Primer on Selling SACDs, DVD-A, Multi-Channel Discs?

[Steve Bruzonsky]

RESERVED - I will summarize the best tips here!

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I've got loads of discs I should unload! I realize they can be sold on this forum, Ebay, Facebook, etc. But if I (or my daughters) do this, it needs to be easy as possible. I'm retired and don't want to make this a busy busy endeavor. So I would appreciate tips on where and what packaging to obtain, shipping, payment (e.g., Paypal business provides insurance, but upcoming IRS regs will have Paypal provide 1099s and I would have to keep records of what I paid vs what I sold it for - not interested in doing all of this and of course what did I pay for all of this sh_t?). I am thinking that I may simply give so many discs at a time to my daughter (with my grandkids) (she teaches 11th grade special ed English) to sell on my behalf and she keeps most of the proceeds) and does the work, as she can use the supplemental income. And I DO NOT want to hassle with the work involved. So all tips are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[gene_stl]

ebay and paypal have more or less been ruined for someone like yourself due to arousing the interest of the taxing authorities.
One way you can circumvent this , selling here (and FB marketplace and similar)is to require the buyer to send you money via Paypal "Friends and Family". this does two things; One is it is completely free which saves the seller a few percent of paypal charges. And Two it does not go into the bin that contributes towards Paypal reporting the income on a 1099-misc. A downside is that the buyer waives the right to open a "case" and you should warn them of that but garauntee that the product will arrive and be in good condition. Last time I looked the 1099 limit was $400 and 20 transactions. Not all buyers will probably agree to use friends and family. But some do.

Facebook marketplace seems to be a very good place to sell stuff. Here too for multichannel goodies.

 

[stoopid]

Supposedly there will be options for people like us who don't sell things for a living and get paid using Paypal/Zelle/etc. There's a 'hobby' loophole that you can depreciate the items your selling in a way that it cancels out any federal tax. Because they keep delaying the implementation of the higher thresholds, I haven't personally needed to tackle this head-on myself. But I'm expecting this will be my fight when April 2025 comes around. I resell a lot of my stuff as I get new stuff, so only a smaller percentage of things I sell online are 'for profit'. Most are things I bought personally and usually resell at a loss. Your music collection would quality, unless it doesn't but honestly only you would know the Fleetwood Mac sacd was $30 new and now sells for $50.

 

[MCDave]

One way to minimize the hassle is to sell the entire collection for a single sum. Or, sell off pieces by genre, such as a classical collection, a jazz collection, rock, etc. If you have any titles that are particularly valuable, you could sell those individually and then sell the rest as collections. That's how I sold my baseball card collection many years ago.

I'm a retired CPA, and can reliably tell you that the 1099-K requirements won't be as bad as you might imagine. First, their primary target are sellers on platforms like ebay, etsy and amazon who are making significant taxable income. Also, only selling platforms are required to report 1099-K revenue, and I don't believe Paypal would be considered a selling platform, as it is merely a payment service. You can't sell items on Paypal. And, QQ isn't a selling platform either One last consideration is that, for 2024, the IRS is planning to have a $5,000 threshold for reporting on 1099-K, so unless your sales go over that, you can breathe easy. But, let's say you DO get a 1099-K...you will not have to determine the cost of each individual title, only the cost of the whole bunch, and the IRS will accept an estimate as long as it's reasonable enough not to invite scrutiny. Remember, they're going after the small businesses who are avoiding tax liability by not reporting income from ongoing sales of their wares on these selling platforms. They have neither the time nor the resources to go after ordinary occasional sales like we're talking about here, especially since the vast majority of these sales produce taxable losses, not gains. I've dealt with them many times over the years.

 

[stoopid]

Using the friends and family Paypal option is risky for buyers, as they aren't protected in any way from you sending them broken things or nothing at all. I doubt many buyers celebrate the use of this tactic. Instead, calculate the 3.5% paypal fee into the selling price.

I sell strictly through platforms, I pay for the convenience and 'security' of having a mediator if there's a potential issue. I've had one bad eBay experience where something I sent was stolen at the delivery location and they tried to reverse the charges. But the few other issues in the 23 years I've been using eBay and Paypal have all worked out in my favor because I'm not shady and do everything properly.

Because I also buy a lot of things online, I keep the packaging from those purchases and repurpose them for future shipments. I'd recommend for DVDs and Blurays to put some cardboard on both sides of the discs to prevent cracking, then slide that into a bubble mailer. Media mail doesn't have insurance, so IMO for just a bit more money (I always have the buyer pay shipping) the ground advantage or priority mail options are best. If you're selling off eBay, using a service like Pirateship.com is critical as they provide eBay comparable pricing. USPS is expensive to buy postage direct, and really they only offered priority mail last time I checked. Otherwise eBay's shipping pricing is very competitive.

Tax, shipping, and platform (eBay) fees are the enemy but as I explained, a welcome one. Otherwise it's the wild west of back alley deals and people get burned all the time when there's no safety net in place for buyer and seller. You would hope more people were honest, but that's never actually been the world we live in. And now with the added barrier of hundreds and/or thousands of miles between buyer and seller on the internet it's worse than ever. I'm sure people will chime in with contrary anecdotal experiences selling off the major platforms, but that's just their bubble and not the wider picture/reality. If not being hassled with post-transaction issues and money/time loss matters like it does for me, pay the piper and stick to selling platforms.

Determine as best you can what the thing is worth and set the buying price. Too many auctions nowadays go unpaid, and there's just as much risk it will sell for less than you were hoping as it will for more. It takes the extra bit of research, but again saves the hassle of dealing with relistings and ensures you get what you want for the item. Additionally, things take time to sell. I've had items listed for a year that eventually sold with minimal views. It takes time for the random music listener who wants the especially obscure thing you have to stumble on your post at the time it pops into their brain that they want it. There's only X number of people shopping for the item at a given time. Sometimes X = 0 for many months.

 

[MCDave]

Last time I looked the 1099 limit was $400 and 20 transactions.

FYI, the limit for 2022 and 2023 was 200 transactions AND $20,000. The law passed by Congress set the limit at $600 with no transaction minimum, but the IRS has delayed the implementation of that threshold. As I mentioned earlier, the IRS is currently planning to delay further by implementing a $5,000 threshold for 2024, though Congress may force them otherwise. We won't know until later this year.

 

[stoopid]

FYI, the limit for 2022 and 2023 was 200 transactions AND $20,000. The law passed by Congress set the limit at $600 with no transaction minimum, but the IRS has delayed the implementation of that threshold. As I mentioned earlier, the IRS is currently planning to delay further by implementing a $5,000 threshold for 2024, though Congress may force them otherwise. We won't know until later this year.

This is also my understanding of the matter. There's still a chance the whole thing will get called off, one might imagine the amount of overhead needed (staffing) at the IRS to accomplish this is pretty immense. And there's no guaranteeing the IRS will even break even after paying for that extra staffing/resources. IMHO big business gets the free ride, they should be focusing more on tightening tax code and increasing corporate tax a percent or two. Milking lower income people only creates an atmosphere of distrust that leads to things like January 6th. It's easy to be viewed as a villain when acting like a thief.

 

[MCDave]

This is also my understanding of the matter. There's still a chance the whole thing will get called off, one might imagine the amount of overhead needed (staffing) at the IRS to accomplish this is pretty immense. And there's no guaranteeing the IRS will even break even after paying for that extra staffing/resources. IMHO big business gets the free ride, they should be focusing more on tightening tax code and increasing corporate tax a percent or two. Milking lower income people only creates an atmosphere of distrust that leads to things like January 6th. It's easy to be viewed as a villain when acting like a thief.

Yes indeed, and then there's the matter of creating the tremendous burden on the platforms themselves for recordkeeping, 1099 production and mailings, etc.

 

[weekendtoy]

My son said he will just post the following Facebook Marketplace ad.

"Free. First person to come, take it all."

 

[halbroome]

Nobody mentioned

www.discogs.com

I noticed. I do remember someone posting a few years back that it was not as user friendly as before, though. I have
extras and such that I'd put out there, but have not been terribly bothered about doing that. Still, an update on the site
from a seller there would be nice!

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

My son said he will just post the following Facebook Marketplace ad.

"Free. First person to come, take it all."

My wife would have definitely done that (but she passed away some years ago)!

 

[weekendtoy]

My wife would have definitely done that (but she passed away some years ago)!

I'm sorry to hear that Steve.

It is a valid statement / thought process to just give it all away as it is unfair to burden a family member with a large music collection, not to mention all the speakers and gear.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I'm sorry to hear that Steve.

It is a valid statement / thought process to just give it all away as it is unfair to burden a family member with a large music collection, not to mention all the speakers and gear.

I plan to live many years - having so much fun with grandkids!!!

However, not only thousands of discs, but my almost done renovated dedicated 11.7.12 home theater, and family room and basement systems as well! Lots of speakers and gear. Though I imagine a well heeled home buyer may well want to pay reasonable extra for the theater as it will be quite something!

But having my daughter slowly sell some discs every week will help them supplementally as inflation and costs are no joke these days!

 

[barfle]

While I don’t intend to get rid of my disc collection (other than a few laserdisc movies that are better watched on BD), I suggested to my wife that if I go before her, that she contact a couple of used record stores in town and see what they would offer for the lot. Make it a bidding war.