Market value of used DVDs?

[wildandwoolly]

Hey,

Was it on this site that there used to be a program where you could scan a UPC and it would tell you what the used sale price was on Amazon etc?

We came up with a system where we can sell any movie (not adult) that we have in the place. We do this mainly because we have a lot of people who come in who don't want to rent and want to have a certain title right now.

We look up the movie on Amazon and see what a comparable used copy would cost, plus postage. We then mark that price up 25%, and then offer to sell our copy for that. If it's available for a super low price we usually just say $7.99 or $9.99. If the computed price is above the retail price of a new copy, we tell them that and let them decide.

I'm thinking if we had a website or program that would do this for us that would be great.

Thanks
Todd/Wild and Woolly

[Thomas Williams]

Yes Todd. And it's still here.
When you hover on the Home button above you, will see the intranet setup page.
You can set the percent that you are willing to pay. We have ours set at 60%.
It not only checks Amazon but also Half.com (the like new price). And maybe one other site. I'm not sure. It averages those prices to give you the number you are going to pay. Actually it gives 3 amounts. We use it almost daily. The only thing you might watch out for is that sometimes you get a low baller on Half.com just trying to unload product. Since most prices come in at from .01 to 4.00, anything outside of the $4 range I just go to half, look at the like new price, check if someone is lowballing, multiply the price by our 60% and get my number.
We used to be at 65% but I was buying so much product that I was having an issue of getting it listed to sell in a timely manner. Sometimes the price would drop below what I had paid so I just adjusted our point down to 60Generally that gives me the time I need.

[wildandwoolly]

Thanks.

I'm at home so I don't have a UPC but when I type in a movie title I get a page called Cinema Magic "What you need when you need it". Is that what should come up?

Could you create a program/site for our store that would do what I described if I paid you? Just tell my employees what to sell our used copy for?

Thanks
Todd

[twinvid]

Todd

You would go to the "Intranet web page setup" and create your store, ie. name and discount percentage.

Once you do that you can just have a browser favorite to that page so you can bring it up at the store and scan your item in. That is the way we use it for buying games and DVD's.

It works really well.

Bob

[mcmarc]

I just use Amazon.com to be honest.  If we can replace it and make some money, then I tell my employees to sell our rental copy.

Wasn't there a guy in Chattanooga that priced all his rentals that were on the floor?  I wonder how he is doing.

[wildandwoolly]

Yeah I think he gave a talk about it at the last IDEA thing. I wasn't crazy about his system because (from what I remember) it didn't account for the fact that the prices can fluctuate as things go in and out of print.

[paladin]

Wouldn't it be easier for the customer, as well as the clerks to simply state a price (i.e. rent for $2.50/buy for $8.99) instead of the customer having to ask if the movie is even for sale, and then how much, then your staff having to look up prices and calculate the sale price? If its a hard to find or out of print selection don't sell it or jack the asking price up for that one. I'm just asking here, you guys have much more experience than I do, I'm sure. My experience in retail has seen that the K.I.S.S. principle usually works best where customers are concerned so I'm just wondering.

As far as buying used product, our local pawn shop buys for I think $2 each and sells for $5 regardless of the selection (I think Disney is 1 or 2 dollars more) and he seems to do a pretty brisk trade. Has anyone found that figuring different buy/sell prices for different titles really works better than a flat rate?

[EVW]

I have every single thing in my store listed on Amazon.  I just add 50% to my cost to make sure I get a return and to keep it simple.  If you're going to be selling a lot of product it's worth it to pay the $39.99/mo to become a Pro Merchant and avoid the closing fee.

Buy-Sell-Trade I just pull up Amazon, scan the barcode and if the price is .01-1.00 it gets a 1, 1.01-2.00 it gets a 2 and so on then take the number time my multiplier.  I take DVD's, Games, Blu-ray, CD's, Books and even VHS and each catagory has its own multiplier depending on how much I wan't to pay on the dollar so to speak.  All of these things can be bought from a customer, listed on Amazon (takes maybe 30 seconds) and even be sold and shipped in less than an hour at a good profit.  No joke.  Listing and selling on Amazon is one of the easiest things I've ever done and there's really no reason every one with a store shouldn't be doing it

[supera]

I tried to find the info on Amazon,but I didn't seem to have much luck.

Does Amazon collect and remit any appropriate sales taxes for you?

[EVW]

Here's the link, you can choose to sell professionally (39.99 flat fee/mo) or individually (.99 per transaction)

http://www.amazonservices.com/content/sell-on-amazon.htm?ld=AZFSSOA

Try the individual first if for some reason you're a little weary.  The break even is 40 *items*.  I specify items because you can sell DVD's, Blu-ray, CD's, Books, VHS, Game Systems, DVD players, Blu-ray players, Phones, Camera, and on and on.

A little known fact....Sales taxes are paid in the state in which the store conducts a physical store or where it's headquartered.  If you order something on Walmart.com, the State of Arkansas would collect taxes.  Since Amazon conducts business online only  and do not operate physical stores, they are exempt from state taxes.  I started a seperate online only business to churn Amazon product.  Have your online store purchase product from your physical store to sell online.  If that makes sense.  Hope that helps

[supera]

Ya, that makes sense but doesn't change anything from a tax standpoint.

My store is located in Ontario, Canada, and actually after some more browsing, I find that  Amazon.ca does in fact charge all sales taxes countrywide depending on the province that you are located in.  I guess our tax department have things set up a bit better than in the States.  It just doesn't address the issue though of a used item and if they collect the tax on it is all.  I suppose I could just buy some item and see if I get charged the tax or not, lol.

Amazon percentages are high and I certainly wouldn't want to sell any previously viewed new releases on there but I can see how it could be quite beneficial to sell previously viewed movies and games that I have taken in from customers.

Slightly different pricing structure here in Canada

Here is what it would cost me to sell a $10 Previously Viewed Movie

Referral Fee $1.50
Transaction Fee $1.49
Closing Fee $1.09
Total $4.08

That is a whopping 40.8% commission for them for simply adding it to their site.  I am not even sure why it costs more in Canada for the same service, as of this morning, the Canadian $ was worth more than the US $.

I think I will take your advice though, set it up for individual transactions and put up some of my overstocked DVDs and Games and see how it works out for me.

Thanks for the idea.

[EVW]

I didn't know you were in Canada.  I'm not familiar with much of anything regarding Canadian business, but Amazon does not pay or collect taxes in the States. 

The only time I deal with taxes is when I take a special order from a customer for something they want.  I order it from Amazon, say a copy of Caddyshack for 5.25, and charge the customer 5.62 (movie plus 7% Indiana sales tax) since that transaction was "in-store". 

Never hurts to try it but run it like you would any other business.  Keep track of income vs. expenses of online selling and see what the bottom line looks like. 

I could get into a really detailed breakdown of online selling, both Amazon on Ebay, the ins and outs of both but its just too breathy.  You have Google at your fingertips.  A few keywords and you'll go blind with articles and information.  For me it works and is easy extra revenue as well as an extremely, extremely fluid marketplace.  Study, tinker, and tweek.  Good luck

[steve]

I use half.com.  Half is easy to use and has a lower commission than Amazon.

We have had our catalog movies priced for rent or buy about 2 years now.  We used the new replacement cost from Ingram as a pricing guide. 

[supera]

I did a few look up of titles and some were worthwhile and some weren't.  I do like how they don't have any fees until the item sells, not like Ebay where you get charged regardless.

I can see it being useful for games where there is a wider margin to absorb the fees and for certain DVDs.  

I actually put your idea to work today when some brought in a few seasons that I wasn't going to buy as I usually don't bother with them and found out that some sellers were selling them for $22 each and I paid a $5 a season.  Definitely will make money off selling them on there.

[wildandwoolly]

Paladin, I hear what you're saying, but I feel that since things go in/out of print all the time (at least with the # of catalog titles we have) it would be hard to know what the status was without checking.

Todd