Sell unwanted DVDs, books and more online

The internet has transformed the way we buy books, music, games and movies. But now two of the biggest online retailers of these items provide a way for you to sell entertainment for cash.

It’s already possible to do this at the online auction site Ebay, but while the auction giant undoubtedly has a huge audience of ready buyers Amazon and Play offer something that we think is even more valuable – a captive audience.

When people visit these sites they tend to search for specific items, usually to see if they are available cheaper than in the shops. The beauty of Amazon and Play is that each new item sold is flagged with the lowest price on ‘new and used’ versions on offer from ordinary consumers. This means your sale is highlighted in the one place a prospective buyer will definitely be looking for it.

Prospective buyers at Ebay have to trawl through hundreds of listings and weigh up which sellers have a trustworthy reputation, whose auction has the best pictures and description, and the time left to place a bid. Amazon and Play don’t provide auctions – ­ sellers simply set a price, describe the condition of the item and wait for a buyer to come along.

In this article, we will explain how the markets at Play and Amazon work, while the Workshop here is a guide to listing all your unwanted entertainment items for sale on the Play website.

Set out your stall
The process of setting up an account and selling items at both sites is broadly similar. You need to provide a home address, telephone number and bank account details. This information isn’t published; it is needed to make payments to you and to contact you if there’s any problem with an item you have sold, such as if it goes missing in the post. There is a full guide to selling at Play here, so let’s take a quick look here at Amazon Marketplace.

Go to Amazon and click the link at the top left, marked Shop All Departments. A new menu bar appears; click the link labelled Sell Your Stuff. A box appears that asks you to identify the item you are selling. You can choose to enter the title of the item and browse through a list of possible matches on the main Amazon site. But it’s easier to use the second box, where you can enter either the number printed beneath the barcode on the item box or cover, or for books the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), usually positioned above the barcode.

The benefit of doing this is that the unique barcode or ISBN links directly to the equivalent new item on sale from Amazon, including a full description of the content and box or cover images, thereby removing the need for you to provide this information. Do not include hyphens when entering these numbers, but if the 13-digit ISBN ends with the letter X, be sure to include it. Now click Start Selling and a summary of the item associated with that code number appears.