The Peerflix problem

2006.05.12 — Business | Movies | Internet | by Andrew Cole

Peerflix seems to be a movie lover's dream: trade your dud DVDs for "Peerbux;" cash in Peerbux for movies you really want. The "peer" in "Peerflix" refers to the fact that other people just like you are the ones sending you the movies. The problem: those other people really are just like you. Your peers, it turns out, largely like the same movies you do, made many of the same bad purchases you did, don't want to give up the movies they liked, and have a long list of movies they'd like to just watch once.

UPDATE: Peerflix closed up shop in April 2008.

I joined Peerflix in early April after reading about it in a magazine. I thought it would be a great way of swapping out a few losers from my collection for a few winners as well as a few movies I just wanted to check out and pass along to others. As it happens, I don't have access to a very broad variety of movies to rent. My local, small-town video store has an anemic collection, and Netflix is a poor fit for my lifestyle. (I can generally only watch DVDs on the weekends, which means I wouldn't be able to cycle movies very quickly, so I'd end up paying $5 or more per rental.)

So, after checking out Peerflix's catalog and finding myself impressed, I joined up. There's no fee, and trades only cost a dollar plus the postage you put on movies you send (you send them in paper envelopes without the case). But first... you have to send out some of your movies. I added a few of the movies I never wanted to watch again: Salem's Lot, that full screen version of A Beautiful Mind I bought by mistake, Pleasantville, and a few other duds. Then I browsed the catalog and added films I wanted to my wish list.

The first film that came was my complimentary choice: Stuart Little 2, the only widescreen pick on their list that interested me (and even then not so much me as my niece and nephew). Not long after, the widescreen A Beautiful Mind came. Hurray! My plan was working! No one was requesting my full screen version, but now I had the film I really wanted all along.

...Only the copy of A Beautiful Mind that I got was all scratched up and virtually unwatchable. Every few minutes, the thing would lock up or break up into digital goo. I angrily turned to the full screen version to finish watching the film. Luckily, Peerflix has a guarantee that allows users to send them any ruined disks and get credit. To my amazement, fresh disks came quickly, and all was well.

And then I waited

And waited.

I kept sending out disks, cheerily accepting each automated invitation to send a film that someone else wanted, printing out the paper envelope, and mailing it off. Five titles... ten titles...

At first, I only chose movies for my wish list that I really wanted and couldn't get easily at local video stores or Best Buy, like 70s Italian horror (giallo) and oddball titles like Venus in Furs, National Geographic's Inside the White House, and some Fellini movies I probably wouldn't like enough to actually buy.

Nothing.

A month after joining, having dutifully sent out more than a dozen movies to eager peers, I have more than 20 Peerbux and almost nothing to show for it. I've added three dozen films to my wish list, several of which were listed as "available" when I chose them but which have since switched to "long wait."

If Peerflix actually worked, I should only have had to send out half a dozen movies to build up a dozen Peerbux and begin receiving movies that I would watch and then offer up to others. That would have brought my cost to less than $100 to join and less than a buck-and-a-half to get each title. Joining Netflix at $15 or $20 a month would have cost me $100 in just 5 or 6 months. Plus, unlike with Netflix, I can keep any disks I want. I never have to send them back, and they don't continue to cost me (I just don't get more Peerbux for sending them out again). And the movies I send out are ones that were just gathering dust anyway, so in reality, my dues would be almost nil.

Instead, I foolishly continued to send out movies, raising my costs to about $200 with about $25 in return (two used titles, without cases). Demand so hugely outweighs supply somehow that I'm wary about choosing movies that are marked "available." I fear it means that no one wants those movies, so I'll be stuck with them for weeks or even permanently.

Still waiting

So I've resigned myself to waiting. I won't send out any more movies until I receive several more. A few titles I've chosen are marked "short wait" or even "available." And, eventually, I should gradually rise to the top of the waiting lists and start receiving movies rapidly.

But clearly, Peerflix is broken. It's clear that simply not enough DVDs are circulating. If I was actually receiving movies I requested, my wish list would be much shorter, and I wouldn't be clogging the system with requests for movies I have only a passing interest in and only chose because my preferred picks are wait-listed. Perhaps many of those who finally receive movies they've requested are deciding to hang on to them, thereby taking them out of circulation.

At Netflix, you get charged a monthly fee that allows the company to purchase a lot of new movies. Hang on to them as long as you like; you won't be getting anymore until you send them back. Meanwhile, you're funding the purchase of another copy or some fresh new flick. At DVDOvernight, it's the transaction fees and late fees that fund new disks to go into circulation. No monthly fees.

At Peerflix, it's your peers offering up movies they didn't like that puts new movies into circulation. So your best hope is that you have lousy—and common—taste in movies.

...And a long, long patient streak.

Update 2006.05.13

Smilla's Sense of Snow just arrived, and two other "available" titles that I added after drafting this are listed as "in the mail." However, Smilla's Sense of Snow is pretty scratched up and doesn't play smoothly. Local video stores and, I'm sure, Netflix have the same problem, of course. Who are these people who treat their disks so casually?

Update 2006.05.25

I broke down and bought a couple Fellini movies and Good Night and Good Luck, all of which I got at cheap prices and which have a Peerflix value of 3 Peerbux. I thought, if nothing else, I've only spent $10-12 on each of them and might watch them a couple of times (that's $5 or $6 per viewing; cheaper than many DVDs I own). I've watched 8 1/2 twice now (once the regular way and once with the commentary track), and I'm ready to give it up to someone else... but not while I've still got 19 Peerbux burning a hole in my pocket.

X-Men 1.5 (very good condition) and Collateral (fairly good condition) arrived about the 20th. No one is requesting Smilla's Sense of Snow (which was a good murder mystery until it turned into a silly corporate conspiracy). Shaft should arrive any day.

Five Easy Pieces and Meatballs (I'm desperate, people!) are still listed as "available" after two weeks on the list and not being put in the mail. I guess some people put their movies on Peerflix but are just ignoring the requests because they aren't getting any disks themselves. Similarly, a couple of others that had been "available" have now turned into "long wait."

Update 2006.06.19

I've received a few more disks now, including Shaft, Diner, and The Way of the Gun. I sent out Shaft again after watching it (verdict: groovy, baby) but I've hung onto the others and still have 14 Peerbux. Peerflix shifted their wait listing to show roughly what the supply and demand is.

Most of my list now shows as "long wait" or "0 copies" (which indicates 0 copies on members' Have list and does not count titles on members' Hold lists. Meatballs still shows as available but it's still not being sent. (Open letter to Peerflixers: stop hoarding Meatballs, for godsake!) Five Easy Pieces is listed as "short wait" now, but I've already been waiting for weeks.

Also, I've decided that I'm not a Federico Felllini fan. I thought I would really be able to appreciate his work and become a Euro-cine snob, but no such luck. As soon as my Peerbux have gone down to 8 or 10, I'll send out La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2. Altho I still like Marcello Mastoianni, I wouldn't give Fellini the ora di giorno if I saw him on the via.

Ciao, bella!

Update 2006.07.04

Before the holiday, I received a couple of more disks, altho there have been a couple of more glitches. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (a 40s melodrama with Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas) got sent by two different people. I'm not sure if I accidentally requested two different editions or if two people responded to a single request so closely together that the system let them both send. Peerflix is good at telling you what is already on your Want list or Have list, but when there are multiple versions of a title, you can easily request both and not realize it. However, the second copy of this never arrived even after waiting a few extra days after it was automatically confirmed (which happens after nine days), so I filed a lost disk claim today.

I tried the same trick with Spy Games as I had with A Beautiful Mind—request widescreen to replace accidentally-purchased full screen—but I again ran into a problem. This time, the Peerflixer sent me a full screen disk he or she had listed as widescreen. This is normally avoided by entering your disks by UPC number, but it is possible to enter it by title, so goofs like this can occur. Oh, well. A fourth disk (Y Tu Mama Tabien) arrived correctly, and a couple more are on their way.

Also, with my Peerbux dipping as low as 8, I broke down and sent Fellini's 8 1/2 for 4 Peerbux. Even tho I didn't like the movie, it has such a nice double-disk case with a booklet of production notes that I packed the whole thing and sent it at a cost of over $2 instead of sending the disks only at a cost of about 75 cents. The Peerflix mailer prints on your printer as two pages, and careful wrapping allowed it to cover the oversized box nicely.

Update 2006.07.11

As I predicted early on, I've finally risen in the queues so that I'm being sent disks pretty regularly. The second copy of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers never did arrive.

I watched the first disk I got, tho. Kirk Douglas was terrific as the boozy husband in his very first screen role. And the leads and other supporters were great, altho Barbara Stanwyck has never thrilled me. I ordered the movie for Lizabeth Scott, who I loved in Too Late for Tears. Male lead Van Heflin was completely unknown to me, but wonderful. Good movie; great acting. Also, that love wasn't so strange.

I just read a Peerflix Tips & Tricks entry that explains that you can get disks faster by moving titles up in your Want list when they have a status of "available" or "short wait." I always left mine alone because I originally read that Peerflix would send whatever title was highest on my list, but this specifically says that others will get the title sent to them if they have it higher in their Want list. This is disappointing, because there's no clear indication anywhere else that moving Meatballs (come on people!) to my number 1 spot will somehow affect how quickly it's sent to me, considering that nothing else on my list is available.

It also means that Peerflix rewards constant manual reordering of your Want list. If you keep claiming that the most available movies are the ones you want the most, you'll get them sooner than some schlub who lets it sit in position 18, below Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and A Hard Day's Night.

Update 2006.08.03

Meatballs has arrived! Thank you Jake Swedenburg of Birmingham, Alabama! It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!

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