posted on April 23, 2002 06:03:00 AM new
I found a supplier for videos. The price is the most reasonable I've seen, but I have to buy 4000 of them. My husband is leary because we've been doing videos for awhile now - but always used and some movies just don't do well on ebay. For this supplier a manifest is not available, but he guarentees variety. I figure my choices are: Put the videos I know won't do well in a few big lots on ebay and probably loose some money on those, put them in my AW storefront and put a link in my auctions stating "more available that aren't listed on ebay" (that may be against ebay rules, though,) or put them on Amazon.com or Half.com and pray they don't sit in my basement for a year before they're sold. Any opinions from those of you who list on Half.com or Amazon.com?
posted on April 23, 2002 07:00:56 AM new
Without a list of the videos it will be hard to do research as to what some of the titles are going for. VHS movie prices have come way down in the past year and I suspect will come down even more.
I sell books on half.com before 9-11 I made a very comfortable living at it. For weeks after 9-11 I made no sales at all, not one! Things have picked up a bit there for me but nothing like the business I was doing pre 9-11.
On top of fewer sales there are way to many people unloading unwanted books, CDs and movies at very low prices on Half.com people seem to try and out do each other for a sale. If they see a book where the lowest price is $2.00 they mark theirs at $1.00. If it the lowest price is a $1.00 heck they will go down to the lowest price allowed by Half which is .75 cents. Its crazy and goes on in Amazon.com as well.
While I don't specialize in movies I do manage to come a cross them a lot in my book dealings and have long since stopped listing them on ebay or Half.com due to the low prices they bring. I bring them to the swap meet and get way better prices than I could on-line.
Hope this helps a little hopefully you will get a little more input so you can make up your mind on buying those 4,000 titles
posted on April 23, 2002 07:36:04 AM new
i have sold one movie on amzn and it is a hard to find foreign movie of days gone by.
may be one way to decipher what would you be getting in a lot of 4000 is ask yourself how much are you paying for it and why the seller is disposing 4000,does he have more,does he have time to sell on his own?
just curious,how much is shipping??
questions-do foreign movies sell better and where can one find those in large quantity
posted on April 23, 2002 09:10:56 AM new
As a buyer (not a seller) of about 100 videos on Half.com, I can state with certainty that the ones I've purchased from so-called "video specialists" almost universally are constructed very poorly. Some jam after just one viewing, they all track very poorly, sometimes there is no lock on the tape cover, some are even jammed when I take them out of the box! One I bought is so poor you can literally see through the oxide on the tape! Have had much better luck buying from individuals on Half.com than those who specialize, and I know others feel the same way. Once burned...
Can't speak to the business viability of buying/selling 4,000 videos, but if I were you I'd be at least as concerned about how well they're built as what's recorded on them. Otherwise you might discover the real reason you're getting a "most reasonable" price is that they're built to last about 7 minutes.
posted on April 23, 2002 10:05:09 AM new
It would be reasonable to request an accurate sample lot of ten. Review the condition of the videos. You could also inspect their packaging job to see if you would be confident the package arrives in the same condition the seller shipped them in.
posted on April 23, 2002 01:53:05 PM new
Thanks for all the input - I still haven't made up my mind. To stopwhining - they pay the shipping, which is really unusual for a company to do that. They are all new and still sealed, so I'm not worried about the quality so much, but for 75 cents a video a figured it was a good deal. The lot is supposed to contain a mix of childrens, cartoons, westerns, exercise, and more - no mention of foreign films, though. I think I still want to do it, but my husband is still thinking no.
posted on April 24, 2002 03:30:24 AM newihula: most of the videos will be trash that you will not be able to unload! I used to sell videos -- no longer worth the time & effort.
I had some 2-fers up the other week: BRAND NEW major label NEW famous movies starting @ $1.00! Disaster!
The funniest one was the one that ended at $1.00 & the buyer BITCHED about the shipping!
posted on April 24, 2002 12:36:00 PM new
I agree with the run like hell theory. At least ask them if the videos are in the EP mode. The description he gave you on genres sounds like the junk in the cheap bin at Walgreens; Out of copyright WESTERNS, no-name FITNESS, four CARTOONS to a box, etc. EP movies have about an half-inch or even less of tape inside and you winners would scream if you didn't disclose this. i saw one of these un-opened lots on eBay and the picture was clearly this type of video. The still sealed part means its possible junk, too. Good movies are most often watched, THEN sold. Why would this guy have 'good' movies still sealed ?
