Before high-speed internet and digital music and movies, it wasn’t rare for people to spend thousands of dollars on a DVD and CD collection. But with today’s options for online streaming and on-demand content, the need for physical media has gone bythe wayside as easier and cheaper versions of watching your favorite movies and shows emerge. In the age of Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, here are some options to cash in on your old, dusty collections of movies and music.
Decluttr
Decluttr is a service made solely for trading in your old stuff. On the media side, Declutter accepts CDs, DVDs, games, and books. It also takes used phones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, e-readers, smartwatches and other devices.
You can download the Decluttr app to build a sell list using your phone’s camera as a barcode scanner. You instantly find out how much Decluttr will pay. If you’re satisfied, you box up your items and Decluttr covers shipping costs. Once received, you’ll get paid the next day.
Payments are made by direct deposit to your bank account, PayPal or a paper check in the mail. However you choose to get paid, you have more money and less stuff at the end of the process.
eBay
The most popular online destination for collectibles is eBay. With our old movie and music collections becoming collector’s items, eBay is another good option to unload your discs.
Unlike Decluttr, where you can send in everything at once, eBay is a one-item-at-a-time proposition. Further, eBay requires you to add each item individually, which can be a very time-consuming task. But on the other side, when an item sells, you get cash in your pocket, and it may be more than you get using a service like Decluttr.
A local record store
Video may have killed the radio star, but record stores are still alive and well in big cities across the country. Your results may vary in terms of what they are willing to pay and which movies and records they might want to take off your hands, but this is your best option to get cash for your collection outside of online selling options.
Donate for a tax write-off
If this all sounds like way too much work and you’d rather just dump off your old movies and albums for donation, you can still earn a bit back when you file your taxes.
If you file your taxes using the itemized deduction method, you can donate your collection to an organization and get a break on your taxes. The nonprofit can resell the disks to help fund its mission, and your adjusted gross income goes down by the value of the disks. For most Americans, you can save 25% or 28% of the donated value.