Over the last ten years, I amassed a sizable DVD collection. I collected everything from TV series to classic movies. But after these years of pointless purchases, I realized that what I’m sitting on is not a collection of DVDs, but of worthless dust. In the last three years, we haven’t watched a single DVD from our collection (aside from DVDs of my daughter’s favorite shows). What value is there in owning something that you never use and only is noticed when it comes time to dust the shelves?

About this time last year, I realized the “obvious”: I should sell my collection, or at least parts of it.

After getting burned many times by scammers on eBay, I chose to sign up for an Amazon.com Sellers account. It didn’t take much effort to set up the account and soon I was listing DVDs for sale publicly. Amazon.com, like eBay and PayPal, charges you for the convenience of listing your items and having them accept payment, but for that fee you get access to a large, engaged buying community and decent protection from fraudsters.

With an Amazon.com Sellers account, you list your items for a fixed price and they sit out there in the wild until they sell. I’ve found it best to research the prices others are selling the item for and listing mine at a competitive (but not bargain-basement) price. Within a week, Amazon emailed me to let me know I made my first sale.

You are required to ship the item within two business days of receiving payment and Amazon does give you a modest allowance for shipping. I’ve found it’s easiest to keep the boxes and shipping filler you received from other Amazon.com and online purchases for shipping your own product. My most recent sale gave me a shipping allowance of $2.98, of which I only needed $2.85 (to ship via USPS Media Mail).

To date, I’ve made nearly $125 from selling DVDs that no longer held value to me. I probably paid more than that when I first purchased them, but cash now is always better than junk on a shelf! If you have a collection that is collecting dust, it may be that your collection would be more valuable to someone else. You can easily boost your savings account by selling your stuff and stashing that money away for when you need it most.

Photo by: dearsomeone

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