I admit, I was just as shocked as anyone to discover the wholesale cost of new release dvd's. We all have some expectation that new release dvd's must be available at a very low cost. Otherwise, how would so many sellers on ebay be offering them for a few dollars each?
NEW RELEASE DVD'S ARE AT A PREMIUM
My research has proven to me that new release dvd's are high demand no profit titles. If you will research the auction of ebay's top dvd sellers, you will not find any selling new releases. The reason is simple. There is so much competition for new release dvd's, there just isn't any money to be made selling them.
There are several important reason why an item as popular as a new release dvd would yield no profit to a dvd seller.
1. Unless you have millions of dollars to spend, you have to buy your new release dvd movies from one of the three main dvd suppliers in the United States. For the huge box stores like Wal-mart, they have enough volume to buy directly from the studios. They are able to bypass the middle man and buy these movies at the same cost paid by the big distributors.
Typically, these huge box store will advertise new release dvd's at cost. They simply use them as a loss leader to get buyers in their store. They know if you come in to buy a new release, chances are you will buy other items they will make a profit from. This is why you will find Wal-Mart will sometimes have new releases cheaper than we can buy them from one of the dvd wholesalers.
2. The second reason is new release dvd's are not just in demand with the public, they are in demand with the bootleggers as well. A bootlegger can make a new release dvd with the cover art for as little as $1.50 each. These illegal counterfeits usually go on sale before they are even officially released to the public.
You can't compete with a bootlegger that is creating movies on a computer for $1.50 each.
HOW DO EBAY SELLERS SELL NEW RELEASES SO CHEAP?
1. A lot of sellers are actually buying new releases at Wal-Mart and reselling them on ebay. This is not my method of choice. I just avoid new releases altogether. But I have ran into several sellers so intent on selling them, this is the method they use.
2. Some of the big sellers may be using them as loss leaders like Wal-mart. If you were selling 10,000 dvd's a month you were making money from, you could afford to sell 100 - 200 new releases at cost.
3. I'm of the opinion that a very large portion of the new release dvd's available on ebay are counterfeits. One of the giveaways are dvd auctions that include any of the following in the description: DVD-5, import, doesn't include the case, shipped in plastic sleeves, shipped from China, Philippines, Malaysia, or some other third world country.
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON NEW RELEASE DVD'S
The large suppliers in my directory will offer you new release dvd's. These are the same distributors that supply new releases to all the dvd rental stores. So they are available if you are set on selling them. However, I would encourage you to focus on picking profitable titles you can use to start and grow your dvd business.
I put a majority of my efforts into dvd's that are a couple of years old. The choices that you make in purchasing dvd's are totally up to you, but I recommend that you really study titles before purchasing them.
I tell all of my customers to study auctions that are listed by the largest sellers of dvd's on Ebay. By taking a look at their past auctions you will see there is hardly any (if any at all) new release dvd's for sale on their auction pages.
So if I Shouldn't Sell a New Release DVD Then What Should I Sell?
The best thing that you can do when picking dvd titles to sell is to research the titles. You can do an advanced search on Ebay to research top selling titles. Just refine your search to the top seller's (as mentioned above) and find out what titles sell.
You should not limit your research to just these three sellers. Do an extensive search on Ebay to see what dvd's are selling.
When I find a title that is a good seller on Ebay I simply add that to my "Buy List." As you continue your research you will see that there are tons of top selling dvd's, and your list will get very large.
I recommend that you spend around 5 hours a week researching top selling dvd's on Ebay. Find about 100 top sellers a week, and watch your list grow enormously.
In addition to a "Buy List", I have a "Do Not Buy List". You'll find movies that are good sellers may not remain good sellers forever. Your "Buy List" will always need to be refined. Once I have a title go bad, I take it off the Buy List and add it to my Do Not Buy List to make sure I don't purchase it again.
And Finally��
You will not make money on every title that you offer. The goal in your business is to make the maximum amount of profit on every title that you offer. My advice is that you don't waste your time on titles that you think will sell well, because most likely if you think they will they probably won't. Research big selling titles (and these do not have to be a new release dvd) and find the ones that you can see a two to three dollar profit on. When you find these add them to your buy list.
Brent Crouch has sinced written about articles on various topics from About Branding, Shopping and Football. Brent is the owner of . He has spent the last 3 years teaching others how he took his startup business to over 1.5 Million Dollars in reven. Brent Crouch's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.