Bluebook value of records

Good answers. Thankyou.

if you really want to get an idea of what a record is worth, check out closed auctions on ebay. as my old friend the record store owner said, "it's worth what you can get for it" and ebay tells you what people are actually paying for things. it's been my experience that local used record stores ask a little less than what they could get on ebay, but not if you're talking really valuable stuff. it makes no sense for them to NOT put it on ebay when they get their hands on a rare thing. in fact, a lot of the super rare stuff never even makes it onto the floor of record stores; it goes straight to ebay.

Book value is worthless if you can't buy want you want for that. I've seen people turn down (not buy) at what I would consider a fair price, because they read some stupid Blue Book that it should be less.

While not records I get a laugh at the Orion Blue Book which is considered the audio bible. There is Blue Circle gear listed that either does not exist, or is only a prototype that has never been sold to anyone public. How they know what non-existant audio gear is worth is a mystery to me...

thank you for the info on the "bible" is there any on line source?

There is no such animal that I am aware of. There are price guides that give values based on condition, but I put very little value in their pricing.

You might find this site informative for top prices paid, but that will be dependent on which genre of music that interests you.

www.popsike.com

The bible, so to speak, is the Goldmine Record Album Price Guide. It lists over 65,000 LPs, with prices based on condition. Be aware that these are "book" values. Whether you pay book value depends on where you are buying. Specialist dealers can command book value, but the Salvation Army second-hand store cannot. That's because the specialist dealer has already screened out the junk, and markets to serious collectors.