I'm wondering what y'all think the best option is for selling a DVD collection. Would eBay be a good choice? If so, would it be wiser to sell separately or as a lot? I know that it'd be a lot more time-consuming to sell separately, but the usual slightly inflated shipping costs (and the selling point for each individual DVD) would likely bring a larger sum in the end, right? The major downside I can think of there is the risk of a lot of titles going unsold for months and months, and the fact that the market for single DVDs on eBay simply isn't all that grand with the bootlegs floating around and whatnot.

Can anybody think of a better option than eBay (aside from sites like DVDTalk)? My question is pretty much, if you were to sell a majority of your DVD collection today, what route would you take to clear everything for the largest sum possible?

I never frequent this forum, so I'm not sure if this is a repost (I wouldn't know how to search for a thread like this one) or if this is even in the right place.

Any opinions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

-JP

yard sale. charge about $7 each. People snap up used stuff at the video store all the time. Should work.

I'm going to try it this spring.

If it were me, I'd make a list of 3 or 4 groups that you want to put together and sell them like that. Or just sell them as one huge group. Maybe sell them by genre. Put a price on each one you think you'd sell individually and then total them up. It would drive me crazy to list hundreds of titles separately. Plus, shipping each one would competely suck. I'd be tough to keep up with what went out and to whom, at least for me.

I tried last year. There wasn't a huge turn out for the sale (a sub-divison one), but only one person even looked at the DVDs, and she wanted it cheaper (of course). I'll try again this year and see if I have better luck.

Hm, the yard sale idea might work, especially since I'm in a college town (I live in an apartment filled with college kids, and I could easily post flyers about the sale on campus and on the doors of various apartments around town). If it comes to that I might consider it.

Yeah that's the main thing that's stopping me. I figure I'd have to scan each cover since a lot of people avoid auctions with stock photos, and I'd have to type out a detailed description for each...then mailing each separately would be a pain (though I figure shipping out 700 DVDs or so in a bundle wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world either).

-JP

if time is not an issue, list them on amazon and half simaltaneously. dvds sell real fast there if you have a competative price

You'll make the most money selling them individually, and the least money selling them in one bulk sale.

I've been selling DVDs on Amazon, eBay and Half for years. I have 2 suggestions:

#1 - Group the DVDs into bundles. Group them by genre, actor, series, etc. Go down to the Post Office and get some Priority boxes of various sizes, find out how many DVDs you can fit in each size, and the postage cost for each packed box. Then you'll know how many DVDs to put in each bundle and how much to charge for shipping. If you have 700 DVDs, maybe break them up into 100-150 bundles.

#2 - Do individual auctions, but offer Flat Rate shipping with no additional charges for extra items. Make that clear in each listing. Charge somewhere around $4-$5 for shipping to scare away buyers that just want 1 item. Start the auctions low ($.99) to get people bidding on multiple items. Make sure you list all your DVDs that week, and as soon as the auctions end, relist the unsold items. Winning bidders will often check your list for other items to add to their order before sending payment.

Take anything that's rare or out of print and list it individually on Amazon or Half. It may take a while to sell, but people pay big bucks for hard to find items.

Don't worry about stock photos or movie descriptions. Just accurately describe the condition of the item and make clear that it's an official USA release and that you don't sell any bootlegs or imports. Offer a full refund for any items that are defective or damaged.

I sold off about 1,500 DVDs through Amazon between March and October of last year. I started slowly, but at the peak I was selling about 10 to 15/day.

I also sold some on EBay, but found the drama of trying to get people to pay for what they won not worth the little extra I could have made. The slightly higher percentage you lose thru Amazon is worth the ease in collecting money. Since I'm working full time, I don't have time for the hassle that deadbeats gladly provide.

The biggest advantage I can see with Amazon is the A-to-Z guarantee, which protects both the buyer and seller from lost items in the mail (just save your receipts). I had about 5 claims on missing items, but since I had documentation that all had been sent I was not responsible for any of the costs. It also protects you from jerks that claim they never received anything when they did. I had that happen once on a $40 item, but my delivery confirmation saved both me and Amazon $40 in refunds.

So, if I were you I'd sell individually on Amazon. If you do, make sure to join their Frequent Seller program; I think it's $40/month but eliminates the "seller success" fee of $1 per item you sell.

Good luck...get ready for a lot of trips to the post office during your lunch break...

On ebay, you can also require that winning bidder to pay when they win the auction. I do that all the time. But I rarely have actual bids, I just put a buy it now price on what I think it's worth and it sells.

I would still sell as many together as possible, unless you want to live at the post office for the next few weeks. That would be a huge hassle.

About 3 years ago I rented a table at a church flea market for $20 and brought about 300 vhs tapes. I was asking 3 bucks each and people were going nuts. I sold about 150 and made about 300 bucks. I would imagine the results of a dvd sale at a flea market would be very successfull. Alot of people wanted a discount if they bout 10 or 20, and I usually worked a deal.

Does amazon provide a service where you can pay for and print USPS shipping labels, like ebay/paypal does? I want to sell some dvd's on amazon, but it ain't worth trips to the post office and standing in line.

I'd say ebay in bigger lots too. I know some of them buy the collections for ebaying at auctions, what about any of the big power sellers on ebay? Not sure if this would be financially feasible though.

You could send me your list and sell to me also .
I have bought several thousand on this site and you avoid all the time,hassle,gas,running back and forth,dealing with deadbeats.
I can pay you paypal and you have your money instantly without paying any ebay,amazon fees....ofcourse it all depends on the titles and price...send me your list if interested.
You can also try Craigs List to sell or recycler.com

If you are looking for msot money sell in as small a group as possible. And make sure to sell anything of value alone.