I want to sell my Star Trek DVDs. Any clever ideas other than ebay?
May 16, 2006 9:42 PM Subscribe
I recently bought a bunch of Star Trek DVDs cheap and need ideas on how to sell them, preferably easily.
I bought almost the entire original Star Trek series on DVD at a garage sale for two dollars. I don't particularly like Star Trek, but I figured I'd watch them and then sell them. I was thinking ebay, naturally, but I have no experience with ebay at all, not even buying. I figure people won't be too scared to buy from a new seller when it's only DVDs, but I'd rather find a way to sell them that won't require trips to the post office. Should I try Half Price Books or...? I have no idea what kind of place would buy these. My goal is to make as much money as possible, but basically whatever I make will be profit considering I bought the DVDs for two dollars. Therefore, the ease of the method of selling is slightly more important to me than making a few more cents. So, Mefites, what's the best way to unload a bunch of DVDs?
(Obviously ebay is the first thing that springs to mind on reading this question, I know, but my total lack of ebay knowledge is scaring me off it a little. I don't want to get taken advantage of and I don't want to screw anyone over accidentally from ignorance.)
I bought almost the entire original Star Trek series on DVD at a garage sale for two dollars. I don't particularly like Star Trek, but I figured I'd watch them and then sell them. I was thinking ebay, naturally, but I have no experience with ebay at all, not even buying. I figure people won't be too scared to buy from a new seller when it's only DVDs, but I'd rather find a way to sell them that won't require trips to the post office. Should I try Half Price Books or...? I have no idea what kind of place would buy these. My goal is to make as much money as possible, but basically whatever I make will be profit considering I bought the DVDs for two dollars. Therefore, the ease of the method of selling is slightly more important to me than making a few more cents. So, Mefites, what's the best way to unload a bunch of DVDs?
(Obviously ebay is the first thing that springs to mind on reading this question, I know, but my total lack of ebay knowledge is scaring me off it a little. I don't want to get taken advantage of and I don't want to screw anyone over accidentally from ignorance.)
See previous threads for eBay advice, including my HOWTO and J.D. Roth's 13 Steps. I understand why it seems intimidating if you've never tried, but it's relatively easy.
But to answer your direct question (about avoiding postage), if you were in Boston I'd list a half-dozen stores that pay cash for used DVDs. If you have stores like that around you, that's your answer. There are alternatives (such as want ads) that cut the middle man for greater profit in your pocket; but really, all of them except eBay will prove more trouble than is worth the few extra dollars you'll make. Just dump them on a store.
posted by cribcage at 10:05 PM on May 16, 2006
But to answer your direct question (about avoiding postage), if you were in Boston I'd list a half-dozen stores that pay cash for used DVDs. If you have stores like that around you, that's your answer. There are alternatives (such as want ads) that cut the middle man for greater profit in your pocket; but really, all of them except eBay will prove more trouble than is worth the few extra dollars you'll make. Just dump them on a store.
posted by cribcage at 10:05 PM on May 16, 2006
To elaborate...
See, "13 Steps" to sell a pile of DVDs that you bought for $2 seems to violate the "Therefore, the ease of the method of selling is slightly more important to me than making a few more cents. " criteria. Seriously, sell them to a shop. In Australia we have Cash Converters who are sort of a big, franchise pawn shop chain. They'll buy anything off you. Sure, they won't give you much for it - I'd guess anywhere between $5 and $15. But when you paid $2 for it, I'd hope you'd be satisfied with that kind of profit. Any place like this where you are?
posted by Jimbob at 10:11 PM on May 16, 2006
See, "13 Steps" to sell a pile of DVDs that you bought for $2 seems to violate the "Therefore, the ease of the method of selling is slightly more important to me than making a few more cents. " criteria. Seriously, sell them to a shop. In Australia we have Cash Converters who are sort of a big, franchise pawn shop chain. They'll buy anything off you. Sure, they won't give you much for it - I'd guess anywhere between $5 and $15. But when you paid $2 for it, I'd hope you'd be satisfied with that kind of profit. Any place like this where you are?
posted by Jimbob at 10:11 PM on May 16, 2006
Here in Toronto you can't walk 5 blocks without bumping into a used record shop, most of which buy and sell DVDs in addition to music. Surely there must be similar shops in (checks profile) Plano, TX?
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:15 PM on May 16, 2006
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:15 PM on May 16, 2006
Obviously ebay is the first thing that springs to mind on reading this question.
I don't quite know why it would be the first thing that springs to mind. You have to pay to advertise there. You have to mail the item to the buyer. You have to wait a long time for your auction to complete (and it might not), or you might end up with a poor price for the item and be unable to do anything about it. You are also competing in a market place with thousands of other similar items, forcing your price down due to competition. For selling small, cheap items like this, ebay is the last place I'd think of going. Way to much effort for no real return.
posted by Jimbob at 10:36 PM on May 16, 2006
I don't quite know why it would be the first thing that springs to mind. You have to pay to advertise there. You have to mail the item to the buyer. You have to wait a long time for your auction to complete (and it might not), or you might end up with a poor price for the item and be unable to do anything about it. You are also competing in a market place with thousands of other similar items, forcing your price down due to competition. For selling small, cheap items like this, ebay is the last place I'd think of going. Way to much effort for no real return.
posted by Jimbob at 10:36 PM on May 16, 2006
Sure, [a pawn shop] won't give you much for it - I'd guess anywhere between $5 and $15. ... For selling small, cheap items like this, ebay is the last place I'd think of going. Way to much effort for no real return.
There are a couple of listings on eBay selling the complete series for ~$230. That would suggest you could list your set with a "Buy It Now" of about $150 and almost guarantee a sale.
posted by cribcage at 11:02 PM on May 16, 2006
There are a couple of listings on eBay selling the complete series for ~$230. That would suggest you could list your set with a "Buy It Now" of about $150 and almost guarantee a sale.
posted by cribcage at 11:02 PM on May 16, 2006
I'll give you twenty bucks for them.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:36 AM on May 17, 2006
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:36 AM on May 17, 2006
I've sold about 100 CDs/books through Amazon. It's very easy, because the photo and description are already there, and you get a lot of traffic, obviously. I've had items sell within a couple hours of listing them.
They do take a rather large cut, but it's worth it to me because the entire process is so fast and painless. Besides, the people looking at your listing were already seeking, or at least viewing, the full-price version on Amazon, so you can charge a good price.
One word of advice: If you're selling something heavy, build shipping cost into your price, because the shipping fee that's paid to you is fixed, regardless of the weight of the item.
posted by ROTFL at 4:16 AM on May 17, 2006
They do take a rather large cut, but it's worth it to me because the entire process is so fast and painless. Besides, the people looking at your listing were already seeking, or at least viewing, the full-price version on Amazon, so you can charge a good price.
One word of advice: If you're selling something heavy, build shipping cost into your price, because the shipping fee that's paid to you is fixed, regardless of the weight of the item.
posted by ROTFL at 4:16 AM on May 17, 2006
http://dallas.craigslist.com/
MadamM, I'm sure you know what craigslist is..but if you don't...it's classified ads.
You can find (pretty easily) a picture of the star trek set...Either you'll list all the DVDs...or if you did buy the set, you'll indicate that you have the full set.
Write that you won't break it up...and you're only interested in local buyers. Price them from $2-4 a DVD.
Now, scammers have gotten the clue about CL (and you'll get some international emails about shipping it and getting paid by western union, etc.) Just ignore them.
I'd actuallly price it at $4 per DVD...and then wait a week or three...if nobody finds it a great deal....reprice it at $3 a DVD. If they don't sell...if you're not in a rush....wait a couple of months.
The other way I'd look...is to see if you can find a Star Trek site/forum. I took a quick look over at http://www.startrek.com but it didn't seem to have an obvious forum for classifieds.
posted by filmgeek at 4:27 AM on May 17, 2006
MadamM, I'm sure you know what craigslist is..but if you don't...it's classified ads.
You can find (pretty easily) a picture of the star trek set...Either you'll list all the DVDs...or if you did buy the set, you'll indicate that you have the full set.
Write that you won't break it up...and you're only interested in local buyers. Price them from $2-4 a DVD.
Now, scammers have gotten the clue about CL (and you'll get some international emails about shipping it and getting paid by western union, etc.) Just ignore them.
I'd actuallly price it at $4 per DVD...and then wait a week or three...if nobody finds it a great deal....reprice it at $3 a DVD. If they don't sell...if you're not in a rush....wait a couple of months.
The other way I'd look...is to see if you can find a Star Trek site/forum. I took a quick look over at http://www.startrek.com but it didn't seem to have an obvious forum for classifieds.
posted by filmgeek at 4:27 AM on May 17, 2006
I'll second Amazon. I sell through EBay occasionally and it's a big pain compared to Amazon. You want to move something quickly on Amazon? Just look in the "used" section for whatever you are selling and price your stuff at 1 penny below the existing offers.
posted by meehawl at 7:14 AM on May 17, 2006
posted by meehawl at 7:14 AM on May 17, 2006
I sell DVDs at a local "Strawberries" record store on a regular basis. They are always happy to get them, and I get between $2 and $8 per disk. It is much easier than selling through Amazon (which I have also done).
I would only sell online if you are going to sell the whole collection in one fell swoop. If you need to sell individual units, I'd go to a local CD/DVD store.
posted by alms at 7:38 AM on May 17, 2006
I would only sell online if you are going to sell the whole collection in one fell swoop. If you need to sell individual units, I'd go to a local CD/DVD store.
posted by alms at 7:38 AM on May 17, 2006
I've had great success selling CDs and stuff locally through the Usenet .forsale newsgroups. For me here in Ottawa, it's ott.forsale.other. Don't know what it is for you but it'd be easy to find. You can check it out through Google Groups. It works like craigslist but depending on your city may have more traffic...
posted by storybored at 11:43 AM on May 17, 2006
posted by storybored at 11:43 AM on May 17, 2006
The difference between the price you get doing a person to person transaction, ie eBay or others suggested here, versus selling to a middle man, ie a shop, is not going to be cents per DVD, it's going to be dollars.
Unfortunately the labor situation is similar: selling person to person is (potentially) a LOT more work. You have to navigate the system, whatever it might be, that learning curve, and of course since you have to deal with another person on the end of the transaction there is potential for trouble there. The store, on the other hand, is designed to make this easy for you, at the cost of a few bucks a disk or so.
eBay is worth it if you think you might do this kind of thing, or unload some of your own stuff, on a relatively frequent basis (ie several times a year). I've sold a lot of stuff on eBay now, it's usually relatively painless, but I've had the odd headache transaction, it's just luck of the draw. However, I'm glad now I've learned to navigate this system because I find it a really quick and easy way to sell things now. And it's pretty much designed for dummies. If you've managed to sign up a Metafilter account you probably can manage eBay.
If you go this route, sell it as a single item to minimize fees and post office trips. Consider a Paypal seller account as well. As is widely reported, they suck, but they also generally work and more people will consider the product if you do.
But I'd say the work is probably not worth it if you think this is just a one-off spur of the moment deal, just go to the local used disk store and get the quick and easy cash. It's not going to be a huge money transaction regardless so take the pure profit and go get a nice meal or something. Almost any used disk store will also transact DVDs now as well.
posted by nanojath at 8:07 PM on May 17, 2006
Unfortunately the labor situation is similar: selling person to person is (potentially) a LOT more work. You have to navigate the system, whatever it might be, that learning curve, and of course since you have to deal with another person on the end of the transaction there is potential for trouble there. The store, on the other hand, is designed to make this easy for you, at the cost of a few bucks a disk or so.
eBay is worth it if you think you might do this kind of thing, or unload some of your own stuff, on a relatively frequent basis (ie several times a year). I've sold a lot of stuff on eBay now, it's usually relatively painless, but I've had the odd headache transaction, it's just luck of the draw. However, I'm glad now I've learned to navigate this system because I find it a really quick and easy way to sell things now. And it's pretty much designed for dummies. If you've managed to sign up a Metafilter account you probably can manage eBay.
If you go this route, sell it as a single item to minimize fees and post office trips. Consider a Paypal seller account as well. As is widely reported, they suck, but they also generally work and more people will consider the product if you do.
But I'd say the work is probably not worth it if you think this is just a one-off spur of the moment deal, just go to the local used disk store and get the quick and easy cash. It's not going to be a huge money transaction regardless so take the pure profit and go get a nice meal or something. Almost any used disk store will also transact DVDs now as well.
posted by nanojath at 8:07 PM on May 17, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Jimbob at 9:53 PM on May 16, 2006