Old DVDs, what to do with them?

[Balance]

Hello friends.  I have a bookshelf filled with old DVDs that I haven't watched in years.  I am wondering what my fellow mustachians did with their own collections?  Should I donate or junk them?  Or can they be sold somewhere? I can try to sell them all on Craigslist but I don't know how viable that would be especially with BluRay and digital downloads available these days. I tried searching for old threads on this topic but couldn't find anything definitive. Thanks in advance for any advice!

[nikki]

Can you bring them to Half Price Books or a similar place? I think that if Half Price Books won't pay you for them, they'll at least take them and recycle them somehow (or maybe they only do that with books...). Either way it's an easy solution for you.

My old hometown also had a multimedia center called Entertainmart that bought back everything for really good prices. I'd go to that place with DVDs first, but there might not be one near you.

[Balance]

Hi Nikki. Thanks for the response.  There is a Half Priced Books in my area as well as a library within walking distance.  I will check with them!

[wtjbatman]

We took four huge bags full of DVDs to two places when we wanted to downsize. A pawn shop, and a hobby gaming store that also sells used dvds. We came home with only half a bag. We didn't get a lot of money for them, but anything was better than just two bookcases filled with old movies we never watch.

The key is to just call ahead and ask if they buy used DVDs, and if so, how much they pay. One place we originally planned to go to we decided not to once we found out they only pay $0.50 a DVD compared to $1 and $2 at the two places we went.

[Frugalicious]

You can mail some off to dcluttr.com.  They typically pay .50, sometimes more.  They'll mail you a check.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

[wtjbatman]

You can mail some off to dcluttr.com.  They typically pay .50, sometimes more.  They'll mail you a check.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

Yeah, don't do that. 50 cents is a terrible rate. You should be able to get $1-2 locally with just a couple phone calls. And no hassle with shipping out boxes of DVDs.

[deborah]

You can use them as bird scarers (moving scarecrows), or make children's mobiles with them.

[Lutra]

I donate them to a library.  Maybe someone else can enjoy them.  Selling isn't worth it for $1.00 or less, and that's what they get these days.  Even blu-rays have reached the $5.00 and $7.00 price points in Wal-Mart.

[starbuck]

I donate them to the library as well. They either add them to circulation, or sell them during their book sale. If you had a massive amount, I could see bringing them to a shop to sell, and then just donating the rest. We never bought very many, so donating was the easiest and quickest way to find them a new home. Still trying to convince my spouse to get rid of about half the ones we still have, since they haven't been watched in years and we could easily get it from the library if the mood struck.

[milesdividendmd]

First off. Go giants!

Second of all you can donate them to goodwill, and write off $2-3  per piece as a charitable deduction. The higher your marginal tax rate the better this will be for you financially.

[Balance]

First off. Go giants!

Second of all you can donate them to goodwill, and write off $2-3  per piece as a charitable deduction. The higher your marginal tax rate the better this will be for you financially.

Woohoo Go Giants!  They have been a little off the last couple weeks but hopefully they will get back to playing like they did most of the year.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will call around to see if anyone will offer $1 or more per DVD otherwise I will donate them to my local library.

[Simple Abundant Living]

I see people putting them on Facebook yard sale sites here with some success. I've sold some at amazon, but they were more valuable and in great condition.

[RetireAbroadAt35]

I ripped mine using Handbrake & libdvdcss to watch and boxed the discs up in the closet as backups.

Eventually I sold all the discs to a second-hand shop.

[Chranstronaut]

If you want other DVDs, check out www.swapadvd.com

How it works: http://www.swapadvd.com/help/how_to_swap_dvds.php
You list what DVDs you have, and if someone wants one, you mail it to them.  You get one credit for every DVD you swap, which can be used to request a DVD from someone else.  It's usually a one-to-one trade, although you get a free credit just from posting 10 DVDs and some DVDs cost more than 1 credit.

The same kind of marketplace exists for paper back books and CDs:
www.swapacd.com
www.paperbackswap.com

NOTE: There is a 50 cent transaction fee on Swap a DVD and Swap a CD, but no fee for Paperback Swap.  If you use "Media Mail" with the USPS, you should get the cheapest shipping rate.

[Fetlock]

I got a CD case that can hold 200+ CDs. I put all my DVDs in it and tossed all the bulky crap. What used to take up a few shelves now takes up almost no room.

[Balance]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Just to update, I ended up bringing my DVD's to a place called Streetlight Records here in the Bay Area. They paid me $1 per DVD. They took the good with the bad. I was happy that I didn't have to haggle, list on CL and end up with half the inventory still in tow.