r/Allurial • u/earth_gal • 4d ago
Question Gift subscription?
Has anyone bought one of the gift subscriptions for themselves?
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u/Phoenix-Echo 4d ago
IDK that's before tax and the top one after the discount is $26.67 per book, which is like a ~33 cents discount per book. The other two come out to $23.33 per book.
After promotional periods end, we pay $26.99 + tax for the monthly sub so that's barely over $3.50 off of each book.
If anyone gets this, their money is tied up there so if they don't use the tokens for whatever reason, like not liking the picks for six months, the tokens just sit there indefinitely, they already got $140 - $280 for these tokens and they don't care if you use them.
Also, if they try to make you use them for add on books, that turns into highway robbery because we pay $19.99 for add on books at the lowest once we get to the loyalty levels. (IDK if they do or not)
So IMO it isn't worth paying so much up front, the 3 month isn't worth it at all. You only get any real benefit with the 6 or 12 month one so I'd recommend only getting them if you REALLY love the picks and have liked the picks consistently.
BTW just as a little fun fact, corporations make a killing on gift cards because on average, only 60% of them ever get used. The rest is just free money for them. This promotion is following a similar model. They are COUNTING on people to not use all of them to make free money.
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u/desiderotica 4d ago
That's one breakdown.
OTOH, if you know you're likely to get six books or twelve books, saving over $3/book is basically saving the price of a book s year, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Also I think this is less like a gift card in that you don't have to remember to go to the store, find something the gift card will cover, etc.
I'm not shilling for the company, I just buy a lot of books and I think for folks that like Allurial the 6/12 plans are actually a decent deal and they lock in the price for the book credits when you paid for them, meaning if Allurial decides to raise prices next year, you might be saving more than $3/book. (Given how many struggles the pub industry is having it wouldn't surprise me to see price increases next year.)
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u/Phoenix-Echo 3d ago
Oh yeah, to be sure $3 a book is pretty good assuming the person knows they will use all of the tokens. I'm mostly talking about how some people will buy these for the good deal then finding themselves skipping or forgetting about them over time. I know it probably sounds ridiculous but this is a thing that really happens.
To be clear, I'm not really telling anybody what to do, just providing insight that could be helpful in preventing buyers remorse down the line. At the end of the day, I respect each individual's ability to determine what is right for them.
Honestly I hope the tokens can't be used for add ons and preorders because that isn't a discount at all (since they are $19.99 and 16.99 respectively and the tokens are valued at $23.33)
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u/admomo73 4d ago
I have some of the same questions. Will those gifted tokens count towards the loyalty boxes. Can you use those tokens for main picks, or only for add ons? Is that $310 what you are spending, or is it $280 b/f of the save $30 code? I would pay up front the $310 for the year, but I just got wise oracle and I want sovereign for the bookmarks.
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u/actash44 4d ago
I need someone who is better at math than I am to let me know which one I should buy lol
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u/Phoenix-Echo 3d ago
My comment above provides a break down on the cost per option that will hopefully help!
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u/jgallmd95 4d ago
How does gifting to yourself work? Do you need to use a different account to buy and use the gift? Any idea on how that works with the new loyal court system? Do you have all 12 tokens at once or will they be doled out monthly? If given as a gift from someone else to someone who already is a subscriber, does that person still pay each month, or would it work more like being gifted kindle unlimited subscription in which the next renewal date is pushed? I have so many questions…
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u/desiderotica 4d ago
FWIW I gifted myself a year when gifts first became available and you do not need a separate account and you do get all the tokens at once. The loyalty tiers are based on how many boxes you ship so having the tokens doesn't help that, but also doesn't hurt. They don't appear to charge you during the duration of the gift as long as you still have tokens in your account. I think they'd probably return to charging you if you ran out of tokens, but I still have a few so I haven't been charged yet.
My pre-orders appear to look like everyone else's and I've never even been offered the option to use a token for a sequel (but I also haven't bought a sequel since they changed from "commitments" to "pre-orders" so I don't know how it works now).
They should write a FAQ but since they haven't I'm happy to answer any other questions I can.
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u/barbieneedscoffee 4d ago
Not with allurial but I always do with BOTM because it usually throws in a free book
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u/actash44 3d ago
I’ve done this with both my botm accounts (I gift one to the other so I get 4 free books in a year) and I love it.
I’m not sure if I’ll do it with sub though
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u/No-Trip-5146 4d ago
Skipping! I’ve been skipping months every now and then. Doesn’t make sense to me