Sell, sell, sell -- it feels good [merged w/: Getting rid of your collection]
 

I sold my complete series collection of Alias awhile ago. Sold my complete series collection of 24 just a few weeks ago. My complete series (7 box sets) of the Sopranos is now on Ebay.

It feels so good to get these out of my space, free up the DVD storage rack and make room for really special films that I will watch multiple times.

I know what you mean. I was thinking about getting rid of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. I got very little out of them.

Once a collection reaches the breaking point, decisions should be made, especially when you've got too many movies (and especially TV shows) to logically watch all of them a second or third time, and especially when so much of it--say, the titles you like but don't love, or multi-season TV series where some episodes appeal more than others--will be available for downloading on demand in due time. Keep the in-house "library" for the real treasures (and the supplements, if that's your bag). It takes a while to discover what these really are, but the more stuff one sees . . .

Thanks to web sites that buy and/or trade DVDs, and ebay for the out-of-print stuff, I've lightened the load considerably in the past year or two. On par, the money I might lose on a particular title (between what I paid for it, and what they pay me for it) is less than it would have cost me to rent it, and occasionally I'll make back the purchase price or more (especially if it's out-of-print). If I've watched something two or three times already, then I don't mind taking a greater "hit" because it has essentially paid for itself. Helps, too, if you're the type who rarely pays more than about $5-$8 for any DVD (online sales, ebay, used, etc.).

Seeing every movie I've ever wanted to see has been fantastic these past ten years, but having a visually uncluttered living space is nice, too.

Also in the process of finishing up and selling Six Feet Under.

Keep the treasures (Carnival, Rome, West Wing, Freaks and Geeks, etc.) and sell the rest. The rest being the same'o'same from one season to the next. BTW, I am going to re-buy Sopranos The Complete Series, sometime after Christmas. I like the repackaging, the reduced rack space, and it might almost pay for itself in selling the 7 seasons now on Ebay.

I dont know, I have a hard time parting with any of my titles, simply because I will be losing money. It makes no sense to me. I mean, who knows what I'll want to watch in the future... I like having them all at my disposal. I've worked too damn hard for this collection.

The only titles I sell are DVDs that I've gone on and upgraded to Blu-ray.

When I first started buying DVDs, I pretty much bought every "major" title there was. As long as it was a wide release that I had seen, I was set. But over the years, I've seen how much crap I'd buy (The General's Daughter, The Cell, I almost bought Chill Factor--honest to god, Chill Factor). So now I try to be very, very picky with what I get. There's only a few movies that I don't really need to own, but for the most part, everything is essential.

I wouldn't buy the Complete Sopranos set yet, unless you know you are going to watch it right away when you buy it. If you won't rewatch Sopranos in a while, wait till you will, then buy for a cheaper price.

I know the feeling...my method is once my racks fill up (they can hold about 700 DVDs) I go through title by title and see which ones I should think about selling. I usually end up knocking off about 10-15 titles per round.

Or when a big purchase day is coming up (like 12/9) I will see what I can sell off to save some money.

I know what you mean. Full length feature film on a forever format/media with 5.1 surround -- for $15. Hell, just get it. I now think differently.

I've lots of turkeys too. The box sets sell on Ebay, the others make for spontaneous gift giving.

Case in point: "From the Earth to the Moon" -- I watch it once and forgot about it. 4 or 5+ years later I watch it again, and absolutely loved it.

Have to think about many things in stripping down the collection. Being realistic, there are some that hardly warrant a single watch, and many others nothing more.

Another example, I have not rewatched "Band of Brothers", but know with absolute certainty that it will be rewatched and enjoyed twice as much as the first viewing. It's been about 3 years since I watch it the first time. The 2nd time is coming. :)

Anyone have some suggestions of oop discs to sell? I see that The Chosen is going for quite a bit, but I don't really want to part with that.

I LOVE "Six Feet Under" - I would NEVER sell mine.

I enjoyed the first season, strong characters, macabre story lines, inter family complexity, etc.

Second season, too much gay. Third season, even more too much gay.

4th and 5th season are unopened. I'm thinking of cutting my loses and just selling them.

This thread reminded me to put Entourage season 1 up for sale on Amazon. I'm trying to thin out my collections a bit. I got rid of 120 CDs or so in the last two weeks.

Man, that was fast, it sold in like 20 minutes.

This is like many hobbies, really. A collection will bend and twist and change over time, and ultimately get refined, even if it means taking a loss. Minimizing the loss is key. I'd rather get some money or trade-in value for a used title than none at all, which is often the case, especially with A-list titles that were saturation-marketed in the first place (another reason I'll never spend more than $5 on a "hot" Hollywood release, be it via a bargain bin or an ex-rental).

I've been more of a renter of "major" titles, as someone referred to them above, but the VHS and LD days, as well as countless books about many more movies I thought I'd never see, provided me with an extensive mental (and sometimes written) list of stuff I felt I needed to buy and experience on DVD, much of it drive-in and import shows that no video store has ever stocked, at least not since the days of VHS. It's that offbeat stuff that has tended to retain its value better than the widely-available A-list titles, which of course makes the decision to sell even harder as the likelihood of re-releases of lesser B-movies and cult titles grows ever slimmer as DVD gradually loses market share. But sell I do if there's a profit to be made, or even a modest recouping of even half of my initial outlay. I know I'll see them again sooner or later, in one format or another.

Plus there will always be more movies I want to see but haven't than I logically have time to watch, so having a too-large "library" waiting in the wings--full of titles that now bear serious consideration of their merits versus how I felt when I first purchased them--starts to feel like a ball and chain after this many years. :lol: Were I a U.S. citizen, Netflix et. al. would have been assets from day one, but the dismal equivalent here in Canada (zip. ca), coupled with a decrease in "cool" video stores with lots of offbeat goodness, left me no choice but to get a U.S. mailbox and shop online, which ultimately led to a collection that grew a bit past perfection into unwieldiness, which is why I've been "correcting" the balance in recent months. And like the thread-starter said, it feels good. ;)

I've said this before, but I NEVER get rid of ANYTHING. Big reason being that in the 70s I had almost every Sesame Street record that came out, then sold them all at a garage sale when I thought I'd gotten too old for them. Don't even remember what I did with the money, but a few years later I wanted the records back!

I've gotten a little more discriminating in my DVD buying since space is becoming an issue, but I'd never get rid of any that I've already got. How much money could you get for a used copy of Chill Factor anyways?

I had to put up another shelf to contain all the new stuff I was buying, and so yeah, I too decided to take stock of my collection and weed out the stuff that I either didn't need or absolutely hated and wished I didn't own. It filled a laundry basket, and CDWarehouse bought a lot of it for around $200. It's become a space issue now. I don't have room for everything.

Once my shelves got overloaded (1000+ titles) I grabbed a box and filled it up with things I could finally admit I won't rewatch.

Sold 'em on this forum, used the cash to buy a Blu-Ray player. I didn't necessarily "need" a Blu-Ray player, but I wanted one, though I couldn't justify purchasing one. Buying it using the cash from DVD sales it was almost like getting it for free.

I still have two boxes full of titles I'd like to unload (see my exchange thread!), and I could probably fill a third.

BD really has helped me so far with the massive collection that I had and was really unable to contain.

I really wanted to be involved with the new format, but couldn't see myself spending 1000's of dollars just to get in the game.

So, I finally went through my collection and decided what did I really watch a lot and which titles did I simply have because I liked it the first time I watched it, but never really watched it again. When I was able to do that with a lot of titles, I even found myself trading in movies that I liked even more, but, again, just mostly sat upon my shelf.

It's like getting a do-over, because with DVD, I bought everything. Lots and lots and lots and blind buys. I also started buying when there were all these sites where you could "earn" gift certificates to spend on dvds. So that added to my addiction because that made it easier and once I started, I just couldn't get myself to stop.

Now with BD, I really, really try and buy just what I really want, what I really love, and what I really feel like I'll watch a lot. Very few blind buys. Maybe 4 out of a 100.

Right now I'm waiting to see if DVDPlanet raises their trade-in values after the holidays because I am looking forward to sending in another 100 or so SD dvds that will likely only have a small % ever replaced by their BD counter-parts when and if they ever come out in some cases. It feels really good and it's turned out to be a great way to make this expensive format much more affordable while getting rid of my really bad habit of buying every dvd that sounded like it might be nice to watch.

I agree, it feels good to sell. I'll always keep my DVDs that mean the most to me, but I used to have nearly 500. Now I've got under 75.

DVDs have really been devalued lately--I can get a BUNCH of titles at a dept store for under $5, rent most (even new ones) for $1 between Blockbuster and Redbox. And they're going for nothing on ebay.

I've basically kept the ones each member of my family actually watches or that we often show to friends and sold the rest. If I really want to watch one again, I can always rent for a buck or own again for less than $5.

It feels good to not have so much to store.

Though my collection is still pretty hefty, over the summer I traded in about 150-175 movies I knew I'd never watch again.

Felt really nice. Then again I did use the credit towards DVD's in-store that my girlfriend and I wanted :)

I keep my collection at a number limit, 250. Been cheating lately, but I do try to stay in that area.

Have any of you tried selling off a bunch of random DVDs on Ebay or the like? There's a bunch of movies I have that I'm unlikely to watch again, but are also unlikely to make more than a $1-$2 on half.com. Anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of 25-50 DVDs like that?

Here are a few:

1. Try grouping them together. Sometimes you can get more money for DVDs that sell for only a buck or two by selling 5-10 together. If nothing else, it saves you time responding to a bunch of cheap auctions.
2. See what your local Half Price Bookstore, Movie Trading Company or other store will give you for them. They'll give you a quote without obligation to sell.
3. Consider putting them in a garage sale for $2 each. You'll likely sell many of them for $2 and not incur any other fees, so you'll make more than ebay.
4. If your workplace has a bulletin board, sell them there for $5 each. I've been AMAZED how people at my work will pay me near retail price for my cheap, used DVDs. :P