Red Wolf wrote:There are lots of other factors other than cost and overstock that may be at work. They could see a gain in traffic and more profitable purchases by generating traffic with significant discounts. There also may be a "point" system in play where the reseller gets money and/or credit from the publisher for selling X amount of copies. In that case selling at or near cost could still generate more incoming by both generating traffic which generates other sales and getting kick backs from the publisher.
I think the market for new cars works like that.
A few years ago when laserdiscs were disappearing, you could find stacks of LDs going for $0.50 and up. They were usually defaced with a small slot or hole punched out of the sleeve. They were called "cutouts" or "punchouts".
Cut-out (aka punchout):
The LD jacket or box has a hole in one corner or a nick in the edge near a corner. This is not a defect, unless the punch or drill damaged the disc(s) within. The liner may have to be replaced in any case.
When a disc title is overstocked at the distributor, or when it is deleted from the catalog with stock remaining, the excess/remaining stock may be defaced in some way and sold to the retailers at a larger than normal wholesale discount. The defacement distinguishes cutouts from ordinary stock. Retailers cannot return cutouts for credit as they can on ordinary slow-moving stock. Cutouts can be returned if defective.
Such warehouse-cleaning usually involves multiple titles, and is often the occasion for special sales at the retail level. I would not expect to pay list price, and would expect to get a greater-than-normal discount on a cutout. Cutouts often provide an opportunity to acquire titles passed up at normal prices.
Sometimes a title would appear as a cutout due to impending re-issue in an improved edition (widescreen, digital sound, restored length, etc.).
I'd expect all unsold "new" LD inventory in North America to now be considered "cut outs".
I don't think this kind of defacement is happening with DVDs, maybe because modern barcoding systems can track the status of a product. But "warehouse-cleaning" would seem to be the most likely source for these sales at The Right Stuf.
Another possibility is retail price cuts for older catalog titles. Pioneer prices the DVDs of some of their old material at $15 retail, making the street price at about $10.
Phantom Quest and
Hyperdoll are examples.
BTW, the above quote is from
http://www.access-one.com/rjn/laser/legacy/ld17.txt
It might be of interest to LD owners.