DON'T SHOO THIS MAGPIE AWAY! (musicmagpie.co.uk)

Member Name: Wee_Jackie_163

Product:	musicmagpie.co.uk
Date:	14/04/09 (152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: EASY TO USE, MONEY FOR UNWANTED GOODS

Disadvantages: NOT THE BEST PRICE OFFERED, WILL ONLY BUY CD ALBUMS

I am regularly looking for ways to make a few extra pounds on the internet, and one of the best ways I have found of doing so is by selling unwanted possessions on websites such as Ebay. It is a relatively easy way of clearing out clutter and making a few pounds, and I have been doing this for about four years now. I have sold everything from clothes and books to toys and ornaments.

As music CDs are rather sought after by collectors and fans alike, I have found them to be one of the most successful things to sell. Not only that, but because they are lightweight and easy to post, it makes it easier and rather hassle-free from my point of view, as the seller, to post any CDs I have sold, rather than more bulky items.

When my other half was moving house recently, he decided to have a clear out of his ridiculously enormous music collection, and ended up with two large plastic crates of unwanted CDs, CD singles, and DVDs. Rather than taking these items to the local charity shop for them to resell, I wondered if I could instead list them on Ebay and make a few pounds for our wedding fund.

By the time I had had the crates of CDs in my possession for around a month, I had managed to sell about half of them, with the remaining half consisting of CD singles and CDs that nobody seemed to want, as they had been listed on Ebay at least twice and remained unsold.

I decided at this point that it was turning into more of a chore to keep listing them (at this point in time Ebay charged you for listing such items, and although each listing didn't cost a large sum of money, it all adds up!) than it was to just pass them onto the local charity shop and get shot of them once and for all. I packed them up into a few boxes, ready for my other half to take them to the charity shop the following weekend.

It was around this time that I had read a review on dooyoo for a website called "Music Magpie". It seemed that this website would pay for unwanted CDs and DVDs. I decided that I had nothing to lose by having a look to see what was involved.

I signed up to the website, which took a mere moment. Then I gathered some of our previously unsold CDs - around 5 of them - and set about reading up on the website to find out a bit more.

I learned that all I had to do in order to get a quotation was enter the barcode from the back of the product (in my case, a CD) into the special box on the website. I did this with the few CDs I had chosen at random, and was pleased when the "Total" box showed a total cost of £4.94.

Considering that these few CDs would have otherwise been handed into my local charity shop, I was obviously of the opinion that I would much rather be paid the best part of 5 quid for our wedding fund. Who wouldn't?

With a feeling of hope, and a small amount of cynicism, (can't help it) I agreed to the terms and conditions of the website, filled in the necessary details, and read the rest of the small(ish) print.

I learned that I would be sent confirmation of my order, together with address labels which should be applied to the package of CDs I was selling. I was given some advice about how to package the items, and was informed that I would be sent a cheque once the items had been received and checked. I clicked to agree to all of this, and waited for the Magpies to send me my labels.

The labels, together with the confirmation (which was really just a list of what I had agreed to send) were sent to me within about 7 days. The instructions stated that all I had to do was pop the confirmation/list in with my CDs when I was sending them off, and then wait on my cheque! This seemed simple enough, which I was pleased about. My other half popped them in the post, which was free as we used one of the labels sent to us by Music Magpie. Easy!

I am happy to confirm that our cheque arrived this morning, all £4.94 of it! I'm rather pleased to have made a few quid from unwanted items, but the time that the cheque took to arrive is rather disappointing - it was probably only about three weeks, but I guess I am used to eBay, when all of my money is collected within a few days of selling my items. It's probably rather unfair of me to make this comparison as both websites are completely independent from each other and aren't similar at all, but I'm used to dealing with money online and because the labels and instructions were sent out to me so quickly, I assumed that the cheque would receive the same prompt attention.

That said, this hasn't put me off from using the website in the future, and I've already arranged for my second order to be sent off shortly. What I found to be a refreshing change was the fact that I managed to shift a small pile of CDs in one sitting, rather than listing each item individually, giving an item description, in some cases taking a photograph to upload onto Ebay or Amazon; it really cut down on the amount of work involved in selling those unwanted CDs.

A word of warning though! A few of the items that I entered into the website were offered absolute pennies. For example, I was offered 25p for a CD album containing three separate discs, which I felt was very low. That said though, the good thing about Music Magpie is the format of the website, which is very easy to use. You simply type in the barcode from your item, then the website processes this information and within seconds you have your offer price on-screen. Most of my other half's unwanted CD's were rather abysmal (bless him aww) so I was happy with the price I was given the majority of the time, but I'd recommend trying a few other alternatives (like Ebay, for example) first, before you commit to sending it off to Music Magpie - don't just assume that the price that they offer you is the best price that you WILL be offered, if you see what I mean. It's definitely worth shopping around a bit, if you have the time to do so.

Something I was rather disappointed to learn about Music Magpie was that they will not buy CD singles, only albums. This is a bit of a shame as I have two cardboard boxes full of singles in my back room. (sigh).

The website also buys unwanted DVDs, and console games for your DS, Xbox and the like. I didn't have any such items to sell, so I cannot comment on what value you would get from Music Magpie.

The good thing is though, any items that you check for on the website are displayed in a list form, and there is a small tab which states "remove" just to the side. This means that if you are offered a price that you are not satisfied with, you can easily remove it from your list of items, and are not bound to sell it. You can very simply just check the price.

As well as the selling side of things, you have the option to buy on Music Magpie, although I don't know if it is worthwhile to do so or not; I'm scared to look at that section of the website too much in case I end up spending whatever paltry sums of money I've managed to make!

I'll definitely use Music Magpie again - even if I only make ten or fifteen quid for some of those unwanted CDs, with the cost of our wedding going up by the week, it'll come in handy for sure!

Summary: A magpie that gives instead of steals :-)