Re: Amazon Trade-In program for DVDs/Blu-Ray/HD-DVDs
I noticed this program last week and decided to try it out. Here's my experience.
Picked a number of titles to trade-in. All of the titles I picked were available for trade-in on their online search page, so I added them to the order and submitted. I was taken to a page where I printed a packing list (that goes inside the box) and a pre-paid shipping label (which gets taped on the outside of the box). The shipping is USPS Media.
I dropped the box off at USPS Thursday night (5/28). I was prepared to wait 1-2 weeks.
To my (delighted) surprise, Tuesday (6/2) I received an e-mail from Amazon that the discs had been received and accepted, and that $71 of credit was now available to me. I immediately placed a pre-order for "John Adams" and the new Criterion
Seventh Seal - both Blu-Rays - and the credit was automatically applied when I checked out, bringing the grand total of my order to 48 cents!!
Clearly, even in its "beta" state the execution of the program is up to Amazon's high standards of service. So let's talk about the prices...
As I added each title to my trade-in order, I also checked what it was going for on eBay. In all cases, the latest eBay sell prices hovered around 3-5 dollars more than the Amazon trade-in price (note: I was trading in TV box sets). Now, while it might seem you'd be better off putting the discs on eBay, remember you have to subtract auction fees (and PayPal fees as well, if you use it). Then there's the time investment of managing individual auctions, and prepping and mailing numerous packages (not to mention dealing with the occasional bad buyer). Time is money, so in my opinion you need to factor that in as well. For me, the fact that the whole process ate less than 20 minutes of my time (for 8 titles) is a big selling point.
Another potential downside to some might be that you're getting Amazon credit instead of cash. To me, that's a non-issue. I buy 80-90% of my discs from Amazon, not to mention books, CDs, camera equipment, computer peripherals, and various other items. As an active user of Amazon Prime, Amazon credit is as good to me as cash. YMMV.
All in all, I was very pleased with the Amazon service, and will be using it again. The service is easy to use and I got my credit much quicker than I expected to. The trade-in value is fair given the convenience of the program. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to hassle with eBay, and who doesn't have a good B&M trade-in option like Wayne described.
