Side Money: Selling Old Media
September 24, 2018
Photo by Sidney Pearce on Unsplash
Decluttering media and old tech!
My first round, I didn’t bother to comparison shop. I was in a hurry to make some kind of progress in shifting the glacier of boxes in my office so 3 books, 7 DVDs, and one broken 16 GB iPhone went straight off to Decluttr. They downrated the broken phone as though I had miscategorized it, even though I’d marked it with the lowest option they had given me on the selling screen, and we came away with $10.85.
Notes: Decluttr pays for shipping and doesn’t return unsold items. They won’t take items without barcodes, which annoyed me about two or three sets of CDs and DVDs that were in great shape but inexplicably had no barcodes. Your barcodes must be identical and the items must be in good shape. You need to enter a minimum of $5 worth of items to complete an order.
My second round, flush with having successfully emptied out 5 boxes of packing boxes, I was able to take an extra 15 minutes to check other DVD sites to see if we could get better prices. This time, out of ten DVDs, Decluttr offered me $1.37 for 4 DVDs. Second Spin offered $5.40 for 8 DVDs. Since the point was to maximize both income and clearing out stuff, Second Spin was our friend this time. Or so I thought.
While I regret not holding back the DVDs for a little bit to do more comparison shopping, something had to break the logjam that was my office (again) and Second Spin wasn’t the high payer they seemed to be.
Second Spin only pays a set reimbursement for shipping based on Media Mail rates and if they meet both of these criteria which I had missed:
Trade in 5 or more items priced $0.25 or higher
Trade in $10 or more
This credit is based on the number of items sold and the product total for one transaction (see our postage credit below). Please note we will only provide credit for items that are ACCEPTED.
Trade in 5-8 items; receive $3.23 credit
Trade in 9-12 items; receive $3.64 credit
Trade in 13-16 items; receive $4.05 credit
Trade in 17-20 items; receive $4.46 credit
Trade in 21-24 items; receive $4.87 credit
Trade in 25 or more items; receive $5.26 credit
Because my shipment was 8 items, 5 of which was $0.25 or higher, but less than $10 in total, I wasted money selling to Second Spin. It cost $4.19 to ship media mail, still less than their reimbursement, and in the end I netted $1.21. On the one hand, the point was to unload a ton of stuff for not much effort, but I’m having negative feelings about having given them more for less money back.
Round three, any CDs, DVDs, or books in good condition that I couldn’t sell elsewhere were packed up and taken to the library for donation. That was easy.
Next round: office detritus
What do I do with a stack of blank CDs and burned CDs that hold a ton of photos?
I could probably dig out a computer that can take a CD to make sure that all the photos are stored safely on our hard drive. I think. But then I need to figure out how to clear them off and then what, dispose of or recycle them? I don’t know yet.
What do I do with these boxes of memorabilia? I think the old notebooks and stuff can slowly be recycled and/or dumped as appropriate.
So. Much. Decluttering.
We finally combined the office with the guest room to make way for the nursery, and we have lots of random furniture dating from my first post-college apartment than was unnecessarily hanging out in the guest room (we never furnished it except with leftovers). So, there are lots of big items. So far we have not sold them, but only moved them to the garage, which is… dangerous. But there is a plan to sell them…
We’ve also been getting rid of small items to create more space on shelves and in closets. For memorabilia, I do best when I get rid of a little each time rather than letting go of everything at once.
Good job though! Any steps are good steps and I always think they will build up momentum to making more. We usually do a few declutterings every few weeks, that seems to be our mode.
I just de-cluttered dozens of books. We’re on a (very slow) minimizing mission, and we’re selling/giving away 2 book shelves. I find that with de-cluttering, what I can’t part with in one round I manage to part with in the next. I’ve been through these books before, but somehow I managed to harden my heart and say good-bye to many that I’d held onto before. I’ll have to check to see if Decluttr operates in Canada. Sounds like a good way to go.
Whew, good luck with the books, I feel like those are THE hardest things for me to part with.