DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I didn't see a thread about this but thought it would be fun to start one for the (used - and sometimes not) dvds members have found locally at Goodwill, Salvation Army, other charity shops, etc. Of course these will all be "one of a kind" finds but it's interesting to know what others have been able to find locally at bargain prices.

I stop off at the charity shops in my town about once a week just to check the dvds and records. In the past few weeks, I've bought:

Catholic charity shop:
the first Burke's Law boxed set (4 discs) $3.00
Band of Angels (Clark Gable) $1.50
MGM When The Lion Roars 2 disc set $1.50
Agatha Christie Queen of Crime 3 disc set $1.50
Country Music All Stars (40's C&W soundies and 50's tv appearances of Gene Autry, Carolina Cotton, Burl Ives, Jim Reeves, etc; this was probably sold only online or by mail) $1.50
Beethoven Symphony No 9 & Wagner Siegfried Idyll (1965 PBS films) $1.50

Goodwill, $1.99 each:
Ivory-Merchant/Criterion's 2 disc Maurice (sealed!)
Grand Ole Opry: Love Songs (vintage tv country music clips, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, etc.)

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Iirc, there is a fairly recent thrift shop finds thread.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I've picked up a number of mail-order-only DVDs at Goodwills around here, such as Carol Burnett and the Dean Martin Variety Show (all still sealed and under $5 each.) I got really lucky and got a sealed Blu-Ray of the out of print My Bloody Valentine (original version, not the remake) for $5 also.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I guess one could include flea markets and pawn shop type stores like Cash Converters as well as local mom and pop pawn shops. I have found the DVD movies and TV set series decreasing in price as the streaming and downloading gains a bigger share of entertainment market share. The Goodwill stores in my area are not of the discount bin type so I don't have a clue as to what DVD movies and TV set series would cost by the pound.

In regards to flea markets and cash converter type pawn shops, most DVD movie prices for previously viewed are inching down from $1.00 to $.75 and even $.50. Whereas TV series use to command at least $8.00 to $10.00 are now in the $3.00 to $5.00 range. In spite of these lower prices, the Goodwill stores in my area are oblivious to the downward trend and are trying to sell DVD movies at the $2.00 to $3.00 range with TV series sets at the $8.00 to $10.00 range.

I did come across one fellow in the local flea market who clears out storage lockers in arrears, selling DVD movies and TV series sets all for 8 for $5.00 or $.63 each. I purchased six Buffet and 2 NCIS for $.63 a set. Now that was a bargain.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I looked for one but couldn't find any on the first three pages of DVD Bargains going but the headers, would be happy to post there if someone can bump it.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

That's interesting because in the past I've also run into still-sealed Dean Martin (roast) volumes and a sealed two-disc "bonus" Carol Burnett set. I guess several people sign up for these subscriptions and don't bother watching them or cancelling the sub immediately.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

It took my local Goodwill forever to lower the price of their dvds from $ 5 to $2, oblivious to the fact that most of their donated dvds were from Walmart and cost about the price new - or worse were from Dollar Tree or $1 pd junk easily found in discount stores.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I've gotten lucky a couple of times and found old Warner Archive DVDs at Goodwill. Last month picked up DARK OF THE SUN. I don't know if it's this way across the country, but all the Goodwill stores here have a 50% off sale every other Saturday.

Another place to peruse is the used bookstore of your local county or city library. Sometimes people donate movies. Sometimes DVDs get pulled from library circulation & are sold $1 each at my local library's used bookstore, including Criterions. Great deal if you don't mind the security stickers attached to the disc.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I don't do Goodwill or pawn shops very often. But I haunt several Half-Price stores regularly. One is overpriced at $3 per for the cheapies, and other is at $2 per. Finds are rare, but it's worth a look if I'm in the area. Last weekend was their huge sale at the state fairgrounds. And while I didn't blow a gasket (like lots of people, with shopping carts literally heaped with DVDs), I did OK. For $2 a pop I got:

Seinfeld S5
Rockford S2
Mad Men S4
Brooklyn Nine Nine S2
Complete Weismueller Tarzan movies
Kenneth Clarke's Civilization
+ a few movies

There was a Half Price sale last summer where I did nicely with Region 2 shows, $2 a box:

Inspector Morse complete (2 boxes)
Cracker complete
Jonathan Creek complete

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

These type of outlets have mostly been pushed out of the more affluent suburban areas. I have to drive out to the boonies to even find a Goodwill shop carrying DVDs and media.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Picked up at Goodwill Sunday the complete series set of Parks & Recreation for $14.99 + tax

Yesterday at Savers, I picked up Gravity & the steelbook of Zero Dark Thirty (Both BD/DVD combo, No DC) for $2.99 apiece minus 30% senior discount.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Earlier this year, I scooped up Ballykissangel: The Complete Collection (15 discs) in flawless condition for $6 at a local charity thrift shop. That's my bargain find of the year; it's going for $70 used at Amazon.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Even those are hard to find anything good any more. I haven't scored a good DVD at a thrift shop in months. The shops themselves hold back anything worth any money and put it on eBay and anything else gets grabbed as soon as they open the doors each morning by the scalpers.

It's almost not worth the effort to try anymore, though I still find clothes at these places.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

When I had my internet business, my main source of used film & music was pawn shops. I haven't been in 1 in over a year, I can only imagine how low priced the chains must be by now.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Been a long while since i've last been to Savers. Came away with a nice little haul:

DVDs
Shea Goodbye: 45 Years of Amazin'
The Gay Divorcee (Astaire / Rogers)
"It Happened at the World's Fair" (Elvis)
A Big Hand For the Little Lady (Warner Archive)
The Long Hot Summer (factory sealed)
Schitt's Creek: Seasons 1 & 2 (factory sealed w/digital code)

BDs
Neighbors (factory sealed w/slip cover & digital code)
Race (factory sealed w/slip cover & digital code)

CDs
Ray Charles - Anthology

The DVDs & BDs were $2.99 apiece & the CD was $1.99.

With senior discount & tax it came out to just under $20

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I recently found The Lion King (the good one), Beauty and the Beast and Big Hero 6 on Blu at Goodwill. Best find I've had at a Goodwill in a year or so.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

(Not any title specifically).

Before covid, I frequently went through nearby thrift/charity shops searching through the cd/dvd (or bluray) sections.

I mainly look for old cd and dvd discs which I suspect have extra basketcase drm, such as: the sony rootkit/xcp, cactus data shield, mediamax (cds) or macrovision, arccos (dvds). I spend too much time going through old archives of message boards of cd/dvd "ripping" programs, which go into detail which cd/dvd titles are known to be infested with extra basketcase drm.

One of my hobbies is figuring out how exactly these extra basketcase drm schemes functioned.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

You can never tell what if anything you can find, just got volume 3 of the Shirley Temple Little Darling Collection (6 discs/films) for $1. Yard and estate sales also have unusual finds on occasion, most recently the Patricia Routledge BBC series, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (complete series, 12 disc) for $1.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Before virus crap i use to go and find decent or sealed copies of movies and shows if not pretaged at higher price. some good gold at random times. but now with virus and crappy weather and make u wait in a line to limit traffic inside even if a mask on that is sux and the heat does nothelp any. so i can wait till heat pass to try wait in line for any. cause heat just adds to misery of line and hope get decent space as u check media if others kill time cause have nne else do and hang around media as if nothing else to score any. but happy i have scored what i got so far.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

You can find DVDs and blu-ray at Amvets for $1.99 and usually a buck at the Habitat Restores. Some of my finds are still in the original factory plastic wrap.
​​​​Last few trips at the Amvets:
John Carpenter's The Thing
Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection
John Candy: Comedy Favorite Collection
Various Bond Movies
Disney 4 movie Dog Collection vol 1
The Parent Trap
Pixar Movies
No Time For Sergeants
Too Many Girls

Habitat Restore:
John Wayne: Four Movie War Collection (Warner's,)
Lonesome Dove
2001: A Space Odyseey
Stephen Kings: Tommy Knockers and Storm of The Century
Roy Orbison Black & White Night




​​​

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

Yea, by chance i have scored some dvds still sealed by chance as if people or stores had so much back stock and just donate if cant sell for any reason. so just another write for tax season but nice discount and know they not scratched or ruined any before u have chance try watch. have not ben to nite since start excet once cause try limit so many in so u now gotta wait in line for a length of time. where i live we in heatwave so i can skip the place for now and wait till gets a bit colder and not mind wait in line so can wear sweater or jacket any. really not care to fry in sun wait to get in like a night club lol. cause not everyone is a quick shopper like others lol. i try avoid traffic as it is cause pandemic and just not mind having space lol.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I appreciate this thread. In the before times I would regularly frequent a Good Will Buy the Pound Outlet in Salem, NH. It was a true crap shoot, but you could get BluRays and DVDs for approximately $0.03 a disc. In order to get them that cheaply I ditched the case and just kept the disc. The case adds weight and if I were to have kept it the price might have gone up to $0.25 a DVD. I got thousands of titles this way and in order to subsidize my habit I usually ebay duplicates for $1 each. My favorite find was the Grounded for Life Complete Series as I really liked that show. Sadly though I don't go very often because of the whole end of the world thing. That and because I became a hoarder with piles of discs everywhere in my home office. :(

I should point out that I also went to the buy the pound in Connecticut and they were charging some obscene price like $2 a movie so I don't know if this pricing is exclusive to the Salem, NH store.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

The thrift i go to if ever has dvd and other media for 1.99 or more. saw a note last went and they added to a listing of price cause they was seing more variety come in then before so had to post prices cause i guess not alot is pretaged but guess they got a note in front for stuff if need. for now i wait or go elsehwere for any old but still sealed media just pay tad more if want real bad. but yea can score a tv series or season for 1.99 by chance or less depend where u go. but now since pandemic thrift is a wait line to get in to try get everyone to distance any. cause it can get crowed kinda some areas. its like wait to get virus any or skip till things die out and no line and still by chance score some gold.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

The best thing I've found at the various Thift Shops in the town I moved to was a sealed copy of Pinocchio (1940) on Blu-Ray.

I believe I paid $3 for it.

Re: DVD Finds at Charity Shops etc.
 

I've been hitting up the thrift stores a few times each week in the last month. The best find I got so far is Carnivale Season 2, but it was $9. Not sure if that was a good deal or not but it was something I've been looking for. I did get Beauty and the Beast and Tangled on bluray for $.49 each today though.

The prices around here are: Salvation Army = $.49, Goodwill - $1.49, and AmVets - $1.99. Its a bit frustrating finding something you want and its scratched up or missing. So I always spend a lot of time going through each case to make sure they're in good quality. Its worth it though.