AfterDawn: News

Netflix stops sales of used DVDs

Netflix has announced plans to discontinue sales of used DVDs in an effort to shift focus back to its core businesses of streaming movies and TV and DVD rentals.

Posted in the official Netflix blog, the company said they will stop sales of used DVDs on November 30th.



The blog states: "As you know, our core business is delivering great movie rentals to you on DVD by mail and instantly to the computer and TV, so we've decided it makes sense for us to focus exclusively on that. This means we will stop selling previously viewed DVDs through the Web site. We're sorry for any inconvenience for those of you who regularly purchase DVDs at Netflix, but we're excited about being able to spend the extra time focusing on continually improving our core rental business for you."

The announcement comes on the heels of Netflix's announcement that their new Silverlight-based movie streaming player had gone to public beta and would be accessible to Mac users.

Many subscribers who posted on the blog however seemed to be against the move.

"Being able to purchase previously viewed movies from Netflix was a huge bonus of my membership. I am truly sorry to lose that benefit. I hate to lose features to my membership, and I hope this is not a trend," wrote one subscriber.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 5 Nov 2008 1:33

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• 13 comments

• SProdigy

  I'm willing to bet they are returning the unused movies to their distributor, for credit. This is probably a better financial model for them, and eliminates the cost of their "Previously Viewed" operations.

  5.11.2008 10:56 #1

• ugc

  Fact is: They have to be doing something with those DVDs. If they are not selling them to the public, maybe they hooked up with some type of budget discount store that is willing to buy all of them, all the time.

  5.11.2008 12:48 #2

• TBandit

  This sounds like a smart move because thats what their main service is to rent out and stream content I always thought of the used DVDs as a bonus to buy

  6.11.2008 04:26 #3

• djgizmo

  What they're doing is selling them in bulk to vendors who then resale them on ebay. The cost of mailing it to a customer one by one for permanent isn't efficient. If they offload 10,000 dvds at once, even at a cheaper rate they have a lower cost of labor.

  7.11.2008 00:18 #4

• kaiswil2

  What about the fact that their used selection is horrible and the only thing available is usually the new releases or perhaps a few months old.
  
  Unlike services like Gamefly, where if you like the game you click buy it and its yours to keep and they will send out the case and book. Now there is the exception of rare games and system based games like Princess Peach and such.

  7.11.2008 11:29 #5

• qazwiz

  Originally posted by kaiswil2: What about the fact that their used selection is horrible and the only thing available is usually the new releases or perhaps a few months old.
  
  Unlike services like Gamefly, where if you like the game you click buy it and its yours to keep and they will send out the case and book. Now there is the exception of rare games and system based games like Princess Peach and such.surely there comes a point where you cannot buy the rented item?
  
  and what will netflix do if a DVD is "lost"?
  
  selling the last copy of a hard to find DVD/game/whatever is the death of the rental model
  
  I take it that Gamefly is selling current games like redbox sells DVDs.... rent to see if you like it and buy if you want, they can get another from the distributor should they find out that they under ordered
  
  but netflix rental model, as I have heard it explained to me, ideally is to have one or two copies of every DVD that exists so their customers can (eventually) see anything that they want. I have heard great things about their Anglo-collection, for instance (TV and movies only released in England) so they would have had to order those sets to be shipped from over seas and a lot of them would be multi-DVD sets that if they sell one DVD they would need to buy a whole set to replace the one.... not very good if a DVD set has one very popular DVD that a lot of folks decide to buy
  
  for those of you who would like the buy option for your netflix titles, give netflix a while to see your displeasure and I bet a new button will show up on your screen, "see if available to buy" button that could go to an off site company (sometimes called affiliate) that pays a commission to netflix for every purchase from that link

  8.11.2008 10:09 #6

• Mez

  SProdigy, I agree. It is too easy for them just to sell them. That sounds like the midia mafia's work. They do not want anyone to get a break. Gouge the public to the max has always been their motto. They would pay $5 to make the public pay $5 more. That is bad business but they do not care. They are truly evil.

  10.11.2008 10:15 #7

• kaiswil2

  Quote:
  but netflix rental model, as I have heard it explained to me, ideally is to have one or two copies of every DVD that exists so their customers can (eventually) see anything that they want. I have heard great things about their Anglo-collection, for instance (TV and movies only released in England) so they would have had to order those sets to be shipped from over seas and a lot of them would be multi-DVD sets that if they sell one DVD they would need to buy a whole set to replace the one.... not very good if a DVD set has one very popular DVD that a lot of folks decide to buy
  
  for those of you who would like the buy option for your netflix titles, give netflix a while to see your displeasure and I bet a new button will show up on your screen, "see if available to buy" button that could go to an off site company (sometimes called affiliate) that pays a commission to netflix for every purchase from that linkOnly problem is the British TV shows and programs we get on Netflix are not shipped from overseas. The UK and such are a Region 2 and North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) is region 1. So any DVD you rent on Netflix has the potential to be bought locally or online. And I rent a lot of British TV.

  10.11.2008 12:55 #8

• qazwiz

  are they encoded for region 2?

  10.11.2008 13:00 #9

• qazwiz

  i ask that because they cannot buy them here can they?

  10.11.2008 13:01 #10

• techoter

  Time for someone to start a used DVD sales business online! Well, maybe not, as this was probably not bring them much revenue. I, for one, had no idea they were selling used DVDs. I mean, I'd just imagine them to be the scratched up ones they no longer wanted to rent.

  10.11.2008 13:38 #11

• FredBun

  QUOTE, I mean, I'd just imagine them to be the scratched up ones they no longer wanted to rent.
  
  I agree

  8.12.2008 00:02 #12

• Mez

  They probably resurface them before they sell them. They probably know how many times they can resurface the disks and sell them on the last resurface. That is what BB does. You can't tell they are used and are a good deal.

  8.12.2008 06:57 #13