I've been asked for DVD shopping tips a couple of times by friends and was asked to post something on LiveJournal so that their sister could read it. It's not much use to many of you, but for the effort involved in copying and pasting it here I figured it may prove useful to some. Besides, one of you may teach ME some tricks...
UK BuyingAlways start with
Find-DVD.co.uk. It's very exacting, which makes finding something via either a very specific or very common name tricky (doesn't cater for minor name variations from site to site and doesn't order or prioritize results), but covers more sources than anywhere else I've found and is generally a 9/10.
There's no company that does consistent best prices, so I find this site invaluable. Most companies are very comparable, but two companies that tend to produce real standout deals are HMV (having much lower prices than the stores) and Woolworths (yes, Woolworths!). If I'm buying a whole series of something at once, it's very rare that I don't end up buying different DVDs from several different sources.
Another thing worth mentioning is the Amazon marketplace. Remember that you always have some shipping which often makes the saving disproportionate to the risk, but you can get some real deals.
Also, check for vouchers from somewhere like
this.
US Buying (from Europe)Similar starting point, but different destination. Always worth checking
DVD Pricesearch, but the results are nearly always the same:
DVD Pacific cheapest with
DeepDicount very close behind. Sometimes you get a bit of a mix of cheapest, but once I factor in the shipping, I nearly always end up getting most from DVD Pacific with a few others from DeepDiscount.
One of the best things about this site is that it includes shipping prices in the comparison and allows you to compare multiple items at once (showing you the best overall purchase place). Very good site.