| jeffweico | 01-25-2016 04:22 AM |
Re: Amazon Ungating Questions - DVD's and Beauty
In November of 2014, Amazon decided that any seller of DVD's would need pre-approval to continue selling. At the time, they sent invitations out to a select few of the current DVD sellers and everyone else is having a very tough time getting approved. This happened because the DVD market is absolutely FLOODED WITH COUNTERFEITS.
So now, Amazon is very picky about who they let in. You have to tell them what you plan to sell and who your suppliers are. When looking at your supplier, they will have to be an authorized dealer for the titles you plan to sell. Closeout companies do not qualify. It has to be something like Navarre Video or Ingram Entertainment. And even then, if your account is relatively new, you are unlikely to be approved. At the moment, Amazon is only looking for companies with a track record in selling DVD's and who have legitimate sources of supply., If you owned something like DeepDiscount.com you could probably get approved as a seller. Otherwise, they are not really interested in your application.
I say, let it go. The fact is, everything is moving toward streaming anyways. Yes, there is still obviously a market for DVD's and Blu-Rays, but it is dying out pretty quickly. I know this because I see a ton of titles in the dollar stores for $2 each and wholesale DVD's that used to sell by the piece at now selling much cheaper, and by the pallet. A friend of mine does flea markets and they sell DVD's at $1 each, they buy them, used, by the pallet (about 1200 DVD's) for $600. And these are mainstream titles, not the old B westerns with some 3 Stooges and unknown zombie movies thrown in.
The DVD and Blu-Ray markets are dying and people are dumping their collections. I have seen DVD buyers posting in the wanted section that they are looking for DVD's and are willing to pay 50 cents each and don't bother to call if you want more for your DVD's.
People are watching Netflix and Amazon Prime for their movies, renting some of the newer titles and a lot of people are flocking to Kodi (formerly XBMC) for their illeegal but popular movie services. They are free and you can literally watch just about any movie you can think of, from movies still in theaters to an old made for TV movie made back in 1982. Ditto with TV shows. And the quality is awesome. Even the online pirate sites like Pirate Bay have seen major slowdowns in traffic. Why download something illegally that you can watch for free legally on Netflix? And I am fairly certain that a good number of people watching movies on Kodi believe it is perfectly legal.
I'm just pointing out that before you spend a ton of cash and go through all of the frustration of becoming a DVD seller, you should be aware that the market is fast disappearing. Streaming just makes sense. It is environmentally friendly, and you don't have to manufacture trillions of plastic discs and transport them all over the planet, only to have them ultimately end up in landfills. One day soon, the studios will wise up and get something like a Netflix going that will have all of their old titles available for a flat monthly fee and have the new titles available for a rental fee of somewhere around $5. Each studio may have their own site or it might end up as a joint venture. But it is coming and DVD's are leaving. | 
