The Great DVD Sale of 2019

[Flack]

Earlier this year I reconnected with an old friend who used to own a ton of CDs and DVDs. I was surprised to learn that since the last time I saw him, he sold his entire DVD collection. I was quite shocked, as this is someone who really enjoys movies and owned many, many DVDs. I relayed this story to several of my other friends and was even more surprised to learn that they too had got rid of their physical DVDs years ago. Of all my local friends, I think I am the only one who owns more than ten physical DVDs. Second place owns ten DVDs and first place (me) owns more than a thousand.

I ripped all of my DVDs to my media server years ago so I never actually play the physical discs anymore. At the last house they were hidden away on shelves in an upstairs closet. When I moved last year they were placed inside boxes that have never been unpacked. I realize it's too late to get top dollar for them at this point, but I guess I'll take anything I can get.

[RESEARCH]

According to Google, here are the best ways to sell DVDs: garage sale, Craigslist, eBay, and Decluttr.

Decluttr is an app that allows you to the scan bar codes on your DVDs (and CDs, and books, and...) and get an instant offer from the company. They even pay for shipping! All you have to do is scan your DVD, the app gives you a price, and when you're all done the company emails you a shipping label to print out. It's that easy!

I opened a box of DVDs and the first one I saw was Superman: The Movie (1978). I scanned the bar code with Declutter and in less than a second the company made me an offer -- 5 cents. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I scanned several other DVDs and found a pretty even split between 5 cents and 22 cents. I guess if you want to sell your DVDs for 5 cents or 22 cents, Decluttr is an option for you.

Next, I checked eBay. The last several copies sold between $3 and $5 (including shipping). I decide to list it for $5 on eBay, and quickly did some math.

eBay: 10% of the final sale price (including shipping): $0.50
PayPal: 3% + $0.29 per transaction: $0.44
Media Mail + padded envelope: $2.50

That's $3.44 in fees, leaving me $1.56 profit on a $5 sale.

I listed five DVDs for sale on eBay two days ago, each for $5 buy-it-now and free shipping. After 48 hours I can report a total of 0 sales.

Finally, I checked Craigslist. Locally, it looks like DVDs sell for anywhere from $0.50 (if you're selling a LOT) to $2 each (usually people selling just a few discs individually) with lots of listings for $1/DVD.

[CURRENT STATUS]

I'm leaving the 5 DVDs on eBay for the time being. At $1.56 (profit), I think my best bet at this point may be to list them for $1.50/DVD on Craigslist with a "buy 5 for $5" offer and do it that way. Whatever doesn't sell after that will go to Goodwill I guess.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Earlier this year I reconnected with an old friend who used to own a ton of CDs and DVDs. I was surprised to learn that since the last time I saw him, he sold his entire DVD collection. I was quite shocked, as this is someone who really enjoys movies and owned many, many DVDs. I relayed this story to several of my other friends and was even more surprised to learn that they too had got rid of their physical DVDs years ago. Of all my local friends, I think I am the only one who owns more than ten physical DVDs. Second place owns ten DVDs and first place (me) owns more than a thousand.

(Realizing that you said local friends, I am going to post anyway.)

I have three sets of physical media:

- Music CDs. Started getting these by abusing the mail order things like BMG and Columbia House in, say, 1991. At some point I stopped buying them completely, I think the last one I bought was when the band Acceptance came out with a second album after a 15 year wait and I just wanted to support them. They sent a shirt as well, so, cool. I'm trying to think when I stopped buying music CDs. Maybe ... 2010?

- Movies on DVD. I think I bought almost every one myself, there was a mail order thing and I did get a copy of "The Ring" that was at an inflated price. But when Blu-Ray discs came out I stopped buying movies on DVD just due to media exhaustion. I ain't buying the 30 DVDs I have again on another platform, especially since the Usenet rips are far far far better than Blu-Ray in some cases. So I've got copies of Blade Runner and The Thing and Alien on some giant-ass format that is virtual.

- Computer games. Started whenever they started coming out, stopped getting them on disc when Steam filled that niche. But I was getting them constantly the two years I worked at EB. So I have this weird spot in my set of computer games from, say, 1995 to 1997 where a lot of awful games are represented.

I have moved 4 times in the last 10 years and they all came with me. :/

[Flack]

I got my first DVD player for Christmas in 1999, but I was a pretty slow adopter at first. I didn't really start buying movies in masse until I discovered extra features and specifically commentary tracks (which I love).

After heavily investing in DVDs, Blu-ray came out. I didn't get a fully HD (1080p) flat screen television until 2009, so I wasn't in any hurry to upgrade my DVDs to Blu-ray -- and honestly, in many cases, I still don't.

It seems like I blinked and DVDs dropped in value from $20-$10 to $2-$1 overnight. My local Goodwill sells them for $2 and at that price I don't even bother checking to see if I already own them before purchasing one.

I recently found a free app called Libib that allows you to scan the bar codes of your media with your phone and build a list (free up to 5,000 titles). I've only scanned in one box so far but it seems like a quick and inexpensive way to generate a list of everything I own on physical media.

[Flack]

This isn't a plug for that app, but I was able to scan in all my BR discs and publish them in < 5 mins.

https://flack.libib.com/i/bluray

[Casual Observer]

We've almost completely eliminated physical media as well. The only CDs and DVDs left have been moved to a single binder that almost never gets unzipped. In fact, I've almost given up on owning media. I don't even bother to do usenet anymore. Between Xfinity, Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime video we have access to pretty much anything we want to watch. I'm paying for unlimited broadband on my phone so for car music it's my YouTube stream or news or car talk while I drive. I used to fill up a large SD card on my phone with music and video but the last couple phones which eliminated SD cards cured me of that. The whole thing costs me almost six bills a month but what the hell money's only something you need unless you don't die tomorrow (wonder if Tdarcos can recognize what movie that quote came from).

[Tdarcos]

The whole thing costs me almost six bills a month but what the hell money's only something you need unless you don't die tomorrow (wonder if Tdarcos can recognize what movie that quote came from).

And you actually have the meaning backward.

Wall Street, (1987), Martin Sheen as Carl Fox : Money's only something you need in case you don't die tomorrow...

See, I can use Google as well as anyone.

[Flack]

I scanned in another box, which brought the DVD total up to 250ish. It would have been higher but I forgot about how many bootlegs I had -- no sense in scanning them in since I can't sell them.

[Flack]

I did one more box last night. Current totals are 60 Blu-ray and 370 DVDs.

I was originally optimistic about selling my DVDs on Craigslist, but forgot to check Facebook Marketplace. My local Marketplace is overflowing with people dumping their DVD collections. The going rate appears to be $1/DVD and $2/BR. Box sets with a $50 price tag still on them sell for $3-$5, if you're lucky.

My self-imposed goal is to get all my DVDs added to a Google document and post them for sale today. The day after Halloween, whatever's left is going to Goodwill.

[Flack]

I found some more. When I said 370 DVDs, I meant 524.

I'll tell you the part that kills me. It's digging through these tubs and finding unopened seasons of Seinfeld with $24.95 price tags on them. Seinfeld is on some cable channel 24x7. At no time in the past 20 years has there been a Seinfeld drought -- as evidenced by the fact that I never even opened these seasons. Great investment, Flackenstein.

[AArdvark]

Aren't you afraid that somday all those discs will be as rare as 5-1/4 floppies?

There used to be zillions of those around.

[Flack]

Partially, yes. I was just telling my wife, there's a little part of my brain that wonders if DVDs will come back, the way VHS and/or vinyl records have. I don't think they will, but you never know. I can tell you that physically handling them makes me want to watch every single one of them, despite the fact that (a) every single of of them are on my server and (b) lots of these DVDs were never even opened.

[Tdarcos]

Part of me wants to beg you not to give away your DVDs to Goodwill that I'd buy whatever you can't sell, and pay shipping, only problems are (1) I'd probably have no place to store them (2) management here and/or the front desk (which handles mail and packages) would go nuts and / or kill me if I had over 500 discs shipped to me (I don't even know how much space that takes up.) (3) my computer only has a DVD reader / writer, (I did buy a Blu-Ray reader / writer but it was an external portable, my primary purpose was to back up my files, 25gb at a time. I didn't have software to decrypt commercial Blu-Ray disks) (4) I don't have a lot of money.

[Flack]

This is how much space 524 DVDs take up.

[Casual Observer]

Flack, maybe you could donate them to one of the groups dropping DVD's on North Korea. I thought about doing this with the big bag of flash drives I've acquired in a decade of attending software conferences:

https://www.phillytrib.com/activists-fight-north-korea-with-balloons-dvds-and-leaflets/article_08410a94-a8a9-5fd5-ad37-dfc7dbb36b94.html

[RealNC]

What's the point of buying DVDs if you then get rid of them? I don't get it. You buy DVDs to have a nice collection. You now have a nice collection. Why don't you want it anymore?

[Flack]

What I finally discovered is, I wasn't buying DVDs. I was buying movies. And I still have them.

[RealNC]

What I finally discovered is, I wasn't buying DVDs. I was buying movies. And I still have them.

If it's the legalities of the whole thing, then you could have just downloaded them. If you sell the DVDs you also sell your right to own the movies. So when the DVDs are gone, your ripped versions become pirated copies. Could have just done that to begin with

[Jizaboz]

If it's the legalities of the whole thing, then you could have just downloaded them. If you sell the DVDs you also sell your right to own the movies. So when the DVDs are gone, your ripped versions become pirated copies. Could have just done that to begin with

On one hand I’ve always been in the group that says “Well I paid for this before.” especially with ROMs. I still lean that way really.

On the other hand, I still horde arcade PCBs and have stored away most of my carts that have “Everdrive” alternatives. Every time I see that MAME warning for a board I own, I laugh like The Claw from Inspector Gadget.