rjh_54

Every few months I like to go through what I own and clean out. Some titles I get rid of I put on eBay, but there are usually some that are so common that I know wouldn't sell on eBay, and if they did it wouldn't be for much.

I usually bring those titles to FYE. I have been doing so for years. I typically take the store credit (I know there will always be a movie or an album that I want). Last time I was there it was unreal. The girl taking my trade-ins inspected each disc like I've never seen before. If the disc didn't look like it was fresh out of the package, she'd reject it. Some titles I do purchase used (typically blind-buys), so light scratches are inevitable, but it was nothing that was unacceptable or unplayable. I was baffled, and when I left the store I checked what she rejected, some of the discs I had to really look at closely to even see anything. I just don't understand why they don't invest in a resurfacing machine if superficial scratches bother them so much. I might try a different FYE in my area later this week or next.

Of course there were a handful of DVDs in the pile that FYE wouldn't take because they were only worth a penny (that's a whole different issue...), so I brought those to a local game store that also sells DVDs and Blu-Ray. I got my credit and started browsing and I overheard another employee talking his coworker about how much he hates trade-ins (I guess somebody had come in earlier with a huge amount). It wasn't just in passing, this guy went on and on about it like it was the worst thing in the entire world. I just don't understand what the big deal is? All you have to do is check discs for scratches. It's not like they're being asked to do physically demanding labor and, more importantly, it's your job. It's what you're getting paid to do.

I used to defend B&M stores that buy and sell used, but the attitudes of the employees, on top of other things, is very off-putting. The deals may be good sometimes, but I'm at the point where I'd rather pay a little extra online for some titles, and even take a little loss and sell my more "common" titles to places like SecondSpin.com.

Anyone else have experiences like this?

milo bloom

No, because I gave up on selling to B&M stores ages ago.

If I have a bunch of stuff, I might take it to Half Price Books because they buy everything (even though you don't get much). But otherwise we sell off anything else of value on eBay.

rjh_54

I wish there was a HPB near me, but unfortunately that's not the case.

I have family in Massachusetts and they're located near this incredible small-chain music and movie store that takes anything and everything, but it's about a two and a half hour drive so it's not a trip I make unless I'm going there to visit family.

I don't understand the logic behind FYE's policy. They reject items that are worth a penny. I understand that a lot of the time it's because it's an older title or they have too many in stock, but even if they paid $0.25 - $0.50 for those items and sold them for anywhere between $1 and $3, they're still making profit, and it would still be cheaper to buy those older titles in store as opposed to from Amazon.

It's just crazy because some of the used items I've bought from their store and their website are far from perfect, yet they are so nitpicky when it comes to what they accept. I don't get it. It's no wonder they're going downhill. I used to care, but at this point they're digging their own grave.

I've even tried the Newbury Comics near me. It's on the other side of the state so it's a good hour+ drive that I don't do often, mostly because of how much they have gone downhill over the past few years. It's incredible. I brought a huge bag of stuff to them only for them to accept maybe 8 or 9 items. I asked the guy if there was anything wrong with what I brought in since they rejected so many, and he replied "they're all in great condition, there's just too many in the warehouse", which didn't make sense because they don't sell online and they've greatly reduced their CD/DVD/BR section to two or three fixtures. Regardless, I walked out with less than $13 cash and a stack of CDs and DVDs only slightly smaller than what I brought in.

E Unit

I've sold some DVD's/Blu's on some local Facebook groups. I was able to unload some that way. And even though we have a couple of stores in town that buy used physical media, but I haven't sold to them in years.

Texan26

We have a chain of stores in Houston called Movie Exchange ( http://movieexchange-houston.com/ ) I've had decent experiences with them. All they sell is used media from customers. That's where I dump all my DVDs and blu-rays that I can't sell on eBay. They don't give much for commons. About 50 cents for common DVDs and $1.00 for common blu-rays.

DVD Josh

I just box them up and send them to second spin. They don't pay great but its fast and easy.

rjh_54

Sounds similar to the game store near me. They give between 50 and 75 cents for the common DVDs that were only worth a penny at FYE and $1.00 for Blu-Rays. I've sold a few older season sets to them and those typically go for $2.50.

Kedrix

I'll give another nod to Movie Exchange as well...I often go there to browse and such in additional to dumping unwanted discs. But 50 cents/1.00 isn't so bad considering HPB can sometimes be the equivalent of two shiny nickels. If I had the time and energy I would probably just Ebay everything...but unfortunately I have a closet full of stuff I want to sell. And I used to do everything by Half.com until they got greedy.

Noonan

I'm not surprised. What B&M wants to take in stock of obsolete discs that they'll probably never sell (even for $1) which take up a lot of space? Especially stores like Newbury who are struggling. They're not going to take a risk on a stack of used DVDs that'll end up collecting dust.

mattysemo247

I've been donating to the library and goodwill more. It's for a good cause and it's a decent tax write off.

EinCB

You can try decluttr.com, but you need $15 worth of electronics.

Troy Stiffler

Businesses need to make money. It's not magic. There's almost no money left in selling DVD's.

It reminds me of people who think their knick-knack collectibles should be worth a ton of money.

rjh_54

I'm not looking to make a fortune from this, or even break even from what I spent, it was more about the attitudes of the employees. Besides, these are stores that make most of their money from selling physical media.

jjcool

But, if they paid more for said media than they could sell it for, they wouldn't make much money.

PhantomStranger

The secondary market for media is quickly collapsing. People shouldn't be surprised that DVDs are practically worthless beyond brand-new movie releases and a few rare gems.

fumanstan

This is what i've used, but usually i'm trading in old DVD's as well as some video games or blu-ray's I know I won't watch anymore so the total adds up. I'm ok with getting 10-25 cents for old DVD's just to clear space.

Trevor

Anything less than about $5 per disc and I get more satisfaction from just giving them away.

kd5

I just went there to look around, decided to enter the bar code from one of the DVDs I'd like to sell (Immortal steelbook in pristine condition), they wanted to give me .24 cents for it. Screw that.

Troy Stiffler

I sold nearly 1500 DVD's to my local Zia Records for around $.50 each. $5 for a DVD is really hard to get. I dumped them at a time when I wanted to lean up and was tired of the clutter.

Looking forward to rebuilding a Blu-Ray library someday.

rjh_54

That's exactly what I'm doing. I got rid of pretty much every DVD I have (save for a few, especially the films and TV shows that aren't on Blu). Since used Blus aren't that expensive anymore and there's usually a "buy x amount, get x amount free" deal, the store credit I get typically covers my upgrades to Blu. It's also shown me how much crap I have, considering how much of it I'm not upgrading.

Barth

I probably have around a thousand DVDs sitting in boxes and closets. Knowing that I'm only going to get around 50 cents a movie I'm just going to hold on to them so my 9 year old daughter can enjoy movies of my youth and later after I've passed on. Hopefully her and I can sit and watch a few hundred together before she leaves for college.

rjh_54

I ended up taking the rejected stuff, along with some more items, to a different FYE in my area last week. The guy (I think he was the manager) was really cool. He accepted everything and even chatted with me about some of the stuff I was selling (he was shocked at some of titles I was getting rid of - mostly by the few Disney DVDs I had in the mix - until I told him that it was only because I had upgraded them to Blu).

Overall it was a quick and easy experience, unlike at the other location, and I walked out with almost $60 in store credit, which I'll probably use online since I found nothing in-store (and since they have more online and better sales).

rjh_54

Yeah, Decluttr really doesn't give you much at all, which is why I only use them as a last resort.

Why So Blu?

Decluttr takes Region B titles, as well.