Are CD's Pretty Much Worthless Now or Am I Over Obsessing?

Secondspin's website will state how much they buy CDs for

http://www.secondspin.com/search.jsp?page=1&type=music.keyword.sell&query=rolling+stones&image.x=18&image.y=13

 

Mostly repeating what some have already mentioned, but price out the CD's as best you can via a site like eBay (I know time is money, but this might be worth the effort if you have some rarities in there). Then, I would sell off the worthless ones in a batch and keep the more valuable ones as one-offs for eBay / Craigslist etc. The worth of a CD is only as much as someone else is willing to spend.

I've never purchased a CD with the idea that it was an investment - it was meant to be consumed. Imo if, 10 or 20 years later, I could recoup even part of that purchase, then that's just icing on the cake.

Think of it this way -- right now people are spending billions of dollars a year on ebooks, digital music and video downloads. And those will never have a re-sale value. The death of the Garage Sale as we know it.....

 

Even at under $1 a used CD is still worth more than an entire collection of HDTracks or iTunes downloads. You can't sell an HDTracks download used. You can't sell an iTunes download used. You can still sell a CD used. Even if you don't want to sell the CD you can still legally give it away or donate it to a library. You can't even legally give away an HDTracks or iTunes download.

CDs are better than any digital only download option because with a CD you have something you can own as you do a book. With a digital download all you own is a non-transferable license. The equivalent of a software license that cannot be transferred.

 

I'm with you here. This isn't an investment to me. It's for enjoyment.

 

I buy music for both reasons.

I make some spare money finding rare CDs at used shops and selling them on eBay. The key to selling CDs there is to do research first. Do a completed items search to see if something is "hot" and will bring enough money to make it worth it (after all the ridiculous fees). I think a big mistake people make is to see how much CDs are listed for on a Buy It Now or how much out of print CDs are listed for on Amazon Marketplaces. There are a ton of overpriced CDs that just sit there.

I'll only sell CDs on eBay if I think I can get at least $30 for them, otherwise it is not worth it to me.

 

Same here. I've never thought I could make a profit selling CDs I've collected over the years. I do get excited though when I get a CD for 5 or 10 bucks out of pure luck and it's 10 times more expensive on Ebay or Amazon, bottom line I just enjoy listening to them.

 

took them to another store, and they gave me $120 for

.....So where did you take them, neighbor ???

 

Expectations

My expectations are that I will receive 50% of the value the store will sell that CD for and typically it holds true. For newer titles and high profile catalog items that sell for $15.99 new the store is selling them used for $8.99 and I expect and generally get $4.50 trade credit. More and more used CDs especially less known current titles and many catalog items are selling for $4.99 to $6.99 in the stores used so my expectation is from $2.50 to $3.50 on those titles. There have been other items were I have been offered, and accepted, less and some of that time it is based on inventory (if they have multiple copies of a title) they will offer less yet. It is what it is these days and looking forward it will probably not improve.

I can generally do a little better at a single location store versus the stores with multiple locations as you are dealing with the owners and they obviously have more discretion in dealing with a good customer.

 

I still buy some CDs, but they've lost most of their value, in my book. High-def discs and vinyl are what I spend most of my cash on.

 

The real bottom line here is Amoeba is a business. They buy up a bunch of stuff and a lot of it they have to wait months for it to sell, if at all. And if doesn't go for what they originally wanted to sell it for then off to the cheapo bins it goes. If you believe it to be rare don't go to a used store. As others have said sell it here or on Ebay. I never sell anything to stores anymore.

 

The most I've made out of my selling my CDs is from a store called Second Spin. There are three locations in Southern California and one in Denver.

Their website has a price-check feature to give a ballpark of how much may be offered for your discs. Just make sure to bring them into a store and not to send them through the mail.

Amoeba Hollywood is only good for in-store credit. Forget about the cash. The in-store credit comes in handy if there are any decent gold discs behind the counter.

 

You at the mercy of whoever is behind the counter. Sometimes I'll leave a store right away depending who I see behind the counter.
In fairness over the $40 title, they may not have checked each individual title in their system. Even if they did, they probably figured you wouldn't know it had much value just because you're dumping it there.
I agree with the less is more game plan as that's been my experience too. I think after X amount of CDs, books and DVDs, the offer becomes less and less per item.

 

Yah, I'm not finding many $1 classical CDs either. Or jazz.

However, I stocked up on classical from BMG before they went out of business. Enough to keep me busy for years.

 

This thread makes me glad that I virtually never paid full price for CDs in the first place. Very few in my collection did I pay over $10. I either bought Columbia House, BMG, or used. It sort of softens the blow of knowing you can hardly give some of them away now.

 

I can't say the same, but I rarely if ever paid collectors prices....

 

If you were selling 1000 cds would any stores give you a 1000 dollars cash for them ?

 

I've bought more than that for a store. Up to $5k. Need special dispensation from the management, who comes down and checks the stuff. No biggie - our system was pretty solid. You won't get anything like that, for example, for 1000 copies of 5 rap CDs. We'd probably have taken three of each and sent you away. Big, varied collections in new condition were much appreciated. Crates of coasters not so much.

 

When I'm holding a well packaged, well remastered CD of an album I love, I'm holding a treasure. My very own little master tape that I can play anywhere, over and over again with no degradation. I can never look at that as a piece of junk.

 

If someone was strapped for cash 1K would be a tidy sum..stop gap at least.

 

I think that there is still a pretty good market for collectible CD's. My Chicago V DVD-audio sold for 70 dollars last night. And I just paid 70 bucks for a DCC gold title, so at least I'm 'a still buyin' and sellin'

 

I never sell my cds anymore. Mainly thanks to this forum and secondly because of the current prices. If there's a cd that I really don't need, I'll try to find someone who might need it and give it to him/her.

 

Yes, and if it comes with an OBI even better.

 

It was an OOP Devo cd(Devo Live), that was fetching as much as $40+ in some places. I would see them selling constantly for around $35-$40, and they had one selling for that very same amount. The $20 cd, was an oop Throbbing Gristle cd.

 

May I suggest to ANYONE wanting to deal with these cats: Be careful!! I was taken for a few hundred dollars from these guys years ago. Sent them a ton of cd's, they were supposed to send me something like $150(I cant remember exactly)-$200 for all of my stuff, and I didnt get dime 1 from them. I tried contacting them, several times about it, and nothing. I wouldnt want to see anyone get ripped off by them. Thats my personal experience with them though, someone else might've had a better one with them.

 

There is some kind of deflation thing going on in the used CD market at the time. Of course, that only concerns releases that came in large quantities in the first place. So the labels practise of shoving many a number of the same album into stores to get a high charting position without actually selling that much is currently ruining the reissue market for these titles, and lowering the resale price.

I'm kind of happy that this is the time to buy CDs. I can always sell those which I do not want later when used CD prices will have recovered.