I have many times...yesterday I took an old reel that I never use and got the Lew's skipping reel for $40 off. I have done it with rods also...but as stated above, sometimes future sales are just as good...the way I look at it is someone else may be getting use out of a reel I wasn't using and I got a reel cheaper than I normally could find it. As stated above, you have to buy a higher priced item to save much money.