Flubit

[Rummy]

So, I've been 'aware' of Flubit for a while but not used it until this week, when someone mentioned having had quite a nice success with it in the M&L:Dream Team thread.

 

For those unaware, Flubit is a site where you find your best price from a retailer on the net, then submit the link to them and they say they'll get you a better offer on it within 48 hours. Your deal will then be fulfilled by someone else; they're essentially brokering games prices.

 

The offer is a limited time deal to accept, but once you do you pay with PayPal and all is sorted. Ish.

 

 

As said, I know someone had great success with M&L. Thought I'd try the same.

 

So far I submitted a 'demand' over ShopTo's price on 12/07/13 - missed out on the deal though. Resubmitted on 15/07/13 after a headache logging in/resetting my password. Got a similar deal through at just under £25. Paid up my monies, expected delivery date of next Wednesdayish earliest iirc. Got an e-mail today telling me it won't be along til the 30th of July now! No particular reasons given, but yeah. It's hit and miss but then also no big deal for me as I'm not in a great rush.

 

 

It's an interesting idea and business model, I'd wonder how well it does as demand grows and whether it'll remain sustainable.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Rummy

[Ike]

Think I'd rather just order from the retailer direct then mess around to save a couple of quid. Also I know who I'm ordering from since it won't be necessarily be the retailer you submit the link from.

 

Might be OK if it's not a game I'm in a hurry for though.

[welsh_gamer]

I've used Flubit since May, and have had some good deals from them, including :-

 

Animal Crossing New Leaf £23.95

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D £21.69

Game & Wario £21.46

Mario & Luigi Dream Team Bros £24.02

 

All pre-ordered items have arrived before, on or just a day after the release date, so the suppliers have been good on that front, however I did order Castlevania Mirror of Fate in early June, and that did take a good week, possibly longer to arrive, so they might be a little bit slow with "instock" items due to having to exchange details and all that, while with a pre-order they have plenty of time to sort out everything that needs sorting behind the scenes?

 

:

[yesteryeargames]

I would not use flubi again, i bouhgt need for speed most wanted wii u, they gave me a price of £32 not too long after release, i paid for it waited 5 weeks and nothing arrived, after countless emails and complaints, they said they would refund me or send a replacement,

 

so i asked for the game to be sent again

 

3 days later i get need for speed most wanted on PS3!

 

 

after weeks of more hassle i managed to send it back and get my refund, i would never use them again

[Rummy]

Decided to just check the site, apparently they've changed their mind and my order will actually be with me tomorrow! Strange they didn't e-mail after saying the 30th, though tbh it would've been a nice suprise for me. If this is all well then I think I'll definitely be flubitting a bit more down the line.

[Rummy]

Submitted a demand for Pikmin 3 against ShopTo's price, they've given me an offer saving a similar 11%(comes just under £30). So I'll buy when I get home and see how quick/well that one's fulfilled methinks.

 

@Eenuh asked me in the Pikmin 3 thread how it works, which I hadn't really thought of before. However now that I have, I've come to think that it's really quite a clever and enterprising little idea if they can sustain it. Beautiful work in the modern age. Brokering isn't a new concept, but the application is rather nice.

 

Could you explain to me how the Flubit thing works? I requested an offer and they are offering me the game for £23.85? I don't know how it works, how can they get the game so cheap? D:

 

I'm not 100%, but essentially they're a deal broker. You find the price somewhere, submit it, they say they'll beat the price within 48 hours. I have only used them once so far, which was this week, for M&L: DT - I have yet to see it(sposed to arrive today but I think I left before the post).

 

How they work/manage it, I'm not entirely sure. I'd guess like other brokers they say to someone 'Look, this person is gonna buy this product somewhere for this much. What's your cost/margin? You're gonna be undercut by these guys anyway, so if you decide to beat this price but still keep at least some profit margin - it's something rather than nothing. There ain't no work for you, we'll sort out that bit. Maybe throw us 5-10% of that profit, yeah?'

 

It avoids a mass market competition and undercutting because the deals are time-limited and 'tailored'. The retailer CAN sell the product that cheap, but they never would on a general scale because of all the risks of it in the modern age re: deals sites, word of mouth etc. This gives them the option to make money, give a bargain, and avoid all the headaches.

 

 

My best guess at it anyway. No idea what happens when it goes wrong; but check over in General Gaming - I made a thread there and someone said they didn't have a great time.

 

[Eenuh]

Well I submitted a link for Pikmin 3 as well and got a great offer, however they say the game isn't being released until August 23 so I wouldn't get it until August 30 - September 3... I am very confused about this and am not sure whether this is a mistake or not...

[Rummy]

Well! M&L is here! Demand was created on Monday 15th, and it's here today - fulfilled by TheHut by looks of the packaging.

 

Gonna go ahead with my Pikmin 3 offer, will see how well they perform this time!

[Fierce_LiNk]

Well! M&L is here! Demand was created on Monday 15th, and it's here today - fulfilled by TheHut by looks of the packaging.

 

Gonna go ahead with my Pikmin 3 offer, will see how well they perform this time!

 

What date did you get for Pikmin 3? Ine's is saying that it gets released on the 23rd August and will be delivered a week later. A typo? We used the WowHD link.

 

I'm trying a request/demand. Will see what happens.

[Rummy]

Crap was meany to post that. I submitted a shopto link and whatever they offered knew it was 26th July release think it estimate delivery sometime first week of august. Bopping atm and my phones not so great with flubit so can't check solid details. Will have a look either tonight or in the .morn and let you know.

 

also when I say m&l Waa fulfilled by thehut I literally didn't know that til j saw the packing. flubit itself was listing some firework sounding company(which appears to be skmehkw part of flubiy itself I thibk)

[V. Amoleo]

Crap was meany to post that. I submitted a shopto link and whatever they offered knew it was 26th July release think it estimate delivery sometime first week of august. Bopping atm and my phones not so great with flubit so can't check solid details. Will have a look either tonight or in the .morn and let you know.

 

also when I say m&l Waa fulfilled by thehut I literally didn't know that til j saw the packing. flubit itself was listing some firework sounding company(which appears to be skmehkw part of flubiy itself I thibk)

 

I don't know if you've tried Flubit on your mobile recently but within the last week they updated the mobile website and it's loads better now.

[S.C.G]

In a nutshell, as I understand this... you might get a 'great' deal by using this Flubit thing but just don't expect the game on release is what they are saying, obviously all orders for people who are paying the RRP will be shipped first, so I wouldn't do this for a game that you want on release as you'll probably end up disappointed.

 

Might be ok for a game you're not so bothered about though, but then again you could always just wait until the price drops.

 

I guess it's not for everyone. : peace:

[Rummy]

In a nutshell, as I understand this... you might get a 'great' deal by using this Flubit thing but just don't expect the game on release is what they are saying, obviously all orders for people who are paying the RRP will be shipped first, so I wouldn't do this for a game that you want on release as you'll probably end up disappointed.

 

Might be ok for a game you're not so bothered about though, but then again you could always just wait until the price drops.

 

I guess it's not for everyone. : peace:

 

Well, the reason I decided to try it was someone reporting in the M&L thread that they got theirs before release by a few days iirc! Hence thought I'd experiment with Pikmin to see how they do with that. As far as I'm aware, as the item is shipped directly from whichever retailer they've chosen - I see no reason for a bias in shipping of the orders unless it's an active decision to do so.

 

On that note and for @Fierce_LiNk - I can't find the bit where it noted the release date of the 26th anymore(it seems to have been updated, but a status note says 'awaiting the pre order release date' as soon as my payment was recieved) its status currently is obviously awaiting dispatch and it has an estimated delivery date of Tuesday 30th July - Tuesday 6th August atm.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I made a demand myself and they came back and offered the game to me for £24.20, with a delivery date of somewhere between 24th-31st July.

 

Purchased. Let's see how this works. I will be ecstatic if this works.

[Rummy]

I made a demand myself and they came back and offered the game to me for £24.20, with a delivery date of somewhere between 24th-31st July.

 

Purchased. Let's see how this works. I will be ecstatic if this works.

 

That for Pikmin? Daymn, I got shafted! What did you demand it against?

[Rummy]

My Pikmin arrived yesterday morn! No chance to play yet, maybe do a bit in a bit. So far so good with Flubit for me. Looks like it was fulfilled by Zavvi this time.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Rummy

[Fierce_LiNk]

My order is still awaiting dispatch. I believe we used the deal at WowHD to start it all off. Hmm, I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

[Rummy]

My order is still awaiting dispatch. I believe we used the deal at WowHD to start it all off. Hmm, I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

 

Deal at WowHD? Like that's what you compared/'demanded' it against? What was their price?

[Fierce_LiNk]

Deal at WowHD? Like that's what you compared/'demanded' it against? What was their price?

 

I put the link in from WowHD which was around 28quid I think. Then, Flubit said they could do it for 24.

 

I've heard nothing still. No "item has been dispatched" or anything yet. It says: "ESTIMATED DELIVERY: Tuesday 30th July - Thursday 1st August" still, but there's no way that's going to happen. It would have to be dispatched later today to make Thursday, imo. So, hmm.

 

Will wait and see.

 

UPDATE: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. 9:30 was approaching and I was leaving the house to go to play squash, when I noticed that there was a package hidden behind our barbecue set next to the pillar. I open it up immediately to find the game waiting for me inside.

 

The letter is dated 23rd July...so I have no idea how long that thing has been there waiting for me. Could have been delivered Friday. Could have been Saturday. Could have been this morning. I was in the house, up nice and early on each day and not once did I hear the postman attempt to knock or ring the bell or leave a note saying he left it there.

 

Aside from that, it's heeeeeeere.

[Rummy]

Well...glad to hear you've got it! I think miscommunications of that sort might pose problems(never understand posties just leaving stuff outside with no notes or anything) - do you know who it was that dispatched your copy? I'm mostly just curious.

[Fierce_LiNk]

My Pikmin 3 order still says its processing.

 

I ordered a spice rack at midnight on Friday/Saturday. It's here now. Excellent.

 

On the downside, Flubit have shot themselves in the foot and are now only letting you use links from Amazon. So, you can't use WowHD or Zavvi and expect to beat their prices, it's all through Amazon.

 

Utterly dreadful business decision. The feedback on their blog all says the same thing. Probably won't be using them too much now, after all.

[Rummy]

Wait what...they'll only beat Amazon prices?! Bit mad, and rather redundant. Oh well, I didn't think they'd last forever with the previous service but I thought it might be a bit longer than this at least! I'll submit demands for the big/new games, and if it's not beating ShopTo by 3% I'll just stick with them.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Wait what...they'll only beat Amazon prices?! Bit mad, and rather redundant. Oh well, I didn't think they'd last forever with the previous service but I thought it might be a bit longer than this at least! I'll submit demands for the big/new games, and if it's not beating ShopTo by 3% I'll just stick with them.

 

You should have had an email from them, sometime around midnight or even yesterday. Check your flubit account itself, there will be a notice on there or some kind of disclaimer.

 

It's a shame, as I was just getting into it. I liked the idea of giving power to the consumer, although they do seem to have sold out on this one. I reckon Amazon have paid a hefty price for their services.

[Rummy]

You should have had an email from them, sometime around midnight or even yesterday. Check your flubit account itself, there will be a notice on there or some kind of disclaimer.

 

It's a shame, as I was just getting into it. I liked the idea of giving power to the consumer, although they do seem to have sold out on this one. I reckon Amazon have paid a hefty price for their services.

 

Nope, I got nothing! No emails, can't see any notifications on their site either

 

EDIT:Finally found it, and the blog http://blog.flubit.com/demand-changes/

Still gonna try them and see, this might not be too bad a thing.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Rummy

[Fierce_LiNk]

Nope, I got nothing! No emails, can't see any notifications on their site either

 

EDIT:Finally found it, and the blog http://blog.flubit.com/demand-changes/

Still gonna try them and see, this might not be too bad a thing.

 

It is still useful. I've used it to get the Wii U Pro Controller. But, I know its usage will be diminished.