SELLING VINYL RECORDS – Ideas from experienced sellers.
This information was found on a Forum of Vinyl Record sellers.
I am not a fan of selling on EBay due to the listing cost,
except for a very few titles that could reasonably be expected to auction at a
high price.
I have roughly 6000 records up on GEMM and also on CDandLP.com -- GEMM takes a 13% commission and sends payment by check around 3 weeks after the sale. CDandLP's commission is slightly higher and they pay via PayPal up to 6 weeks after the sale.
I also sell on Discogs but only a small % of my stock is listed there because Discogs requires you to identify the exact edition of the record in order to sell it. Discogs charges 8% plus PayPal fees.
On the plus side, I now research first on Discogs for all new arrivals, since their matching system requires a lot less data entry. Discogs pricing tends to be lower than the other two sites. When I am done with a batch, I can download a CSV from there and add the new records to the other two sites.
I have roughly 6000 records up on GEMM and also on CDandLP.com -- GEMM takes a 13% commission and sends payment by check around 3 weeks after the sale. CDandLP's commission is slightly higher and they pay via PayPal up to 6 weeks after the sale.
I also sell on Discogs but only a small % of my stock is listed there because Discogs requires you to identify the exact edition of the record in order to sell it. Discogs charges 8% plus PayPal fees.
On the plus side, I now research first on Discogs for all new arrivals, since their matching system requires a lot less data entry. Discogs pricing tends to be lower than the other two sites. When I am done with a batch, I can download a CSV from there and add the new records to the other two sites.
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The marketplace at Discogs is amazing. It's like a mini eBay,
but you're dealing with true enthusiasts for the most part, and any issues I've
had were dealt with in a true hobbyist fashion, quickly and properly.
Before you attempt to sell your records online, I recommend you
do a search for a handful of your "good condition vinyl records" at CollectorsFrenzy.
Once there, just type in the pertinent information you find on any given record (such as the name of the record company, the catalog number of the record, the artist's name, and the name of the album). If an item has been sold on eBay in the past few years, it'll pop up in your search results, along with the date it sold, how much it sold for, and other helpful bits of information, including pictures of the item sold.
Keep in mind, Collectors Frenzy is best for looking up rare and high-demand items which sell for better-than-average amounts of money, even thousands of bucks occasionally! It is not a site for checking out prices paid for a common record; you can do that easily enough at eBay.
If you type into the search bar at Frenzy a Michael Jackson record, for example, chances are you won't get any results, unless it happens to be a rare interview record, or a test pressing, or has some attribute which makes it rare and highly desirable.
By the way, I've been selling records on eBay for the last 12 years, and while I have a few complaints about eBay's policies, I've generally done fairly well on the 'Bay. Yes, having to pay listing fees; selling fees; PayPal fees; fees on what I charge my customers for shipping(!); and having occasionally to refund money to a buyer who says he didn't receive his merchandise but wasn't willing to spend a bit more (sometimes quite a bit more, for international buyers) for insurance, or at least delivery confirmation; all these things, and a few more besides, make selling on eBay a mixed bag.
The best way to sell your records, however, is to have your own website, which requires you have a way (read, "a good, tech-savvy friend who is great at building websites for little or no money") to get your product out there, which means, in part, having searchers find you in the top 10 of their search results! I hear there's a real art to that. You'll also need to think about other things as well, such as how you're going to process payments, tax considerations, and probably much more.
Finally, if you decide to give eBay a chance, and if you're anything like me and are "business-sense challenged," you'll probably wind up just breaking even--if you're lucky! But hey, you'll learn a lot in the process, including 1) how best to package records so they'll arrive safely; 2) how to fill out customs forms for your overseas customers; 3) how to describe accurately--using Goldmine grading standards for example--the condition your records are in; 4) how to "play grade" a record, if you're going to offer that valuable service to your customers [I do!]; 5) how to deal with picky customers who feel you've exaggerated a record's condition; 6) how to share your "profits" with eBay; 7) how to photograph your albums to best advantage and then upload your pix to your listings (with judicious editing, of course); 8) how to prepare and store a template on eBay so that you needn't waste time entering the same information over and over again in each of your listings; 9) how to decide on a fair price for your items and what the best way to list them might be (auction, buy it now, best offer accepted); and 10) how and where to store the records which do not sell--that is, until you decide to donate them to Goodwill!
I've probably eliminated some steps in the learning curve, but these ten are the main ones! Bottom line: wanting to sell your records and actually selling them are two completely different animals.
Best wishes to you!
Once there, just type in the pertinent information you find on any given record (such as the name of the record company, the catalog number of the record, the artist's name, and the name of the album). If an item has been sold on eBay in the past few years, it'll pop up in your search results, along with the date it sold, how much it sold for, and other helpful bits of information, including pictures of the item sold.
Keep in mind, Collectors Frenzy is best for looking up rare and high-demand items which sell for better-than-average amounts of money, even thousands of bucks occasionally! It is not a site for checking out prices paid for a common record; you can do that easily enough at eBay.
If you type into the search bar at Frenzy a Michael Jackson record, for example, chances are you won't get any results, unless it happens to be a rare interview record, or a test pressing, or has some attribute which makes it rare and highly desirable.
By the way, I've been selling records on eBay for the last 12 years, and while I have a few complaints about eBay's policies, I've generally done fairly well on the 'Bay. Yes, having to pay listing fees; selling fees; PayPal fees; fees on what I charge my customers for shipping(!); and having occasionally to refund money to a buyer who says he didn't receive his merchandise but wasn't willing to spend a bit more (sometimes quite a bit more, for international buyers) for insurance, or at least delivery confirmation; all these things, and a few more besides, make selling on eBay a mixed bag.
The best way to sell your records, however, is to have your own website, which requires you have a way (read, "a good, tech-savvy friend who is great at building websites for little or no money") to get your product out there, which means, in part, having searchers find you in the top 10 of their search results! I hear there's a real art to that. You'll also need to think about other things as well, such as how you're going to process payments, tax considerations, and probably much more.
Finally, if you decide to give eBay a chance, and if you're anything like me and are "business-sense challenged," you'll probably wind up just breaking even--if you're lucky! But hey, you'll learn a lot in the process, including 1) how best to package records so they'll arrive safely; 2) how to fill out customs forms for your overseas customers; 3) how to describe accurately--using Goldmine grading standards for example--the condition your records are in; 4) how to "play grade" a record, if you're going to offer that valuable service to your customers [I do!]; 5) how to deal with picky customers who feel you've exaggerated a record's condition; 6) how to share your "profits" with eBay; 7) how to photograph your albums to best advantage and then upload your pix to your listings (with judicious editing, of course); 8) how to prepare and store a template on eBay so that you needn't waste time entering the same information over and over again in each of your listings; 9) how to decide on a fair price for your items and what the best way to list them might be (auction, buy it now, best offer accepted); and 10) how and where to store the records which do not sell--that is, until you decide to donate them to Goodwill!
I've probably eliminated some steps in the learning curve, but these ten are the main ones! Bottom line: wanting to sell your records and actually selling them are two completely different animals.
Best wishes to you!
I'd go with Discogs as you can see a reasonable representation
of market value for the records you want to sell broken down by condition. As
someone who collects and attends a number of BYO Vinyl nights I can attest to
the fact that you also have access to a broad base of collectors worldwide.
http://www.discogs.com
http://www.discogs.com
I have successfully bought and sold many records on discogs.com. You
can find a pre existing track listing for more or less any record if you put in
the catalogue number, and you can also see what the same record in the same
condition usually goes for. You then set the price - no auction, so it is more
like Amazon, but fees are much more reasonable
I'm a regular eBay seller
& records are my personal favorite things to sell. As a venue for used or
garage sale like items, eBay is a pretty good fit for Lps, since most of them
are used. (Vinyl today is being pressed again for more contemporary music &
retro reissues; and popularity is for a vintage medium at a high since the
almost faded years of 1990s / in contrast CDs are at their lowest) Side note:
why are records gaining such a niche popularity re: RSD etc record store day..
Because there's a bit more involved in listening experience, they sound neat
sometimes better than the crisp precise digital formats & tactical approach
is at the top with graphics and eye alluring art (you can hold in your hands!)
EBay is a staple for thousands
and more a day of listings for vintage vinyl records and the like. Many
collectors, novices and people who have an interest in the medium visit records
for sale on eBay. It has become I believe the pricing for collectible records
(there value based on recent sales of similar and like items) and remains to be
the best auction site for this offering.
I hope to see you soon active
Best Regards
johnny sassoli
Best Regards
johnny sassoli
I m a seller at ebay and I m generally satisfied.
I was on musicstack once but not any more
I also start selling to a new marketplace: e-Record Fair
They charge very low selling fees (4%) and if you use paypal you are safe.
They send an invoice once or twice a month and they are very polite and hellpfull if you need something. You can sent them your inventory on an xls file and they wiil upload it for you for free.
They also allow trades between users. They made an interesting trade platform and there is a small fixed fee for that
You can also upload real pictures of your item.
Very very promissing...
I was on musicstack once but not any more
I also start selling to a new marketplace: e-Record Fair
They charge very low selling fees (4%) and if you use paypal you are safe.
They send an invoice once or twice a month and they are very polite and hellpfull if you need something. You can sent them your inventory on an xls file and they wiil upload it for you for free.
They also allow trades between users. They made an interesting trade platform and there is a small fixed fee for that
You can also upload real pictures of your item.
Very very promissing...
If you want to "touch and feel" experience for the
buyer, I recommend the local version of Gumtree. We have used the Perth
Having literally
thousands of items, I find the best way to sell them is via my own website. It
takes a lot of time and effort but it's worth it in the end. Then you can use various
other online resources to make interested parties aware of what you have and
you've got total control over the whole process (and no listing fees). I used
to sell on eBay but I hated the way they tried to dictate your postage rates.
It got messy having to work around that.
http://music4collectors.com specalising in original vinyl
from the 1950s onwards. Large range of 78 rpm gramophone records also
available.
I TOO and looking to list (or download) my listing of 1,000 records
I've inherited and am hoping to receive and select the best offers. HOW do I DO
this? I am told that Ebay has a method
("click-on") for doing this, and that this is the "best"
method. I'm also told that selecting the TYPE of music you have will enhance
your potential for sale. I'm also told that "public auctions" can,
and are "happy" to do this.. WHO knows...?
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