27 April 2012

Why Amazon wants your old CDs

Explained at Smart Money:
The online retailer announced Wednesday that has added CDs to the list of items it allows shoppers to trade, which includes books, video games, DVDs and electronics. Sellers get a free shipping label to mail in their items, and receive store credit based on quality of the discs. Just how much credit customers can expect to get remains unclear; at press time, Amazon’s trade-in page had not yet been updated to allow CD entries. (Amazon.com did not respond to requests for comment.) But retail experts say CDs could fetch as much as $2 to $3 apiece...

Amazon is hoping the service will eventually translate to more purchases — and more loyal customers. Studies have shown that when consumers redeem gift cards or credit, they tend to spend 40% more than the value of that credit...

To get the best deal, consumers can copy songs from the discs to their computer for free before selling... Consumers may find, however, that much of their music isn’t eligible. Most CD trade-in sites — as well as Amazon’s DVD trade-ins — require the seller to include the case with its artwork and UPC code. Scratched discs may also be rejected. So music fans who ditched jewel cases in favor of a “CD wallet” or didn’t keep their collection in pristine condition are likely stuck with it until their next yard sale.
I note it's a trade-in, not an outright purchase, so there's no advantage to cruising library book sales to buy quantities of CDs for a buck each.

Via The New Shelton wet/dry, where I also found this excellent post title:

It’s amazing how much more money I have when I’m drunk.

2 comments:

  1. I can't believe smart money is encouraging piracy. If you sell a cd, then you no longer have rights to a copy of it on your pc. You should legally delete those songs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have literally thousands of CDs from my years managing a used CD store. Every disc is in its jewel case with artwork... It used to be awesome to see them all displayed on a handmade case I created, now they are stored in boxes hidden away. I keep meaning to do something with them, maybe it's time to finally trade them out. Sad days for a collector like me.

    ReplyDelete

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