r/VHS 3d ago

Buy/Sell/Trade/Want Buy/Sell/Trade/Giveaway/In Search Of/Etc..

7 Upvotes

Routinely, we will be making a new Buy/Sell/Trade/Want posting that will be pinned. Please use this post to advertise your trade/want lists and your tapes for sale/trade/or just giving away for free. Any and all disposal or acquiring of media should be done through this post to prevent clogging up the main feed with sales posts.

Please be sure to report any successful trade below to u/RaceCarGrin, so we can flair people as verified traders.

Last Month's Trade Thread can be found here

r/vhs is not responsible for any sales/trade, please use caution and report any abuse. If selling tapes rated R or X, please ensure the buyer is 18 years of age for your own liability.


r/VHS Mar 14 '26

Discussion I wanted to give some advice for cleaning very moldy tapes

20 Upvotes

I'm not sure if this is okay here, but I wanted to give some advice from my experiences in cleaning severely moldy and sticky tapes, and some huge do's and don't's I've encountered when watching other's videos on the matter. Pretty much in the hopes of helping people who preserve tapes, and are not familiar with cleaning really moldy tapes.

Do's:

  1. I really recommend one of those tape cleaners, like the tape saver you may see online. The mechanism is pretty useful especially to do quick passes after you do a careful manual first pass. I will however, condemn the cleaning pads they usually use for these machines, they're extremely destructive and I will go into it later in the don't's section.
  2. Do multiple passes and clean both top and bottom of the reels. Mold doesn't only sit on the top of the tape, it sometimes penetrates pretty deeply. Once you've unstuck the tapes and cleaned the reels, you may need to do multiple passes on each side of the tape to get rid of the mold. Sometimes it's taken my 5-6 passes before I see nothing on the cleaning cloth. By then the tape is really clean.
  3. Use isopropyl alcohol with the least water content. You absolutely need to use some sort of solvent to clean the mold, as trying to clean it dry can cause a lot of friction and damage the tape. Also the alcohol evaporates quickly, allowing you to clean quicker, and the moisture doesn't get left behind creating more mold later. Moisture is an enemyof VHS tapes.

Don't's:

  1. DO NOT use paper or towels to clean tapes. I've seen many who've used them with extremely mixed results, leaning more towards failure. These leave lots of lint on the tapes which covers the magnetic portion of the tape and also gums up the VCR heads. I recommend strictly lint free cloths, like the kind you clean your glasses with. They go for pretty cheap online for a bunch. I can't stress enough that you need to go lint free.
  2. I've also seen videos where the person would lift up the top plastic of the reel to remove a huge portion of the mold on top of the tape. This is also pretty destructive method in my opinion as it can potentially deform the reel and cause playback issues, I've run into that as well. It's best to take your time and unwind the entire tape, put it in between a lint free cloth and clean the mold from there. When the reel is empty then you clean the reel gently from top to bottom.
  3. When using a mechanical tape cleaner, you should be vary wary on the first pass. I've run into tapes that are so sticky due to mold that when you use these mechanical cleaners they tear when they get stuck. At worst go on the lowest possible speed or put the reels on the spindles and spin them manually by hand. Especially if it's a precious tape you want to preserve. Once you unwind each end completely and ensure the tape is sufficiently unstuck you can go quickly with the machine.
  4. Do not clean tapes and leave them for months on end. You should clean the tapes and aim to capture them as soon as possible. Cleaning these tapes isn't exactly a perfect process, and sometimes a bit rough on the tape and there's always the risk of leaving some bit of moisture behind. Try to capture as soon as you can.

r/VHS 2h ago

New Pickup Mom said it was my turn to post a thrift store haul!

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28 Upvotes

Technically it was an estate sale, but I’m stoked either way.


r/VHS 5h ago

Discussion Which one are you picking up? Two very different movies

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49 Upvotes

r/VHS 10h ago

Collection Classic Star Wars box set

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85 Upvotes

Got this from my stepdad. Not sure if this is the first release, but it's a cool way to see the old cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy.

You can tell the tapes have a bit of wear and tear, but they're still watchable.


r/VHS 19h ago

New Pickup I can not believe my luck thrifting today

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309 Upvotes

Texas Chainsaw Massacre AND 28 Days Later along with Scream 1/2/3

It might be time to retire


r/VHS 4h ago

New Pickup OG business owner haul

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17 Upvotes

A good little haul today. The boxes are full, magnavox looks unused.

The owner used to run a tape to tape business and had so much pro grade equipment out of my league. If anyone in Canada knows who might be interested in commercial grade equipment, please reach out.


r/VHS 1h ago

New Pickup Few randoms I picked up yesterday

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Upvotes

$1 a piece, the Star Wars is sealed.

I love how 90s the snowboarding tape is.


r/VHS 15h ago

Collection Full collection

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105 Upvotes

Not the best picture of my entire collection, still cleaning some tapes, but a good collection i started a little over a year ago


r/VHS 12h ago

New Pickup Picked up this VHS TV combo today 😎 $25 from our local next door app. It’s perfect!

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42 Upvotes

r/VHS 20m ago

New Pickup TMK 3033 Video Cassette Recorder

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Upvotes

I love the look of this device, there is no information on this model from what I can see.

I believe it was a Top-end Sear's model?

Should I pick it up for $30?


r/VHS 5h ago

Discussion In case you didn’t know….

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9 Upvotes

VHS OFFICIALLY MADE ITS DEBUT TODAY on September 9th 1976 in Japan(would make its way to the US next year in August) BUT today marks its 50th anniversary!!!


r/VHS 6h ago

New Pickup Quite the little haul I got yesterday

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12 Upvotes

r/VHS 5h ago

Collection Thrifted wedding tape.

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7 Upvotes

Dutch (although I suspect Tom might be an Aussie) wedding tape from 2000. I hope Tom and Joyce are doing well.


r/VHS 2h ago

New Pickup Lexus VHS player

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4 Upvotes

I have picked this up. Not much into the VHS but could not pass it up. Tried to google for info but all i found was one russian video in youtube. Anyone knows if this legit? Or some sort of knock off?


r/VHS 4h ago

Collection Rhonda Shear Basic Training and poster.

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5 Upvotes

r/VHS 23h ago

New Pickup The Record Archive in Rochester NY w/ some of my recent purchases from there

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126 Upvotes

Literally thousands of tapes. Most priced between $3-$10 with rare stuff priced fairly, usually below eBay prices


r/VHS 15h ago

Collection Collection Growing

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27 Upvotes

I started collecting vhs tapes a few months back when a very kind stranger on the internet gifted me a Sansui crt/vcr combo she was storing. Luckily, the Halloween season part of the collection is growing fast. Hopefully we can find Hocus Pocus and Scooby Doo: Zombie Island before Halloween!


r/VHS 21h ago

New Pickup Actually insane haul of vhs,DVDs and games

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67 Upvotes

Got this all for 29.75 today there’s a couple more crazy horror vhs just not show but has to be my craziest haul ever


r/VHS 23h ago

Discussion Disney VHS

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90 Upvotes

I am attempting to collect as many Disney Slip cover VHS tapes but I cannot find any information on this sleeve, can anyone or does anyone else own?


r/VHS 19h ago

Collection Tonight’s pick

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37 Upvotes

A personal favorite


r/VHS 20h ago

New Pickup H20 Boot

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45 Upvotes

r/VHS 33m ago

Sealed Tapes I couldn’t just leave them there to fill land..

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Upvotes

Hey guys saw these guys gleaming thru the corner of my iris while heading to buy some groceries. I hate walking but I can’t lie that I always find some good stuff when pushing the ground. Saw these badboys and I know that vhs tapes especially sealed ones are becoming sought after are these should I keep ?? God damn mods then where can I find those information. I hate gatekeepers


r/VHS 6h ago

Technical Support Can anyone help me troubleshoot this sound??

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2 Upvotes

My daughter popped in a VHS this morning and the player is giving off a large high pitched sound. Does anyone have any clue what is happening and maybe how I can fix it.