Selling CD/DVD and book collections

[Spondulix]

I'm in the process of selling my CD collection (700+). Update 6/2015: I've been doing this about 2 months now, sold 300 discs, and made $700. I'm moving into my DVD, video game and book collections now. It's been fun and totally worth the effort!

Amazon's app is easily the best to quickly check if an item is low-worth or possibly still worth something. It can recognize the cover or the UPC. If the used price shows as less than a dollar, it means it's a popular title, and I put it in a "low value" pile.

For the low value CDs/DVDs, I've been using a few sources - local music stores, secondspin.com, selldvdsonline.com, decluttr.com.

- Local music stores are hit or miss. One store didnt take much but paid well for what they did take ($2/disc). Another store took nearly everything I gave them but it averaged under 50 cents a disc (not great for the quality of items I gave them). I'd suggest asking them to separate anything they are offering less than a dollar. My used CD store said niche genres don't sell unless they have regular buyers looking for something (country music doesn't sell as well as jazz here, for example). They offered to buy my whole collection out-right, but I wanted to peace-meal to get the maximum prices out of my CDs.

- Secondspin.com gives decent rates for mainstream CDs. I'm getting $1-4 for CDs that decluttr.com quotes at 10 cents or 40 cents (and Amazon at $0.01). Secondspin charges 35 cents to refinish scratched CDs and 35 cents if the case is broken. As of 4/27/15 I've sent 150 CDs and only had a handful need resurfacing. Every shipment has needed a couple new cases. The first 150 CDs I sold I netted around $150 through Second Spin.

For cataloging: I've scanned the UPCs into a spreadsheet (I like the app "Beep"). If you don't have a smartphone, there are barcode scanners you can get on Amazon for cheap. Second Spin has an option to "sell in bulk", where you can paste all of the UPC codes. Generally, I try to only sell a CD to them for $1 or more. If Second Spin has enough in stock, they will offer 40 cents or 10 cents. If you have the space to keep the CDs around, just keep a spreadsheet of the UPC codes and periodically bulk add them all to your cart. Then, just sell the ones that are $1 or more. Be careful of promotional items (hole or crossed out UPC, cutout in case) - If you email Second Spin and ask first if they will take it, you'll get a confirmation letter to include with the shipment. I've only had one disc not accepted and it's cause I didn't do that first. They pay return shipping if an item is rejected, so if you're not sure about a scratched or damaged disc, just send it in. Decluttr makes you pay return shipping if you want the item back (I think).

There is software (monthly service) you can get that will tell you more accurately the value of media. For selling a small consumer collection, I didnt think it was worth the cost. If you're looking to do this as a business, I would definitely look into it.

For CDs worth over $5, it's worth the effort to list on Ebay, Amazon, or Half.com (Half will list on Ebay, also). Amazon takes a high cut, so after shipping is paid, the net profit ends up being about $2 less than the purchase price. So, a $5 sale will net about $3. But, sales on Amazon have been much better than Half - I've been selling 1-2 items a week on Amazon and 1 a month (if that) on Half.

- FYE.com gives comparable rates to Second Spin. The shipping notes are identical, so it might all be processed at the same place.

- Decluttr takes anything, but may only give 10 cents or 40 cents for most discs. I've been going through and deleting all the 10 cent ones and only selling 40 cent or more. The nice thing about Decluttr is that they pay for your shipping and have great customer service. Selldvdsonline.com is a similar service that doesn't give a lot. But, if you can get 40 cents for discs that are clearly popular and unwanted (for example, popular 1990s titles or old classical music) that's doing pretty well.

- I recently discovered the site bonavendi.com, which has been good for verifying prices (when needed)

- Anything low value but education value (i.e., jazz, classical) is going to be donated to a charity for the tax write-off. I've got a local music NFP that is always in need of certain types of music.

Books: I've started selling my book collection using the same technique. Books definitely do not hold value, and they are selling at a much slower rate than CDs and DVDs. Occasionally one is coming up thats worth listing on Amazon. I haven't been selling books long, but I don't see the return being the same (for the effort) vs other media.

[Argyle]

Half.com (an arm of eBay) takes a smaller cut than Amazon.

[rocketman48097]

People still buy used CD's? 

[I'm a red panda]

Half Price Books will take CDs.

You get pennies, but at least the CDs are  gone.

(I actually have a number of new CDs, as I've often found the CD on amazon is cheaper than the download. And it comes with a free download...  I don't understand.)

[Spondulix]

I talked at length to the buyer at a large local CD store. He said that niche genres just don't sell anymore. They've got a handful of people coming into the store for those genres, so buy based on the tastes of those customers. In my area (Los Angeles) that would be music like country, bluegrass, classical music, and some jazz. Soundtracks are dead.

He used the analogy of buying stocks in saying how hard it is to predict. One month one artist might be popular, and the next it's just gathering dust. They make money from buying large lots of CDs where they're picking up a mishmash of good titles and bad. They actually ship palettes of CDs to other countries - apparently there are places that still buy CDs.

[Spondulix]

My world is one of musicians who can't make a decent living and it has nothing to do with piracy/illegal copying. I actually work in the entertainment/music industry in LA.

Legally, you're right that you're not supposed to keep files when you get rid of the CD. The artists won't made a penny from me no matter what I do... you know why? I bought these CDs used. I'm going to sell them back to a CD store that's going to sell them again used, and the artist won't receive anything from that either. No offense, but this issue is kind of laughable in comparison to what's going on in the actual industry. Even if we all paid thousands of dollars to re-buy everything in our CD collections (digitally), those musicians might still be waiting tables.

Here's why musicians aren't making money today:

1. The expectation for music consumption has become low/no cost. As a recording engineer, I can tell you that budgets for recording music has gone to s*** in the past 15 years. It was a matter of piracy in like 1999 (so the argument "don't steal - it's starving an artist" was slightly more true back then). Since then, technology has made huge leaps in how music is produced and consumed. You can buy a 99 cent app, write a song, put it on Youtube (or buy a UPC code and put it on iTunes), and call yourself a musician. There's very little barrier to being a "musician", and the market is over-saturated with product. It's basic economics - what happens when supply exceeds demand? Price goes down. There's 26 million songs on iTunes!

2. Because there is so much content available, it's nearly impossible to make significant enough of a dent to make a living. The only place I know songwriters who still make a living is the licensing business. But, they are business people first and musicians second.

3. Digital consumption pays almost nothing. Google "streaming royalty reports"... you'll see major artists on Spotify or Pandora who got over a million plays and made like $20. I made about 5 cents on my last royalty statement, which was like 100 plays of my songs on Spotify (0.0005 cents/play, I think). Do you know how much you earn off selling a single on iTunes? 70 cents. What if you have to split that between multiple band members, or a producer? Selling music is no longer a lucrative job for the majority of musicians - even professionals.

4. Artists don't make money off of tours the way they used to, either. There's so many people who want to play shows for exposure that a coffee shop or venue doesn't have to pay anything (where as that was a revenue stream for artists in the past). If you don't want to play for free, the next band will. In LA, it's so bad that you have to pay to play (meaning, you buy the tickets, and if you can't sell them, it's your loss. The venue makes money either way.) It was tough before - it's even harder now.

Most importantly, just because someone sells insurance doesn't mean they aren't a musician. Anyone who thinks they are entitled to do their art for a living (because of quality/talent/passion/self-expression) is confusing art with business. Like I said before, the musicians I know who are actually making a living are actually great business people and put business first. It's totally an illusion that they sit around and write music all day - they hustle making connections, trying to get their music to supervisors, libraries, etc. They write what sells in addition to what they like. They teach lessons, have side jobs, and do whatever they need to do to pay the bills (without complaining). The greatest musicians I've ever met don't even play public shows because they couldn't give a crap about whether they are seen or not. "Fans" are not a source of income. The musician/starving artist lifestyle is actually quite non-mustachian- it's a choice that they choose to have. If anything, I have more respect for the artists who are wiling to waitress or sell insurance.

Edit: I hear from my musician friends in Canada that it's getting harder up there, but it is still possible to make a living. It's definitely different up there than it is here. Canadians are very lucky to get government subsidies for their music. If that funding goes away, it's probably just going to turn into a mess like it is down here.

[Debts_of_Despair]

This thread prompted me to take a look at my CD collection.  After determining that I would never again have the urge to listen to Puff Daddy and the Family's "No Way Out" album, I realized that most of the collection needed to go.  I ended up using secondspin.com.  Overall it was a very easy process and they paid promptly via PayPal after receipt.  They did charge me $.35 for a new jewel case for once of the CDs.  I averaged about $1/CD.

I guess you might be able to make more money selling them individually on ebay, but that is a HUGE PITA.  Instead of throwing 30 CDs in one box and printing one shipping label, you would be packaging 30 CDs with 30 different labels and having to deal with 30 different picky ebay buyers.  If you have some kind of special interest CD, it might be worth it to sell on ebay.

[Spondulix]

Awesome! Let me update the original post cause I've figured out some more stuff since...

[chesebert]

I am interested. Can you send me your xls with pricing? I often go to second hand shop to buy used CDs for $1-2 a pop :)

[Spondulix]

I am interested. Can you send me your xls with pricing? I often go to second hand shop to buy used CDs for $1-2 a pop :)

Unfortunately I don't add pricing to my spreadsheet - its just UPC codes.

I'm trying to think of a way to do the same thing (I see CDs at thrift shops, too). Maybe using Google docs app and copying and pasting to the website? I'll bet if you scan with Amazon's app and the lowest price used is more than a buck, you'll definitely get that from Second Spin (or a lot more). For the effort, I wouldn't risk spending more than 50 cents on a used CD.

[jmusic]

My world is one of musicians who can't make a decent living and it has nothing to do with piracy/illegal copying. I actually work in the entertainment/music industry in LA...

Great analysis, and these days the exact same market dynamics are going on in a huge swath of the creative industry.  Books and photography immediately come to mind.  The other factor is that with the extremely low barriers to entry, the editing process has gone by the wayside and it's becoming increasingly hard to seperate the good from the dreck.

[Spondulix]

Great analysis, and these days the exact same market dynamics are going on in a huge swath of the creative industry.  Books and photography immediately come to mind.  The other factor is that with the extremely low barriers to entry, the editing process has gone by the wayside and it's becoming increasingly hard to seperate the good from the dreck.

Check out this talk - it's about 45 mins, but it's an amazing look at what's happening in music, journalism, film and tv. A quote: ""Its not that people stopped listening to music, reading books, reading news papers, watching movies. It was that we made a decision societally to do a wholesale reallocation of revenue from people who made content and owned content to people that owned platforms"

(edit: not sure if link was removed or if I forgot to paste it)