| A few years ago, when I was in College and had very few financial responsibilities, I bought alot of DVDs. At one point my collection was well over 3,000. A few years ago I finally moved out from the 'rents house, and realized I didn't need that many DVDs. It was becoming a waste of space, as there were many DVDs I knew I was never going to watch again, and quite a few I had never watched period. Via eBay I sold off over 2,000 of them. My current collection is at a little over 1,000; but it's all movies that I love and want to own. Also, nowadays, when I purchase DVDs I only get movies I really want, whereas years ago I used to buy anything that looked remotely interesting. Anyways, obviously over the last few years I've become much more financially conscious. While I still buy myself DVDs, I've begun to fail to see the logic in buying them full price at stores. Nowadays, most of the time when I want to buy a DVD, I'll go on Amazon and buy it used, or sometimes even new, for half the price I'll pay in stores ... shipping included. For example, I've gotten a brand new copy of Knocked Up for $4, a brand new copy of Good Night and Good Luck for $3.50, and last week I bought The Tripper used for $2.50. All of those prices include shipping. No matter how you cut it, those are awesome prices. I've bought many more than just those three over the last year or so, and have never once had an issue with the DVDs not working or the cases being messed up. They've always been in pristine condition, and for the price I paid I'm thrilled. So here comes my question. With all the different online outlets available to buy DVDs for low prices, why would someone go and buy them at Best Buy, Target, Wal*Mart, Circuit City, or FYE for double, or sometimes even triple, the price they're available for online? I can understand if you want the Steelbooks, because those are collector types items and would cost more second hand due to their limited nature. I can also understand people wanting to own certain flicks right when they're released; for example, I'll probably head to Best Buy to grab The Dark Knight as soon as it comes out, because I want that right away. However, on a whole, why would someone pay $15, or even $10, when they could literally pay a few bucks for the same movie elsewhere? |