dvdshonna

Now that everyone is dumping their collections for 50¢ to $1 (dvds) and $2 (blu-rays), I'm stocking up and looking to cash in when disc production drops to a trickle.

I seriously doubt if disc production will be 100% discontinued, but I'm not expecting a lot of catalog titles to be re-issued and mass produced.

Why So Blu?

.....

Alan Smithee

When I went to Amoeba in San Francisco a few weeks ago (not quite as great as the one in Hollywood, but much easier to get to) I was shocked at the number of DVDs there that had "OUT OF PRINT" stickers on them with inflated prices. A number of them were set to be reissued soon on Blu-Ray though, so it's always a gamble. I'm just glad I got a lot of MGM and Sony titles at Big Lots for $3 each when I could.

Josh-da-man

By that point in time, DVD and blu-ray will be a dead format and nobody will give a shit. It might as well be VHS or LD or 8-track tapes.

You might find an odd title that will be desirable by collectors, but those will probably be the rare exception.

dvdshonna

DVD and Blu-Ray will not be a dead format in our lifetime. More likely limited runs of catalog titles.

Little to no chance there will be a main stream physical format that replaces DVD/Blu-Ray.

Sports cards are virtually a dead collectible as far as new releases are concerned. And a 1981 Joe Montana PSA10 recently sold for $15,000 (just one example off the top of my head).

dvdshonna

I never label anything with "OOP" that's easy to find in quantity. Technically, it might be correct, but if you label every other used item as out of print, it's like milking it to death and it loses it's value.

Not really a gamble when you're paying 50¢ to $1 per DVD and the likelihood that relatively few titles will be reissued in the future.

Early in 1988 Mark McGwire 1985 USA Card was going for $100+. Football cards were ignored and I picked up 100 count lots of 1984 Elway, 1984 Marino at 50¢ per card. 1981 Montana at $3 per card. Bought 40+ cases of 1983 thru 1987 Football at $60 to $240 per case.

The following year I was selling the Elway and Marino cards at $20+ each and Montana at $150.00 each.

No risk involved. If football cards had never taken off, I would have still sold the cards I stockpiled at a small profit. Same applies to 50¢/$1 DVDs. As long as they are charging $2.99 to $5.99 for digital rentals, you will be able to sell those DVDs at a profit.

Paul_SD

was talking to my financial planner the other day and he recommended buying up every copy I could find of High Fidelity. Apparently it's gonna be worth a fortune when it goes out of print.

morriscroy

Unless one has a time machine or a real gift of "divine prophecy", betting on the future prices of "collectables" is even worse than betting on the stock market.

dvdshonna

I've been doing this for 25+ years. Never gambled on future prices of anything in my life. I always buy before the prices go up. Cheap enough to unload even when it flops.

I never buy anything when it's already HOT. Totally missed out on beanie babies.

The current scenario with used discs is perfect.

BuckNaked2k

I recently sold my Criterion Third Man and Pierrot le fou discs.

There's a remaster coming out for T3M, and the StudioCanal PLF is just fine for my needs.

Spiderbite

Better buy every Dukes Of Hazzard set while you can! It will be like printing money!

PhantomStranger

This strategy might work if mass market optical media players would continue to get produced but part of Hollywood's shift to digital media is the foreknowledge it will become harder and harder to find CD/DVD/BD players in the coming years. The new Windows OS won't even have native optical media playback as a standard feature.

You can still buy CD players but their pricepoints are increasingly going up as that market shifts towards streaming. The same will happen to DVD and BD players.

rw2516

There will always be players. Will have to go high(er) end if you want one though. Oppo, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc.

PhantomStranger

As the prices go higher, that automatically shrinks the remaining physical media market even more. It's very probable that within 5-10 years you won't be able to walk into a Best Buy or Walmart and pick one up off the shelf. It will have to be ordered from the Internet or extremely expensive boutique retailers.

Eddie W

You sure missed out on a gold mine there!

You logic reminds of the day Titanic first came out on home video. This was in the very early days of DVD so the initial release was VHS only. Some lady was buying multiple copies to leave sealed 'in case they were worth something someday'. I wonder how that worked out for her?

BuckNaked2k

They're barely available there now...the incredible shrinking media sections!

dvdshonna

This is true. I don't even know if they'll be high end. DVD players are pretty basic in construction and moving parts (as opposed to VCRs) Walmart still carries the magnavox dvd/vcr combo players. I heard they sold one last Christmas.

And that's assuming there's a 100% mainstream transition to digital in our life time. I seriously doubt it. Personally, I don't know anyone who doesn't still own a DVD player, and doesn't rent/buy DVDs on a regular basis.

Also, I don't believe consumers are going to be thrilled if their only options are the limited selection from netflix and $2.99 to $5.99 on demand rentals.
I'm already not thrilled.

dvdshonna

My logic doesn't include stockpiling multiple copies of the same movie (even at 50 cents each).

But its easy to obtain, large and small collections at 50 cents each, just by placing buy ads on facebook and craigslist.

I already buy and sell at a profit. This is the easiest money I've made since DVDs became THE format. People are dumping DVDs like they're 8-track tapes.

Buy or selling, I love it when people start acting crazy. There's always easy money to be made.

Not a typical case, but I recently bought 64 DVDs for $32. Listed the 64 DVDs for $60 and received an offer of $30 for one of the DVDs, "The Jungle Book".
So now I have $2 invested in the remaining 63 DVDs.

I was not suggesting that used DVDs will be selling for $30 each when they quit mass producing discs. I was suggesting the demand will still be there, when Wal-mart's DVD/Bluray section is reduced to nothing.

And at these prices, you could probably save hundreds watching your 50 cent DVDs instead of blowing your money on $2.99 to $5.99 digital rentals.

bluetoast

This reminds me my friend still has my copy of Pierrot le Fou. I'll be sending him a gentle reminder soon. His jaw will probably drop if he has to replace it.

Why So Blu?

You by in lots then.

dvdshonna

I only buy in lots. 50¢ per DVD. Minimum 50 DVDs. Typical lots are 50 to 200 DVDs.

I offer $1 for a list of 300 better titles. It really doesn't change the total purchase price by much.

I'm sure anyone posting buy ads on facebook and craigslist will have similar results (assuming you live in a populated area). More so on facebook groups. Craigslist seems to be dying in my area.

Probably safer doing deals off facebook. I've only had one incident in 25+ years. An obvious drug addict trying to rip me off. I won. He lost.

Just use common sense.

dvdshonna

If you do an Amazon or Walmart search you will find hundreds if not thousands of new CD players available for $10 to $100+. Everything from portable players, boom boxes, and home stereo systems.

Also worth noting, one disc player can play blu-rays, DVDs, & CDs. Or DVDs & CDs. It virtually guarantees disc players will be readily available for decades to come.

I may be over simplifying, but I believe the death of DVDs/Blu-Ray is exaggerated. Much of it hype, to promote the studios push for digital sales to make up for declining disc sales.

Adam Tyner

If it were empty hype, then DVD/Blu-ray sales wouldn't have cratered.

dvdshonna

Sorry. Your if/then logic doesn't make sense. DVD/Blu-ray sales already went into a tail spin before the hype/digital promotion started.

VCRs, DVDs/Blu-Ray did not shut down the movie theaters, Kindle and the internet did not shut down book publishing, newspapers and print. Itunes and Spotify didn't eliminate CDs. Netflix and VOD won't kill DVD/Blu-Rays.

E Unit

Kind of contradictory to this whole thread. Using your example of people dumping DVD's like 8 tracks, show me a single EBay 8 track item that's been sold for more than $10. I've heard of investing in CD's, but I think they meant something else. Likewise with DVD's.