The Player Bundle advertises as "20% off" and "if you already have content from this bundle, it will be subtracted from the price you pay"

Well, I already have the PHB, but I would like to add the other books to my inventory, however something seemed off about the $78 price.

all 4 books cost 29.99 each, effectively $30x4=$120. $120x0.8(for the 20% discount)=$96 (a bit odd already, since the price that is showing slashed is $99.99, so that seems closer to a 16.7% discount)

Since I already had a book, it was supposed to be subtracted from the price. So functionally I should be getting 20% off of $90 ($30x3), which should be $72. Even if we go back to the initial discount and figure that the real discount is 16.7%, that should be $75.

Instead, the price I'm being offered is $78.

I wouldn't mind this being the price if the sales that lead to the purchase amount were being presented properly, but that doesn't seem to be the case. How exactly is the math being handled here to get the resulting amounts?

Quote from GreyAcumen >>

The Player Bundle advertises as "20% off" and "if you already have content from this bundle, it will be subtracted from the price you pay"

Well, I already have the PHB, but I would like to add the other books to my inventory, however something seemed off about the $78 price.

all 4 books cost 29.99 each, effectively $30x4=$120. $120x0.8(for the 20% discount)=$96 (a bit odd already, since the price that is showing slashed is $99.99, so that seems closer to a 16.7% discount)

Since I already had a book, it was supposed to be subtracted from the price. So functionally I should be getting 20% off of $90 ($30x3), which should be $72. Even if we go back to the initial discount and figure that the real discount is 16.7%, that should be $75.

Instead, the price I'm being offered is $78.

I wouldn't mind this being the price if the sales that lead to the purchase amount were being presented properly, but that doesn't seem to be the case. How exactly is the math being handled here to get the resulting amounts?

If you own a book that is a part of the bundle, the price you pay for the book will get discounted off the bundle. If you paid full price for the book, then you will get full price of the book discounted off the bundle. If you did NOT pay full price for the book, i.e. got it on a sale or used a discount code, the price you paid for the book will be discounted from the bundle. For example, if a book costs $10 and you paid $10, the bundle will get discounted by $10. If you bought the book at a discount at $5, then the bundle will be discounted by $5.

This means that if you ever plan to get a bundle, there generally is not much point in getting individual books when things go on sale. However, I would still advise people take advantage of sales anyways even if they plan to get bundles later, because even if you have to pay back the discount later, you are keeping that extra money in your pocket between now and later, and having that extra is always good in case you need it for an emergency or something.

And if you plan to buy a bundle, I recommend waiting until Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Cyber Monday and buy it then, as that is the time when there is generally a sale on bundles. Christmas also should have a sale too, but I think Thanksgiving generally has a better deal. I do not recall the Player Bundle ever getting a bundle discount, but it does not hurt to wait an extra week to see if they do go on sale.

Thanks for clarifying that. I'll definitely be waiting. Hope there will be some upcoming worthwhile sales.

I just bought the player bundle and already have phb and xanathar's. Where / when do I see that discount? 

shame on me. didn't get a discount on the other two books in the bundle, and ended up paying 30 each. 

That needs to be more clear in the description. I feel like I got swindled.

I paid 17 each for the phb and Xanathar's when they were on sale. I figured I would get the bundle because it came up pretty cheap per book. Little did I know that the price already factored in the other two purchases.

That's a bit shady in my opinion.

Quote from MikeBenson >>

shame on me. didn't get a discount on the other two books in the bundle, and ended up paying 30 each. 

That needs to be more clear in the description. I feel like I got swindled.

I paid 17 each for the phb and Xanathar's when they were on sale. I figured I would get the bundle because it came up pretty cheap per book. Little did I know that the price already factored in the other two purchases.

That's a bit shady in my opinion.

Considering how often different books go on sale throughout the year, there is no way to account for that when they list any of the bundle's prices and it's discount is a decent average discount over the regular price of the books. Since you got some of those books on one of those sales, they are giving you the amount of money you actually paid towards the cost of the bundle. 

If you paid $17 for each of those books, then you took advantage of the recent 40% sale, which I'll be honest I have never seen a sale that big in the years I've been coming here. They are giving you credit for the amount you actually paid for the books towards the bundle price. They are not going to adjust the bundle price to account for that 40% sale that you utilized anymore than the 25% sale that I utilized back in 2020. There's nothing shady about that. As XXXGammaRay said in the first comment to this thread:

This means that if you ever plan to get a bundle, there generally is not much point in getting individual books when things go on sale. However, I would still advise people take advantage of sales anyways even if they plan to get bundles later, because even if you have to pay back the discount later, you are keeping that extra money in your pocket between now and later, and having that extra is always good in case you need it for an emergency or something.

The way it's worded and applied are confusing. When I saw the price on the bundle as 59.95, I thought it was for the bundle, not the bundle less the price I already paid for the two books I purchased. It doesn't say this is the price after the other two books are out. Not to mention,  in the description it says the cost of the books I already paid for will come off the cost, not that they have already. In the end, I ended up paying 23 per book for all four, which means the cost of the first two went from 17 to 23. Another way to look at it is that I just paid full price for the other two, so no savings.

In my opinion, the way it ought to work is: the bundle cost is 23 per book, you will get the two you don't have for 23 each. That's it.

The bundle isn't piecemeal $23 each, the bundle is the set price listed. If you get some of the bundle's items on sale for cheaper, it's not going to dynamically adjust the price for $23/ea for the remaining books.

you are right. that doesn't men they can't do it that way, which is why I said it ought to be. The current method makes it harder to justify buying bundles if you already have some of the books and you got a better deal. 

Quote from MikeBenson >>

you are right. that doesn't men they can't do it that way, which is why I said it ought to be. The current method makes it harder to justify buying bundles if you already have some of the books and you got a better deal. 

As I have mentioned previously, if you want to buy a bundle, wait until its around Thanksgiving and buy the bundle then. Just buy the bare minimum you need right now for the current campaign or something, and buy the rest of the bundle later.