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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Originally posted by kaiswil2:

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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.

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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

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.

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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

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Only 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.

are they encoded for region 2?

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

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.

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

I agree

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.