Discount train tickets in Germany ??!

If you know what day you will be traveling on, then buying your tickets ahead of time makes a lot of sense. For example, yesterday I was checking prices to Berlin from Frankfurt. If I buy them 90 days ahead of time, (which is as far out as the Deutsche Bahn allows) a one way ticket is 39 euro. If I bought the same ticket today, it is 102 euro. That is a big savings. I also checked buying tickets from Frankfurt to Bayeux and again, huge savings. Ticket bought ahead was 69 euro. Bought today it was about 150 euro. If you are just riding around in local areas, lets say in Bavaria, or Hessen, Rheinland Pfalz, or any other State/Land (I don't mean country, just one of the 16 States in Germany) then buying a ticket ahead of time isn't needed as most of your travel can be on Regional trains and you can use a Laender ticket, good for up to 5 people all day long, multiple trips as long as you stay in that "Land". There are also Happy Weekend tickets and Quer Durch Deutschland (All Across Germany) tickets that are good on all Regional trains, all day long, for up to 5 people and are a huge bargain. Check the various ticket options and prices on the Deutsche Bahn website. It switches into English, except for the Quer Durch Deutschland option.

Jo's got most of it, but one thing additionally is that the cheap fares are strictly limited to the particular train you booked on. If you miss the train (unless it was because a previous train was late) you need to buy another ticket at full fare. This means that discount tickets may not be a good idea if you intend to fly into Europe and travel somewhere a long distance away by train immediately, as if your flight is delayed the money spent on the discount ticket is wasted.

When I am on the bahn.de site, what is the name of the ticket I would be looking for ?

Plug in your journey and it will show several options, beginning with the departure time you requested. It will also show the Prices, both the regular price and the discount price (Sparangebot) for each train for which it is available. For example, I just put in Berlin to Munich for March 15. Each of the three trains shown had a discount price, 79 to 89 euros, and a normal price, 125 to 139 euros.

And 90 days is the earliest I can purchase tickets, correct ?
I got bumped off the trenitalia site 10 years ago and have never tried to buy tickets ahead of time again on any site !

The bahn.de site is much more reliable than Trenitalia. Try it and you'll see.

I will ! So, which site would you buy tickets for Venice to Garmisch ? Can I buy them on bahn.de or oebb.at ?
We are traveling from Garmisch to Salzburg and up to Rothenburg.

Venice to Garmisch I only see one "Savings Fare" online from the Bahn, starting with the EC from Venice at 1:47 PM, with a 6 minute change at Innsbruck, getting to GaP at 7:59 PM. That takes 6 hr 12 min. The lowest fare is 39€/adult. If you miss the connection in Innsbruck, there is another train in two hours. It's a regional train, so the Savings Fare ticket should still be valid for travel on it. (It would in Germany. I'm not sure how it works in Austria.) There are about four other connections by EC over Brenner Pass, but the Bahn doesn't offer Savings Fares because they require an Italian train from Venice to Verona, where you catch the EC. Don't use RailEurope as they don't usually offer the discounted fares and charge more for standard fares than the price at a ticket counter in Europe. Find schedules and fares (if offered online) on the German Rail (Bahn) website. Put in Verona to Garmisch to see the other four Savings Fare connections.

Carla, When buying from the Bahn website, be sure to put in "number of travelers" as 4. For my Berlin to Dresden train ride last year, it was 39 euros full price per person, 19 euros discounted for 1 person, but only 29 euros discounted for 2 people traveling together. So, we saved 49 euros (each way!) by booking ahead. You get a PDF which you print out. The PDF will have the name of the purchaser, and will say (in your case) that it's also good for 3 other people. You show your printout and your credit card to the conductor when they come around to punch tickets; they scan the barcode on the printout and swipe your credit card, and you're all set. This was my first experience buying from the Bahn website, but it really was pretty easy.

I am going to try ! I think I have to wait until 90 days out to book though.
Our travel is May 27.