RFI: The Best Way to Sell Your Record Collection

(Not really, I just want to see geeta's CD inventory. Sorry g for not actually writing a helpful post.)

BTW, the eBay thing works best if you schedule all your auctioned stuff together. In other words, sell 100+ things at once, instead of a few at a time. Partially this is because people can save $$$ on shipping when buying more than one item (from most sellers), and partially because one accrues more hits from the "see other this seller's other auction" thingy.

I average about $10 per CD, with 90% sold, from a mix of about 45% import / 55% domestic. Soul and reggae sell for less than other genres. It goes without saying that out-of-print stuff can go for a lot more money, even if it's still easy to find. About 1 in 25 still-in-print items sells for more than 110% of what it would cost in any store. Go figure.

Make sure what you charge for shipping covers your expenses but don't be greedy, exorbitant shipping fees will put off buyers.

sterl yeah this is primarily for financial reasons. and also out of a desire to be more minimal.

I have a couple crates of records I want to unload -- haven't had a turntable for a decade and they've just been in storage. Mostly 60s/70s stuff of mixed condition, some sort of interesting and possibly of moderate value, e.g. old folkways stuff, a few random rare indie things, etc.

I know I'd get the most money per record on ebay, but I don't really have time to deal with that. Are there people who would do that for me for a commission? Is there an NYC-area ilxor who would do it? Am I better off just showing up at Academy records and taking what they give me?

BTW have a bunch of CDs to get rid of too.

The people who post on I Love Vinyl would know better, but as a collector, I wouldn't bother with anything not in good shape--I'd junk them or give them to a thrift shop. I never sell anything, so those that are in good shape, I don't know.

Discogs Marketplace is a considerably quicker and simpler option than ebay.

ebay is good if you sell them in lots...like, if you have three Sebadoh albums or whatever, sell all three together. This is an easy way to sell them fast because someone looking to beef up their collection will maybe pay slightly more to get them all in one shipment.

my vinyl selling policy is generally anything that I can get decent money for on eBay will be auctioned off, anything that is more common or not in demand goes to amoeba, everything else (not great shape, passed on by amoeba) I give away or take to the thrift store.

Discogs all the way. Easy to list, no fees unless something sells, and everything is pre-filled in (label, year, personnel in some cases, etc). It's also where people who might be interested in Folkways type stuff will go before eBay these days, I think. Then again, if you're looking to unload, like, rare Red Hot Chili Peppers shit or whatever, eBay is still the way to go.

email me and i will happily offer you money for your records.

Amazon is straight-forward. Music Magpie is okay if you want to get rid of stuff that no-one will really care about - I tend to see it as decluttering rather than money-making.

ian is the best way to do this!

Ian is a good idea! I think some people are missing a key part of my predicament though, which is that I don't have the time to individually list and sell a hundred different records through discogs, ebay, amazon, or any site. What I want is a way to get rid of them with less effort, even if I don't get quite as much money, e.g. consignment selling.

Go to a collector's show when it first opens, show your stuff to dealers, thus get them when their appetites are tingling with anticipation, come back at closing time when they've got all their profits, and you might sell a ton--I did this several times. Although you'll get dealer prices, of course--unless you also approach other showgoers before they make it inside, or even lure 'em away from the dealer's tables (discreetly).

yeah, the record fair is a good idea, too - just rent a table, they're usually like $30 or less. Put the CDs out for $3 each and watch 'em fly. (some encouragement: my local Half Price Books - sort of a Barnes and Noble for people who eat Kashi - just today had a 'clearance' rack of CDs, a buck each, and yadda yadda yadda, I spent $38.)

FWIW I took my CDs to Academy and I was surprised that they actually bought about half of them, and for a decent amount of cash. One of the dudes was even impressed that I had a Gravitar CD, which was probably my greatest record store moment ever.

lol. gravitar! i remember that band... hit me back on the email if you wanna sell the LPs. I am totally into checking em out. I love records. dr dot carl dot sagan at g maille dotcom

Hurting I just sent you an ILX message. my gf is getting into collecting ethnic folkways stuff (don't know if you have any of that, or if it's just regular folkways) and her birthday's coming up. i'd love to take them off your hands!

cool girlfriend!

hey dudes first of all thanks for the offers. I am having some discomfort with letting go of my records, so I have to give it some thought. But I will be in touch if so.

haha. totally understandable.
also, Z_S, i don't have any ethnic folkways for sale currently but i DO have some nonesuch explorer series records (gamelan stuff, japanese stuff, bulgarian stuff, mostly) if your gf is interested in other world music labels.

that's cool hurting, i understand. ian, i'll check but i think the obsession right now is just with ethnic folkways. it sucks that there's like 4 trillion of them because there will never be an end!

tbh, i've been toying with the idea of selling some of mine (cuz i don't listen to 'em much) but it's tough cuz they're just so nice...

Yeah I had a hard time even letting go of CDs, but I figured it's all digital music and I have all of it stored in what's really an identical form. Records are different obviously. The CD money I got is going to be used to repair the sweet vintage McIntosh stereo equipment I inherited and/or to buy speakers.

if you're not gonna do the repairs yourself i'd recommend MTZ electronics in greenpoint. they fixed my amp for me a few years ago and were quick and great.

and by amp i mean receiver, not guitar amp.

hmm, and they work on vintage stuff too? I'm in touch with a guy at Leeds, which isn't normally a repair shop but he said he might be willing to do it for me if I don't care about restoring to collectors' condition.

yeah, they repair everything as far as i know... pretty sure my marantz is a 70s model and they did it w/o any problems. if you've got a guy you trust, though, don't let me change your mind.

cool girlfriend!

― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, July 22, 2013 10:32 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark
cool boyfriend!
what are the folkways releases?

Off the top of my head, I know I have a Leadbelly 10-inch record, Between Sound and Sea, a Big Bill Broonzy record that I think is semi-rare, a few Pete Seegers (Gazette, How to Play the Five String Banjo and one or two others), a Woodie Guthrie record, and I kind of forget what else. I have a handful of other folk-revival era stuff too like a good Memphis Minnie record, some Vanguard stuff, etc.

Ok, just wondering! Thx.

cds have seriously lost their value now. I sold something like 200 at amoeba last month and got about 200 in cash; and these weren't dogs, they were all in good shape and decent titles. It's almost not worth selling of the rest, frankly.

yeah I think I got $180 for maybe 80 CDs. Was still more than I expected, and since I literally never touch them anymore, cash is cash.

bummer is that a lot of places still sell used CDs for like $8 each (unless they're ubiquitous top 40 sellers, then they might be a little cheaper).

i'd buy so many more used CDs if they were even $5 each instead of $8 each

I don't really begrudge CD stores for buying for $1 and selling for $8, because a lot of those CDs won't sell or will sit for a very long time before selling. Plus I feel like Academy Records is an institution I'm happy to support, and if that means letting them lowball me a little, so be it.

But I agree that $5 just "feels" better as a price point, and given that stores can get them so cheaply now I'll bet they'd sell more at that price.