“This is the most overpriced DVD rack in the world. But this one is broken.” That is how @jayboymodz, who introduces himself as Jay, opens his video, standing beside a tall black tower stacked with DVD cases. A few seconds later he is in a parking lot shaking hands with the seller, and the caption on screen gives the price: he “was able to score for only $30!”

The tower comes out of the back of a vehicle and gets plugged in right there. The seller explains that it is supposed to turn on its own, and that it might work with discs loaded, but the discs have all been taken out. What both of them land on is that the motor can be heard running even though nothing moves.

What the tower is and what was wrong

Indoors, he names it: “This is the Sharper Image DVD Power Tower.” He adds that “they sell for over $700 on eBay,” and his own reaction to that figure is “totally insane.” That number is his, not a price shown in the video.

The design is the attraction. The tower’s gray spine has a round control, and when he presses it the black disc slots fan outward from the column one after another. “There’s a motor inside here that you can hear is running that is supposed to bring the DVDs all the way back and forth,” he says, “But it is not functioning correctly.”

His diagnosis came from reading up: “apparently all I need to do is replace this belt.” He holds the replacements up to the camera, two thin black rubber bands sitting in his palm.

Getting inside

“They definitely didn’t design these to ever be serviced,” he says as he starts on the case, and the text on screen backs him up: “The clips are extremely difficult to dislodge.” With the housing off, the inside is a small motor and a run of white plastic gears at the base of the column.

With the case open, he shows the problem. “If I turn this right here, we can hear this motor running and this is rotating,” he says. The motor spins, but nothing connects it to the part that moves the slots. “We just need to put that band in here to try to connect them back together.”

Partway through the job a disc turns up in his hand, its label reading “Mind Field,” and he calls it “a great day.” Then the band goes on and the case goes back together.

The test is the payoff. He reloads the tower with cases, saying “Put your DVDs back where they go,” and the slots sweep around again. “Oh, yeah, baby!” He sums it up: “I’m really glad that I could get this thing running. I was a little bit nervous because those clips are no joke.” His next target is a matching piece: “now I’m definitely on the lookout for the CD tower to match it.”

Before you pay for one, or try the same fix

Check the price claim yourself. eBay’s own product research tool, available to sellers through Seller Hub, covers “the last 3 years of eBay sales data,” with filters for condition and sale price. Sold results, not asking prices, are what a buyer actually paid.

Ask to plug it in at the pickup, as he did. A motor you can hear but a carousel that does not move is the exact symptom he fixed with a band.

Load a few discs before you judge it. The seller’s own suggestion was that it might only run with discs in it, so test both ways.

Unplug it before you open the case, then go slowly on the clips. He describes them as extremely hard to release, so photograph each one before you pry and keep track of where the screws and clips go.

Match the band before you buy one. Take the old band out, or measure the path between the motor pulley and the gear it drives, and buy the same width.

Run it with discs in it once it is back together, the way his final test was done with the slots filled.