The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #172985   Message #4199408
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
20-Mar-24 - 02:24 PM
Thread Name: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
You can sell them individually on eBay; for example, I searched for one that for a long time was not available as DVD and it's still out there as VHS: Tampopo. What I have always thought worth consideration is making a digital copy (a DVD) and offering it free with the VHS for sale, never offered by itself. There's a gray area, but if you look at the ads for many of the older films they will say "digital copy" suggesting that it's an old film in a digital form (put out by the studio or copied by a reseller?) You're allowed to make personal copies of films you buy, to put them on a device to play. If you offered that copy at the same time they receive the VHS tape - you'd be ripping VHS tapes to the computer and offering them as a pair, but selling only the tape. For some of the really in demand films people will make their own personal copies, they just want to get their hands on the VHS, but the work already done will broaden the possible buyer pool. (At the U Library we had to explore the legal aspects of ripping files for streaming on campus when the new online teaching formats such as Blackboard and Canvas. English, film, history, various classes had films in their syllabi.) Or you could just sell the high-dollar cassettes alone and package the rest to sell in lots.

Take a look at the SOLD stats for VHS films, they talk about digital copies. Figure out how to make that work for you. I have old VHS players here and a Canopus device for digitizing the files that load on the computer, then I use Nero to burn the files. Ripping the tapes happens in real time so it's something you would have to set up and be able to walk away from for a while, but even doing one a day or one a week, you could have a number of these listed at a time. It is work, but for the treasures you have in your collection there, I think you'll find buyers. You could start out offering just the tapes, and if there aren't nibbles at the price you want, try adding a digital file.

Unrelated, back to Zeke for a moment - it seems that he was our main meal timekeeper. The girls used to come in to get me but it was once he indicated that it was time. Several times lately I've realized it's late and they didn't fuss at me. They're going to have to develop their own sense of time (I need to ask if they're on time at the back fence with Cecil - Zeke often was the leader in that activity also.)