Selling DVDs online

RIghts, licenses, copyrights etc...

[Morgenhund]

I'd like to sell video DVDs and CDs in my online shop (and namely legal products -- licensed etc.)

Could someone advise me how does this industry work -- should I contact a distributor (local/global) of a particular title? Should I purchase distribution rights?

If there are "exclusive" resellers in some areas, can I send DVD to given areas without being blackmailed?

10x in advance.

[roscoepico]

Have you considered using amazon's associate program? The percentage you will make off of DVD's won't ammount to much(5%?), but it's a good start and easy to implement.

[Morgenhund]

The problem is -- most buyers in my area do not have credit cards.

[Easy_Coder]

Google "Ingram Entertainment" if your looking for a distributor...

[Morgenhund]

Ingram looks good, but! Have forgotten to mention -- I'm located in Europe. Have not found any information on Ingram's site that international retailers are welcome. Will try to contact 'em for more info...

[kodaks]

>>The problem is -- most buyers in my area do not have credit cards.

What do you think your main way of recieving payments will be?

[Morgenhund]

Wire transfer, since most of them have access to on-line banking.

[plumsauce]

Someone else mentioned that european wire transfer was quite common and cheap.

What is the typical cost per transaction for a consumer?

Can a website be setup with a gateway to initiate the transaction, or is this a manual thing?

[Morgenhund]

In most cases, it is free for customer to make wire transfer.

In most cases, it is a manual thing.

One of banks I know offers semi-automated system: after customer initiates transaction from your site, a payment template is sent to his internet-bank; he needs then to log into his bank account through internet-bank system and approve payment; then merchants got payment. This was free for customer, as well, but not for merchant -- there is a monthly and transaction fee. Advantages for merchant -- that customer does not need to enter all payment details manually, thus makes things quicker/more reliable.

[plumsauce]

The semi-automated system sounds very sensible. Especially the verification and funds release process. Too bad that credit cards did not operate this way.