Trying to work out a deal with a woman on Craigslist for my VHS video collection.

She placed an ad a few days ago [nmi.craigslist.org] looking for VHS movies (original - no pirated copies) and was willing to pay 50 cents to a dollar per tape.

After telling her I had a few hundred to sell, I pulled them out of storage and found that I have close to 700 tapes total.

She still sounds interested, but she's about 100 miles away and now says gas money should be factored in for her to pick them up, and would like to know what I'm asking for the collection.

I'm anxious to unload these tapes, and the thought of trying to sell that many on ebay, garage sale, or whatever is just too much of a hassle.

So, what would you think is a fair price for the collection?

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Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.

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What does she drive? At about 25 MPG and $3.50/gal, 200 miles should cost about $28, which is 4 cents per tape for the collection of 700.

Why should you be concerned about the cost of her gas? Isn't that her problem? If you have 700 tapes, at 50¢ each that would be $350. Assuming that some are worth $1 each and some are worth $0 each then it probably still works out to about $350. Her gas should not be your concern, unless you REALLY want to get rid of the tapes and want to sweeten the offer a bit. Then make it $325.

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I agree with ztirffritz, offer the whole collection for 350 and then if she insists, reduce to 325, maybe 320. her gas is her problem.

I'm surprised its worth anything.

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Yeah really.

Those things deteriorate fairly quickly especially if garaged. I'd take what I could get before se insists on viewing them. Maybe a Mac SE30 if it was in good condition?

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi

Rick,

The collection has three values. The first is the value of it piece by piece. Some tapes, which may be difficult to find on DVD and/or not available on DVD at all will be more valuable than other tapes. So, you'll get the greatest value if you can pull those tapes out and sell them separately while dumping the rest on some poor buyer.

The second value is the value of the collection as a whole. Sell it all at once for X amount per cassette. If you sell it this way, you'll have to settle on one price. You can't say, "These are X per cassette and those are Y per tape and the ones over here are Z per tape, all assuming you take the entire collection." Just choose a value, price the collection as a whole and call it done. This is how collectors by comic book collections. The idea is that they'll pay one price for the entire collection, with the hope they'll find a few treasures amongst all of the gobbledeecrap. Those treasures will more than make up for the investment of the collection and then some.

The third value is how much you're willing to take just to get rid of the collection. That could be $50.00. That could be several hundred dollars. Or, you can barter a trade with someone for the value of the collection. I did that with nearly forty boxes of comics, my accumulation of nearly thirty years worth of collecting comic books.

About a year ago, I removed the accumulation of comics and VHS tapes from the storage. They'd been in storage for such a long time that their entire value had long been used up by the cost of storing them. After pulling all of the trade paperbacks out and putting them elsewhere because I wanted to keep them, I worked out a deal with my landlord (who owned a comic store) to take the rest of the accumulation in trade for some credit at the store. We both got great deals.

He got a monstrous collection of books. All out of order and mostly not bagged but a great collection nonetheless with a slew of treasures. I got rid of an accumulation of books that I no longer wanted to pay to store in a storage unit or keep in my apartment. We were both very satisfied with the deal.

One other thing... 100 miles each way isn't _that_ much gas. I'd estimate it at one to two and a half tanks round trip, not including time in transit. Factoring in the idea that you're getting rid of 700 VHS tapes worth of clutter, it may be worth it to you to knock off the cost of a tank of gas.

Robert

I agree with everything Robert says if you don't value your time.

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi

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Robert M
100 miles each way isn't _that_ much gas. I'd estimate it at one to two and a half tanks round trip, not including time in transit.

Not if she's a petite woman with a Navigator.

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One other thing... 100 miles each way isn't _that_ much gas. I'd estimate it at one to two and a half tanks round trip, not including time in transit. Factoring in the idea that you're getting rid of 700 VHS tapes worth of clutter, it may be worth it to you to knock off the cost of a tank of gas.

200 miles roundtrip is half a tank of gas in my 6 cylinder minivan. that would be about $35 nowadays down here (GA).

Hey, thanks for all the quick replies! You guys are great!

Not sure what she drives, but I figured 20 MPG @ $3.55 per gallon with a 200 miles round trip wasn't that much of an expense, however, I would allow a few bucks off to get rid of the darn things.

As far as the deterioration factor, well, they're not stored in a garage, and I did try some out randomly and they played as well as could be expected for VHS tapes.

Robert, excellent post, and there ARE some gems in there. Cannery Row comes to mind as this hasn't been released on DVD and the VHS version is selling for a high price at Amazon. [www.amazon.com]

I'm not sure why anyone is interested in buying a large quantity of tapes such as this, but if I can get rid of them and make a few bucks, I'm all for it. Better than seeing them head to the landfill.

At any rate, I wrote back and told her to make me an offer and we'll go from there. I also mentioned that she had a price of 50 cents to a dollar per tape in her ad so maybe she won't try to lowball me too much.

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Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.

Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?

Rick,

I'd definitely pull out the tapes you know are still going for high prices and sell them separately. The rest, just dump on the lady and be done with them. FWIW, my 1996 Jeep Cherokee with the high output 6 cylinder engine gets about approximately 14 to 15 mpg on a good day. I go about 120 to 140 miles between tanks. I hate to say it but a Navigator isn't that much worse on gas. It just has a much larger fuel tank. So, I'd say your estimate for gas is fairly reasonable. I wouldn't factor more than that into the price tag.

Robert



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2008 09:56AM by Robert M.

I would go down to $200 just to get rid of all those useless tapes. I might even go lower.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2008 10:08AM by wickedsteve.

Yeah, I say pull out 20 of the choicest ones to sell independently and then knock $50-$75 off the price to entice her to pick them up.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

She should be factoring the cost of gas in on what she's willing to pay. You should just give her a price that YOU want (don't account for her fuel). If it's a fair price to her, great. I'm rather appalled that she's asking you to factor in the cost of gas.

If she comes back and says "the amount you want is too much, how about x?" then go for it, if the amount offered is acceptable.

I echo what's already been said - the gas is HER problem, not yours.

The other option, if it's worth it to you, is to meet somewhere halfway or drive to her. Or you could just use that option in negotiations to call her bluff, per se and see if she's serious about the gas money being an issue. However, the amount she pays for gas, what type of car she drives, etc. is not your problem. I've sold stuff on Craigslist to people who lived pretty far out of town. Never once has anyone asked me to help them out on gas money.

Heck, she's getting a 700 tape collection. She should be thankful that she is getting that many original, non-pirated tapes from a single person.

"The other option, if it's worth it to you, is to meet somewhere halfway or drive to her."

Definitely NOT! then she will try to negotiate an even lower price, since she has nothing to lose? and you already wasted some gas and time... let her come pick it up. Then you have the upper hand

100 miles each way -- is it just me or would it be the four hours of my life I'd be concerned about, and not the gas?

Shipping them via USPS media mail would be about $100. Me, I'd offer to sell for maybe $425 shipped to her door, or $325 if she wanted to come pick them up herself, let her decide.

Actually, I'd charge her less, just because I'd be happy to get stuff out of storage & reused by somebody else. They can't be worth that much to you if they've been in storage, and their value is decreasing rapidly.

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Stephanie
She should be factoring the cost of gas in on what she's willing to pay. You should just give her a price that YOU want (don't account for her fuel). If it's a fair price to her, great. I'm rather appalled that she's asking you to factor in the cost of gas.

If she comes back and says "the amount you want is too much, how about x?" then go for it, if the amount offered is acceptable.

I echo what's already been said - the gas is HER problem, not yours.

I agree with Stephanie.
She sounds like a flake-- I would play dispassionate at this point and let her do the work, or not.
One factor for me would be what she wants the tapes for. I've worked in a number of facilities that desperately needs things like this for the residents (nursing homes, mental health facility, etc) and has no budget-- =very= often the stafff pays for such things out of pocket.
I'd be willing to accomodate her a bit more if I knew it was such a situation.

Oh, good point, Black Landlord - yeah, I'm the same way. If it's for a good cause, I'd go down on the price - it's one way to be charitable.

hehehe, she said "I'd go down..."

Yes, she does sound a little flakey, trying very hard to be a good bargainer.

I have a feeling there is no way this will go smoothly, and by that I mean a *little* friendly haggling is to be and should be expected.

But I don't think this will be the case.

Good luck, though.

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Did she ever state that she will buy the entire 700 tape collection? Or does she plan to pick through them, grab the 20 most valuable, and give you $10.

She is right, she should factor in what it's going to cost her to get the tapes, be it gas or shipping. But that isn't your concern. A $1 bill is worth $1. If I have to spend $1.50 to get it's not worth my while, but it also isn't worth your while to sell me your $1 for .25 so that it becomes worth my while.

That said, given the item, It it were me I'd tell her $350, but I'll credit her $50 for gas. $300 to get that crap out of your house is still a deal.

There are still some tapes out there worth big bucks. Take the movie "All the Rivers Run" it
can bring $100 on VHS or "Where the Lilies Bloom" can bring $25-75.

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Grateful11

Is there an easy way to find out which other titles are still worth something?

Yes go to eBay search > VHS -lot, narrow your search down to the VHS category and select Completed Items then Highest first.

or look at half.com and/or amazon.com and see if they are pricey there.

ex: [www.amazon.com]

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I'd tell her:

"It's up tou you, but if it was me I'd drive down here. It's going to be a bitch walking home carrying 700 VHS tapes."

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I'd say that the price should depend on how many of the pron tapes she wants.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan