Hello, I was at my local Walmart yesterday looking at the new releases and I noticed something strange. There was a guy buying 20 copies of Transporter 2 DVD plus generic cases for them. Why would someone buy 20 copies? The first thing I thought was he was copying them and reselling, but if that was so why buy 20, just buy 1 and burn all you want? For the life of me I can't figure this one out. He paid over $380 cash for his purchase, this person obviously has money..What is going on?
dadaluholla
01-11-06, 09:36 AM
I think he was trying to show his support for the series in hopes of a third film.
:)
Or he is giving them out as gifts.
Shagrath
01-11-06, 09:38 AM
He probably owns a small mom&pop rental store. A lot of times, B&M stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy will sell a title the first week on sale for less than this person could get it from a wholesaler. It's cheaper for them to just go to a store and buy a bunch of copies to rent out that way.
Atreus
01-11-06, 09:42 AM
He probably owns a small mom&pop rental store. A lot of times, B&M stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy will sell a title the first week on sale for less than this person could get it from a wholesaler. It's cheaper for them to just go to a store and buy a bunch of copies to rent out that way.
That's what my first thought was before I even read your post. When I read he was also buying extra case I was sure.
tdilia
01-11-06, 09:42 AM
He probably owns a small mom&pop rental store. A lot of times, B&M stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy will sell a title the first week on sale for less than this person could get it from a wholesaler. It's cheaper for them to just go to a store and buy a bunch of copies to rent out that way.
Most likely that is the reason. The place I rent from does it. I've asked for titles and the clerk will tell that the owner hasn't gotten it from Best Buy or whatever place he gets them from yet.
johnglad
01-11-06, 10:03 AM
Wally World often sells dvds the first few days at their Tier 1 stores for below cost. Your math comes out to $19 per dvd, but the cost on Transporter 2 is probably $15-$16. My Walmart was selling it for $15.96 I believe.
Damed
01-11-06, 10:08 AM
Is it legal for a mom&pop store to buy a DVD from Bestbuy and use it for rent? I thought they had to buy through different channels at higher prices because they are making profit from the film
Shagrath
01-11-06, 10:17 AM
Is it legal for a mom&pop store to buy a DVD from Bestbuy and use it for rent? I thought they had to buy through different channels at higher prices because they are making profit from the film
This was true for VHS, where rental copies were upwards of $100. I don't believe studios have this same setup for dvds.
I think the reason it was so high back then is because VHS movies came out for rental 6 months to a year before you could pick it up in the store, and therefore rental stores had to pay a "premium" to get them early in order to get that sweet rental time before anybody could go pick it up at a store.
Since dvds are released for rental at the same time as they are for retail purchase, this plan kind of went out the window. Of course, this is all purely speculation on my part, and someone who is/was in the rental business might better answer this question.
DRG
01-11-06, 10:25 AM
Because it's "ONE HELL OF A RIDE!"*
* ABC Network Radio
cisman
01-11-06, 10:48 AM
I know someone who owns a small store and he does this as well. He says it's much cheaper to do than getting from the wholesaler.
The problem comes from finding stores that will let you buy that many.
At one point I was accepting preorders on ebay for dvd's and when it came out the TUE i would buy how many I need and ship them out.
It's nuts people would pay $20.00 for a dvd when I could get it for $15.00 at the store...so bascially they were paying $5.00 for me to go pick it up for them.
I stopped because it was way too much hassle trying to find stores that would go for it. I remember when LOTR: The Two Towers came out I had like 30 orders and that was murder trying to buy all those. Managers would come out asking all kinds of questions and some would not let me do it. It was walmart that gave the most out and that was only because I would go to the front display and load up and hit the cash register.
Hope that helps explains some:)
fumanstan
01-11-06, 10:51 AM
Maybe we need a "How many copies of Transporter 2 are you buying on?" thread for that one fellow purchasing 20+
gbub
01-11-06, 11:15 AM
Is it legal for a mom&pop store to buy a DVD from Bestbuy and use it for rent?
Yeah, that doesn't sound right. I thought they had to go through the distributor because the studio is supposed to get a cut of the rental fees. If you could do that, couldn't we all rent out our DVD libraries?
Sweet Baby James
01-11-06, 11:22 AM
Because it's "ONE HELL OF A RIDE!"*
* ABC Network Radio
:lol:
TimeandTide
01-11-06, 11:56 AM
It's nuts people would pay $20.00 for a dvd when I could get it for $15.00 at the store...so bascially they were paying $5.00 for me to go pick it up for them.
Hope that helps explains some:)
It speaks also to the majority who aren't really savvy when it comes to DVD purchases. My ex-wife paid $20 for Madagascar when it was on sale for $15 at Target just a day earlier. A friend of mine bough The Notebook from Borders for $29.99, the same day it was available at Best Buy for $10. But for the vendor who does buy 20 for $15 on release day (like Madagascar), a slight markup to $20 (which is what Mad. is priced now at Target) makes pretty good business sense (whether as rental or re-sale).
onebyone
01-11-06, 11:59 AM
It's funny you started this, because I saw a man doing this yesterday at Fred Meyer, where there was no great sale on the DVD. He walked out with every Transporter 2 on the shelves. I was perplexed.
mrcoaster
01-11-06, 12:02 PM
Is there really such a demand for Transporter 2 that a mom & pop shop would want to have 20 copies of it on hand?
darkshadowdog
01-11-06, 12:03 PM
Ive seen people doing this with higher quality dvds (criterions, disney treasures tins etc..) but never with something like this... Idk....
Sweet Baby James
01-11-06, 12:08 PM
It's funny you started this, because I saw a man doing this yesterday at Fred Meyer, where there was no great sale on the DVD. He walked out with every Transporter 2 on the shelves. I was perplexed.
Maybe it's a drug ring and they're using the Transporter DVD to smuggle it into the country.:)
spartanstew
01-11-06, 12:14 PM
I once bought 25 copies of Speed to hand out as rewards at a meeting (had to go to several stores). It was for a restaurant company and the theme of the meeting was faster service. The top store received a DVD for each member of the crew (as well as other stuff).
Maybe this guy's using them as prizes or giveaways at his company.
TimeandTide
01-11-06, 12:30 PM
Is there really such a demand for Transporter 2 that a mom & pop shop would want to have 20 copies of it on hand?
I think there's a huge demand for action DVDs in general at rental places. Hollywood Video's shelves are teeming with straight-to-video action flicks starring the likes of Lundgren and Segal.
dvd_luver
01-11-06, 12:32 PM
Ok......
I do not know why somebody would purchase 20 copys of that film. Not me, that's for sure.
chemosh6969
01-11-06, 12:36 PM
I once bought 25 copies of Speed to hand out as rewards at a meeting (had to go to several stores). It was for a restaurant company and the theme of the meeting was faster service. The top store received a DVD for each member of the crew (as well as other stuff).
Maybe this guy's using them as prizes or giveaways at his company.
And the losers get empty generic cases?
JCWBobC
01-11-06, 12:55 PM
I just wanted to comment on what shagrath posted.
It wasn't that tapes were released for rental 6 months before they were released for sale. Most tapes were released at a retail price of between $95-$105.
(If I remember correctly Platoon was the first title to go above $100.)
Stores bought them to rent but anyone could have bought the tape if they want to pay that price. After about 6-8 months the studios would release the same movie at a sell-through price, which was between $19.95-$29.95.
Sometime the studios would release a title at the sell-through price initially because they knew it was a movie people would want to own, rather than just watch once. Batman was such a big sell-through movie I remember it being on the news that people were waiting in line for it because stores couldn't sell it before 12AM on the release date. Of course once video got really big stores would break the street date all the time.
Their is no law that says where a video store has to buy their product so if they can get it cheaper by purchasing it from a Best Buy, BJs, or some other store they can.
Peep
01-11-06, 01:36 PM
And the losers get empty generic cases?
1st place: 20 copies of "Transporter 2"
2nd place: 20 generic DVD cases
3rd place: YOU'RE FIRED!!
Sweet Baby James
01-11-06, 01:40 PM
1st place: 20 copies of "Transporter 2"
2nd place: 20 generic DVD cases
3rd place: YOU'RE FIRED!!
"Get the chalk, get the chalk, put me on the fucking Transporter 2 DVD board!":lol:
xage
01-11-06, 01:41 PM
Hello, I was at my local Walmart yesterday looking at the new releases and I noticed something strange. There was a guy buying 20 copies of Transporter 2 DVD plus generic cases for them. Why would someone buy 20 copies? The first thing I thought was he was copying them and reselling, but if that was so why buy 20, just buy 1 and burn all you want? For the life of me I can't figure this one out. He paid over $380 cash for his purchase, this person obviously has money..What is going on?
Dude, you are mature and manly enough to ask that guy? why bother asking in a DVDTALK forum?
Even if you do get answers here, I dont think you would get the actual answer of that man whom you saw and trigger your curiosity on why he bought 20 copies of transporter2
dadaluholla
01-11-06, 01:44 PM
I bought one copy of Transporter 2 yesterday. I sure wish there was a poll or something.
:)
cultshock
01-11-06, 02:04 PM
I just wanted to comment on what shagrath posted.
It wasn't that tapes were released for rental 6 months before they were released for sale. Most tapes were released at a retail price of between $95-$105.
(If I remember correctly Platoon was the first title to go above $100.)
Stores bought them to rent but anyone could have bought the tape if they want to pay that price. After about 6-8 months the studios would release the same movie at a sell-through price, which was between $19.95-$29.95.
Sometime the studios would release a title at the sell-through price initially because they knew it was a movie people would want to own, rather than just watch once. Batman was such a big sell-through movie I remember it being on the news that people were waiting in line for it because stores couldn't sell it before 12AM on the release date. Of course once video got really big stores would break the street date all the time.
Their is no law that says where a video store has to buy their product so if they can get it cheaper by purchasing it from a Best Buy, BJs, or some other store they can.
Yep, my parents owned a video store back in the VHS days, and this is accurate. There is no law, in US or Canada at least, that says a video store owner can't buy his product anywhere he wishes to. In some countries it's different though. In Japan for example, some DVD releases clearly say on the back of the box either "Not for rent" or "Rental version" (and the latter are more expensive for video stores to buy). I think the UK is the same way (it used to be at least, I'm not sure if it still is or not)
mr_jbloggs
01-11-06, 03:05 PM
Psst, psssst, Yeah you, over here. I have this great action flick, want to buy it? Only 22.95 just for you.
Slowpc
01-11-06, 04:28 PM
Yea , we got a local renter that comes into our store... but he only gets 3 of the big titles... since that is the max he can get.
Damed
01-11-06, 04:37 PM
It was probably a blockbuster employee. It's the only way they can get new releases these days.
TOLEN
01-11-06, 04:42 PM
Cause 1 Transporter 2 dvd is just not enough. :D
juanmgonzalez
01-11-06, 04:45 PM
Best Buy usually mentions in a weekly ad's fine print that you're allowed 3 copies of a CD/DVD
quickfire
01-11-06, 04:55 PM
It was probably a blockbuster employee. It's the only way they can get new releases these days.
THATS FUNNY.........:D
nightmaster
01-11-06, 05:23 PM
20 copies and 20 generic cases? It's about as obvious as you can get that they are buying them for their rental business. I also had a friend who owned a mom and pop store who said they can buy them cheaper from Walmart than they can from a rental business vendor. Why pay $20 when you can go to the store and get them for $16??
The Valeyard
01-11-06, 05:36 PM
"Get the chalk, get the chalk, put me on the fucking Transporter 2 DVD board!":lol:
rotfl
Nice.
BrentLW
01-11-06, 05:37 PM
I'd make a very large wager that he was buying them to rent. There's a little thing called "The First Sale Doctrine" that allows that. The local video shop gets his at Wal Mart and they even give him a discount and then allow him to use any coupons he might have on top of that.
cisman: Thank you for looking down your nose at those of us in rural areas. There are a lot of people who live places where you can't get a DVD for under $20 until a price reduction comes along. One Wal Mart a few towns over actually charges $20.88 for a new release
Rockmjd23
01-12-06, 04:12 AM
It was probably a blockbuster employee. It's the only way they can get new releases these days.
:lol: :thumbsup: No shit. I'm tempted to use petty cash to buy some Land of the Dead for our store...
Todd B.
01-12-06, 05:00 AM
Yep, my parents owned a video store back in the VHS days, and this is accurate. There is no law, in US or Canada at least, that says a video store owner can't buy his product anywhere he wishes to. In some countries it's different though. In Japan for example, some DVD releases clearly say on the back of the box either "Not for rent" or "Rental version" (and the latter are more expensive for video stores to buy). I think the UK is the same way (it used to be at least, I'm not sure if it still is or not) Yes, thank god for First Sale Doctrine in the U.S. One area in which our copyright laws actually get it right. Once you've bought a copy, you can sell it, loan it, rent it, or dispose of it in any way you want.
<b>JCWBobC</b> basically gave a good explanation of how "rental pricing" with the VHS market used to work. Fortunately, rental pricing never caught on with DVD, and it was always priced for sell-through (though there were a few experiments with DVD rental pricing overseas).
The only thing I have to add, is that someone asked about stores having to share rental revenue with the studios. That was a very special case back in the VHS days where some large chains (like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video) had special arrangements with the studios. The studios would still release the video first at rental prices ($100-125 a pop), but places like Blockbuster would get special cheap prices in return for revenue sharing of the rental profits. That's how Blockbuster could afford to have so many copies of new releases (Always In-Stock Guarantee), while mom & pop rental stores who couldn't get these agreements, couldn't afford to have so many copies of new releases.
There's no law that says rental places have to share rental revenue with the studios. That's just the agreement they made in order to get large quantities of new releases at discounted prices. Since there's no longer any rental pricing, these agreements don't happen anymore.
LaxBandit
01-12-06, 04:15 PM
:lol: :thumbsup: No shit. I'm tempted to use petty cash to buy some Land of the Dead for our store...
Your in luck! you can save! Land of the Dead is in the 2 for $20 deal at Best Buy starting on Sunday! :)
LB...
Fielding Mellish
01-12-06, 04:23 PM
Maybe he was confused, and thought he was buying 20 copies of Serenity (http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=449570&highlight=serenity).
Billyspunk
01-12-06, 07:08 PM
Dude, you are mature and manly enough to ask that guy? why bother asking in a DVDTALK forum?
Even if you do get answers here, I dont think you would get the actual answer of that man whom you saw and trigger your curiosity on why he bought 20 copies of transporter2
Yo dude, maybe I didn't ask because it was none of my damn business.....It was just something I noticed, trust me I won't lose any sleep about it, he can buy 50 copies for all I care.....PEACE OUT DUDE
Buy: