Selling a CD Collection - Your Advice Please

Earlier this year a very good friend of mine died. His family now went to sell off his music collection, which I'm guessing would amount to about a 1,000 CDs and a smaller amount of vinyl. The CDs are an electic mix of world music, jazz, rock, pop and so on - no real rarities, I don't think, and condition (particularly on the records) would be far from mint.

They sought my advice, but before replying I thought I would check here to see if anyone had any good suggestions. Unless I'm missing something obvious, I think they have three basic options - sell off the collection on E-Bay or Amazon, take them to a second-hand record shop, or hire a table at a record fair or market. Obviously they want to raise as much money as possible - any funds will go towards the cost of fitting double glazing for my friend's elderly father - and not be left with anything if at all possible. The family are not music 'experts' and have no real idea of the monetary value of the collection.

or hire a table at a record fair or market

this is what i'm planning to do with mine, seems like the best bang for the buck as it were. ebay is way too time consuming and fraught with all sorts of other problems, and you'll get sod all taking it to the local secondhand cd store

then take the leftovers to the cd store

That's about it, really.

If there's a small amount of vinyl, it may be worth checking 'completed' ebay auctions just in case.

Any chance you could post a list so the record collector experts could point out anything particularly collectible.

Even though the value of second hand cd's has collapsed in the past few years there may still a few worth cherry picking and selling seperately.

Thanks Billy, I expect to get a list from the family in the next few days

Dont take to a cd 2nd hand shop, they rip you off (esp in glasgow)

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend, Ward.

I know sod all about the mechanics of selling on eBay but: if you want to get rid of the whole lot in one go (or, rather, the whole lot minus the bits cherry-picked for separate sale), isn't an eBay auction the quickest way to go? Hiring a table at a record fair means -- I'd have thought -- that you're likely to end up with bits and bobs left over at the end of the day; the corollary, of course, is that it's a good way to get chatting to other dudes in the business and you might find you can flog the stuff on to one of them at a slightly better price than you might make from a record store.

But with eBay you could go: look, here's a job lot of records, cost £xxx, take 'em or leave 'em.

i really don't think you'd do any better selling as an ebay job lot than selling to a cd shop.. but who knows?

Hmm: as Hermann sagely points out, there are some right bastards running CD shops in Glasgow.

Mind, there are some right bastards on eBay, too, so ...

Bear in mind, those CD shops may buy yr stuff for undereprice, but they are more likely going to have them in shop for years and not sell them.

Are you kidding? Shops tend not to buy stuff if they cant sell now. Plus some shops buy for a few quid then sell for 3 times as much. And thats been told to me buy an ex employee of one such shop.

The worst place was The CD Tape And Record Exchange. But that's long gone. Sell stuff for £1 there and the next day on sale for £10.

I was meaning more about 'bulk'...

From what I understand, amazon is the best place to sell.

Maybe you could sell some through here of course.
I'm always surprised a trading board hasn't been set up.

i think as soon as you bring postage into the mix, you're just making life hard for yourself unless the stuff has a reasonable value

It depends on what you expect as reasonable return for the effort.

I tried out a bunch of 'boring' CDs just to see,and amazingly the Catatonia/Lighthouse Fam/ilk CDs actually sold for around £2, plus £1.50 p&p.

It's like anything really, balance the cost of your time against the funds likely...

MVE's buy prices have plummeted of late - now you're lucky to get 50p per CD. Their excuse: falling demand because of iTunes etc.

Amazon - you can probably list a hundred things in an hour there whereas doing it on ebay would take the rest of your life.

obvious, I know, but if you have an "in the know" third party (especially if your friend was a collector), try to assertain if there is anything of exceptional value before you sell thinge wholesale etc. Sorry about the loss, bro.

If you put it on e-bay, £2 min bid, rare stuff will go up, other stuff sell cheaply.

Put it on Amazon is good, but it can/will take a while to shift. Apart from the rare stuff which would fly obv.

I've sold a few CDs on Amazon recently - it can take a while going through and listing everything but stuff seems to go fairly quickly. I'd say it's worth a go.

This thread was started two years ago, but for me the same question still stands. I moved house a year ago and never looked back; most of my cd's are still boxed up and I want to get rid of the majority of them. I'm keeping the ones that have significant meaning to me, the rest - around 700 - I would like to get rid of and make a buck on: I own it digitally or on vinyl now anyway.

I'm not looking for a massive profit, but taking 700 cd's to the second hand store will probably only result in 350 euro's and a mysogenic wry smile from the store owner because he'll have to sort through it all and his life is miserable already without me dumping my cd's onto him. So that's a bit too meagre.

So what's the best way to go about this? Some thoughts on forehand:

- Amazon is not an option, I don't have a bank account in Austria, Germany, France or the UK.
- eBay individual listing costs, as mentioned upthread, a lifetime, so isn't an option either.

Is selling per lot an idea? Categorising and putting together a bunch of 50cd lots? Has Discogs become a good place to sell cd's? Or is there another website I don't know about that is cut out for this?

Btw, the collection consists of stuff mostly discussed here; largely "indie", rock, jazz, electronica (lol-IDM, Warp etc), Kranky/Constellation and drone/ambient/krautrock/psych.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

thinking about having to do this is giving me panic attacks

i'll probably end up taking the 50c per cd

ebay's working fine for me, though it does take time to list auctions, ship cds individually as they sell, etc. - and while i agree the costs are greater (both in time needed to list stuff, and in ebay fees) i think the return is probably bigger over time; i've made $330 or so on the last 30 things i've sold - $10 average, pretty good i'd say.

i did this when i had to move countries last year. the most efficient method i found was:

- do a quick ebay/amazon/craigslist search for the titles that you think might be worth something
- list anything that has above a certain threshold of value (i think i figured $7)
- take the rest to the local used place

i managed to get ride of around the same # of cds as you via a combination of ebay, craiglist and a couple of local used shops. some of my stuff i sold just to be rid of but i did okay - i think i ended up averaging about $5 a cd.

i know a lot of ppl making surprising amounts of $$ on discogs.com

Ilxor and Lamp, thanks so much for the input! Exactly what I needed, nice to hear some similar stories. And to hear you got rid of around the same amount of cd's this way too! And indeed I'd say both of you made a more than decent profit!

The problem with Discogs is that I can put cd's on there, but one never knows when or if it will sell. So I will be roughly following the same plan as you Lamp. Putting apart those cd's that are likely to go for more than 7-10 a pop and auctioning them individually (popsike and musicpriceguide.com will be of help). The rest can go by lots or straight to the 2nd hand store.

Thanks again guys, feels good to have a plan thought out that feels like it will work!

Bateau you need to post a list of the left-overs at the Subs so we can "plunder" them. also lists of record collections are funnyjummy anyway. :)

No worries Ludo, when listed and categorised I'll leave a list with my beloved Subs ;)

*whipes sweat*

seriously i am sure there are some lol idm releases i probably like to buy. any Kid606? ;)

Yes, there is!

There's a Multi-Panel cd too but that's a keeper ;-)

haha. it might be worth some day when it gets a forgotten progfolk re-release in 2037

Still think getting a stall at a record fair would be the way to go on this.

Well, it depends: the stalls can get pricey, and you have to be prepared to lug a lot of CDs home again.

sell on here

We should have a 'for sale' thread it's true, but I dunno if that would have legal implications for the site.

Can't see why it would. BTW, what is "the Subs"?

a sadomasochistic denomination.

(http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=42)

I have boxes of old punk/post-punk/indie/new wave 7s in my loft and no idea how to sell them really, does anybody have any ideas?

woo hoo.
according to : http://www.musicmagpie.co.uk/
robyns debut release robyn is here is valued at 30p.
also, loving the declaration in the small print :
"When this happens, we reserve the right to not pay you for the item and also we will also not be able to return the item so please ensure you follow these guidelines."
umm surely this is a perfect get-out clause so once they have your cds then dont have to pay, and get to keep'em.
nice business model.
anyone used this set up ?

Can't see why it would

Suppose some sort of scam takes place and people lose lots of money, would ILX be liable hypothetically? I don't know the answer btw.

I don't think getting a stall would work for me. I live in a rural area, at least 100 miles away from where the big and well-known fairs are held. It would cost me the petrol, money for the stall, and a lot of hauling in and out of boxes etc. Sounds like a stressful affair to me. Never done it before either, I don't think it's me so I would like to avoid that tbh.

Lamp's plan still the way to go I think, combined with handing out a list to people I know/Subs etc.

Though a trade/sale thread on ilx would be a very good idea (maybe over at I Love Vinyl?)

xp. Mark E, that looks like a shoddy business to me.

@NickB

I'd be more worried about a record sale thread on here going all clusterfuck and lollage, left for dead and buried under SB's

Sounds awesome!

;-)

there are also specialist CD and vinyl sale sites gemm.com and netsoundsmusic.com. don't know the pros & cons of these vs ebay but they might be worth a look.

I've been avoiding Gemm like the plague ever since I got ripped off there twice (I paid up, didn't receive my goods). But that was years ago and on first look of it, the interface seems to have been improved. Will check out netsoundsmusic too, thanks, that one is new to me.

I have boxes of old punk/post-punk/indie/new wave 7s in my loft and no idea how to sell them really, does anybody have any ideas?

I would personally stick 'em on ebay, maybe 50 a month all in one go so it doesn't get overwhelming. It takes time to grade, list and package them up but the alternative is either selling them to the MVE (and getting about £0.01 per) or sticking them on Amazon, Discogs or whatever and potentially waiting for months to get shot of them. At least the ebay route has a fast turnover.

Or, does Record Collector magazine still have classifieds?! (UK only this one)

xp. Mark E, that looks like a shoddy business to me.

me too.
but someone is funding the ongoing TV ad campaign (prime spots on e4 etc)

xp yes they do.

re the singles: If you haven't 'time' to check the previous sales, sell them in small lots (five, tops), and (important) List them in the ad.

Describe them as punk / new wave singles small lot.

If any of them have 'value', the bids will roll. If not, they wont but they will probably sell for a minimal amount. So, start them at £1 or thereabouts.

(One time, I got lucky and bought 100 LPs, about 30 were keepers and 10 were xtremely rare but not my 'taste', and the seller hadn't actually listed them in the ad but had taken photos of them all individually. First five I sold on, paid for the whole lot.) (moral: List them in the ad.)

ILX has had record sales threads bitd, I got the first Saint Vitus LP for $1 (plus US-UK postage but even so!!) off Tim Ellison and I think I tried to buy loads of pop-punk CDs off someone for my gf of the time but it didn't happen for some reason

I would like to offer a bunch of CDs for sale or trade too. Just posted this on the "ideas" thread:

What about a separate ILX Marketplace board where people can buy/sell/trade stuff without clogging up other boards?

Could be a place to sell comics and books and other stuff as well as music.

Putting apart those cd's that are likely to go for more than 7-10 a pop and auctioning them individually (popsike and musicpriceguide.com will be of help).

for whatever it's worth, i tend to go by Amazon.com used prices. usually a pretty fair measuring stick. i can price an ebay CD close to the amazon used cd price and it'll move within a few weeks if it's a decently wanted item.

ive bought cds off ilxors before too. All went well.