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Say you buy a pre-owned (second-hand) copy of a movie on a website like, say, Amazon.

AFAIK, no one who made the film or distributed it will ever see the color of your money, therefore, the prejudice and losses are comparable, if not worse (because they are a much larger scale system) to piracy. But Amazon, on the other hand, will make a profit.

Now, when you bought it brand new, there might even have been a message telling you to not resell it on the box or as a roll-up before the film. I understand that you shouldn't be able to resell, and that the user who would buy it would have to buy it new, which would make the distributors and the rights holders make profit (not sure what you should do with your copy though, trash it?).

And yet thousands of dollars (probably more) are made everyday by people and by amazon through the sale of second hand media (also books, audio tapes, etc). (And sometimes second-hand media sells for as little as 1 cent of a dollar on sites like these, which makes its price value even smaller for the sellers and the website, and the price difference for the buyer versus "buying new" impossible to fight.)

Yet, no one talks about this when people mention online piracy and circulation of copyrighted media that doesn't profit the copyright holders.

So, is there an understanding between Amazon and copyright holders that no one is aware of? Are second-hand physical goods not concerned by copyright laws? Is it impossible to enforce, and on what grounds? (every transaction has been recorded on a server and includes people's addresses, etc). Or is Amazon (and the likes, such as eBay, etc) such a giant and powerful company, that big media companies find it easier to target piracy websites "first" than these kinds of distribution websites?

MicroMachine
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Generally not. There is a notion in copyright law called the first-sale doctrine in which after a particular copy of a copyrighted work is legitimately sold, the purchaser can sell, lend, lease, give away, or otherwise dispose of the copy as he sees fit. Copyright does not give the copyright holder exclusive rights to authorize resales. See 17 U.S.C. ยง 109 for the relevant US law; in other countries the same principle is sometimes called exhaustion of rights.

There are limits to the doctrine. In the US, it does not allow for for-profit software rental (for most software) or musical record rentals. Moreover, software companies noticed the part where the doctrine applies to a transfer of title (i.e. an actual sale). If you read a typical software EULA, it is generally quite explicit that the software was licensed to you instead of sold; this is why. Courts in the US have often enforced these provisions (particularly if the license imposes limits like "you can't resell it"); European courts have, as far as I know, been far less willing to accept that argument. However, as a general rule resale is specifically not forbidden by copyright.

cpast
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As cpast wrote, if you purchase a copy, such as a book, or a pre-recorded CD or DVD, you can sell that copy or give it away. You can also lend it, but you may not lend software or music for a fee without permission. Nor may you play it for a sizable group, particularly not if a fee is charged.

However, if you record a broadcast for personal use, you may not sell that recording, nor give it away.

David Siegel
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If anyone has a written statement of Payment made to the legal Distributor while buying the first hand copyrighted product, there is no problem to resale it on any online portal.

Hence it is very important for the buyer to check if the seller is legitimate.

adit ya sawant
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