It's time for me to renew my membership. I will not do the auto-renew for $50, so I guess my options would be amazon.com for about $45 for a 12+1 card or maybe Ebay for less than $40.

Has anyone had success from the Ebay avenue? Can anyone recommend a seller who is trustworthy and promptly emails the code for the 12+1 month renewal?

buy.com $43.99 currently ($39.99 off and on every few days)
-$10 google checkout

$33.99 at most.

buy.com $43.99 currently ($39.99 off and on every few days)
-$10 google checkout

$33.99 at most.

That is exactly what I did. 13 months for 30 bucks...great deal :) Only downside is that they mail the card to you, so it's not as instant as some ebay sellers. I've heard of quite a few bad ebay experiences, so the week or so wait was worth it.

I mean, you had/have 13 months to get a new card....waiting a week shouldn't be a problem. ;)

I read that some people on ebay were selling cards that had not been activated. So you better really trust your seller and pay with a credit card. Just to be safe.

I read that some people on ebay were selling cards that had not been activated. So you better really trust your seller and pay with a credit card. Just to be safe.

A friend of mine bought a card on ebay that wouldn't work and then the person disappeared off ebay. It was a few years ago and he thought he was getting a great deal at $40. Boy did he ever. LOL

Buy.com is the best place to get subscription cards.

DO NOT trust ebay. I made this mistake once and the selling told me I needed to make a new account for the card to work. Everybody knows the subscriptions card don't work like that.

print this (http://toysrus.rsys1.net/servlet/website/ResponseForm?mhRlE0y1_VTTBTATV_zmHRJHmphg_yLtpgKLk_Cwf_.3dzb EIohiHsmohtHlFRHohhDJht) coupon and take it into any TRU store to get $10 off a $50 purchase. it will also work online, if you don't feel like driving, but they usually have them in stock...

Originally the ebay coupons were great. The sellers would just e-mail you the code (thus no shipping charges) but I think recently many of the ebay codes only work for new Xbox accounts (those that have never been on gold before) and not for renewals. I think the best is to get it from Amazon, free shipping and no taxes, or use Google checkout with Buy.com. The other option to keep on looking for deals, and collect a card when you can getit for under $40 (sometimes places like CC have great deals, Bogo's etc).

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Just be cautious. The last two times I renewed my Gold subscription it was from eBay purchased cards. I've never had a problem myself. Once it was emailed to me, another time the card was snail mailed to me. As long as you go with the people with a few hundred positive feedbacks then you're fine. You can usually tell if the seller specializes in gaming items; those are the best guys to buy it off of. Avoid general merchandise "liquidators" e.g. people who wouldn't know an Xbox from an Xbox 360 if they saw one.

I will not do the auto-renew for $50,

Why Not??? Not second guessing just seeing if there is something I don't know about getting it off the company that provides the service...?:confused:

Yeah, I bought mine off buy.com for $28 with google checkout.

Why Not??? Not second guessing just seeing if there is something I don't know about getting it off the company that provides the service...?:confused:

Because that means I need to give a credit card to them and I would not do that for this purpose. There are too many ways for this to "accidentally" renew my account in a year, for other things to possibly go wrong. For my privacy and security, I would rather purchase a separate card and key in the code.

Oh, and for a few minutes of my time I save about $10.

Why Not??? Not second guessing just seeing if there is something I don't know about getting it off the company that provides the service...?:confused:

It's by far the most expensive way to pay for LIVE.

Fair enough and good to know!

Why Not??? Not second guessing just seeing if there is something I don't know about getting it off the company that provides the service...?:confused:

The problem with buying Gold subscription/points etc from MS directly is that the credit card informtation is not removable once submitted. The only way is to cancel the credit card. Similarly there have been a few people (including someone here a couple of months ago) who have been charged despite cancelling their subscription. Though convienient, at the end it is not worth the potential hassel.(plus you get better deals buying it elsewhere (Amazon, etc).

The problem with buying Gold subscription/points etc from MS directly is that the credit card informtation is not removable once submitted. The only way is to cancel the credit card. Similarly there have been a few people (including someone here a couple of months ago) who have been charged despite cancelling their subscription. Though convienient, at the end it is not worth the potential hassel.(plus you get better deals buying it elsewhere (Amazon, etc).

Yea, MS need to straighten up their act with CC subscriptions and such. I signed up years ago when Live first started and they still have my info and make charges automatically yet they wont let me buy points with the same card. :confused: No big deal, but they pissed me off on my last renewal when they charged me NY state tax on the subscription when they know im not in the US. :rolleyes:

buy.com $43.99 currently ($39.99 off and on every few days)
-$10 google checkout

$33.99 at most.

++

I believe the google checkout deal expired.