Starting a DVD Rental Service?

[bobk49]

Hi All Fellow Movie Lovers:
My input here is not to be taken as being a snobby cinephile but rather just a movie fanatic (guess it has to do with the fact that both parents were in the business).I have probably the largest private collection of DVD's(last count close to 4000) in Taiwan if not in Asia.Since I travel around the world I am picking up titles all the time or ordering from Amazon & Yes Asia.I love all categories of movies from high art to low trash (NO PORNO).My question is since the available titles in Taiwan are mostly junk or take forever to be released locally does it make sense to start up a DVD rental service or would that be breaking the laws of Taiwan and International laws which are clearly stated at the start of each DVD. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks

[sandman]

Hi All Fellow Movie Lovers:
My input here is not to be taken as being a snobby cinephile but rather just a movie fanatic (guess it has to do with the fact that both parents were in the business).I have probably the largest private collection of DVD's(last count close to 4000) in Taiwan if not in Asia.Since I travel around the world I am picking up titles all the time or ordering from Amazon & Yes Asia.I love all categories of movies from high art to low trash (NO PORNO).My question is since the available titles in Taiwan are mostly junk or take forever to be released locally does it make sense to start up a DVD rental service or would that be breaking the laws of Taiwan and International laws which are clearly stated at the start of each DVD. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks

Gosh, NO! That would be illegal and therefore WRONG!
Plus, its takes me about the time to brew a cup of coffee to... um... "acquire" and burn to disk pretty much anything I want to see.

[ThreadKiller]

Welcome to Forumosa, bobk

I have no idea of all the legal issues and how to go about being legal, but I must say that it would be great to be able to have access to a wider range of movies than is currently available on the island. Hope you don't mind me sending this over to the Business forum which might be a better home for it.

[bababa]

I for one would be happy to rent DVDs from a collection of over 4,000 that includes non-mainstream movies. I'm sure it is illegal, though, but if you just did it under the radar, would be unlikely to get caught. That is, I don't think you could open up a shop and rent them. But just through word-of-mouth and by ads, I don't think you'd get caught. I also don't think you could make much money from it, but ads in the right places around Taipei might attract enough interest that it could at least subsidize your hobby.

[Dr. McCoy]

Show a little skin.

[citizen k]

It wasn't so long ago that you could call up and have your discs delivered, so I doubt you would have any trouble with your operation as long as you don't have a storefront. Need a license for that. I would imagine that this will be a labor of love for you, since the video rental business is in a downward spiral the past few years with the advent of Netflix and other direct online options...

[llary]

You might have a hobby with this but I'm afraid I can't see a viable business. I think legal issues are the least of your worries with this enterprise.

Problem 1: your movies are (I assume) in English with no subtitles, so you are essentially limited to foreign customers. That is a tiny market.

Problem 2: you have the same issue that makes banks sketchy about offering credit cards to foreigners, which is that they are more likely to up and leave with your DVDs.

Problem 3: I assume you only have one of each film, so you are going to have a lot of contention for a few popular titles.

Problem 4: related to problem 2, you don't have the muscle to make sure people return DVDs on time or at all and it's very likely that you would quickly lose out from missing or damaged discs.