Sell as a lot, on e-bay, for pickup. Price high if you have a list and can e-mail it to interested buyers. If you go wholesale to dealers, most likely you will not get more then a buck for each, but they buy the lot at that price.
Another way is to denote them to Goodwill and value them at $5.00 each. Generally, Goodwill will give you a tax receipt for that amount. They do pick up. |
I had 1000 records I wanted to sell once and some of them were rare-ish, going for up to $50 per LP on ebay. When I brought a box of twenty good ones to a store (Amoeba in Hollywood) they only wanted about 4 of them and offered around $2 each.
If you want to get the most money, you have to sell individually those that are somewhat rare, here or on ebay. Then you can separate the more common ones in small lots by artist or genre. The best way to check value is to search ebay for past auctions. |
I was in a similar situation two years ago. We were moving and while preparing my lps for the move I realized they had been in the same closet, nearly untouched, for twelve years!
I knew they would just go into a closet in the new house so I decided to dell them. I auctioned them off here instead of ebay. It wasn't for the money as much as it was finding them a good home where they might get used. I separated them into lots of ten to fifteen by artist or genre. The average price was around $5 each with one batch going for nearly $12 per album. Oh yeah, I kept fifty or so that had too much sentimental value. They haven't been listened to since.
Good luck whatever you decide. |
If they are in good condition, and are good pressings, you might be surprised what some less common titles or special pressings might go for on ebay.
I'd spend some time looking at prices for these on ebay and sell those that have value individually and put the rest in a lot or lots. If you don't have time, find someone who collects and ask them to help identify any diamonds in the rough more quickly with you. |
Thanks for the suggestions - I just spent about 8 hours going through and listing them on Excel and ended up with 490 or so titles. I've decided to list them first as a group here on A'gon in the next couple of days and e-mail a listing to anyone interested in the whole lot.
Thanks again
ken |
You or I must be crazy because you can't see why you should keep those great LPs and I can't imagine being without vinyl. It sounds like you have a very nice collection, the money you would get for them wouldn't come close to the enjoyment you could have with a modest LP cleaning system and a decent playback system isn't too much of a hassle. |
Maineiac -
I do have much great music and it has been somewhat of a back-and-forth to try to decide what to do. I haven't used them in the better part of 20 years and I don't think I'm going to go back to changing records every 20 or so minutes. I'm probably going to go PC/server based - although some of the music like old Mayall, original Fleetwood Mac(pre-Stevie Nicks), some ECM and CTI and others are probably going to be hard to find.
At least that's the way I'm leaning now.
Ken |
If you go to a server, make sure you have hard copy backup capabilities. Otherwise, if the server dies and your source material (records or CDs) are gone, you could lose material. |
Kencrouch... Put my name on your list of interested prospects. |
i think the main isue is that it very hard to get your money's worth out of records unless you sell them slowly one at a time. dealers dont give you much nor will stores (even less). SOmeone else is looking at the time it will take just like you are, so if it's money you are after be patient and sell one at a time. |
Kencrouch,
let us know when you list the lot. I've gone in the other direction, just getting back into vinyl after about 25 years...IMHO, nothing is like vinyl... |
One last question for you all before I list these - would you suggest an auction or a straight classified? I've not sold anything this way before - so I'm torn as to which way to go on these - what about reserves? Do they put people off? Like everyone I'm looking for a fair deal - one in which both parties a happy with their side of the transaction.
Thanks again for all your help - I've certainly learned quite a bit from everyone here through the years.
Ken |
If you are not certain about the actual fair value of items, auction is better. Reserve prices with any real meaning are often a put-off to buyers. I've found it best to start at a price well below value and let it go from there. If everything is done properly, you generally will find a buyer willing to pay a fair market price. Sometimes, a bidding war might bump things up somewhat higher, but don't count on this.
If you auction, start with low risk items of lesser value first to get your feet wet. Do not take risk with potential high value items up front until you get a feel for how things are going.
My comments are based on my experience as both a buyer and seller on ebay. I have no similar experience on this site, so I cannot comment there.
If it were me, I might try putting a few titles that might appeal to avid audiophiles up on A'gon as a test first. Otherwise, I would stick with ebay mainly because I have more experience selling there. |
Ken,
My opinion is that you should list your LPs in small lots, say 5, 10, or 20 at a time, set a price for them and see what happens. You could try to sell them as a lot, or individually, or both. Then you will have a better idea of what moves and what doesn't. The auction may be best to try and sell what it left over.
However you decide to do this be prepared, as Mothra posted, for this to take some time. The only work you need to do is the listing and then the shipping. Be patient and I think you can get a pretty good return. |
Thanks for all your advice guys - I guess small lots is the consensus - so that's what I'll do - just have to decide on straight classified listing and auctions - - Guess I'd better get to work on getting the lots together!
Thanks again!
ken |
you're going to need a lot of shipping boxes. i suggest buying them in bulk to save money. i think u-line.com sells them but check around for the best deal. |
Ken,
I used to live in Arlington and visited the Audio Associates store on Fairfax Drive quite a bit. I bought a Hafler amp and preamp there, along with a Yamaha DSP unit. This was back in the late 80's to early 90's. Back then Myer Emco and Audio Associates were two of the bigger dealers in the area. |
Kublakhan - thanks for the suggestion!
Clio09 - I worked for Audio Associates from 1973 to about 1976 or so - although I had many friends there and kept contact with the business. We carried some great stuff back then - McIntosh, Audio Research, ESS, Revox,Tandberg, Dahlquist - etc. I had the great experience of helping Saul Marantz unload his demo pair of DQ-10s out of his car - he was a really nice guy.
Ken |
All Vinyl guys- thanks for all the advice and help offered here - I started the first of my listings today and will be continuing to add auction listings as time goes on.
I hope they all go to good homes because I have some great music that deserves to be listened to again!
Thanks again for the help here!
Ken |
