One of the easy ways to make money is to sell your old stuff, some of which includes CDs, DVDs and even games. So if you have some of these items in your old store, now is the time to make money from them.
The easiest way to go about this is to search online of websites that can help you promote your items.
While every site differs in how they do things, generally it’s just a case of entering your product barcode, ISBN or product name to get an instant quote – or better still, scanning with your phone if you use a site with an app.
You might find that some sites have a minimum value or number of items, meaning you’ll need to scour the room for extra items to sell if you haven’t met the minimum amount.
If you’re happy with the quote you’ve been given, simply accept the offer, fill in your details and send your items off in the post. In most cases, the postage is free, but double-check this first or you could end up forking out more on postage than you’ll earn from selling your stuff.
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Then comes the fun bit: getting paid! Most sites are pretty quick, and once they’ve received your items, your money should be with you the following day. All the information you need will be provided in this article.
- How Much can you Make From Selling Old CDs, DVDs, And Games Online?
- Which Websites can you Sell you old CDs, DVD and Games?
- What CDs are Worth Money?
- Should I Collect CDs or Vinyl?
- How Much does Pawn Shops Give for DVDs?
- How can I Sell my old CDs Offline?
- Is Blu Ray Dying?
How Much can you Make From Selling Old CDs, DVDs, And Games Online?
Depending on what you’re selling, and where you’re selling it, you can expect to get about 50p–£1 for CDs, £1.50 for DVDs and £15 for computer games.
While it’s possible to earn a bit more by selling offline, trade-in sites are quick, convenient and hassle-free.
To get as much money for your old things as you can, it’s always best to shop around as much as you can online, as different trade-in sites will often give you different quotes for the same items.
And, remember that the price you’re offered will be based on demand. If you’re selling textbooks, for example, you should sell them as soon as possible to make sure the course is still running – and ideally just before term starts.
You may find that some sites will offer you (what looks like) a better deal if you accept a voucher instead of cash. But, before accepting this, it’s worth thinking about whether you want your spending to be limited to whichever shop the voucher is for.
Which Websites can you Sell you old CDs, DVD and Games?
Now that you know how much your items might be worth, its time to look around for some websites that will help you sell them quickly.
Music Magpie
Music Magpie is one of the most well known and easy-to-use trade-in sites, and they’re a great place to sell your CDs, DVDs, books, games and tech. They’ll also give you a price for your phones and gadgets (although bear in mind, you might fair better selling these on eBay).
The prices might not always be the best going, but they’re still worth checking – and, crucially, they offer free postage on your old gear. They also have an app that comes with a barcode scanner.
You’ll need a minimum valuation of £5 to sell with them. Payment is made by bank transfer, and it should be in your account the next working day after Music Magpie receive your items. If you opt for payment by cheque, allow seven days.
CeX
CeX is the only site on this list to also boast a presence on the high street, so if you think you’d get a better price for your items by haggling in person, this is where to head to.
They buy old CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and games, as well as pretty much anything electronic, and they’ll pay into your bank account, PayPal or offer you a cheque.
There’s no minimum value, and if you pop into a store you can also get cash straight away (but online payments can take up to a week to process).
WeBuyBooks
Despite the name, WeBuyBooks will also buy your old CDs, films and games, and often ranks pretty well for valuations (although we think it’s time they rebranded the name!).
Enter your product deets into the search tool and they’ll provide you with an instant valuation. Once your items have a combined value of £5 or more, you can send them off to their warehouse (and they’ll pay for postage).
They’re pretty quick with payment too – like Music Magpie, they promise to have your cash processed and in your account the day after they receive your items.
Payment can be made via PayPal, cheque or bank transfer, and they also offer rewards for regular customers.
GameXchange
If you’re particularly stocked up with games you haven’t played in years, and feel it’s time to upgrade your collection, a visit to GameXchange is your best shout.
Although these guys don’t offer cash payment for games, any money you make is stored as credit on your GameXchange account and they offer decent prices.
Along with games, GameXchange also lets you trade in consoles, DVDs and tech.
If your items are worth £5+ (and include two or more items in total) they’ll pay for your postage costs. Otherwise, you’ll need to foot the bill yourself.
eBay
Using an online auction site like eBay can be a bit of a slower process, so this maybe isn’t the best choice for those who want their cash fast.
However, if you end up with a few keen beans who are ready to fight over what you have to offer, you could end up earning a good sum for your goodies.
It will take a bit more time to set up your listing and research how much to charge. Plus, you’ll have to pay a commission on your sale.
Amazon Marketplace
Amazon might not instantly spring to mind when you’re thinking of a site to flog your own unwanted goods, but Amazon Marketplace allows you to do just that.
You can’t always get the best prices on there, but as the site has a massive reach, it’s likely you’ll be able to quickly sell on items you’ve not been able to offload elsewhere.
By signing up to Amazon Marketplace, you have access to the entire EU marketplace, not just the UK.
However, there are a few charges involved that are worth being aware of. Amazon charges include:
• £0.75 one-off fee on each product you sell
• 15% of sale price as a ‘referral fee’
• A ‘closing fee’ of £0.50.
Ziffit
Similar to CeX and Music Magpie, Ziffit buys all your old media to send, and ships it completely free of charge.
You’ll need either £5 worth of items or 10 items to complete a trade-off. Scan the barcode via their app and they’ll tell you straight away how much you could bag.
If your items weigh less than 10kg (which they’ll work out for you after you scan the barcode), you can send your items through one of Ziffit’s collection shops completely free of charge.
Packages weighing over 15kg can be picked up via a courier collection service, also provided free of charge.
You’ll receive your money via bank transfer, PayPal or by cheque with Ziffit’s cash voucher system. Make sure you also sign up for their newsletters to get promos and voucher codes.
Momox
In order to complete a transaction on Momox, you’ll need at least £10 worth of items or 10 things. You can either get quotes for your items on their website or app.
A prepaid sticker is provided so you can send off your items for free and all money is paid straight into your bank account.
Abundatrade
Abundatrade always offers great prices for used CDs. You just have to make sure you meet their Pre-Valuation requirement. Free shipping is available for used CD, DVD, and Video Games trades with a pre-valuation of $15 or more, and an average item value of at least $0.75.
Depending on the item, I’ve found that selling used CDs with Abundatrade on average amounts between $0.65 and $0.85 per CD.
As a tip, just make sure you have a large collection if you are going to use this site because otherwise, you will need to pay for your shipping. Also, when it comes to getting paid with this site you have to be patient.
They take 48-72 hours for PayPal transactions to show up in your account or 2-3 weeks for a check.
Second Spin
Second Spin buys all kinds of CDs. But that’s not all. You can also sell your Video Games, Blu Rays and DVDs.
One of the things best features of the site is being able to quickly see the potential trade-in value for your DVD. All you have to do is enter the title or barcode of your movie, game, music album or whatever your CD contains.
Here are a few examples (at the time of writing this post):
- Imagine (John Lennon): $3
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (Blue Ray): $7
- SkyScraper (DVD): $6
You get paid via PayPal or check, or you can opt for store credit which you can use to buy anything from their online store.
What CDs are Worth Money?
CDs are the second most-purchased and most-submitted format behind vinyl records on Discogs. About 21% of all purchases in 2018 consisted of a CD, whether it be part of a boxset or an individual disc. Total CD sales on Discogs grew by about 20% over 2017 and continue to do so into this year.
Similar to the trend we have seen in rare and expensive vinyl records and cassette tapes, the high-end CD market is accelerating. If 2019 sales continue at the pace they notched in the first four months, sales this year will account for 48% of the top 100.
We have put together a list of the rarest CDs on the market that have sold for ridiculous sums of money. If you own any of these, try not to have a heart attack.
Michael Jackson – Smile (1997) – worth £1,200 ($1965 AUD)
According to mjjcollectors.com, this crazy price tag applies only to copies of the Austrian edition. The release was cancelled, with all copies supposedly destroyed, but a few crept into circulation. There are quite a few fakes out there, and the site offers a handy guide to help you distinguish these from the real thing.
Coldplay – Safety EP (1998) – worth £2,000 ($3275 AUD)
Coldplay’s Safety EP contains just three tracks. The band self-released it with a limited run of 500 and this Discogs write-up claims that “most of these copies were given to record company executives and friends & family and only a few remain in circulation”.
The Rolling Stones – Steel Wheels Japan Tour (1990) – worth £2,000 ($3275 AUD)
The Steel Wheels Japan Tour CD is a career-spanning compilation of performances from the band’s 1989 Japanese tour, it was only available in Japan for promotional purposes and also contains a seven-page booklet of press material. One copy sold for 2,000 pounds in September last year. Yep. Holy shit.
David Bowie – Sound + Vision (1989) – worth £4,000 ($6545 AUD)
A copy of Bowie’s epic compilation Sound + Vision sold for £4,099 on eBay in 2013. Only 350 copies of the compilation were made. It contains 49 tracks – a mix of studio and live recordings – and one video (Ashes To Ashes). The aforementioned eBay listing says it’s accompanied by a 72-page booklet and comes in ‘a basswood and birch box’. Better be a damn nice box.
Eminem – Slim Shady EP (1997) – worth £9,837 ($16,100 AUD)
Yeah, for real. Only 500 copies of the Slim Shady EP were made, and only half of those actually sold. This is probably the most valued CD of the lot despite it selling for an absurd amount. It’s only 9 tracks and a bunch are 30-second skits…
What can I do with old CDs and DVDs?
As you transition your music library to MP3 or other digital formats, you may find yourself with CDs and tapes to recycle. Unfortunately, the recycling market for these products is pretty limited.
These media are made of plastic, but not the same kind of plastic as bottles and food containers. In fact, they are a mixture of different plastic resins. CD cases are polystyrene, while the discs themselves are polycarbonate. The casing of tapes is polypropylene, and the tape itself is polyethylene terephthalate.
Because of the limited recycling market for plastic in these forms, there aren’t many options for recycling. But instead of throwing them away, consider the following reuse ideas:
- Donate your old CD, DVDs and tapes to a secondhand store or music reseller for reuse. Even if the items are scratched, it’s likely they can be repaired and resold. This obviously won’t be an option if you’re getting rid of blank or burned CDs and VHS tapes.
- Use them for a DIY art project.
- Mail your media to a company like the CD Recycling Center of America or GreenDisk. Make sure to remove any paper sleeves, as these can be recycled with other paper. CD jackets are office paper, and VHS tape sleeves are paperboard.
Find a drop-off location for CDs and tapes near you using the Recycling Locator.
Should I Collect CDs or Vinyl?
Vinyl is great, but the idea that its sound quality is superior to that of uncompressed digital recordings is preposterous. So which of the two options should you collect?
What vinyl can’t do
On a theoretical level, there’s just no reason it should be the case that vinyl sounds better. There are built-in problems with using vinyl as a data encoding mechanisms that have no CD equivalent. Vinyl is physically limited by the fact that records have to be capable of being played without skipping or causing distortion.
That both limits the dynamic range — the difference between the loudest and softest note — and the range of pitches (or “frequencies”) you can hear.
If notes get too low in pitch, that means less audio can fit in a given amount of vinyl. If notes are too high, the stylus has difficulty tracking them, causing distortion. So engineers mastering for vinyl often cut back on extreme high or low ends, using a variety of methods, all of which alter the music.
For example, one common cause of high pitches in recordings is “sibilance,” or the hiss-y sound produced by pronouncing certain consonants, notably “s” or “z”s, in a quick, sharp way (ex.: “zip,” “shack,” “sap”).
This creates enough problems for engineers working in vinyl that they often have to “de-ess” recordings, either by making the pronunciation less sibilant through editing or by straight-up asking vocalists to pronounce lyrics differently.
De-essing is a common technique outside vinyl too, but then it’s an artistic choice; vinyl forces de-essing upon you. If you want to keep aggressive sibilance in for aesthetic reasons, and want to press to vinyl, you’re out of luck.
And when de-essing is achieved through re-recording vocals, it can alter the music in subtler ways, making vocalists deliver lyrics less intensely and lose a degree of artistic expression in the process.
What CDs can do
Since CDs rely on sampling an original analog signal being recorded, they do have some frequency limitations. While vinyl records, in theory, directly encode a smooth audio wave, CDs sample that audio wave at various points and then collate those samples. “No matter how high a sampling rate is,” Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk once wrote, “it can never contain all of the data present in an analog groove.”
That’s true. CDs work by taking a bunch of samples from a source audio wave and stringing them together. But this criticism is misleading on two counts.
For one thing, vinyl pressing is not error-free, and the analog groove of a given record is not a precise replication of the audio wave recorded in the master, not least due to extremely high and low-frequency limitations.
It’s true that CDs can’t exactly replicate the whole audio wave in a master, in every case (update: in many cases, the Nyquist-Shannon theorem means it can) — but neither can vinyl records.
More importantly, the volume of sampling that CDs do should be enough to get a replica of the original recording that sounds identical to the human ear. The sampling rate for CDs is 44.1kHz, meaning that CD recordings sample the master recording 44,100 times a second, and can capture frequencies as high as 20 kHz.
That is about the limit of what humans can hear; at least one experiment has confirmed that listeners in blind tests can’t tell the difference between recordings that include frequencies above 21k and ones that don’t. You may think you can hear more than CDs are giving you. But you probably can’t.
And over time, engineers have come to make better use of those 44.1kHz. Scott Metcalfe, director of recording arts and sciences at Johns Hopkins’s Peabody Institute, explains that engineers have taken to “oversampling,” making digital files that use a much higher rate than 44.1kHz, and then compressing that back down to 44.1kHz for the actual CD.
“It captures the signal at a much much higher sample rate and then mathematically takes it down to 44.1kHz,” Metcalfe says. “It does a really good job of preserving information.”
Metcalfe brings up another problem with this line of CD criticism. Even if an actual recording method can hold frequencies above 20kHz, that doesn’t matter if there isn’t a microphone capable of capturing them in the first place, or a speaker capable of playing them back.
And most studios don’t have microphones that record above 20kHz, and it’s very rare for speakers to play frequencies above that. Indeed, most playback systems feature low-pass filters, which specifically cut off anything above that marker.
The fact of the matter is that CDs can create closer facsimiles than vinyl can.
How Much does Pawn Shops Give for DVDs?
Most pawn shops will buy your DVDs and Blu-ray discs, provided they are free of scratches. In general, the newer the release, the more the shop will pay for your DVD or Blu-ray. You will get more money for movies in their original cases. DVDs and Blu-rays typically sell for between $.50 and $2 each.
How can you Sell to Pawn Shops?
If you want to know how to pawn or sell DVD’s for the most money possible, start by taking these steps before you walk into a pawn shop:
- See if you can find all the cases for your DVD’s. This will make it easier for a pawnbroker to resell them, as it makes them look more attractive to customers that buy items at pawn shops.
- Make it easy on the pawnbroker and make sure your DVD’s are working and in their correct cases before you hand them over.
It never hurts to make a pawnbroker’s job easier. You might get yourself a better offer than if your DVD’s were all in different cases and not working.
The first step for how to pawn or sell DVD’s for the most money possible is listing your DVD’s on PawnGuru and see how much your local pawn shops will buy them for. To see how much pawn shops pay for DVD’s, this is the easiest way to find out without needing to leave your home and go from shop to shop for the best offer. Here are the steps:
- Create a listing for your DVD’s on PawnGuru
- Watch the bids roll in from pawn shops in your area
- If you find an offer you like for your DVD’s, accept the bid
- Visit the pawnshop with your DVD’s in hand
- Finalize the offer
- Walk away with cash in hand
How can I Sell my old CDs Offline?
Whilst trade-in sites are often the easiest option to go for, they certainly aren’t your only options. What’s more, you could often get a better payout if you invest a little more time and effort in the offline world.
Here are the best ways to sell your belongings offline:
Car boot sales
Often massively underrated and underused as a way of making money on items, car boot sales are also a hell of a lot of fun. If you’ve got a lot of stuff to shift (or you can club together with friends), keep an eye on your local paper or look online to find car boot sales near you.
You’ll have to pay around a fiver for a pitch, but you’ll get instant cash in your hand and the benefit of impulse buys, along with the opportunity to haggle.
Advertisement boards
Often free to use, you can get a lot of guaranteed views by posting about your things for sale on advertisement boards. Particularly if your prices are competitive and you can show your items are in good condition (photos always help), you’re likely to get a fair bit of interest.
Inserting ‘O.N.O’ (‘Or Nearest Offer’) beside your selling price will encourage people to get in contact if they’re put off by your price. Plus, it makes it sound like you know what you’re talking about.
The best places to scout for decent noticeboards to post on are at uni, local supermarkets, libraries, community centres and in shop windows (although some will ask you to pay for this).
Second-hand shops
If you can’t be bothered with all the hassle of manning a sale stall, and aren’t keen on any of the sites mentioned above, there are loads of second-hand shops that will buy your media gold in bulk.
If you have a large collection, particularly of books, a shop employee might even pop over to your house and give you a quote for the lot.
However, this minimum effort method will be paid for through the quote they offer you, as unless you have some seriously in-demand goodies, you probably won’t squeeze much out of them.
This option is best kept for those who want a large number of things shifted ASAP, caring less about the price (so not likely to be the first option for cash-poor students!).
Buy-back policies
Buy-back policies are a totally valid option when it comes to academic books, but you will have to plan ahead with your purchases.
Blackwell’s, a university campus favorite, offers a scheme where you’re guaranteed 40% of the RRP on textbooks if you choose to bring them back.
If you want the full 40%, this will need to go onto a Blackwell’s gift card. This can be used on your next round of course texts, or if you’d prefer hard cash for your books, you’ll get 33% of the RRP onto your credit or debit card.
You will have to keep the books in tip-top condition mind, so no scribbling in the margins.
Is Blu Ray Dying?
According to Forbes, Samsung is discontinuing the production of new 4K Blu-ray players in the USA. And at least in 2019 the company will not introduce any new devices worldwide.
Existing players will at least continue to be sold off. This announcement is particularly remarkable because Samsung produced the first 4K capable Blu-ray player about two years ago!
Therefore, the fundamental question is whether a Blu-ray player is still up to date at all. After the withdrawal of Samsung, the Blu-ray player market will now be dominated by Sony and Panasonic.
Sony, above all, because the Playstation can also play Blu-ray. The fact that current models of the Xbox Blu-ray can also play movies (after the aberrations with the HD DVD) does not make the market any easier, especially for Panasonic.
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The fact that the Dolby Vision standard is not supported by the manufacturer’s current players certainly contributed to Samsung’s decision. Instead, Samsung developed its own standard HDR10 – which was quite cumbersome for the consumer.
Is the Blu-ray still state of the art?
There are many reasons why the Blu-ray is actually no longer up to date:
- Blu-ray movies are expensive
In comparison to the DVD, the Blu-ray has never really prevailed. Despite the significantly poorer quality, considerably more DVDs are still sold than Blu-rays. A Blu-ray always costs several EUR more than a DVD. Of course, a Blu-ray is still the non plus ultra, especially for audio and picture enthusiasts. No other medium currently allows such good picture and sound quality. All streaming services, for example, reduce picture and sound to the smallest possible size to save bandwidth. A movie on a Blu-ray has a size between 15 and 50 GB. With Netflix, even in 4K, the size rarely exceeds 10 GB. - Blu-rays are not very convenient
If you “just” want to watch a movie, the streaming services are simply faster. A Blu-ray must first be bought and if this happens online, it must also be sent to the consumer. With streaming providers, you can watch movies spontaneously and on almost any player. Blu-ray discs can also scratch and then become worthless. - Blu-ray movies require a special playback device…
…which is also expensive. Ordinary Blu-Ray players are available from about 100€. If you want to support 4K, Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos, you will pay several hundred EUR more. For comparison: A FireTV Stick from Amazon with the same technologies is already available for about 35€. In addition, a FireTV can als mobile.o be used mobile.
Netflix, Amazon Prime & Co. offers are now simply a better alternative to Blu-ray. And further manufacturers are about to leave the Blu-ray market. The next Xbox from Microsoft will probably no longer have an optical drive.
Like vinyl records, Blu-Ray will therefore become a niche market in the foreseeable future and disappear from the living room. Not yet this year, but it won’t take long
Conclusion
With the opportunity available for you to sell your old CDs, DVDs and games, you have no reason to keep them locked up in your store when you can make money from them and clear some space. Just utilize any of the options mentioned above and get your money.
