Selling CDs

April 24, 2004 12:01 PM

I have about 25 CDs I want to get rid of. They're all in good condition - like new liner notes, jewel cases, and only one or two have scratches, and they both play fine. Where can I sell them online? I'd prefer to just get rid of them all at once, I don't want to do eBay.
posted by punishinglemur to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

I think the first question would be: What about eBay turns you off of it? Auction style, not enough profit, the company specifically, what?
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 12:22 PM on April 24, 2004

Response by poster: I've used eBay in the past, but I'm not interested in taking the time to prepare 25 separate auction pages, deal with all the different buyers, and pay for auctions that may go nowhere for items that will not sell for more than, at most, seven dollars.
posted by punishinglemur at 12:24 PM on April 24, 2004

Half.com or Amazon's used stuff sale are two other routes to go. Won't be able to sell them all at once, but listing them is easy.

Also, you could go to a local used CD store.
posted by Tallguy at 12:29 PM on April 24, 2004

Yes, check amazon to check the used prices for your CDs. There are many out-of-print titles that go for lots. (You can put in the 12-digit UPC number in the search box there to look up non-classical CDs.) They do take a chunk if sold (99 cents plus 15%, but the process is pretty painless.

Your local used store will probably pay at most $3 each for them.
posted by gluechunk at 12:49 PM on April 24, 2004

I'm curious as to why anyone would sell CDs. I know that's kind of a silly question, but it really puzzles me.

I'd have emailed you the question directly, punishinglemur (great nick, btw), but you don't show your email in your profile.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:33 PM on April 24, 2004

Response by poster: My musical tastes have changed. When I bought them, I would listen to these CDs daily, but they just don't interest me anymore. I don't see myself ever regaining an interest in them, so I figure, why not make a few bucks off of 'em instead of just taking up space?
posted by punishinglemur at 1:54 PM on April 24, 2004

You could just set a price for them on your semi-local Craigslist and see who bites. Also, you're surrounded by tons of music stores -- don't Let It Be or Electric Foetus buy used CDs? Someone there must. Not everything has to happen on the internet, particularly if you find it difficult to make it happen.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 2:02 PM on April 24, 2004

If your objection to Ebay is the hassle of dealing with a ton of auctions, maybe you can minimize it by offering the CDs as a lot. If they're all part of one genre (or can be easily broken down into groups of 4+ CDs that are in one genre), in my experience it's pretty easy to sell them as lots. Usually you get a bit less per cd than you would with listing them individually, but sometimes you can score big if one of the CDs happens to be worth more than the others. And you can almost always get more than the $2 or $3 per that a used CD store will throw at you. This way, you don't need to deal with 25 individual auctions, but you still get on Ebay (Ebay, unlike most of the other places to sell CDs, is a seller's market).
posted by vorfeed at 2:13 PM on April 24, 2004

spun.com is pretty good.

and if you want to trade in instead of just sell, they will mail you the few cds you were able to get for the trade in a box suitable for shipping your stack back to them- FREE.
posted by c at 3:11 PM on April 24, 2004

I have a great idea! Email me for my address and you can send them to me. I won't charge you anything!
posted by Quartermass at 4:24 PM on April 24, 2004

I'd take the time and use Ebay. Second hand stores near me were trying to give me £1 for some CDs that I got £4-£10 for on Ebay.
posted by boneybaloney at 6:34 PM on April 24, 2004

Listing on Half.com is a lot easier than listing on eBay. Just enter the UPC code, the condition, and your asking price for each item and you're done. Half.com is not so good if the items are rare or collectible, but I doubt that would be true of many CDs. The downside: if your discs are popular, you might have to wait a while to sell them.
posted by kindall at 1:29 AM on April 25, 2004