Making Money From VHS Video Cassettes

If you've been to a charity shop or car boot sale at some point within the last ten years, chances are you would have seen many VHS videos for sale. And with a general selling price of between 20 Pence to £1 Pound, no doubt, most people wouldn't really look at VHS videos as having any kind of resale profit in them. And in terms of buying them to actually watch, most people don't own a Video player anymore, so they are pretty much obsolete at this point.

Electronics and playable media has moved on so much since the VHS days, even from the CD / DVD era as well to some extent. It's all about digital and mostly invisible media these days, streaming, downloading etc. People want everything in super HD and delivered within seconds. I should make it clear that I'm not one of those people. I prefer old school media. Retro electronics are still loved by many individuals, and as a result, there is still a demand for certain items.

This brings me to the subject of this post. Can you make money from old VHS videos. The answer is, yes you can. Slowly. While most videos, popular ones, are not worth much, there are some that are worth a decent amount of money. So if you do some research beforehand and know what to look out for, there are more than a few gems out there.

But make no mistake, to make the highest amount of money, the movie must either be rare, or a pre-cert (pre-certification). Pre cert basically means that the video tape has no official age restriction information on any part of the cassette tape or case / cover due to the 1984 Video Recordings Act not yet being in force.

So Pre-certs were unregulated, largely unedited, and weren't required to follow any guidelines set by an overseeing governing body. Also worth aware of, is that not all pre certs are worth good money, and some eBay sellers list videos for sale as "Pre cert", but the age restriction (15, 18 etc) can clearly be seen on the cover, and even on the cassette itself. Unless I'm missing something here, those are not pre certs. Anyway, moving on.

Sure, there are some VHS videos out there that are neither rare or pre certs but are still worth considerably more to resell on eBay than you would pay for them at a second hand shop. Besides, some second hand shops / thrift stores actually give them away for free, so its not hard to turn a profit on a giveaway. As an example, one that quickly springs to mind is Jacknife starring Robert Deniro, Ed Harris and Kathy Baker.

That film sells for around £5 - £10 on eBay UK. Or at least it used to. Just checking eBay now, and there are many more copies than what used to be there a year or so back. Hardly worth all the bother to resell. I actually own this movie on VHS, but I wouldn't sell it because I like the film, and it's not really worth the running around for a fiver or tenner after eBay take their fees.

A better example would be some of the B-movie cult classics. Because certain titles are so rare (and also pre-certs), and still have a cult following, certain titles do command fairly high resale prices. There's quite a few on eBay right now. Including Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, the original EVIL DEAD, The Slayer (VIPCO), The House On The Edge Of The Park and AXE. As well as many more. Most of these are priced up at around £200.

However, if you're thinking of doing this to earn some extra money, be prepared for a long wait to actually make a sale. With the demand for VHS videos not being what it once was, it's clear to see that most of the videos mentioned above have something negative in common. None have sold, and none of them even have any watchers.

So while they are worth some money, I think that the people selling them when I just had a quick look in eBay have priced them up for whatever they want, just hoping someone will buy it for an extortionate amount of money due to the fact that they are now hard to find. There is no set market price or ballpark figure.

But in some ways this is correct, and can actually be a good thing. When there's only one or two of something for sale, and that thing can't be found anywhere else, you either have to pay what the seller wants or you don't get the item. It's as simple as that. But it's fair to say, all the movies mentioned above are on sale for too much money, and they'll never actually sell.

I say this because the Original Evil Dead is actually quite sought after on VHS, and does usually sell on eBay for £50+. Trying to sell it for £200, like the seller I just discovered when I did a quick bit of research for this post, has resulting in them pricing themselves out of getting a sale.

Another example of too high of a price tag is with some of the Walt Disney cartoon movies. Some sellers want crazy money for their films. It really is ridiculous. There's one on eBay right now that caught my eye: Pinocchio (in used condition). Guess how much its up for sale for. A used VHS video of Pinocchio is for sale on eBay for £3000 (Buy it now). Three Thousand Pounds! It will never sell.

You could probably check back in 20 years and it would still be for sale. But by that time the seller would most likely have gotten so fed up with zero buyer interest and constantly having to relist it, that they would finally cave in and end up listing it for sale at the right price.

Some of the Walt Disney "Black Diamond" "The Classics" edition films have some appeal, and usually they are much more sensibly priced. Furthermore, certain Disney films, like Beauty and The Beast and The Jungle Book, do have many eBay watchers and do actually sell.

More worth mentioning that have quite a lot of interest on eBay and sell for good money (£35 - £200): Bloody Moon 1981 (B-Movie Video Nasty), Mylene Farmer, Devil Hunter Yoko, Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 Dead By Dawn, Status Quo Live In Concert, Manga, Superman 1 and 2, Insanity, I Miss You Hugs & Kisses (Rare), Battle Beyond The Stars, Bloody Payroll, and The Exorcist.

These are just a few, there are many many more. Like I said, do your research and I'm sure you'll find a lot more that are worth picking up if you see them on sale cheap while out and about. All the titles mentioned in the paragraph above are definitely worth buying, as long as they are both original, pre certs if released before 1984, and providing the price is fair.

Low prices for VHS videos are extremely common if you frequent charity shops, car boots sales and second hand shops, etc. VHS' are deemed by most to be close to worthless. So the people selling them are not always aware that some are worth a considerable amount of money, and will let them go for 50 Pence each or less. There's a good profit to be made if you know what to look out for.