Mid-Week Poll: Do You Sell Old DVDs When Buying Blu-rays?

Here’s a question for the Blu-ray collectors out there: If you upgrade a movie to Blu-ray that you previously owned on DVD, what do you do with the DVD? Do you keep it? Do you sell it? Do you make an art project out of it? Tell us in today’s poll.

The resale value of most DVDs is pretty low these days. A lot of times, it hardly seems worth the effort to sell them on eBay and deal with the hassle of shipping and fees. I used to trade in my DVDs for credit towards Blu-rays at a MovieStop store in my town. I’d usually get pennies to the dollar for them, but it was a very convenient way to clear out old discs that I have no use for anymore. Unfortunately, that shop closed last year. Lately, I’ve just been tossing my unwanted discs into a pile in my basement until I figure out what to do with them.

Of course, if a DVD has exclusive content that can’t be gotten on Blu-ray (an alternate cut of the film, specific bonus features, etc.), I’ll probably keep it. Now that I have kids, an argument can be made that DVDs may come in handy to keep them occupied (because kids rarely care about things like video quality) or for travel, but they still feel like needless clutter to me (the discs, not the kids… yet).

If you sell or trade-in your discs, what have you found to be the best method for that?

What about Blu-rays that come bundled with DVD copies? My OCD compels me to keep those in the case, but I honestly couldn’t tell you which of my Blu-rays have DVDs if I needed to look for one. Do you split those packages apart?

Do You Sell Your Old DVDs When Buying Blu-rays?

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40 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    The only time I “sell” my DVDs are when Best Buy has that upgrade promotion. I will typically, I’d upgrade a film to Blu-Ray, then next time that sale happens I’d trade in the DVD versions of those films.

    Though there are several DVDs I’ve held on to mainly to use as loaners of relatively obscure movies.

  2. Bill

    If the DVD version has special features that are not repeated on the BD version I may keep the DVD however for the most part I just toss out the DVD. It is inconceivable that I would ever watch a DVD when I also have the BD.

  3. For the most part I sell the back to Amazon for credit – yes, I know you only get a dollar or so for each DVD (if that – so I’ll wait and send back a bunch in one shipment), but it’s a lot easier than trying to sell online yourself and dealing with a potentially bad customer.

    I will save DVDs that has exclusive content (like the Star Wars releases), but it has to be content I feel is worthwhile or that I may want to watch again in the future.

  4. HuskerGuy

    It depends on the movie. I’ll keep a few personal favs on DVD despite having them on blu. Outside of those though, I will see if friends/family want them or sell them off in a garage sale.

  5. I sold around 500 DVD’s over the last 1 1/2 year. Now you only get between $0.50 and $ 2 per DVD, but why keep them? I started with all the Paramount DVD’s, because those suckers didn’t want to deliver DVD’s with good picture quality. All those good movies like Clear and Present Danger, 48 Hours, Black Rain NOT enhanced for 16:9. That left around 250 lines on a NTSC screen. What a shame. For that alone I am grateful for Blu Rays.

    Cheers

  6. If the blu ray doesn’t come with a dvd copy I usually keep them. I put them in a sleeve and slip into the blu ray case. Sometimes I like to watch a movie on a trip and my laptop doesn’t play blu rays.

  7. It depends on which DVD. I’m not a stickler for special features, so with most readily available low-value DVDs, I will usually give those to family or friends to enjoy. I will keep DVDs if they have different cuts than the BR. If the DVD is rare or an import, I usually sell it on EBay for a big chunk of change to help support my addiction to buying Blu Rays.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Imports are a problem for me. Back in the day, I imported a lot of discs for what are now irrelevant reasons. Sometimes the movie was available in another region before being released in this country, but by now it’s widely available here. I imported a lot of DVDs to get exclusive DTS soundtracks. Lossless audio on Blu-ray makes that pointless. Because most of these imports are region locked and/or PAL, it’s harder to sell or even give them away, so they just sit in that box in my basement. Who’s going to want a Region 3 locked copy of Finding Nemo with a DTS soundtrack when they can easily pick up the beautiful Blu-ray with lossless audio (and even 3D) at any Walmart or Costco?

      • I mostly mean imports of foreign films, most of which have not seen a local release or have plenty of extras (w/o subtitles) that you can’t get with local releases. With some markets, like Korea, I can even auction those back to Korean collectors who missed the release or got into collecting late.

  8. im attempting to sell off my dvd collection of roughly 1500, trying to find the best option for doing so.

    my bluray collection has surpassed the 2000 mark, it used to be a sense of pride having all those full bookshelves, but i havent watched a standard dvd in probably 3 years.

  9. KT

    I have historically had no problem buying the Blu-ray of a DVD title I already owned. Unfortunately in many cases the Blu-ray edition does not contain the same supplemental material as its DVD counterpart, so I end up keeping both and feeling a little short changed in the process. I’m sorry to say that I’ve recently started downloading HD bit torrents of titles I already own, until such a time that Hollywood decides to stop encouraging piracy by ripping people off. Call it a “battle of ethics” if you will. I still remain a faithful purchaser of Blu-rays that do not require me to hold on to the DVD.

    • I hear ya man, as a person who can turn any BluRay (and was able to for DVD’s longer than most people owned DVD’s) in to my own digital copy I can play anywhere from any device. I constantly find it annoying that the actual movies are barely large enough to warrant a 50GB disc. And more times than not they come on 25GB discs. Thats why I am in no hurry for 4k, because they will no doubt find another way to screw us over on that deal as well.

  10. Kirby Anderson

    I made a list on Excel long ago of which movies I thought were worth updating for viewing on a 70″ set. I used to trade them in for credit toward Blu’s that made the list. Now upgrades go to family members along with the DVD’s from combo packs. I’ll save up 25-30 and suprise someone.

  11. Tom A

    Depends on the disc. Stuff with unique features, I keep. Other stuff, I’ll either give to friends or sell to a second hand store. There’s a local one around the corner from my home that sells everything from books to music to movies and games in pretty much every format imaginable. Don’t get much, but if you go in with a good sized stack of discs, you can come out with a decent bit of cash. Better than throwing them away or stuffing them in a box in the closet.

  12. I use to sell them to co workers for 5 dollars, but that’s harder to do now. I also go to MovieStop once in a while, but some times they want to give me a quarter for a movie, I’ll just keep it. The new thing I’ve been doing is the upgrade and save at Best Buy. That works best for me lately. There are a few special DVDs that I can’t part with so I’ve held on to those. One example being the two disc Godzilla in the digibook type case. There’s bonus features on there that Criterion doesn’t have, so I kept it. Also Kingdom of Heaven four disc I can’t part with because of the barebones blu. On some two disc DVDs for example, I’ll keep the bonus disc and mix it with my bluray for my own special edition. A lot of the early fox titles did this with bluray. In a perfect world, I would like to get rid of the DVD as long the blu-ray version has it. I keep the chapter books and inner artwork.

  13. If all of the bonus features are on the Blu-ray, I’ll trade in the DVD. If not, I’ll keep the disc, put it and the Blu-ray into a 2 or 3 disc case and toss the DVD artwork.

  14. Mr Apollo

    I very RARELY ever get rid of any DVD’s or blu-rays I own. I basically have only DVD box sets out, tv shows, some that aren’t available on blu-ray yet, something rare or something I really love (typically). For instance, I have a Japanese import of Kill Bill vol.1 uncut on DVD. That’s one of my favorite movies of all time so that one stays out. The rest of my DVD’s are in boxes.

    I have all of my blu-rays out on shelves and so on. Also, I don’t mix any of my DVD’s with my blu-rays. They have their own shelves. I really only buy and keep them. I’ve traded a few in over the years of stuff that I didn’t like or were blind buys that I ended up not liking. I try to only buy things I like. I honestly have probably traded no more than 40 DVD’s and blu-rays combined. This is coming from someone who owns 9 copies of The Last Samurai… and yes the 4 DVD’s and 2 hd-dvd’s are put away. I own 578 blu-rays and around 1,200 DVD’s. I know the blu-ray count because I did it last week and the DVD’s because that’s more or less when I stopped buying them.

    PS: I never got rid of my 28 hd-dvd’s or my HD-A1 either. I feel like I’m a true collector. I even have 17 game consoles, haha!

      • Mr Apollo

        No, I never take them out. I leave them on the left side of the case. I keep all my DVD’s and blu-rays intact the way they were originally purchased. I try to keep the integrity of the case, inserts and discs as they were purchased. Except for making sure the DVD is on the left side and the blu-ray on the right side. I remember there was a discussion about that a while back.

  15. John Swanson

    I have friends & family who aren’t that fussy about A/V quality & are happy to get my old DVD’s when I upgrade to Blu-Rays.

  16. CriticalMass

    I chose “other” because I find there is no longer any value in old DVD’s.

    Most of my DVD collection was given away after I had a reasonable BD collection. There may be one or two titles or certain editions that might still hold a reasonable value… but I was struggling to get $3 for DVD’s back when DVD was still the dominant format… so I would love to know what other people are finding that they can sell for!

  17. Jeff Shultz

    I’m surprised more people don’t become third party type sellers on some well established websites. Look at the used DVD prices on Amazon…you can sell your old DVDs for a lot more than 25 cents. The Best Buy “trade-in” promo can be useful also.

    • after amazons fee and shipping in the end theyre really only making few cents more than a pawn or thrift shop.

      i reluctantly took my $.50-$1 per dvd just to cleaer them out because the tedious craigs list postings and all that nonsense to maybe get $2 each wasnt worth it in the end.

  18. Ross Gauthier

    I sold my entire DVD collection about 3 years ago. I had about 300. I hated the way they looked with my BD collection and I didn’t have the space. For awhile I regretted selling ones that haven’t been released on BD yet but I guess that’s half the fun of collecting, waiting for those titles. I still have some tv shows on DVD but that’s it. I have over 600 BD’s now and rarely think of my old collection. When I started my BD collection I avoided re-buying ones I owned accept for discs I had to have. Now I have pretty well all my old collection accept for a few that haven’t been released yet (Play Misty For Me better be released soon).

  19. Brett Webber

    I was exactly the same–I started out conservative, buying only must-haves for double dips and new releases, and now I’m re-buying practically my entire 500+ DVD collection. I “sell” old DVDs to a local secondhand store–“sell” because I get peanuts for them, but it’s better than nothing, as my BR-buying habit requires lots and lots of peanuts. And like most of you here I also keep DVD editions with non-BR content for important titles. Space is an issue living in shoebox housing here in Japan though, so I really try to keep DVDs down to a minimum. The odd title I’ll also pawn off on my mother-in-law or in the case of Region 1’s, a friend back home (who I’m currently preparing a big shipment for–farewell beautifully packaged Vista Series Sixth Sense and SE True Romance and metallic casing Robocop SE *sniffle*). As for BR/DVD combo packs, they should be abolished immediately and with extreme prejudice if you ask me.

  20. Lord Bowler

    I do a variety of things.

    If the Blu-Ray is the same as the DVD, and the DVD is a standard edition (no special packaging), I’ve been buying two-disc Blu-Ray cases and making my Blu-Ray and DVD/Blu-Ray combo and toss the old DVD jacket.

    If the DVD has content or special packaging not included on the Blu-Ray, I’ll keep it.

    If the Blu-Ray already has a DVD or I don’t care to keep the DVD, I’ll pass them along to friends or family or sell them. Particularly if I have individual TV Seasons and I pick up the Complete Series in Blu.

  21. David Staschke

    I chose “other” because it depends on the situation. If the Blu-ray is missing any significant special features that were on the DVD, I will keep the DVD. However, I usually take a 2 or 3-disc Blu-ray case (from a movie that came with a didgital copy on disc or a DVD copy) and use that as a custom 2 or 3 disc Blu-ray set. I cut out the front and back DVD cover art and put it inside the blu-ray. This saves space and lets you preserve the cover art from the DVD if it is different than the Blu-ray art (which happens sometimes). If the DVD has a really cool or unique case or package design I will keep it (such as the Ichi The Killer blood-pack and the Reservoir Dogs gas can tin with a matchbook inside). If I don’t need the DVD for either of these reasons, I put them in a box in my closet and tell myself I’ll get around to selling them on ebay some day. That was back in 2009. LoL! By now its not even worth the effort to sell them on ebay. Craig list is not bad, I sold some DVDs locally that way and its free to list them there. Selling to coworkers or friends for $2-3 each is somewhat successful. But I still have a closet full of about 650 DVDs to sell. I guess one day I’ll just take them to Half-Price Books and get like 50 cents each which will cover my Blu-ray buying habbit for 2 months.

  22. Chaz

    I do a mix of things, sometimes I give them to friends or family and other times I sell them, quite a few I have kept and currently dont plan to get rid of for a couple of reasons.

    1. I have collectors editions with special packaging, like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, The Book of the Dead Evil Dead and the numbered copy of Army of Darkness 2 disc.

    2. I have autographs on some of them, I have Jeffrey Combs on Reanimator, Doug Bradley on Hellraiser, Tom Savini on Day of the Dead, Jonathan Breck (who was the Creeper) on my Jeepers Creepers 2 disc, etc.

    3. I have imports from the UK, like the limited edition Phantasm Ball and Hellraiser sets, all include DTS soundtracks and Hellraiser 3 uncut is the only way to get it in that set.

    4. I collect a lot of lower budget horror flicks and DTV stuff that will probably never hit Bluray, stuff like most of Full Moons collection (I have all of their box sets almost), Troma movies, things like that

    So DVD will stay on a couple of my shelves for quite a while yet

  23. Usually I try and trade them in for in-store credit at Disc Replay, a local retailer that buys & sells movies, video games, CD’s and LP’s. It’s usually not for much, but when you take a bunch in at once you can get anywhere from $5-$25 to use towards used Blu-Rays they have ins stock. If they don’t take any of them because of too many in inventory, I usually give them away. I was holding onto them for a while, thinking I might have a use for them. But after not touching any of them for such a long time, I realized I really have no use for them. Heck, the DVD’s I do have that have not been replaced on Blu yet still get little to no use out of them. I just can’t handle the inferior picture quality!

  24. Jim

    I immediately sell my Blu-ray discs and get the new 4K version right away.

    Oh wait, that’s in 2015. Sorry.

  25. Kyle

    When buying blu-rays of movies I owned on dvd I would sell or trade in the dvd copy once the blu-ray was purchased. The only exceptions being if the dvd was a special edition (such as the 300 boxset) or different version (live free or die hard). Right now though due to limited funds I’ve stopped upgrading my dvd collection and stuck to buying blu-rays of movies I don’t have at all.

  26. lone_gunmen

    As much as I love having my favourites on Blu-ray, I’ve actually scaled down my physical media collection considerably by either donating them to the local library/Salvation Army and selling them at pawn shops.

    It’s nice having a collection until it takes up half of your study and you’ve run out of shelf space. I’d be happy if the 4K formats were digital files only, I can’t be bothered building another IKEA shelf to support my movie hoarding problem.

  27. Not only do i not throw away or trade my dvd’s for blu ray copies,i do not at all get the blu ray of a movie that i already own on dvd as the upgrade to me is not worth it as i only have a 720p tv.In fact i do buy dvd regularly in addition to blu ray as dvd copies are sometimes quite a lot cheaper than blu rays.($10 vs $30)