I have been researching DVD prices on the web recently and thought I'd share my findings. I made a list of 26 movies I plan to buy on DVD and compared prices from 6 different online retailers (OK, so I had alot of time to kill at work!)

I did not really delve into shipping charges, but by far the best DVD prices were at buyvideos.com. They had the best price ($14.99) on 20 out of the 26. They also had cheaper shipping when I checked. 800.com has a "price guarantee" but when I emailed them to ask about buyvideos.com prices they replied that buy.com is temporarily selling below cost in an attempt to establish a customer base, and that they would not match their prices.

The 6 online retailers I compared were:
Amazon.com - best on 2 of 26, typical $17.49 or $20.99

Reel.com - best on 3, typical $17.99 or $20.99

Buyvideos.com - best on 20!!!! Typical $14.99

Spree.com - no best prices, typical $17.49 or $20.49

800.com - 1 best, typical $17.95 or $21.45

Bestbuy.com - 3 best, prices all over from $14.99-$20.99

I don't work for any of these companies (and if I don't stop hanging out on this site I may not have my job much longer!). I am just trying to share some of the research I did for myself. PS-thanks to Daniel Tonks for creating such a great site!

-Tim

Tim dont waste your time searching, check out www.dvdpricesearch.net They have a huge database of online stores and their prices. You can search for stuff as low as $8.95 all of which are the Warner Bros. collection at 800.com I only shop at 800.com, reel.com, and dvdexpress.com I have heard from alot of people that buyvideos.com has bad service. I have ordered well over $800 worth of dvd's from these 3 places and have had no problems. They are all unique in there own way, for instance I ordered from 800.com on a Sat. and recieved my package on Mon. The item was shipped from Oregon and I live in Michigan (no shipping or tax)! DVDexpress seems to have alot new releases before anyone else but then you have to pay shipping so its kind of a trade-off. Use the coupons that dvdpricesearch displays and your sure to save money. Enjoy!

Mario

Thanks for the tip. I'll check them out.

For an overseas purchaser like myself, DVDExpress is the best....and if you find the same deal cheaper somewhere else within 10 days of your orders being shipped, tell them and they'll give you the difference back.
Amazon.com seems to match DVDExpress...so since I'm already buying from DVDExpress, there's no reason for me to change.

I get superb service in the UK from DVDExpress - some discs I ordered on a Sunday arrived by the following Thursday (until the customs people started to take notice)! With keen prices, reliable service and a comprehensive range of titles, I'm not going to bother looking anywhere else.

Have you checked out the colubiahouse.com deal? I bought the first four DVD's from their library for about $24 total. I have to buy two more at $19.98 each, plus $3.69 each for shipping. This will bring the cost of the six DVD's to an average of $12.60 each with all shipping, and tax. Not a bad deal when you concider that you can pick the titles you want, many of them new. The next bes tdeal is when reel.com offered me buy one, get $20 towards the next purchase. This could be buy one get one free, and it was for me, but you can put the $20 towards something more costly than $20, most DVD's can be bought for less than $20 including shipping. Actually to was $21 that they gave me because of the way their system works.

I used to be a member of Columbiahouse when I was living in the US...When I came back to Australia, I asked if I could continue my membership from Australia....They said no.

They still don't ship to Australia (or anywhere overseas).

I'm also finding that DVD Box Office's free shipping is sometimes a better alternative to DVD Express.

Amazon.com also ships by 'title', not by discs. So Twilight Zone 40th Anniversary Edition counts as 6 discs when calculating shipping charges by DVDExpress, Amazon.com counts as 1 title, you save about $9.75, just that title. (Amazon.com is also $10 cheaper than DVDExpress for that title.)

Well looks like buyvideo's prices are gone. They are now about the standard online DVD price. Actually each DVD was a few cents more expensive than the ones I ordered from 800.com.

I ordered SOmething about mary for 16.94, ronin for 14.94, negotiator for 14.94 and PREORDERED The Matrix for 11.94. And I also payed no shipping and handling. Pretty good in my opinion.

The service I got from buy.com

Ordered: 8/5/99
Credit card charged: 8/12/99
DVD received: 8/19/99