BUYING & SELLING POLICIES
  1. *INTRODUCTION
  2. *NEW CDS
  3. *HOW WE PRICE
  4. *TRADE CREDIT
  5. *COLLECTION FORM
INTRODUCTION
Bring us your CDs, LPs, DVDs, singles, 78s, tapes or videos!

At Amoeba, you can trade in your old CDs and DVDs and get cash, or 30% more in a credit slip that you can use to shop with whenever you want.  Our expert buyers can appraise all categories of music.  Bring in any amount or combination of genres or formats and we’ll explain how much everything is worth, and pay you the right price.  Our prices are based on the artist, title, popularity, condition, and how much we already have in stock of each item you bring in to sell.

If you have a large collection, call the store nearest to you, and we may be able to come to you!!  If you live outside the LA or SF metropolitan areas, call any store and ask a buyer if we might be able to travel your way to view your collection.  We have purchased collections from all over the country, and are one of the very few stores in the U.S. that can purchase really large collections.  We also buy inventories and estate collections.
HOW WE BUY
The two most important factors in determining an item's value are:

(1) TITLE

Some titles are extremely common and not sought after and are therefore not worth too much to us. Other titles will always sell or are currently very popular.  We are happy to pay good prices for those.

(2) CONDITION

Condition is extremely important in terms of the value of an item - an LP or CD we sell for $10 in mint condition is worth far less with a few very visible marks on the disc.  A "collectible" title will only have significant value in mint or near mint condition.

CDs: We price CDs based on demand and condition, even though the condition will rarely affect the playability.  The more visible scratches, the less you're likely to get for it.  We price scratched-up CDs very low, and we usually try to avoid buying them at all.

DVDs:
Same rules apply as for CDs.

LPs: We only buy LPs that are in good playing condition.  Our buyers can look at records and have a very good idea of how they're going to play.  An LP might be worth $4.00 in great condition but only 50 cents with just a few visible scratches on it.  The condition of the cover counts too!

Tapes & Videos:
We can tell from looking at a tape how used and/or abused it is.  Good condition is essential for the resaleability of any tape.
HOW WE PRICE
CDs: We pay anywhere from 10 cents to $5.00 credit for most CDs. A typical price for a strong title in good condition would be $2.00-$4.00. We pay less for lower list-price CDs or less sought-after or common titles.

DVDs: We pay TOP DOLLAR for strong and uncommon titles!!! There is a wide range of list prices and values--most often we pay between $1.00 and $7.00 credit for most DVDs, though unusual foreign films, Out-of-Print titles and special editions can go much higher.

LPs: We might pay anywhere from 25 cents to $5.00 for titles that still sell on LP.  A typical collection that contains mixed titles usually averages from 50 cents to $1.50 per LP. 

Videos: VHS is a format that is disappearing and becoming very difficult to sell. We most often pay nickels and dimes for VHS films. Boxes must also be in good shape and the VHS must not be a screener/promo or have been bought from a video rental store.

Tapes: Another nearly-gone format that we don't really need. Sellers will generally get 1 to 5 cents per cassette tape.

Collectors Items:
If a record, CD or DVD is truly collectible and we can get more for it, we will of course pay accordingly.  Generally we pay about half in cash or 2/3 in trade of what we’re going to sell it for.  So, if we plan to sell an LP for $50.00, we'll pay about $25.00 for it.  The less we expect to sell it for, the less of a percentage we offer.
TRADE CREDIT
On all purchases we pay one third more in TRADE than we do for CASH, so if we offer you $75.00 in cash, it'll be around $100.00 in trade credit.  You may also want to get some in cash and some in trade.  Trade credit never expires until you use it all.