O.M.G.! I got my 12-issue (1 year) Real Living subscription for only P200 using the Buqo app. P200! At that price, I don’t even mind that it’s not a physical copy!
So even though I am busy with holiday things, I just had to take the time to write this post to share my very awesome find!
Why just P200? The regular cover price is P140. The Buqo price is just P80 per issue! Annual subscription price is P1,680. But because of the sale right now, the 12-month subscription is only P400! And then, just icing on the cake – if you pay using Smart or Sun (postpaid billing or prepaid load), you get an additional 50% OFF! That makes it only P200!
I actually found out about this by accident. I was going to purchase the Real Living subscription but was too lazy to go get my wallet from the bedroom. So I chose to pay the P400 using my Smart postpaid plan instead since I had my cellphone with me. Lo and behold, I received a notification text from Smart informing me that P200 had been successfully charged. I actually panicked and thought maybe something went wrong, that maybe my postpaid Freedom plan had reached its credit limit (P600) and that they had decided to bill the other half the following month.
I scrutinized the Buqo app for any information, and I saw this (I probably didn’t read it the first time). Maybe they extended the promo, who knows. But I am definitely taking advantage of it!
Buying more books using Sun prepaid load
Next, I purchased a Yummy Special cookbook – Yummy Breakfast. I realized my Smart postpaid account might nearing its credit limit, and I remembered that I had Sun prepaid load that were hardly used. Yup, I just keep loading P110 every 45 days to keep the load from expiring. I had already accumulated P400+ Sun prepaid load that I didn’t know how to use up (this is because my Smart Mega Combo 250 can call & text Sun too. I’m only maintaining my Sun number for those people who still prefer calling Sun to Sun).
Here’s my chance to use up my Sun prepaid load! I tried buying 1 item first just to check if the 50% OFF also applied. And yes it did! The Yummy Breakfast book was only P22.50. In the app, it says that I will be charged P45, but when I received the text from Sun, I was actually only charged P22.50.
I was so happy that I bought all the Yummy books that looked interesting. And I think I went overboard! I bought a lot of the Yummy Specials cookbooks – which were now only P22.50 each. These Buqo books are actually my first ever purchase of a digital book / subscription. Regularly priced ebooks are just too expensive, in my opinion. Why would I even buy one? There are other ways to get my hands on them, like, errr… borrowing from friends *wink wink*?
I also bought a 12-year annual subscription to Yummy Magazine at only P290!
One thing I noticed is that you probably need to use an android device with the Buqo app installed to take advantage of all these promos. I checked the Buqo app on the iPad and there weren’t any Smart promo banners, and probably no option to pay using Smart. Also, all the items there were priced in USD.
Payment process using Smart or Sun postpaid or prepaid
Once you finish picking your books / magazines, proceed to Checkout. You’ll see several choices to pay. Pick your preferred method – for example, Sun Prepaid Load or Postpaid Bill – then pick Regular Payment. Next, enter your mobile number. You’ll receive a text with the One-Time PIN that you need to enter within 3 minutes. After entering the PIN, you should get a message that the transaction was successful, and you’ll also get a text letting your know how much was charged to your account.
Why buying them is worth it
But at these low prices, I think it’s worth buying these magazines and cookbooks vs. getting pirated copies. If only all magazines were always this inexpensive! I’m happy my magazines are legit. I get the magazines on time, complete for the whole year, and it beats having to make the effort and wasting time to scour the internets for a copy, if you can even find one. A quick mental cost benefit analysis makes the purchase at these prices justifiable.
I’m itching to find other magazines to subscribe to before the promo ends on Dec. 31, 2014! I wish they had the option to subscribe for 2, 3, 4 or 5 years ahead!
Accessible on all your gadgets
And the best part? I can take all these magazines with me wherever I go. You can install the Buqo app on all your devices, and they all sync. I don’t think there’s a limit to how many gadgets you can log in your Buqo account to.
The only thing you need to remember is to open your book / magazine on your device at least one time while connected to the internet. This will download the book / magazine on your device. Wait for it to finish. Once it has been downloaded on your device, you can open and read it even if you’re not connected to the internet anymore – perfect if you plan to read while in a coffee shop without free wifi! I tested this! It’s important for me to be able to read my magazines even if I’m not connected to the internet. You just have to make sure that all your books / magazines have already been downloaded to your device.
Comparing all the tablets I have the Buqo app installed on, the books and magazines look best on our iPad mini with Retina display. I know. I’m sad too because I’m an android girl. But it’s the truth, fortunately or unfortunately. The magazines are sized in a 4:3 aspect ratio – which are perfect for the iPads. Android tablets are usually sized with a 16:9 aspect ratio. There’s no problem – the books / magazines still show up great – but there’s just some extra space above and below the books / magazines, similar to what you see in some movies. Don’t worry, you won’t really notice it and it doesn’t affect anything.
Here are some more pics using my Asus Fonepad 7 ME175CG:
