So you want to sell DVDs on Ebay? - By Stephen Tierney

Want to sell DVDs on Ebay? A lot of people do. Its a competitive market to say the least, but how do they do it - where do they get their stock from? Drop-shipping? Wholesale outlets? Possibly, if you have a spare lockup to store all the bulk purchased DVDs you just bought to get that extra discount. Chances are if you are considering buying to sell on Ebay you have looked into buying wholesaler lists from Ebay itself. Well, If I was you I would not waste my money. In my experience these lists are nothing but junk, containing at
best outdated information for wholesalers in the US, with nothing relevant to the UK. There are many, many other ways to purchase DVDs to sell on Ebay - by all means follow the wholesaler route. There are wholesale outlets out there that cater for the Sole Trader, without having to be VAT registered but you usually find that the prices offered are not that much better, if at all, than the prices offered by the larger more reputable stores on the internet. So with that in mind, where should you start...? Well you really need to bear in mind 2 things.

1. People that buy on ebay are looking for a bargain, the trouble is they think that Ebay is the best place to look. They are wrong!

2. The higher the RRP the more bang for your buck.

When people first start selling DVDs on Ebay, they quickly find that the profit margins are slim to non-existent, but they usually have a plan: so what, they think, if they only make £1.00 for every DVD sold - sell a hundred DVDs in a month and before they know it that's £100 profit. Fair enough if you are prepared to put in the work. But you will quickly find that of those 100 DVDs you sell in a month, a fairly high percentage of them will make even less than £1.00 profit, some will just break even and some will incur a loss. That's just the way Ebay is designed: with the consumer in mind (if you have never sold on Ebay before you have to remember that that you are charged a fee when you list your items, charged again when the item sells and charged yet again when the buyer uses paypal for pay for it..!). The promotion of the "Watch this item" option on Ebay has been a boon for the customer but a bane for many a seller, whereas in the early days to watch an Item the customer had to place a bid, now it is very apparent that items can be added to a customers watch list the day you upload your listing and they do not have to place a bid until the auction closes, which can make for a last minute bidding frenzy and lower final values!

So what is the best way round this? For the most part steer clear of the latest Region 2 blockbusters. There is too much competition for those, but if you can find a good source for Box-sets, Limited Editions, Deleted DVDs or Imported DVDs you will be onto a winner. These items will tend to fetch more money because of their perceived higher value or rareness of the DVD. But where should you buy them from? That is the 6 Million Dollar Question, but here are a few recommendations.

1. Price comparison Sites.

There are many price comparison sites on the internet, search for these in google, identify your favourite, enter your keywords and search for your DVDs. Some of them offer a list of the the best bargains currently available, sorted by either percentage or value discount across the majority of the big name retailers on the net. Yet more will allow you to target a specific DVD: enter your email address and select a target price. When the DVD reaches that
price you will automatically be sent an email informing you where to purchase the DVD. Advantages of this are obvious since it will save you a lot of time an effort hunting down the bargain yourself.

2. Community Forums.

These sites can be worth their weight in Gold. Specialist Bargain hunter forums run by people just like you and populated with members just like you - all devoted to finding the
latest and best bargains on the internet, whether they be legitimate sale discounts or the more sort after and flirtatious Mis-Price (these occur when the an on-line store messes up and lists a high value DVD for a 95% discount or something similar - it happens and if your quick off the mark, you might be able to get an order dispatched before the retailer rectifies the mistake). As well as the Bargain sections of these forums many also have a classified section, which brings us onto....

3 Second Hand.

This is really a good market. I know I said earlier to steer clear of the latest blockbusters, but some of the forum sites have a very good classified section populated by people who purchase all the latest DVDs from all regions then sell them on when they are finished watching them for a discounted price. It is in forums sections such as this that you may find your ebay rarities and deleted limited editions being offered for sale at very discounted prices, possibly because the seller does not realise the true value of what
he is offering.

4. Ex Rental.

Sometimes DVDs are released only for rental, with the sell thru DVD delayed for a couple of months. These DVDs can sometimes be picked up from the ex-Rental bin of your local DVD shop, usually for a very palatable price. List on Ebay as RARE, Not available in shops or some other sensational tag line and the DVD will probably sell for a good price. (But make sure you let the customer know that the Item is not new)

These are just a few ways for you to get hold of your DVDs at the best possible prices. I hope you find them useful and I wish you the best of luck with your Ebay endeavours.

Stephen is the administrator of Cheap DVD, Video Game & CD Website DVD Bargain Alerts. Dedicated to finding the best prices on the Internet.