Bargain Bastards

I know this is sort of a contradiction from what I posted a few days ago regarding buying new video games, but this is actually a pretty sweet deal. I was always planning on buying Call of Duty: Black Ops on launch day as I know I’ll get tons of playing time with the multiplayer, but Halo: Reach was going to be a used purchase for the single player only. However, I’ve changed my mind due to the current deal running at Best Buy.

If you’re not a Reward Zone Member take a minute to sign up and then make sure to Opt-in to the Gamers Club so that you receive better deals on video games. The Gamers Club also makes it easier to get gift certificates back when you purchase games. For example, normally for the reward zone you need to spend $250 in order to receive a $5 gift certificate, but with the Gamers Club you only need to spend $150 on video games to get a $10 gift certificate. So this deal would also net you $120 towards that $150 you need for another $10 credit, so you’re next gaming purchase will get you a $10 gift certificate. So if you already have at least $30 worth of video games purchased since your last $10 gift certificate you could get both games for $65. Now let’s look at how it will all go down.

Now that you’re a reward zone gamer club member you have access to special deals, but what we’re interested in right now is the 500 bonus points you get for preordering Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops (both offer 500 points each, so 1000 points). So each game will net you a $10 gift certificate for preordering them, so there’s $20 right there. Bestbuy.com is currently running a promotion where if you buy (or pre-order) any game or accessory over $39.99 they will mail you a $25 gift card (make sure to add the gift card to your cart, I don’t think it just automatically appears). So essentially you’ll have to buy the games up front for $120, but you’ll get back $45 in gift cards and if you’re anything like me and buy Movies/Video Games at Best Buy all the time, the gift cards will get used eventually so it’s just like having $45 bucks in your pocket.

Now as I mentioned before, if you already have at least $30 worth of games on your gamers club account, this purchase will net you another $10 gift certificate giving you a grand total of $55 in savings, basically buy 1 get 1 free for 2 of the hottest releases this fall! And that’s not all, if you find you don’t like one of the games and can’t see yourself playing it that often, sell it on eBay or Glyde the 1st or 2nd week it’s released and you’re sure to make at least $50 back, so you’ll almost get 1 game for free. This is what I will be doing with Halo: Reach. I’ll play through it and then sell it on eBay, thus allowing me to get Black Ops for next to nothing.

Also, if you don’t want to wait for bestbuy.com to ship the games (since they don’t guarantee release date delivery) make sure to do in-store pickup. I don’t see any stipulation regarding using that option instead of shipping as far as the $25 gift card goes.

Just an FYI, make sure you add the $25 gift card to your cart, see the image below. Click that link on either games product page and add the gift card to your cart. After you add 2 qualifying games the gift card will drop it’s price to $0.

If you’ve been holding out on purchasing the entire series of LOST then now is the time to buy. Everwhere else this set is going for $195, but using the promo code “N7Y9U9J” at Barnes & Noble you can pick this up right now, with free shipping, for $143. Just take note that this is the Blu-Ray version not the normal DVD (normal DVD is a little cheaper as well), but could you really watch LOST in anything other than HD? Also if you’re a new customer you can use promo code “X3K4T7B” for 20% off instead of the 15% that the first promo code gives you

Barnes & Noble | Promo Code: N7Y9U9J (for new customers use X3K4T7B)

I apologize to any of you that ended up here thinking this was an article about using Installous on a jailbroken iPhone in order to pirate app store apps, but that’s not what we’re about here. I won’t deny that my iPhone is jailbroken, but I don’t use it for Installous. Pay the developers the money they deserve, if you can’t afford them don’t buy the games…. So now that that’s out of the way, lets talk about a way you can get some of those premium iPhone Apps for free!

Basically what it boils down to is patience, if you are patient enough there’s a good chance the game you want to buy in the iPhone App Store will eventually become free for at least a couple of days. Most developers will launch a special to either intro the game or to build some popularity when sales start to slump, but with tons of apps in the app store how do you know which apps have gone from paid to free? Well that’s where FreeAppAlert.com comes in.

Free App Alert updates daily with the apps that used to have a price tag, but are now free for download. The site maintains the previous days free apps as well so you can go back and see if those are still available for free. I’ve found some really cool games for free that I would have easily paid money for, so this is a great resource if you’re looking for some new apps but don’t want to pay for them.

Along the same lines as Free App Alert, there is also freeappaday.com which offers up the same kind of thing. So use these 2 resources to your advantage and save a few bucks here and there.

FreeAppAlert.com | FreeAppADay.com

A brand new video game is probably one of the dumbest things you can buy if you’re looking to save money. Sure there are games-by-mail places like GameFly™ and now Blockbuster online, but those are actually kind of expensive if you don’t play through games fast enough. Wouldn’t you rather play a game for a week for free?? I know I would, and I do, and here’s how.

If you have a GameStop in your area you can take advantage of this little trick, if not you may be able to find another store that sells used games that has a similar policy. All you have to do is find a game you want to play, buy the used version of the game, play it for 7 days and then return it. GameStop’s return policy on used games is that if you return it within 7 days of purchase, you get a full refund. So in other words you can basically give GameStop a small loan to borrow a video game, try it out, and return it without losing any money.

If you find yourself beating games really fast or getting bored of them really fast this is definitely the way to go. I can usually fly through a First Person Shooter in a couple days so buying them is a total waste of money unless I know I’m going to play the multiplayer a lot. For example, I know I’ll be buying Call of Duty: Black Ops because I’ll play it online for the next year, but something like Medal of Honor, which I don’t think I’ll play the multiplayer too much, I’ll just pick up used the week after it comes out and bust out the single player in a week and return it. There are no negatives here, especially since there’s a GameStop right near my work so I don’t have to go out of my way to return them.

I will say that the easiest way to do this is to make sure that you pay cash for your games. If you pay with a credit card and then return it, it can sometimes take a few days to get the money credited back. Also I guess if you’re paranoid about GameStop cutting you off, using cash would be a better way to prohibit them from having a record of your returns. I’ve never had a problem doing this although I do it at my girlfriend’s brother’s GameStop, but he’s told me before that they don’t care if you do it because that’s the company policy.

So stop wasting money on new games that you know you’re going to get sick of in a week. Buy them used at GameStop (even new games can be found used for $55 about a week after release) and play them for a week and get a full refund. If you don’t happen to finish the game in a week and still want to play it, return it and go buy it at a different GameStop. I guess you could try to rebuy it right then and there, but then you might start running into problems. I can’t tell you how much money this method has saved me, but I know I hate watching games pile up after I stop playing them…. huge waste of money.

If you like to eat out and want to save some money this deal is just for you. Restaurant.com offers up gift certificates for restaurants at cheap prices. Without a promo code you can go to the site and buy $25 gift certificates for $10, but with the 80% off promo code a $25 gift certificate will cost you $2.

Promo code: CLEARANCE

Restaurant.com