”I have to decide if I want to sell in bulk or individually. It seems a shame to have forked over so much money and wind up with nothing.”
Well, if you consider the hours, days, weeks spent searching for, buying, then listening to and appreciating the music on CD/vinyl you collected over a lifetime, that’s not really nothing.
I knew a guy once who used to collect little gummed pieces of paper used for postage in many countries before digitally-printed labels, another who collected rocks, “minerals, gems”. The value of a thing is what we (or a buyer) places in the thing, and we (most of us, anyway) don’t pursue our hobbies as a means of paying for our retirement.
I know what you’re saying though. The guy I bought my Thorens TD125 MkII turntable from several years ago got it from an estate sale. He also got about a thousand classical LPs he didn’t know what to do with. The deceased had been a conductor of a local symphony orchestra and had accumulated quite the collection of high-end audio gear.
None of which - obviously - would fit in his coffin. Imagine future archaeologists finding skeletal remains with remnants of (probably still intact and playable) LPs wondering what religious significance they held for primitive people.
I thought about offering him like ten cents an LP, but we discussed ways of selling on eBay, Discogs, a yard sale or at his antique shop over the next couple of years.
It could be worse for you though, it’s not like buying insurance that never pays off.
Good luck