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Guilt over buying anime from Big Lots?


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B-503_MIA



Joined: 15 Dec 2008
Posts: 149
Location: Green Bay, WI
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:06 am Reply with quote
I've bought some cool things from them in the past:

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (lenticular cover)
FMA Movie (lenticular cover)
Steamboy - Directors Cut
& various volumes of: Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam & Yukikaze

Tonight I had a very good haul, picked up:

Flag - all 4 volumes
Memories
Cutey Honey Live Action Movie (might've passed on this... but then I saw the cover <drool>)

They also had a bunch of different volumes of Gundam Seed Destiny, I may go back for them too.

Bear in mind that each of those dvds cost 3 bucks... I know I'm getting a great, great deal but is this also assisting in the demise of the domestic anime market? Do the studios/companies involved get a dime from these purchases? I do feel a little guilt about buying titles I may have bought anyway but, then again, I also have picked up other titles I likely never would have if I wasn't paying 3 dollars (ahem, cutey honey...).
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Mistypearl



Joined: 03 Oct 2008
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:10 am Reply with quote
I'm pretty sure you're just getting a good deal, someone paid the full price at some point I'm sure of. But wow, anime at Big Lots? Who would of thought?
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blind_assassin



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 755
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:02 am Reply with quote
I think the anime community is the only place I've ever seen consumers upset about not getting reamed by publishers. If you feel bad then just start mailing cheques out to Funimation or something.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:40 am Reply with quote
Could you explain what exactly Big Lots is? Do they sell second hand or something?

As for just buying stuff cheap, it actually won't have any impact on the industry whatsoever. Stores are just middlemen. They're still going to be paying the same wholesale price to purchase the DVDs from the actual anime companies regardless of how much they then choose to sell them to you for.
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DuelLadyS



Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 1705
Location: WA state
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:31 am Reply with quote
Basically, Big Lots is a bargain wholesaler- some company somewhere ends up with a bunch of stock they can't move. They sell it to Big Lots at a discount, who sells it to us at a discount. (for the curious, the typical price for anime at Big Lots is $3 a disc and $10 for LEs/boxsets.)

Are the anime companies hurting because of them? Not really- while I'm not sure if its the anime publisher themselves that's taking the hit to the pocketbook by selling to Big Lots, or the store that couldn't sell the DVDs (it could be a case-by-case scenario, even), there's just not enough going to Big Lots to really matter.

In any case, you shouldn't feel gulity for taking a bargain, period. Remember, consumers and businesses have a weird kind of paradox going on- they want to make money, you want to save. They want to cut costs, you want extra money put into quality products. If the best way the retailer has to hit that balance of profit and sale-ability is to guilt you into a full-price purchase, they're doing it wrong. Besides, I doubt you use Big Lots as your sole source of anime, and I'm pretty sure several of those titles you wouldn't have bought if they weren't crazy cheap. Don't worry about it for a second.
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doctordoom85



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 2091
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:02 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I bought Steamboy and Memories at Big Lots for $3 each, and I doubt I would ever have gotten around to them if I hadn't seen them for so cheap. Reportedly, some BLs were carrying the CLAMP Double Feature for $3 as well, but no luck finding it so far for me. Sad I'll just wait until a good time when it's on sale elsewhere.
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Catsmack



Joined: 01 Oct 2008
Posts: 4
Location: Ford City, PA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:27 am Reply with quote
Yeah i've bought two volumes of Beck, Memories, and The Digimon Movie a while back so now whenever I get groceries I always stop over at Big Lots to see what they have
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larinon



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 992
Location: Midland, TX
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:13 pm Reply with quote
I equate this to buying those $3/$4/$5 titles out of the bargain bin at Right Stuf. More than likely newer versions have come out, or boxsets have been released that make the singles irrelevant, and at this point they just want to make anything they can from the item.

It's unfortunate they were unable to sell the discs in the first place, but with the contraction of the industry and the new standard practices of releasing collections and new versions every couple of years (it seems like), that's going to leave a lot of random discs out there that won't sell, at least not at full price.

Think of it as adopting a poor little forgotten kitty. (=^・ェ・^=)
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B-503_MIA



Joined: 15 Dec 2008
Posts: 149
Location: Green Bay, WI
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:27 pm Reply with quote
DuelLadyS wrote:
Basically, Big Lots is a bargain wholesaler- some company somewhere ends up with a bunch of stock they can't move. They sell it to Big Lots at a discount, who sells it to us at a discount. (for the curious, the typical price for anime at Big Lots is $3 a disc and $10 for LEs/boxsets.)

Are the anime companies hurting because of them? Not really- while I'm not sure if its the anime publisher themselves that's taking the hit to the pocketbook by selling to Big Lots, or the store that couldn't sell the DVDs (it could be a case-by-case scenario, even), there's just not enough going to Big Lots to really matter.

In any case, you shouldn't feel gulity for taking a bargain, period. Remember, consumers and businesses have a weird kind of paradox going on- they want to make money, you want to save. They want to cut costs, you want extra money put into quality products. If the best way the retailer has to hit that balance of profit and sale-ability is to guilt you into a full-price purchase, they're doing it wrong. Besides, I doubt you use Big Lots as your sole source of anime, and I'm pretty sure several of those titles you wouldn't have bought if they weren't crazy cheap. Don't worry about it for a second.


Great reply, this was the "validation" & info regarding the anime companies I was looking for... Mainly, I buy from TRSI, Best Buy, Wal-Mart or Amazon - Big Lots has been great for quickly/cheaply filling in gaps in a series I may have just started buying (the 2 Gundam series I mentioned in my first post) or the impulse buy. Does it keep me awake at night that I got brand new Bandai releases for the price of a rental? Not really... I just wonder how they can afford to let them go so cheaply (& DuelLadyS pretty much answered my questions).

One thing that I have noticed is that if you start seeing a series you like at Big Lots & are on the fence about buying it, you may as well go for it... A lot of those series seem to be either on the verge of going out of print or they are going to soon be repackaged in a box set. So if you've got it started, you may as well dive in & finish it & do it cheaply.

In the case of the original Mobile Suit Gundam I made the mistake of waiting to complete the series (I had 5 of the dvds at that point) &, sure enough, it did go out of print. Some of the rest of the volumes I paid a normal 15-25 bucks a dvd BUT others fell into the very hard to find category & I had to shell out 30-40-50 or more for volumes 4, 7 & 9 on ebay or amazon... Too bad that Volume 11 of Aura Battler Dunbine never made a Big Lots appearance Wink , still need that one Sad
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B-503_MIA



Joined: 15 Dec 2008
Posts: 149
Location: Green Bay, WI
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:34 pm Reply with quote
larinon wrote:
I equate this to buying those $3/$4/$5 titles out of the bargain bin at Right Stuf. More than likely newer versions have come out, or boxsets have been released that make the singles irrelevant, and at this point they just want to make anything they can from the item.

It's unfortunate they were unable to sell the discs in the first place, but with the contraction of the industry and the new standard practices of releasing collections and new versions every couple of years (it seems like), that's going to leave a lot of random discs out there that won't sell, at least not at full price.

Think of it as adopting a poor little forgotten kitty. (=^・ェ・^=)


We must've started our posts at about the same time, just took me longer to finish... Good point about TRSI's bargain bin, I've bought my share of titles from there as well.
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Hepzibah



Joined: 13 Jun 2009
Posts: 67
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:23 pm Reply with quote
You can find anime at Big Lots? Seriously? Must think of a good excuse to go there the next time I'm shopping in that area...

I say that you should not feel guilty over getting a really nice deal on those titles. Most things are Big Lots are there because they weren't selling very well elsewhere, and so you reap the benefits.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:39 pm Reply with quote
I wish all anime were that cheap and widely available.
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B-503_MIA



Joined: 15 Dec 2008
Posts: 149
Location: Green Bay, WI
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:17 pm Reply with quote
Hepzibah wrote:
You can find anime at Big Lots? Seriously? Must think of a good excuse to go there the next time I'm shopping in that area...


There was quite a bit, mainly Bandai titles... These were among the ones I can remember seeing yesterday (with an assist to TRSI's list of Bandai titles on sale):

Flag (all 4 volumes)
Memories
DBZ (multiple volumes)
Gundam Seed Destiny (multiple volumes)
Rescue Me Mave-chan
Cutey Honey - Live Action Movie
Glass Fleet (multiple volumes)
Eureka Seven (multiple volumes)
Tide Line Blue (multiple volumes)
Panda Z
.Hack (can't remember which series- Roots maybe?)
Clockwork Fighters
Galaxy Angel S
IGPX (multiple volumes)
My Hime
My Otome
Zegapain (multiple volumes)

At 3 bucks a dvd you could pretty much find something for everyone from among that list...

I was told by an employee that they usually get their shipments on Wednesdays (don't know if that means all stores - might be just the one closest to me).
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britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:24 am Reply with quote
I shop at Big Lots all the a lot- when I see one I've never been to before I stop in to browse. I haven't found much- a few Scrapped Princess LE's that I bought for $14 and sold for $21ish. Its hard to find a good selection.

I could make a Big lots thread. Or maybe i could just combine the FYE, Big Lots, Best Buy all into one? I've been holding off on a Big Lots thread because the deals are so hardcore YMMV.
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nhat



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 922
PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:01 pm Reply with quote
As long as the DVDs are legit than it is all right.

Buying the dvds are still better than people who never support the industry and mooch off everyone.
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