Former Blockbuster exec starts online DVD trading service
A former Blockbuster executive is finding new life for old DVDs in MovieBandits.com, an online venue for the trading of both used and new DVDs. Dave Perkovich, formerly Blockbuster’s vice president of online subscription services, heads the start-up, privately-funded company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Informec Inc., based in Dallas.
The online trading service, operating in beta since January, has nearly 10,000 registered users and averages 5,000 trades per month, according to Perkovich. “Everyone knows about renting DVDs online and getting them in the mail. But people still like to own their own copies. As a result, there is an enormous amount of unwatched DVDs in people’s homes. Now, you can make use of those titles by trading with us for new titles,” he says.
Perkovich distinguishes the business model from an online peer-to-peer service. DVDs go to consumers from MovieBandits rather coming directly from another individual, which allows the DVDs to be screened, cleaned and sometimes repaired before customers receive them. “We can control quality and provide customers truly excellent service. Customers like knowing who they are dealing with,” says Perkovich, who adds that consumers will know exactly what they are getting when using MovieBandits.
The service currently more than 250,000 DVD titles in its Texas warehouse. The company has developed a proprietary web-enabled system to track customer information, inventory and order management to boost fulfillment capacity and reduce labor costs, according to Perkovich.
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