darkSpyro

So now that all the ad previews are out (see SkylandersInquirer.com and GameStop.com) I have decided to put together a buying guide.

If you are not a Best Buy Gamers Club Unlocked member, you will be relying on any sales available on Sunday. TRU is the only one offering any type of sale on Skylanders (B1G1-40% off). So here is that break down.

This is only Wave 1, Wave 2 is not confirmed. Wave 1 does not include Dual Pack purchases. Only confirmed release date for the Dual Packs is 10/2/2015

I also am using the MSRP of the Sea Racing Pack in the TRU price. But we all know it will be $2-$4 more than that.

If you buy all of Wave 1 plus the all the store exclusive's:

TRU: $260.88 for Std, $285.88 for Dark
Walmart: $276.56 for Std, $301.56 for Dark
Best Buy: $276.86 for Std, $301.86 for Dark
Target: $276.86 for Std, $301.86 for Dark
GameStop: $280.86 for Std, $305.86 for Dark

No "trick" buying is required to get a good price, everything but the exclusive's are coming from TRU. Please remember that the 40% discount is applied to the lowest priced item.

Now for everyone with the BBGCU membership, here is your Wave 1 breakdown.

Best Buy with the GCU: $229.88 for Std, $249.88 for Dark

You are saving $31 and $36 over the TRU sale price!

For your ultimate "Bang for your Buck" buy the BB Exclusive and all of Wave 1, except 1 Figure, at BB. The buy your remaining figure at TRU with their exclusive.

Your new total will be $227.94 for Std, $247.94 for Dark

You will then be saving $32.96 and $37.96 over the TRU sale price!

Remember, your BBGCU only cost you $30 and it's good for 2 years. You'll be saving more than the TRU sale price on anything game related you buy for the next 2 years!

I would hope that TRU is going to do the b1G1 40% online as well. still wish i knew what was in those duel packs Bestbuy will be selling.

Quote: Street50

I would hope that TRU is going to do the b1G1 40% online as well. still wish i knew what was in those duel packs Bestbuy will be selling.

Not sure on that one. The ad snippet I saw did not mention it, but I'd be surprised it they didn't apply it.

Quote: Street50

I would hope that TRU is going to do the b1G1 40% online as well. still wish i knew what was in those duel packs Bestbuy will be selling.

They are definitely the Terrafin/Shark Tank and Jet-Vac/Jet Stream Combo Packs. Pics on 108 of the News topic.

Here I'm just going to get everything for the regular price, while I'm not going to spend bags of money for several Starter Packs to get one useless figure.

• PS3 Starter Pack
  
• Fiesta
  
• Nightfall
  
• Smash Hit
  
• Stealth Stinger
  
• Sea Shadow
  
• Sea Racing Action Pack
  

I remember seeing those but couldn't place the store, so I just went off what is on the stores site.

If we're talking about saving money, the dual packs aren't worth it when the tripple pack includes 3 of those 4 items for only $5 more. Based on MSRP's

@Deja Vu
I agree, just doing the WiiU dark starter pack at launch.

I'm sure the kids will want Bowser eventually so I might pickup another on Black Friday, but that will be it.

Quote: iceflow76

I remember seeing those but couldn't place the store, so I just went off what is on the stores site.

If we're talking about saving money, the dual packs aren't worth it when the tripple pack includes 3 of those 4 items for only $5 more. Based on MSRP's

Ok i'm really behind i guess didn't know there were Triple packs? anymore info on those?

@TrapShadowFan
Thanks a bunch for finally showing me what was in them. Didn't order Terrafin yet though I have the legendary Jet-vac currently preordered at Toysrus now i'm thinking I should either wait for his jet or just cancel him and get the dual pack.

Each year my Micromania will sell you one Starter Pack 20€ cheaper if you give them back an older portal during the release week.
So I'm gonna bring my Swap Force portal to get the Dark Pack for 79€ instead of 99€.

I'll also buy Jet-Vac Combo Pack, the Sea Racing Pack, Fiesta (or Frightful Fiesta if they have him) & Crypt Crusher, Nightfall & Sea Shadow, and either another character or Nitro Stealth Stinger depending on what they have.
After all that I should also get a 10€ coupon for next time I buy something in their store, which I will most likely use for Skylanders I couldn't get day one.

Really can't wait for the 25th

BOGO doens't work that way *anymore*, confirmed last year unless they changed it again.

If I buy 4 things priced
100
100
50
50

and its BOGO50

It isn't
100
100
25
25

It's
100
50
50
25

It was in response to people who wisened up and started doing 'lots of transactions'. Also I did a thread on this issue, see my spreadsheet for your own use
https://app.box.com/s/kubbd13x8eahxo6jpx6ut3oxn2dus6tk
Will let you figure out exactly how much what you want cost and from where.
- Unreall

@unreallystic
I just checked on the site for any BOGO offers. They have the Star Wars Super Hero Mash-ups at BOBO 40% off, but it's in-store only.

When you click the in-store only label it tells you:

"Discounted item must be of equal or lesser value than the lowest item purchased"

This means if I buy this:
74.99
16.99
16.99
13.99
13.99
13.99

The 13.99 is the lowest/equal value meaning I'll pay this:
74.99
16.99
16.99
8.39
8.39
8.39

It always applies to the lowest value item at the register.

If you are a TRU shopper buying the vehicles in one purchase and the figures in another purchase could be an option, but also a pain in the a..

With of the light of the 40% off sale, I might actually be able to get the Dark starter pack AND a sea and sky vehicle too.

You're tripping over the wording too much. Its meant to be "if you buy a $5 item it won't cut the price of the $20 item to $10". Yes they CAN be *editted* about it, but they aren't. I went through that exact thing and did the math on it last year. I broke out my dark set and crankcase castle and did separated transactions and was going to do that with everything but the traps and was told I didn't need to, they got so many complaints about it, that the system does it automatically, so I rang up the rest of my order 'normally' and went through the receipt - prepared to return everything if need be...it was fine.

If for some reason YMV, then simply break it out piece by 2-piece.
- Unreall

There is no tripping over the wording. It says exactly what it is on their own site.

DISCOUNT MUST BE OF EQUAL OR LESSER VALUE

It's right there. There is no way they would discount a $100 time when there is a $50 item in your cart. That's bad business.

The "equal value" will only come into play when purchasing items of the same value. Just read what's there. There is nothing to try and figure out. It's plain as could be.

So, that means I pay full price for the game, and then get another figure for 40% off, correct? Or is that IN-correct?

I'll be getting a TRU ad and going to Target with it to price match. Then using my Red Card to save another 5% off. Been doing this since Giants.

ShaneG.

Quote: iceflow76

There is no tripping over the wording. It says exactly what it is on their own site.

DISCOUNT MUST BE OF EQUAL OR LESSER VALUE

It's right there. There is no way they would discount a $100 time when there is a $50 item in your cart. That's bad business.

The "equal value" will only come into play when purchasing items of the same value. Just read what's there. There is nothing to try and figure out. It's plain as could be.

I went through the same experience as Unreallystic last year and had the same result. TRU's systems will do the B1G1 off of items whose prices match so long as there are even numbers of each. If you buy 5 figures and 5 vehicles, you're going to get 4 of each applying the discount exactly as Unreallystic stated and the final pair paying full price for the higher item and getting the discount on the cheaper one; if you bought 4 of each, you'd pay standard price for 2 of each item then get the discounted rate on the other two of those matching items.

You can go on as much as you'd like about how the policy is stated on their website, but in real world experience, TRU isn't doing this to screw anyone and do, in fact, do it automatically in "matching" fashion in their system. If you don't believe it? Fine, don't, you're clearly not planning to shop at TRU anyway. But it won't stop it from being the truth.

-Doug

It's definitely not what I've ever experienced. That's been my go to place for Skylanders upto this upcoming game. That pricing makes no sense and has no rhyme or reason to it. According to what you are saying, I should just put all the high priced items up first to make sure the discount is applied to them.

Well I'm going to a midnight opening to see if they have Wave 2 out. If they do I will but the larger priced items up first and post my receipt. If I'm wrong than I'll gladly admit it, but I've never experienced that form of discount at TRU before.

Either way, the BBGCU will get you the most for your dollar. There's no combination of TRU BOGO40 pricing that can match MSRP with a 20% discount.

What about the coupon deal that was given out on Sat at TRU. Buy one Character and one Vehicle for $22.00. Not bad price either.

Quote: Brisco71

What about the coupon deal that was given out on Sat at TRU. Buy one Character and one Vehicle for $22.00. Not bad price either.

That's the best deal of the weekend. That's 28% off the TRU price for both. Which is the same as setting them at MSRP and then throwing 21% off on top of that.

I thought that Target would've had that as their sale price, but I guess they are waiting for the end of November for their big Skylander push.

Quote:

Either way, the BBGCU will get you the most for your dollar.

And that's not entirely true.

I've been screwing around trying to get the best combination of 'where to get what' from. A few assumptions/personal items
-TRU gets Wave 2
-Getting 2 dark starter sets, Wii/Wii U
-TRU does get the Wii U starter set
-Going for one of everything
-Not buying a regular Smash It (Steel Plated)

With Wave 2 essentially being an exclusive, there are a set number of items to get from TRU, including various 'multi' packs.
Starter
-Wii-Dark
Wave 2 Vehicle
-Burn Cycle
Wave 2 Characters
-High Volt
-Nightfall
-Legendary Jet-Vac
Wave 2 Multi-Pack
-Terrafin/Land Shark/Jet Stream
(Stealth Stinger covered by variant at Target)

Well to get the best of your money at TRU, you want even numbers - otherwise the discounts drop heavy - instead of $40 off a second set, it becomes 13 off the Triple pack. So you end up saving the most money by doing equal duty between BB & TRU, get one vehicle on top of Wave 2 and one character on top of wave 2, and one multi-pack on top of wave 2, and one starter pack on top of the exclusive. THEN get the rest from BB. "Straight up" the BBGC is a better deal, but the reality of exclusives along with the slim means at which it is a better deal, erode that.

What will throw a wrench into everything is if the pricing for vehicles IS less at BB per the ad. I guess not a large wrench, maybe about a $5 swing? Maybe $10? You'd drop the wave 1 figure and vehicle from TRU and get @ BB, leaving TRU with just the exclusives + 1 extra set (my situation).
- Unreall

Quote: iceflow76

Quote: Brisco71

What about the coupon deal that was given out on Sat at TRU. Buy one Character and one Vehicle for $22.00. Not bad price either.

That's the best deal of the weekend. That's 28% off the TRU price for both. Which is the same as setting them at MSRP and then throwing 21% off on top of that.

I thought that Target would've had that as their sale price, but I guess they are waiting for the end of November for their big Skylander push.

I'm REAL disappointed in Target. I'm with you there I thought they';d do 2/22 with no sale on sets. That hurts them. Right now, even GameStop beats their pricing with their Skylanders Club. No reason to do anything but walk in after done at TRU and buy Nitro Stealth Stinger.
- Unreall

Quote: Brisco71

What about the coupon deal that was given out on Sat at TRU. Buy one Character and one Vehicle for $22.00. Not bad price either.

The $22.00 coupon for one character/vehicle set is better than the BOGO 40/50% offer, but it's more than likely one use only. I doubt they'll let you use the same coupon to buy multiple sets in one transaction, or let you use more than one coupon with different transactions. You might get lucky and get a cashier who will still let you though.

You save on one character/vehicle set $1.24 over a BOGO 50% off sale, or save $2.78 over a BOGO 40% sale. It's not that much more than a BOGO sale, particularly for one set, but it is something.

Hey, look, my receipt from Trap Team last year. Proving that each discount is removed from the next lower priced item below the qualifying purchase.

http://i.imgur.com/eulxIT7.jpg

Quote: LordElohim

Hey, look, my receipt from Trap Team last year. Proving that each discount is removed from the next lower priced item below the qualifying purchase.

http://i.imgur.com/eulxIT7.jpg

I ironically was going to grab my receipt, I save them for tax purposes, but had a birthday party to go to last night, so you beat me to it.

with that said, it won't hurt anyone to verify before purchase.
- Unreall

Quote: LordElohim

Hey, look, my receipt from Trap Team last year. Proving that each discount is removed from the next lower priced item below the qualifying purchase.

http://i.imgur.com/eulxIT7.jpg

Yes, this is true. You need to make sure your 2 (like) items are rung up together to get the most for your discount.
I personally do separate purchases (i.e. All core together, all Vehicles together)

No, you took away the wrong info from that receipt. The register does it for you. No matter what order you ring things up in. If you buy 2 games, three vehicles, and 2 figures, you will get 40 percent off one game, one vehicle, and one figure, no matter what order they are scanned. That was the point of me posting my receipt, it demonstrates that.

so let me get this straight.

if i bought the dark wii edition, wii u starter, dive clops, and fiesta- what gets discounted?

I wish I had seen this thread before I preordered a Wii U Dark starter, as well as Stormblade & Dive Chop with their respective vehicles from Amazon. I will go to TRU and see what else I can buy for their 40% discount price on Monday, though.

Quote: ZapNorris

so let me get this straight.

if i bought the dark wii edition, wii u starter, dive clops, and fiesta- what gets discounted?

Fiesta and Dive Clops

Quote: ZapNorris

so let me get this straight.

if i bought the dark wii edition, wii u starter, dive clops, and fiesta- what gets discounted?

The Wii U starter will be 40 percent off, and then Fiesta will be 40 percent off. The person above this post is wrong. You buy one item at regular price, and then the next highest price item is 40 percent off, and so on. The people in this thread that don't understand how this works are confusing everyone else.

I have three of the 2 for $22 coupons and I will be using all of them. With my buying habits, GCU hasn't been enticing enough for me to purchase it.