My Best Tips for Sinemia for 2019 | Sinemia is CLOSED in USA

Tip #1: Sign up with a Referral link and get $10-$20 off your subscription (in points equivalent).

This is an easy one because if you are on MoviePass and find it lacking, Sinemia asks for your MoviePass CC number as proof and you get $20 credit towards your subscription.  To maximize this benefit, sign up for the monthly plan to make sure you like the service and that it will work for you.

My referral link: https://www.sinemia.com/R/K85R9N

Tip #2: Know about the potential 'hidden' fees

I made a video about these two fees that most don't know about till they want to start using Sinemia.  There are two specifically at this time: 1. Convenience Fee 2. Processing Fee

The Convenience Fee is for booking online, similar to using Atom, Fandango, etc.  This will range from $1.50 to $2 typically for booking online.  This fee is completely avoidable right now through two main means.  One is by booking the movie through Facebook, and the other is being a special member of the booking service or theatre group where membership means no convenience fees for booking online.

The Processing fee is passed along by Sinemia from the credit card processors that need to generate credit card numbers for each of your movie bookings.  Sinemia says this pass along this fee to the users, and that your membership does not cover this in any way.

I go over both of these in my videos on Youtube.

Tip #3: Key to Ending Fees : Once you know you want to use Sinemia, pay the $15 (or more) to get the physical card

Some of you might remember when MoviePass was $9.99 a month, with 'unlimited' movies a month, know that they send you a physical card to use at the theatres.  You check-in, then pay for the movie with the card.  Most of the new Sinemia subscribers didn't have that option due to some lawsuits regarding how this works with payment cards.  Luckily, somehow Sinemia must have reached an agreement with a card provider so have re-activated their physical debit card program so that users can use a physical card now.

This is important because by purchasing a movie ticket at the theatre you can bypass both the convenience fee, and the processing fee completely making this the best option for most people who intend to make full use of their membership.  When I ordered my physical card it cost $15 and about two weeks for it to arrive. Doing the calculations it takes about 8 movies for it to make monetary sense ($1.80 processing fee each time can't be avoided otherwise), but also time is saved not having to type in a new credit card number each time.

Tip #4: Know the terms are subject to change at any time

I suppose this might be the best reason to go month to month.  Sinemia can do any number of shady things that MoviePass did and mostly get away with it.  We might consider it shady, but Sinemia may consider their changes as a way to stop the small percentage of abusers that are messing it up for the rest of us.

One such example I will give is they recently, out-of-the-blue required an ID verification be submitted before being able to book a movie through the Sinemia app.  This required a photocopy of a government issued ID + a mug shot of the user holding their ID for the camera (like a felon).  Well it was weird to do - ask my date to please take a mug shot of me in the good light of a Boba drink place holding up my ID...

Anyway, here is a link to the current terms and conditions: https://www.sinemia.com/terms

Tip #5: Take a picture of your ID, and you visibly holding the ID (must be taken by someone else) and save it on your phone

See the end of tip #4 and you'll see why.  Having these ready to upload at a moment's notice will help when you are trying to catch that showtime of the latest movie out.  I had to spend an extra 15 minutes getting these because I wasn't ready, and had to go to a well-lit area to take the picture and then back to an area where I had a good enough data signal to upload the documents correctly.

Tip #6: Don't get the family plan unless you watch movies together

Sinemia counts a visit by any family member as a used visit for the entire party.  So if you have a couple's plan with three movies per month, you can only watch three movies regardless if your spouse, significant other, or family member comes or not.  If you go by yourself, the credit for your family members is used regardless if they come or not.