Comments on: How to Sell Off a Media Collection

By: Hank

Hank — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:34:45 +0000

Half.com is definitely the way to go to sell any movies, dvds, cds, and video games. It is a great site!

By: Jen M.

Jen M. — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:54:50 +0000

There’s another option that was not addressed here: Freecycle. You simply post to your local Freecycle email list that you have such-and-such an item to give away, and people who are interested can contact you. For items of little to no value, that is my favorite way of getting rid of things.

Our local Goodwill has beeen REALLY picky lately.

By: Jen M.

Jen M. — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:45:29 +0000

There are other (in my opnion, BETTER) options than Ebay and Amazon. I sell on Atomic Mall and (for my vintage and antiques) on Artfire.com.

I prefer to go with companies that do not have ethical issues, but that’s just me, and I am selling as a business, not just to declutter or as a hobby. Your mileage may vary.

Bottom line is there are hundreds of online venues out there, so do some exploring. You may find your perfect fit at a site you have never heard of!

By: chris

chris — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:40:17 +0000

I am a DJ and completely switched all my music to digital around 2005. So I had no need for all my records anymore. I listed all of them on Ebay and made about $600. What I did was group and sell all the similar records in one auction. So reggae records would go on one auction and hip hop would go on another. Listing them all individually would have been a major time waste because some of the less popular records wouldn’t sell. I sold some of the rare sought after records by themselves. If you have DVD’s CD’s I suggest grouping them into categories and make and auction for each category while mentioning the most popular titles in the auction title.

By: Leah

Leah — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:04:16 +0000

Katie (#16), even though ebay fills in the info, I still always post a picture. I sold tons on ebay in 2005/2006. At that time, when I looked at completed listings, those with a picture that obviously came from the seller sold for more. I wager that people are probably more willing to spend/spend more with a seller that they know is legit.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:59:46 +0000

I’m a big fan of Craigslist for the exact reason you mentioned – never have to leave the house with the stuff. It’s great to just rid of stuff and make a little money within a week and not have to drive around to do it.

By: t

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:46:22 +0000

I’d like to add give the media to someone (family/friend) who will enjoy it.

When I’m trying to get rid of CD/DVDs, I usually sell them as a lot on Ebay. I get less money this way, but it’s less hassle for me.

By: PK

PK — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:19:14 +0000

Selling books & other things on Amazon.com trumps eBay, if you’re in no rush, for the simple reason that it’s cheaper for you. Sure Amazon takes a commission, but I find that with the combination of eBay’s commission and Paypal’s commission, it’s often not worth it to sell yard-sale-level items.

With shipping and handling, I’ve sometimes come out negative when I first started out on eBay; though I’ve learned a bit since then, I often find the couple of bucks per item isn’t really worth it. I do love Craigslist that way, though — no s&h charges and no commissions. Just a nice direct transaction.

By: KC

KC — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:59:26 +0000

Concerning tax implications – there aren’t any if you don’t make a profit. If a book costs you $18 and you are lucky enough to sell it for $15 then you lost $3 – there are no tax implications on -$3. However if you bought a book and it was signed by the author and you later sold that book for more than you paid for it then you’d have tax implications.

By: katie

katie — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:25:49 +0000

Ebay now fills in info for you if you have an item with an ISBN. It’s a little faster :)

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:59:38 +0000

@Elizabeth (#13),

Generally you aren’t making a profit on these items, so there aren’t any tax implications. In fact, you are usually taking a huge loss. Consider the case where you bought a DVD movie for $20 and then sell it for $5. You clearly haven’t made any money – in fact you’ve lost $15.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:22:46 +0000

If you want to move a bunch of items at once, and are ok with selling some for a few bucks, and other for a nickel, you should check out sites like spun.com or secondspin.com. I just sold 55 CD’s for $200. They also reimburse for shipping charges to them. Pretty decent deal…

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:08:05 +0000

What’s the tax implication for selling items? Do you have to report all your income from the sales, or just the actual amount when you get above a certain threshold?

By: George

George — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:44:32 +0000

How about using the sister sites to paperbackswap.com

swapadvd.com

swapacd.com

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:36:05 +0000

The website is pretty crappy, but the idea is actually a really good one!

Check out ipodmeister.com they take your CDs and then send you a new ipod/ipad/iphone. They in turn go and sell your CD’s abroad. If you just want to get rid of lots of CD’s and just want something for it, it’s a pretty good option. I think they back up all your music at a lower compression so you can still have a copy of it, but that costs a little bit more.

By: David/MoneyCrashers

David/MoneyCrashers — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:05:37 +0000

Or, if you want a decent return (about $1 apiece per movie, 50 cents per CD) and want to get rid of ALL your items, take them to a pawn shop.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:49:30 +0000

$4 “My husband has a rather large record collection …. It just sits in storage costing me $115 a month.” Yikes! You’re spending $1380./ year to store records which might bring that much or might not. I rent out some one car garages. My favorite tenant ($85./month) has paid rent for over 12 years on a space, over $12,240, TO STORE THINGS WHICH COULD BE REPLACED WITH A WEEKEND OF YARD SALE HUNTING FOR LESS THAN A THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! It’s used washer dryer, some tools, some car parts he’ll never use and some modern Christmas ornaments. The easiest place to stop financial waste is to clear out that storage space and sell the contents.

By: Chip Capelli

Chip Capelli — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:48:53 +0000

I use Half.com (owned by EBay). Like Amazon, it could take a while, but I have had great luck selling books, CDs and VHS tapes. You don’t get charged until the item sells. If you are willing to wait, it’s a good place to try.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:47:43 +0000

Hi Trent: Here is another alternative way to get rid of stuff: I held a decluttering party and invited a dozen friends. I set out a 100 books, and 100 dvds and cds and invited them to help themselves. The “price” of admission was a bottle of wine per guest. I gave everyone a book bag upon entry ( laundry bags I took from hotel stays) It was a lot of fun, books and cds found a good home, I got rid of clutter and I topped up my wine collection. Win/win all around.

By: John Leonard

John Leonard — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:29:41 +0000

I’m intrigued by this article as it doesn’t refer to the one thing you do seem to take into consideration when you do other tasks that take time – the cost of your time.
When calculating your return, the ebay option would possibly be lower on the list, given the investment in time required to do this. I had much the same conundrum when getting rid of about 200 DVDs a couple of months ago – I considered musicmagpie.com, but in the end I just took the whole lot down to a car boot sale and cleared them all in ten minutes for about 50p a DVD. (Several bulk buyers who run shops bought them in bulk, they clean up the cases and sell them for about £2 an item!)
I guess this is about removing your emotional attachment to the items and clearing them off in the most cost effective manner – I made £100 in ten minutes, which to me was a good time investment.