“CDs: Nuts to Hold On to Them”, was my original thought when creating this post’s title; but decided a few 90’s gangsta rap fan pop culture LOLs weren’t worth such an unpleasant moniker. Jokes aside, if you have an assortment of compact discs collecting dust around your house, I think you will be pleased by how much they may be worth with a few selling tips in place. So let’s get going.
At one point in time, almost 100% of my income went toward paying for media – CDs, video games, sports cards and VHS tapes to build my collection – I accumulated quite an impressive collection over time.
Over time, my media collection had diminished considerably – leaving just over 200 CDs as remnants. Since adopting minimalism and joining streaming services to build up an MP3 collection over time, however, my physical collection remains dormant, gathering dust while taking up space – when its purpose should have been fulfilling by delighting the ears of fellow music-loving humans who share my exquisite taste in tunes.
At first glance, selling your CDs may seem like a fruitless money-losing venture. Yet for whatever strange reason, people on Amazon and EBay willingly sell CDs for as little as $0.01 each! I don’t understand this phenomenon – donating CDs would provide far greater tax deductions without incurring shipping and packaging materials costs (though this used to be possible prior to tax reform), with only 11% of Americans now claiming itemized deductions such as CD donations (but I digress).
However, despite market anomalies, I believe I have discovered how to successfully and profitably sell off your CD collection in an easier and quicker way. Here is what I have discovered…
Step One: Determine Which CDs Have High Value Titles by Pricing Out the Inventory
Don’t just donate or sell off all your CDs without first doing some sort of inventory evaluation to see if any are of high value titles, like rare classics. Instead, search Amazon or eBay for these titles so you can see their asking prices or search for completed listings if applicable.
My CD collection contained some surprises: three CDs valued at over $50 each were far greater than their purchase prices! Two were imports, while a limited edition collector is no longer in production.
Additionally, I found five more CDs with values exceeding $20 that had gone out of production or belonged to smaller labels – totaling $250 in just 8 titles from my 200 title collection!
Step 2: Sell Rare/High Value CDs Individually
Within the realm of CDs, I consider any SKU with a value of $5+ to be rare/high value SKUs. Often “greatest hits” albums sell for more than others due to being cheaper than buying individual MP3s individually at around $1 each; to maximize total value for these titles and your entire collection, sell these individual CDs on eBay rather than packaging them together as this will bring the highest total return for these pieces of your collection.
How you sell them is also important, and I have found the ideal platform/method for selling CDs to be eBay using “Buy it now” listings. As long as fewer than 50 items per month are sold through this method, insertion fees and total basic fees total only 10% of their value; discounted USPS postage reduces total cost even further! Always ship using USPS media mail for cost effectiveness if selling one CD at a time; typically setting the postage at $3 flat media mail rate will suffice – shipping only within US borders!
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