darkSpyro

Quick thoughts and a question:

Based on what I've seen so far online, the "swapper" single pack characters for SwapForce will have the following prices in retail stores (prices rounded for convenience):

Toys R Us: $17
GameStop: $16
Target: $15
Wal-Mart: $15
Best Buy: $15

I realize that it's just a dollar or two, but it is kind of irksome that Toys R Us and GameStop apparently feel compelled to charge more for the same product. Of course, it's well within their rights to do so ... but as a consumer, I find it annoying.
So ... with regard to the "price match" policy at Toys R Us ... can anyone share their experience(s) with this? It is generally a painless process in the store? Or it is a huge PITA where the cashier has to get the assistant manager and manager to double sign-off on the transaction/discount?

Out of interest after tax what do you end up paying total on the $15 figures?

In the UK they put SF figures as £15 or $22.50 (ish) and I wanted a fair comparison.

Quote: Pyrofer

Out of interest after tax what do you end up paying total on the $15 figures?

In the UK they put SF figures as £15 or $22.50 (ish) and I wanted a fair comparison.

Well, sales tax varies depending on which state one lives in within the USA. New Hampshire, for example, has no sales tax, so someone in New Hampshire would just pay $15. However, most states do have some sales tax. North Carolina (at least in the city of Charlotte), for example, has 7.25% sales tax, so I would pay $16.09 total (including tax) for a $15 item. I believe some states have 10% or 11% sales tax, so those folks would pay $16.50 and $16.65, respectively.

If you are at a midnight event, it might be difficult, particularly if you are planning to attempt to stack it with their deal. Usually, you get one or the other, but as has been pointed out if you read their policy there is an opening to stack them. It might be worth asking, but depending on the crowd they simply might not be really happy about it - calling another store at midnight would work for Walmart, or they might simply say no. Yes, you can probably push things and get it if you quote their policy to them.

I have to tell you, as I mentioned to GhostRoaster, my TRU is really helpful and at least two of the managers have gone out of their way to let me know about new things coming in - including one that called me TWICE at home afte release (she offered to take my number) when they got new things in and held them for me. I'm not buying a ton of things, so it is only going to be a few dollars. I'll probably ask, but I'm not willing to burn that bridge and give them a hard time over that amount of money. Helpful retail employees/managers are a rare commodity - I'm not going to make their already under appreciated job/salary even more difficult.

Oh and BTW, I already primed my Gamestop for the Frito Lay coupon and the guy was helpful and said it should work, but hadn't seen the email yet (as far as he was aware). He was going to let his manager know ahead of time so they could be prepared with an informed answer. If you are going to try it, you might want to get confirmation AHEAD of time and not drop it on them on release night wherever you are going to try to use a discount.

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Quick thoughts and a question:

Based on what I've seen so far online, the "swapper" single pack characters for SwapForce will have the following prices in retail stores (prices rounded for convenience):

Toys R Us: $17
GameStop: $16
Target: $15
Wal-Mart: $15
Best Buy: $15

I realize that it's just a dollar or two, but it is kind of irksome that Toys R Us and GameStop apparently feel compelled to charge more for the same product. Of course, it's well within their rights to do so ... but as a consumer, I find it annoying.
So ... with regard to the "price match" policy at Toys R Us ... can anyone share their experience(s) with this? It is generally a painless process in the store? Or it is a huge PITA where the cashier has to get the assistant manager and manager to double sign-off on the transaction/discount?

I will be requesting a price match at my TRU midnight showing. I guess I should stop by and prep the manager before then so there's no problems. That's the only way I'll be getting anything other than Legendaries when I pick up my preorder. I'm ok paying "THEIR" prices for Legendaries since they are unique to them. I won't make a fuss, but I won't be purchasing as much if they don't stack.

defpally--which Gamestop did you prep?

Quote: defpally

Oh and BTW, I already primed my Gamestop for the Frito Lay coupon and the guy was helpful and said it should work, but hadn't seen the email yet (as far as he was aware). He was going to let his manager know ahead of time so they could be prepared with an informed answer. If you are going to try it, you might want to get confirmation AHEAD of time and not drop it on them on release night wherever you are going to try to use a discount.

Agreed. I visited the Arboretum GameStop a couple of weeks ago to chat with the manager guy about the $10 off coupon. He told me that he would accept the coupon, regardless of whatever corporate policy GameStop lays out for the SwapForce release day, and that he would manually enter it into the computer system if needed, assuming the scanner won't process the coupon via its barcode. Hopefully he wasn't just blowing smoke.

If I'm buying 1 or 2 guys, I won't bother with the price matching. Its not worth the headache usually. The only ones I plan on buying in the store are the ones that are exclusives or are in some sort of sale/discount, so price matching wont work.

What I recommend everyone do .... ... is download Skylister from the Apple App Store and use the built in 'Buy from Amazon' button ... so I can get a little slice of the action .....

iPad version coming very soon

Quote: GhostRoaster

I will be requesting a price match at my TRU midnight showing. I guess I should stop by and prep the manager before then so there's no problems. That's the only way I'll be getting anything other than Legendaries when I pick up my preorder. I'm ok paying "THEIR" prices for Legendaries since they are unique to them. I won't make a fuss, but I won't be purchasing as much if they don't stack.

defpally--which Gamestop did you prep?

The mall one across the street.

Oh, and BTW, remember all those posts from a few people defending CindyBeans and saying how prices weren't so bad?

Their prices on Amazon:
Singles: $24.99
Swappers: $29.99
Lightcores: $24.99-29.99 (Flashwing is $19.99)

Wave 1 common figures too ... just think, you can get a single for the price of a Triple Pack! How reasonable!

Quote: Xerxxees

If I'm buying 1 or 2 guys, I won't bother with the price matching. Its not worth the headache usually. The only ones I plan on buying in the store are the ones that are exclusives or are in some sort of sale/discount, so price matching wont work.

What I recommend everyone do .... ... is download Skylister from the Apple App Store and use the built in 'Buy from Amazon' button ... so I can get a little slice of the action .....

iPad version coming very soon

Headache? I've never had a problem price matching anywhere, including TRU. Pull up competitors site on my phone and show them and they put it in. Done in less than thirty seconds.

Quote: defpally

Oh, and BTW, remember all those posts from a few people defending CindyBeans and saying how prices weren't so bad?

Their prices on Amazon:
Singles: $24.99
Swappers: $29.99
Lightcores: $24.99-29.99 (Flashwing is $19.99)

Wave 1 common figures too ... just think, you can get a single for the price of a Triple Pack! How reasonable!

Crap. I sure hope they don't point a gun to anyone's head and force people to buy figures from them. That would be a catastrophe.

Who was it that was giving me crap for supposedly constantly bringing up old arguments again and again?

Ok...resist the urge to continue this...back on topic please...lol...

Quote: shelly9871

Ok...resist the urge to continue this...back on topic please...lol...

How about those prices, hmm? Lol! Seriously hating that 17 buck price tag for swappers at TRU but I will get over it. -shrugs- Looks like I'll just be getting most of mine at Walmart.

I will say, if you don't mind waiting a little while, you might see a little better every day prices towards the end of the year out there.

Hmmmm we will see. My son is literally counting the hours. . Lol.

Tell me about it. Hey, did you manage to sneak you son the purple Eye Brawl?

Quote: defpally

Oh, and BTW, remember all those posts from a few people defending CindyBeans and saying how prices weren't so bad?

Their prices on Amazon:
Singles: $24.99
Swappers: $29.99
Lightcores: $24.99-29.99 (Flashwing is $19.99)

Wave 1 common figures too ... just think, you can get a single for the price of a Triple Pack! How reasonable!

Yeah, CindyBeans can eat one. I can understand a 100% mark-up over regular retail when selling rare or out-of-production items .... but all these SwapForce characters/figures are all about to be widely available ... everywhere. Charging $30 for an item that is commonplace and only costs $15 in a Wal-Mart or Target store ... hell no.

Unclebob...I did. It was amazing! His eyes were huge and he grabbed it and ran over to mw saying very quietly, "is this it mom?" When I said yes and also said yes that we cold buy it he jumped up and down. ..asked if he could show Mr. Mike the gamestop manager. Funny thing is he never opened it. He has it on his shelf in his room. He just loves it.
Thanks for asking

Aw! Did you get a video?

Video failed (I failed the video camera)....such a bummer. I should have had someone else set it up. I got some great photos though.

Here are the price difference for the major chain stores.
The prices were gathered from online sites. Blank areas are not listed online at this time.
TRU BOGO shows the average price of 2 when you buy one and get one for 40% off.


UPDATE: I updated the missing areas

WM's Lightcores are $12.96

Yes, and the S2/S3/Core I am sure will be $9.96 also, but since they do not have them online to verify the price I did not post them. That goes for Best Buy also.

I didn't even notice that the core prices were missing. I can confirm they are $9.96 - I've have a copy of the ad, although it's on my desk at work. It doesn't list the Lightcore price though.

Quote: shelly9871

Hmmmm we will see. My son is literally counting the hours. . Lol.

My son is too.

As for matching stuff, i am debating just going to TRU and getting the figures and all and coming back later on in the day/week to deal with picking up the game and all. Besides I will be getting the dark edition later in the day from gamestop, I only need one cpy to start playing, thou my son is upset that I have work at 3 on sunday but at least im off monday so it's all good

^ Really nice chart, Dinoah! Well done.

Thank You.
I figured I would see how much you would save since I have noticed some post were commenting on how TRU is priced higher or that the BOGO was not a great offer since they jack up the price.
The chart was only half of my findings.

If you are planning on getting all of the Wave 1 on day 1 (Like myself) you will save $35.30 with the BOGO40% (Save $17.58 more if you have 2 coupons when you Pre-Ordered your Regular and 3DS Starter)


I updated the TRU Savings price sheet to reflect the Walmart price to the BOGO so that it is more accurate.

S2/S3/Core: Only need to purchase Roller Brawl and Countdown since the rest are in the 3-Pack (I am using my coupons on these, so they will be free for me)

Light Core: There will be 6 on Day 1 (5 Regular and 1 Legendary)

Swap: I say there are 4 but this is kinda tricky. Since I am getting the 3DS Starter, that would remove Free Ranger and Rattle Shake from the savings. So the 4 that I am including is: Hoot Loop, Magna Charge and (2) Legendary Free Ranger (Since the Legendaries are more popular and will be harder to find later on. To make it even number I will have one extra that I can give to my nephew for a Christmas present - One less gift I have to worry about)

3-Pack: This is where the savings pay off, especially since this will cover the rest of the day 1 single release.

Adventure/Battle Pack: Same savings as the 3-Pack

If TRU will allow you to do the BOGO on the 2 Starters (Regular and 3DS) along with the 2 $10 coupons, that would be a $50 savings. Otherwise you will have to choose to do one or the other. ($119.98 = BOGO-2 Starters or $129.98 = 2 $10 Coupons)

You will still need to visit these stores below to get all on Day 1:

Game Stop: Dark Starter (Exclusive)
Target: 2-Pack Exclusive (Nitro MG and R-Shake/F-Ranger)
Walmart: Enchanted Hoot Loop (Or Order Online)

Look at it this way, if you take advantage of the BOGO40%, you can take your $35.30 savings and basically get the Target Exclusive for free.
Now that's a PRETTY GOOD DEAL if you ask me.

The other big component (bigger for me than the savings, since I'm not doing the three packs) is that Metallic Green Gill Grunt.

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Yeah, CindyBeans can eat one. I can understand a 100% mark-up over regular retail when selling rare or out-of-production items .... but all these SwapForce characters/figures are all about to be widely available ... everywhere. Charging $30 for an item that is commonplace and only costs $15 in a Wal-Mart or Target store ... hell no.

I know, it's ridiculous isn't it? They are clearly trying to take advantage of people that don't know what is common and what isn't. It isn't like they are getting things early or anything. TRU makes up for their markup a bit by having decent sales and consistent pricing - they don't jack up prices for release day/sale week to try and grab more money.

Quote: czs716

Quote: Xerxxees

If I'm buying 1 or 2 guys, I won't bother with the price matching. Its not worth the headache usually. The only ones I plan on buying in the store are the ones that are exclusives or are in some sort of sale/discount, so price matching wont work.

What I recommend everyone do .... ... is download Skylister from the Apple App Store and use the built in 'Buy from Amazon' button ... so I can get a little slice of the action .....

iPad version coming very soon

Headache? I've never had a problem price matching anywhere, including TRU. Pull up competitors site on my phone and show them and they put it in. Done in less than thirty seconds.

Then you have better luck than I. I once had to wait about 20 minutes to get it done. Not like I was waiting in line or anything, I was with the person for 20 minutes. Painful.

Quote: dinoah2005

Look at it this way, if you take advantage of the BOGO40%, you can take your $35.30 savings and basically get the Target Exclusive for free.
Now that's a PRETTY GOOD DEAL if you ask me.

The BOGO40% is a spectacular deal.

For the chart, don't forget that the way any BOGO percentage sale works is that you pay full price for the most expensive items and then get the percentage off of the lower priced ones. Saying that, if you're planning on taking advantage of that discount at launch with TRU, be prepared to make them ring up batches of figures together, otherwise, you'll be paying full price for all of your swappers and some of the lightcores and then getting the discount on only the lower priced figures. Since I'm planning to pick up everything there that I can (save other stores' exclusives), they can just hate me for the extra minute or so that it'll take, lol.

-Doug

The only thing that pays off: If you stick with ToysRUs, you get Metallic Gill Grunt for free.

The system *should* sort it out, but last year I did exactly that to make sure. Hand them things to ring up from biggest to smallest, and if possible buy in pairs. Last year the sale was separate from the Starter Pack, you could get it but only coupled with another video game (I bought Pokemon Black).

And price match headaches, eh, typically anything that isn't straightforward at TRU is a pain. I think their system is a bear to work with at times, or at least that is the indication I have gathered. It might be easy, it might be rough, particularly trying to stack a match with a sale and buying multiple items of varying prices. And they might simply not want to mess with it, remember they are opening up just for that, when people leave, they get to go home.

Quote: darkchylde28

For the chart, don't forget that the way any BOGO percentage sale works is that you pay full price for the most expensive items and then get the percentage off of the lower priced ones. Saying that, if you're planning on taking advantage of that discount at launch with TRU, be prepared to make them ring up batches of figures together, otherwise, you'll be paying full price for all of your swappers and some of the lightcores and then getting the discount on only the lower priced figures. Since I'm planning to pick up everything there that I can (save other stores' exclusives), they can just hate me for the extra minute or so that it'll take, lol.

-Doug

That is correct...
Last year they had the same deal (BOGO 40%) and as long as you make sure the person that is ringing them up, rings up the same price item one after the other so that it takes full advantage of the discount.
(example: Swap/Swap, 3-Pack/3-Pack, Adventure/Adventure...)

My initial plan was to just fill my cart up with everything I was getting and buying it all at once but based on some of your posts on here I am wondering if I should buy 2 same priced items together and many different transactions in order to get the full benefits of the BOGO 40% offer. This stuff is more confusing then it needs to be. Plus if I am going to price match that will probably make everything even more difficult.

Quote: TheGooch

My initial plan was to just fill my cart up with everything I was getting and buying it all at once but based on some of your posts on here I am wondering if I should buy 2 same priced items together and many different transactions in order to get the full benefits of the BOGO 40% offer. This stuff is more confusing then it needs to be. Plus if I am going to price match that will probably make everything even more difficult.

No, just hand them items in descending order from most expensive to least, and try to buy an even number of stuff (not including the Starter). Multiple transactions are a pain even if they let you do that. Don't make it hard, these guys get to go home when everyone leaves - and probably have to show up first thing the next morning.

I plan to hand the checkout person my stuff in a particular order, but I thought TRU's software automatically maximizes the savings. I know previously, when taking advantage of a TRU BOGO% off, the person told me that when she rung me up. It wasn't necessary for me to hand her items in a specific order. I gave her my stuff and it rung up like I wanted with the correct savings.

Couple things in response to recent posts in this here thread about Toys R Us ...

It's been my experience with Toys R Us that when they do a "Buy One, Get One" type sale (let's use 40% in this case, for simplicity), the check-out/register actually just takes 20% off both items. That could vary by store, or even by the specific sale date(s), but that is what I've observed in the past.

I think this next bit will be important for lots of people who are hoping to "stack" lots of discounts on release day ... you may be unpleasantly surprised. Today, I took a few minutes to phone the TRU location that I plan to visit Saturday night. I also contacted TRU's customer service by live chat online, too. Both TRU sources told me the same thing: they will NOT allow the customer to combine a "price match" discount with an in-house TRU promotion, such as the "BOGO40%" offer. You have to choose one or the other. I imagine that, if you really want to be "that guy" with a laptop and a fist full of flyers from Target and Wal-Mart, you *might* be able to convince the TRU employees to "stack" the offers, but probably not, at least according the TRU policy that I got straight from the horse's mouth today. It's possible that leniency on this could vary by store/manager, but I'd suggest not setting your expectations too highly.

So ... presuming that my sources are correct, meaning one can not combine "price match" with "BOGO40%", the only real reasons to prefer TRU over other retailers at launch are: Legendary figures, and the cumulative promotion to earn the Metallic Green Gill Grunt in January '14. The best Skylanders retailer deal is (by far) when Target does "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" ... which blows this TRU "BOGO40%" offer away. I wonder when Target will run that promotion again? Maybe Lesty knows?

There's no B2G1 in the 10/20 Target ad so you'd have to wait at least 2 weeks.

Quote: [url=http://forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=90645&post=4692639

So ... presuming that my sources are correct, meaning one can not combine "price match" with "BOGO40%", the only real reasons to prefer TRU over other retailers at launch are: Legendary figures, and the cumulative promotion to earn the Metallic Green Gill Grunt in January '14. The best Skylanders retailer deal is (by far) when Target does "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" ... which blows this TRU "BOGO40%" offer away. I wonder when Target will run that promotion again? Maybe Lesty knows?

Target should have run this deal on launch day. I would be buying the bulk of my characters there instead of TRU.

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Couple things in response to recent posts in this here thread about Toys R Us ...

It's been my experience with Toys R Us that when they do a "Buy One, Get One" type sale (let's use 40% in this case, for simplicity), the check-out/register actually just takes 20% off both items. That could vary by store, or even by the specific sale date(s), but that is what I've observed in the past.

I think this next bit will be important for lots of people who are hoping to "stack" lots of discounts on release day ... you may be unpleasantly surprised. Today, I took a few minutes to phone the TRU location that I plan to visit Saturday night. I also contacted TRU's customer service by live chat online, too. Both TRU sources told me the same thing: they will NOT allow the customer to combine a "price match" discount with an in-house TRU promotion, such as the "BOGO40%" offer. You have to choose one or the other. I imagine that, if you really want to be "that guy" with a laptop and a fist full of flyers from Target and Wal-Mart, you *might* be able to convince the TRU employees to "stack" the offers, but probably not, at least according the TRU policy that I got straight from the horse's mouth today. It's possible that leniency on this could vary by store/manager, but I'd suggest not setting your expectations too highly.

So ... presuming that my sources are correct, meaning one can not combine "price match" with "BOGO40%", the only real reasons to prefer TRU over other retailers at launch are: Legendary figures, and the cumulative promotion to earn the Metallic Green Gill Grunt in January '14. The best Skylanders retailer deal is (by far) when Target does "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" ... which blows this TRU "BOGO40%" offer away. I wonder when Target will run that promotion again? Maybe Lesty knows?

That's what I thought, and I'm not going to argue.

In my mind...Target isn't going to discount anything for at least 60 days...maybe somewhere close to Black Friday...If not then next year for sure

Good man, as usual, Ghost Roaster. See you Saturday night in Concord, I presume?

There are TONS of reasons why you should be heading to TRU even if the BOGO 40% isn't that spectacular of a deal. Where else could you buy two starter packs (3DS and a home console version), get two LC Hex figures, get 2 free figures $10.99 or cheaper (if you pre-ordered during the promotion) plus the metallic Gill Grunt for around $100? That is 2 games, 4 different swappers, 4 different core figures, 2 Lightcore Hex figures and a Special Edition Gill Grunt. 10 unique figures, 11 total. This is all dependent of course on you having the 20% off coupons and $10 off Frito-Lay coupons. It is important to note too that the TRU 20% off coupon is 1 per customer so you will probably have to buy the two starter packs separately.

^ If you're not opting for the "Dark Edition" at GameStop, then, yes, you're absolutely right, Gooch.

Question to all: has anyone actually seen real confirmation that Toys R Us is running the "Buy one, get 40% off" promotion beginning at their midnight launch event?
I know TRU has run a similar promo during last year's Giants launch ... but other than basing it off that precedent, do we have any verification that said deal will actually be offered this time, too? Anyone have "inside access" to next week's TRU weekly ad/circular? That would be good to know about, if anyone can produce a copy/image of it.

It was confirmed by prim on CAG, and extremely reliable source that works there. I didn't take it for sure until I saw that.

^ I know how much you like Cheapassgamer but they leaked the ad last night. Giants Lightcore figures are 2 for $16 as well.

Posted here by lady_valdyme:

Good replies, Defpally and Gooch; thanks!

Quote: portalflip

Posted here by lady_valdyme:

Ty for the credit! I got the picture off the facebook page and noticed only after I had posted it that it mentions nothing about the BOGO 40%... However, the OP said that he got it from TRU themselves and was told that they are doing the promotion.