One person’s analog trash is one other person’s vintage treasure.
If you could have a pile of sad old VHS tapes that haven’t been touched because the dawn of digital media, you would possibly just have the ability to make a fortune on them.
Blockbuster video cassettes are obviously a relic of yesteryear, with technology moving from VHS to DVDs and Blu-Ray and now onto streaming — but they’re still popular amongst some cult cinema collectors.
Many are going for a shocking sum of money on eBay, including classic movies like “Back to the Future” and even newer flicks with a cult following, equivalent to the unique “Fast and the Furious.”
Nonetheless, simply posting a VHS on eBay doesn’t guarantee you’ll get an enormous buck — the condition should be top-notch.
VHS tapes degrade 10-20% over 10 to 25 years, and a few footage might be skewed with age, in response to the professionals at Kodak. They’ve a brief lifespan as a result of remanence decay of the magnetic charge, which ends up in discoloration, blacked-out scenes and eventually complete lack of footage.
Other conditions that speed up degrading of VHS tapes include storing in hot or humid conditions, storing them near magnetic sources, low cost or low quality tape, excessive rewinds and playbacks on the tape, and the tape is a second- or third-generation recording copy.
Kodak recommends storing VHS tapes in a cool and dry place “with little to no climate change” with a view to keep them in absolute best shape — though even in the very best conditions, they’ll eventually deteriorate.
Meaning your over-watched brilliant orange VHS of “The Rugrats Movie” won’t be the one that offers you a pay day. Nonetheless, some titles are up for auction with starting bids within the 10s of hundreds of dollars — many
It’s stays unclear just how man of those mint-copy tapes have actually sold for big bucks — but internet buyers are actually bidding on and buying them. Actually, lots of the sellers have “100% positive feedback” rankings.
The Post has reached out to eBay for comment about this rising retro-trend.
Meanwhile, after perusing the “aisles” on eBay, listed below are among the most costly listings for film titles on VHS as of Thursday afternoon.
- Release Date: 1989
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $14,080
- Release Date: 1985
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $4,500
- Release Date: 2002
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $1,250
- Release Date: 1982
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $15,000
- Release Date: 1985
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $6,758.40
- Release Date: 1987
- Condition: Brand latest
- Current Listing Price: $1,200
- Release Date: 1993
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $10,000
- Release Date: 1985
- Condition: Like Recent
- Current Listing Price: $20,000
- Release Date: 1992
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $10,000
- Release Date: 1985
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $2,320
“Taxi Driver” (Collector’s Edition)
- Release Date: 1999
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $300
- Release Date: 1986
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $125,000
- Release Date: 1985
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $37,500
- Release Date: 2002
- Condition: Brand Recent
- Current Listing Price: $39,000
