jekbrown

not long ago I saw a FS/T post on the exchange forum. After seeing several titles I might be interested in I responded to the post noting which dvds I wanted and i put a link to my dvdaficionado "for trade" list. Next thing I know, the guy responds and instead of just saying "no thanks" or "sorry, i dont see anything" like most of us dvdtalkers usually do... the guy starts going on and on about how he has 742,135,876,245 dvds and that allllllllll I have on my ft list is 12 titles. The entire response was VERY condescending. I guess some people actually believe that owning more dvds than someone else makes them a better person or something. At any rate, it wasn't very nice at all.

this is the first time this has ever happened to me on this site... people are generally really nice, no matter how large or small their collection is. Anyone else run into any "elitist" traders? The guy is a gold trader... tarnished gold IMO...

j

Groucho

Sorry about that email, dude, but that's the way it is. Bow down before your overlords!

Heat

You only have 12 titles on your for trade list?

jekbrown

yeah.. uhh.. so what? I do my homework and dont buy a lot of poopy dvds I wont like... seems like the smart way to do it...

in any case, maybe this is a bigger problem here at dvdtalk than I thought.

j

abintra

Nearly everyone in society uses some form to place their self worth above another. Job, intellect, knowledge, income, status, etc.. Only works if you find someone perceived less than within the same community to hold it over and someone on that outside that looks up to where you are.

bmello

3 years ago I did a ton of trading....last year maybe one trade. It turned into more of a battle of getting over on someone rather than exchanging DVDs for fun.

tonyc3742

I'm somewhat in the same boat as jekbrown; not that I have dealt with that attitude, but for me, it's quality over quantity. I've only got just over 100 dvd's, and my trade list was not all that large [about 20], [then I sold a bunch of stuff to skinnyguy.com in a mass attack of 'Am I ever going to watch this again?'] But it does seem like some people collect just to collect, and try to get as many as they can; and some of the trade offers I was involved with were not very equal [they were all readily available stuff, I was basing my values on DVDPricesearch and US dealers--I was getting offered stuff worth 8 dollars for stuff worth 25-30. 'worth'=easily found for X.XX.] I don't know how much of that is trying to stretch the dollar, and how much of that is like bmello says, and having to get the most of someone. Unfortunately, I would probably say a lot of it, the latter--judging from the general attitudes of many posters on many threads I've read [raising heck because a website cancelled cheap orders that were obviously price mistakes, trying to gyp Ebay and Paypal out of fees, charging 'as much as the market will bear' for shipping costs on ebay, pouncing on super, legit deals and buying 10 or 20 to immediately turn around and sell on Ebay, stuff like that.]

I'm all for being frugal and wise with your money, but there's such a thing as being a cheap b@st@rd too. Note: all of my comments are in general and are not aimed at any particular person, or participant in this thread.

jekbrown--you have a good point. I see some people with 150+ items on their trade list, many of which are brand new or recent releases, and sometimes they are asking only 1 or 2 $ less than the MSRP/DeepDiscount price. I ask myself, How do they get all these DVD's? WHY are they getting all these? Are these legitimately purchased, or what? Why spend thousands on stuff that you are immediately going to trade away, esp. stuff that is widely available? If they are finding such good deals, where/how are they finding them? A lot of the stuff I traded/sold is either stuff I wanted to upgrade, or stuff I got only because they were amazingly cheap [under 4 dollars]; the rest, stuff I later thought 'Why did I buy that? I didn't really need to buy that.'

MasterofDVD

Collection size means far more than most people here will admit.

I used to search on ICQ for people who where in home theatre systems and DVDs. I stopped that real fast. Every conversation started with the other person asking for my spec of my system and then trying to one up me on each item.

And god forbid I have something nicer than they do or more DVDs than they do.

I'm a movie snob and I admit that. But I don't base everything on collection size.

Your whole collection isn't in Fullscreen is it? Because that would warrant this type of behavior.

DonnachaOne

There's also the sense that if you're not a Gold Trader, you're a moron.

I've had people send very nasty e-mails because I wouldn't trade my new copy of "An Evening With Kevin Smith" - which wasn't even on my trade list, it was on my DVD Aficionado owned list - for his/her "The Hunt For Red October"... two weeks before the SE of said film was going to hit shelves!

And then there's the quite insulting ones.

"I'll take your unopened Road To Perdition for $7 shipped. Take it or leave it."

I left it. A week later, he made me another offer.

$5 shipped.

FuzzyBallz

LOL, only 12 DVDs... please give me a moment while I get a glass of water, I'm choking here laughly my ass off.

12 DVDs... drop dead laughing.

tonyc3742

*laugh* Obviously s/he doesn't quite understand the concept of bargaining ; )

jorak

Odd, were you intending to prove his point or just being dumb for the sake of being dumb?

hifi

please stop being rude, that is not necessary. and he said he had 12 dvds on this trade list. not 12 dvds total. anyway, who cares if only has 5 dvds, its no reason for anyone to be rude to him.

DJ_Longfellow

I take it there are a LOT of Columbia House Whores out there.....

zeek

Theres nothing wrong with having only 12 DVDs. Even if they are fullscreen pan and scans of titles everyone on this board hates.

What matters most is that YOU bought them because YOU like them. As for the number of DVDs in your collection- remember that everyone started out with the same number of DVDs, zero.

Elitist DVD collectors? What do you care what they have to say anyway? Do you buy your collection based on what others think or do you purchase DVDs because you like the movies?
The guy was a jerk, take it with a grain of salt and ignore him.

I'm having a hard time understanding why this topic was posted here instead of the DVD Traders forum... and why it hasn't been locked/moved yet!


zeek

lesterlong

I have 1 DVD on my trade list. So there!! I rarely trade DVDs I think I've done it twice. Here's why trading DVDs on the internet sucks:

1. Some people are morons. They expect you to give up your $28 Seven Samurai CC for a release you can get at Target for $14.

2. If you're not a GOLD trader, you suck.

3. You can get it cheaper on eBay, seriously there are no deals in the forums.

4. I have The Killer and Hard Boiled CC for trade, I'll never trade them with you, I just post them here to make you jealous.

gutwrencher

same here. the size of a library has nothing to do with it. it takes time to build a big collection anyway...we all have to start somewhere. there are many jerks hiding behind keyboards.....a dime a dozen. forget about it and move on...there are just as many polite and respectable people here as well.

if I wanted a huge collection....I could easily have 5,000 dvds. since there are not that many worth it.....mine will top off around 1,500. I may brag about my titles...but not the size.

divemaster

I'm one of those that packrats what I buy. With the exception of some blind buys of Asian DVDs, if I buy it, I know what I'm getting and I'll be keeping it.

With that said, my forays into the Excahnge forum have been to purchase. I don't care if it's open, been viewed, box is crimped, whatever, as long as it's not scratched up. I don't buy yo "collect," but to enjoy the movie/extras.

So, I've found myself making some purchase deals that I felt were fair. Maybe a buck or two less than what I could get from Amazon or DDD. I was happy and I have to assume the seller was happy, or else the deal would not have gone through.

The thing is, I always paid immediately. PayPal is instant. The one money order I sent was the next day. Each time I got the DVD I sent off an e-mail of thanks and posted a good comment in the feedback thread.

Only one seller gave me the same consideration. I'd be at +5 or something if the sellers would take the time to at least acknowledge that I was a super-fast payer.

I did trade one DVD away. Never heard anything back. I even e-mailed to make sure he was satisfied, because if he wasn't, I would gladly make restitution. This is not a business for me, or gamemanship.

Just courtesy, ya know?

DVDude!

I have been buying DVDs for four years.

I currently have 350 DVDs--including those in TV box sets.

I am +3 on the Good Trader List (i.e. not gold).

I have two DVDs for sale or trade: They Live OOP and Day of the Dead OOP.


I buy what I like and don't buy stuff I'll never watch again. It's not about quantity for me; it's my definition of quality (i.e. I have movies that I love that others may despise). Some may think that only 350 DVDs over four years is a tiny collection, but I don't. I barely have enough time to watch what I already own.

Thespian68

One of the tradeoffs in using any kind of public trading forum is that there will always be people who feel the need to rain down on others, be it because of modest tradelists, perceived status, or a dozen other things. The "elitist syndrome" you talk about does unfortunately exist here, and sometimes only experience will tell you if a person is a complete pain to deal with. Reading the GTL postings will also provide a little insight. People who are a pleasure to trade with often get nicer comments than a simple "please add +1..". I've had a few traders go out of their way for me, and I have done the same in reverse. Initial emails often tell a lot about someone's mentality in trading. There are those who are in it for profit and to get the best deal they can at the expense of another, and there are those who trade for the fun and enjoyment of it and show genuine ethics when dealing with another trader. In my experience, most traders here are in the latter group.

One final comment....most traders who are courteous in their emails and try to negotiate balanced deals for each side quickly learn that a reputation as an honest, considerate individual goes a lot farther in making trades than simply having a "Gold Trader" label behind their names. GT status is not something that respected traders need to flash around in order to impress people.

jekbrown

lol, no pan/scans here. dvdaficionado says I have 105 dvds (think i have more, just forgot to import some titles, lol!) , the 12 are just what I have on the trading block at the moment. In any case, I really like movies, but I am pretty selective about what I like. If I won a $200 million dollar lottery tomorow, next year I'd prolly only own 200 dvds... to me, lots of movies just arent worth having on dvd or the right version of the flick hasnt been released yet.

in any event, my only point I guess was just that some people have huge collections, and thats cool... but theres no reason to make fun of other people that (for whatever reason) don't. Sort of a "cant we all just get along" post.

j

greatjedi

Heck, 12 isn't so bad. I've gone in with only one to trade before. I try to buy only stuff that I know I'll like, but once in a while I get something I just don't want. Having nothing else to trade, I'll just post the one item with a bunch of wants.

I don't know why some collectors have to be so conceded.

Heat

He was being sarcastic.

TomOpus

I'm glad it was an isolated case, jekbrown. I haven't experienced the "fun" of trading because whenever I upgrade, I give the old ones away to friends. If I did trade, my trade list would be small also.

So, stand up and be proud of your small trade list.

tasha99

Only 12 for trade? I think that's an accomplishment. I look at dvds that I want to trade as failures--I bought them even though they aren't worth keeping.

But I know what you mean. Even though I've had several good trades here, I've also had a couple of ridiculous offers. One thing to keep in mind is that there are other ways to unload your discs. I've found that dvdtalk is great for trades, but for selling, it's not nearly as profitable as half.com.

tasha