. I got $700+ in rebates from BF2006 and $250+ from BF2007. This year I may do even much less. I already have 2 rebates at risk due to CPG bankruptcy.

how about the $199 Magellan 4350 at Meijer with BT, FM transmitter, Video/MP3, and traffic?

There is also an Acer 19" LCD monitor for $99 at BB.