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This Week’s Box Set and Reissue Deals

By Paul Sinclair

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74

Prince / Sign O’ The Times 13LP+DVD box set – £229 £289

Less than two weeks from release, Amazon drop the pre-order price of the 13LP+DVD vinyl box set of Prince‘s Sign O’ The Times. This is price matching HMV in the UK. If you have already pre-ordered from Amazon UK, no action required – you will get this price. Surprisingly, this IS shipping to the USA.

 

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74 thoughts on “This Week’s Box Set and Reissue Deals”

  4. Don’t know if it is of interest but the Hot Rats Turn Ons signed box set is only £21.91 on Amazon UK. It is actually £5 cheaper than the set that doesn’t have the Gaz and Danny signed print.

  6. I was in Central London today – first time for about a month. Visited Fopp – not much new bargain-wise but did get a couple of the HMV vinyl day coloured vinyl titles that I missed – OMD and Credence Clearwater (several copies of both remaining). Most surprising thing though- they still have the Prince 1999 box set for £75. Only a handful left I think. Could be last chance if you’re in the area…..

  8. I have hedged my bets by ordering this one at amazon uk having already ordered at amazon.ca, but shipping to the Netherlands is uncertain. Hope to be able to figure out soon if ca will honor the order.

    1. Decided to cancel the canadian order because of uncertainty about VAT and import taxes which would most probably push the price over the £229 i am paying at amazon UK. Chuffed about the idea of getting this great boxset of one of my top three albums of all times this month.

  10. All ready per ordered and paid for it at an independent, didn’t expect this massive price drop but also I’m sticking to my already paid for UK per order. If everyone jumped ship to save this amount (which is significant), then that would be a lot of hassle for the independents altering long held pre orders. This no doubt would put them under more financial strain for future pre orders so I’m staying put. Once all the independents have been squashed Amazon can them charge what they want!.

      1. It’s a weird one for me. I want local record shops to survive – but if I’m honest I hate what RSD has become so much – with its needlesly limited releases that simply feed the flippers market – I’d not be sorry if the whole mess just went away. May sound outlandish to some, but damn I soooo hate RSD. It’s anti-music fan, which is a bizarre choice.

  11. A lot of the sources for the vault tracks seem to stem from low quality cassette tapes, so can’t really see an advantage to vinyl for this type of release. Besides it’s still too expensive at £229, I’ll stick with my CD version from Amazon Italy for £100 and buy the double LP separately I think.

    1. That’s not true. Where possible tracks were sourced from stereo masters or remixed from multi-tracks. Using an old cassette would only be a last resort if the recording literally didn’t exist anywhere else,

        1. I don’t really think of one as ‘better’ than the other, although for these kind of archival sets with so much bonus content CD certainly seems easier. But the vinyl box does look great and I don’t think there will be a better price than this.

  12. Amazon Canada took my order for the CD set in June. And now I find out (thanks to this site), that they won’t ship to the US. No message from them telling me, I had to contact them. Three months during which I could have looked for a good price.

    1. Bill, I have my pre-order from Canada too. I think Amazon will honor these orders. I have had the same with some pre-orders from the UK and Amazon all delivered them. You never know but I have good hope they will ship the already made orders to the USA.

  13. Hmm, Amazon UK. My #1 retailer for sending back heavily dented and damaged box sets. Too many times they have merely placed an item in a box with literally no protection.

    1. Same here. I don’t think the packers have time to pack items well, and I often get damaged items. They do make it insanely easy to return and replace though. I’ve also discovered the ‘ship in Amazon packaging’ option in gift the wrap section during checkout. It’s not always there but if you see if it and select it, it’ll tell the packer to put the item in an outer box. I feel bad as it’s not exactly environmentally friendly but it’s cut down on the amount of returns needed for me.

      1. You’re lucky with getting a box these days, it’s hit and miss. I received an Otis Redding LP box set recently in its original shrink-wrap only with the address label stuck on the front. Another time when choosing to ship in Amazon packaging, an LP arrived in an Amazon plastic bag only, I just told the delivery person to take it back. It’s UK Amazon that seems to be the issue more than other countries.

        1. Yep, I’ve pretty much had the experience with the Amazon UK, with only once with another which was Germany where my Bob Dylan boxset looked like a large dog had argued with it (literally a 10″ box set bashing around in a 30″ long box with nothing else inside).

          Speaking of Amazon UK there are a number of people getting their new Rolling Stones GHS box sets sent damaged for the same issues… imagine what the Prince SoTT vinyl set would look like upon delivery given its weight. Going to order that from a retailer I can pick up from locally.

          @matt. I’ll try that idea. Ironically it might be less on the environment as I don’t have to drive to the post office and then for a box to be returned from the UK.

          1. I’ve just never understood this. I, too, have received a large amount of damaged boxes and vinyl from Amazon (I even stopped purchasing non-box set vinyl editions from them after getting tired of the regular returns… also prefer to purchase as much music from independent retailers as possible, tending to favour Amazon for irresistible deals and cases where I just can’t afford what independents are charging for a certain item).

            I understand that the employees are most probably very badly paid (and maybe even badly treated?) and that the company is huge and works to a very tight schedule, but surely taking the time to just implement a policy that all vinyl is packed securely in more well constructed LP mailers would end up saving them a great deal of time, money and unnecessary wastage than continuing down this path.

            On that note, I have only just recently received a Kate Bush box from Amazon AU in one such protective package, with all corners and edges perfect. Finally, the tide could be turning!

  14. So why can this be shipped to the US by Amazon UK but not the Ultravox box, the new Tangerine Dream box, or the new Future Islands album? I prefer to have UK/European copies in my collection and have used them for years.

    I am failing to understand Amazon UK’s policy which seems inconsistent at best.

      1. Try using importcds.com I use them all the time and never had any problems. I even order Australian titles from them as sometimes jb hifi hadn’t had any stock.

      1. I’ve made my first order from JPC (the Ultravox box) as a test run. If that works out I may switch my allegiance. JPC remove VAT and have reasonable shipping like Amazon UK, though not quite as good as Amazon UK, but if they can provide items that Amazon won’t then I may have no other choice.

        Sorry about the issues for Australians. Do JPC mail there?

        1. JPC mail to Australia – I’ve used them once before and I’m using them for this (CD version). It’s available on Amazon Australia, but after other Prince pre-order debacles with ‘One Nite Alone’ (missed out) and ‘1999’ (missed out) I’m not risking missing out on a third box set.

          I actually have TWO pre-orders for ‘SOTT Super Deluxe’ (CD) – one with JPC and one with ImportCDs. In a few days, I’ll check the latest prices and cancel the most expensive.

          1. Gwynogue,

            I replied to your post a couple of days back, but I just checked and see my reply is not there. I’ll try again. JBHifi in both NZ and Aussie still have the Up All Nite with Prince box set, so you can at least get that missing one.

          2. Please be aware that importcds may not ship the prince cd boxset internationally due to the weight. They won’t ship it to Australia as it weighs more than 4 pounds in weight. This happened with Rolling Stones – Goat head soup. Basically anything over 4 pounds they won’t ship internationally. This started since the covid-19 started.

        2. Yes, JPC is my supplier of choice for Australia now that Amazon won’t ship here. It’s great they get rid of the VAT and their shipping costs are not too bad.

          1. I can also attest to the general quality, reliability and value of jpc.de for Australian customers now that international Amazons have more-or-less abandoned us. Have ordered many times from them and had no trouble, except for one single occasion when I received a large SDE with a couple of small dents to the lower edge of the box. They have agreed to exchange it and cover return postage etc, but I haven’t got round to it yet (even though their service is customer service seems to be good, I didn’t get a response on whether they could guarantee shipping the replacement in its original factory form-fitted box, so I’ve been stuck on the fence). I do highly recommend them, though (especially under current circumstances).

          2. @Ryk

            Thank you for your suggestion. I was able to order ‘Up All Nite’ (CD) from my local Sanity for just under $60. It was only a few dollars dearer than Amazon so I was happy to pay it.

            They also placed an order for ‘1999’ (CD), but it’s a back-order so it’s unlikely to be fulfilled. I suppose I could buy it off eBay or Discogs, but at $150 it’s half the price of everywhere else.

  15. Thus proving once more that amazon’s policy to not ship outside their site country is completely random. This Prince box set must weigh a ton and a half!
    Anyway, it looks massive and beautiful, but what are the chances that sets will arrive in mint condition anywhere? If it’s not dents and bumps its slit inner sleeves, sometimes even the outer ones.
    One reason I went for the CD version.

    1. Even CD versions can get internal damage. My Fleetwood Mac Rumours set looked fine from the outside but inside it seemed like the packer had rammed the CD wallets into their slots too hard and dented the CD wallets plus the edge of the slot they go in. Could not see how that could have happened in transient as the CDs and wallets are so light and wouldn’t have the momentum to dent if the set was dropped from a height without the outside getting damaged.

      Overall I’ve had good luck with Amazon UK double boxing. On some occasions the outside box has been severely dented destroyed but the inner box has been undamaged.

  17. I ordered from Amazon Canada, the price dropped to c. £185 last week. Bit concerned that no-one seems to be banging the drum for this offer and Ive never ordered from Canada before – should I be worried?

    1. @Al Ghent:
      I’d be concerned about ordering from Amazon Canada. They are a bunch of incompetent idiots. They can say an item is delayed for 2 weeks and then ships the next day.
      Or if you never noticed, Amazon Canada is generally one of the last Amazon locations to be listed in the widget [i.e. when available].

    2. Possibly. Not sure where you are living, but if in UK and importing from non EU country, you will likely get hit by customs and vat. Small parcels usually fly under radar but something the size of Prince box ….

    3. I ordered at CA$161.74 plus shipping came to CA$ 177.72. That was when it was first announced. I thought it was the best deal at the time. Depends if I get hit with import tax or customs charges to the UK. That’s a worry.

      I ordered the Prince title His Majesty’s Pop Life a few weeks back from the official store. Received it eventually today but got a bill for £13.64 due to customs charges. Had no option to pay otherwise I would never get it delivered.

      Sucks. Sometimes you are lucky. Sometimes not

    1. That is a really low price, are they reliable, i’ve seen them but never used them before , postage to UK is only $6.99 too, I wonder if you will get with import duty or whether they mark as a gift?

      1. @Richard- since I’m based in the U.S., I can’t accurately answer your question on import fees. Price and service are outstanding. Have moved all of my Amazon UK business their way because of our domestic postal challenges and the limited shipping availability on these large sets.

      2. Richard, I think you’ll find importcds add 20% on at checkout for UK VAT, so you shouldn’t get hit with a Customs charge. At least, that’s what happened when I ordered the Prince 1999 box.

        1. I too have used ImportCDs extensively and although I’ve had some cancellations, they were not for pre-orders. They’ve been for hard-to-find releases that for some reason still appeared as available in their database, but weren’t really in stock or available through backorder. Their packaging is variable: on a large order, it’s impeccable — sturdy box within sturdy box; on a small order of a single CD it is terrible — just two thin sheets of sticky cardboard enveloping the item.

      3. You shouldn’t have any problems with importcds. I use them all the time. I usually order 10 or more items at a time, that way the items will be packed in double layered packaging and get shipped by courier so it can be tracked.

    1. If anyone wishes to cancel they can do. All I can say is I truly appreciate your custom and shopping at the SDE shop is one way to keep this website free for all, with virtually no advertising :) I should also add that SDE stock is basically guaranteed, so no weird ‘cancellation’ emails at the last minute.

      1. I must say I appreciate your classy attitude in these trying times. I would have ordered Ultravox’s Vienna box from you, but unfortunately shipping to the US was cost-prohibitive. Hopefully we’ll soon go back to some semblance of normal, and I’ll be able to support your site, rather than shopping at Bezos-n-Large.

      2. SDE is a small business {no harm intended} and yearly sends out tons of info on Box Sets without fear or favour!
        Give him a go! He has not the buying power of a near TRILLION DOLLAR company!
        This is a very valuable site to all of us Box Set psychos.
        Thanx Paul.
        markinmelbourne…

        1. Exactly that. I bet not even Bezos himself can explain their pricing strategies. There is probably an electric toothbrush somewhere on there that has gone up 50 quid to cover off the price drop on this box set and then the prices will revert back after 48 hours.

      3. I’ve not used SDE up to now, but after the debacle with Richard and Linda Thompson at Amazon UK I’m temtped to pay the premium in future for peace of mind.

        Even my bricks and mortar shop in Farnham is proving more reliable than Amazon. Supporting a local shop has been my main purchasing influence in recent years, but occasionally Amazon offers a price that’s hard to resist.

      4. Although I haven’t purchased anything from you direct, I can see that you are doing your best to keep and help collectors get these items. Your hands are tied when it comes to high international shipping costs. Keep up the good work Paul.

  23. Thanks Paul, yep, good price. Bagged it. For North Americans the Amazon Canada price is still slightly better (after deducting the UK VAT) but for some reason it now says on Amazon Canada that they are not shipping to the USA. When I pre-ordered it earlier this year they were, so hopefully they honor that.
    I’m going all out on Sign O The Times. My all time favorite album. I already received the singles box set. Going for over $600 on EBay now. Holy crap. Anyway, get the SOTT box sets while you can. If this goes the same way as the 1999 box sets, this will all be sold out soon.

    1. To quote Alan Partridge “back of the net!” I’d already preordered it grudgingly at £299 although I had a £5o voucher which I cashed in too – so now a nice bonus saving of £70. The price has come down on my order too. I wonder if they’re not shifting as well as they hoped – the 1999 box was £150 so this seemed crazily overpriced like they were testing the market – but had to get it as it’s one my favourite albums and was concerned it would sell out.
      I received my 7 inch singles box too in lovely peach colour – already seems a good investment if that’s the eBay price.
      I’ve had a few notifications in the last week of releases being delayed, such as the Suede And Bob Mould box sets and the new Sufjan Stevens, so not sure what’s going on. Oh well – it’ll spread them out a bit as there were loads being released on 25 Sep and 2 Oct.

    2. I preordered Canada too, without issue. However prompted by comment, when I view my order today, emphatically states—in red letters no less—not delivering to my location, pick another destination. I have received any communication from Amazon so who knows how long this has been the case. Pisser.

  25. My day one pre order is already showing the lower price which is good. I have this and the amazon.it deal on pre order. I was thinking of cancelling the LP set as I couldn’t really justify the price, but now the choice between vinyl and CD is a lot harder to make.

    1. Matt did you get an email from Amazon It saying delivery of the CD set of SOTT would be delayed until beginning of October or is it just me. Shows that later date on the site as well.

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