Selling the vinyl

[RooFlyer]

I have about 130 vinyl LPs from the 70s and 80s and am contemplating selling them. There are some decent names there - The Who (Tommy), Rolling Stones (out of our heads) Wings (At the speed of sound), Elton John (Too low for zero), The Concert for Bangladesh, Fleetwood Mac (Rumours), David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust), Melanie, Alice Cooper (Billion dollar babies), Led Zeppelin, etc etc A couple of Ktels too!!

Has anyone sold theirs to a local merchant? If so, I'd be interested to hear how they valued the collection. Maybe "Give you $20 per LP, you'll win some, you'll lose some", or individually appraised? If the latter, what contributes most to value - rarity and the artist I guess primarily but then what sort of order/weighting... ?? Disc condition, cover condition ... ?

I've looked up a number on the web and choses a 'medial' value and there look to be quite a few bucks in it. Not terribly interested in selling to the major web store

All comments welcome, but those from those who have actually gone through the selling process especially welcome.

 

[tgh]

I have an identical task to face up to so following with interest

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Having got into vinyl over the last couple of years, my understanding (I'm no expert) is that you'll make a fair amount more by selling each of your records individually. The market for good quality, in demand albums, has gone through the roof in recent years. You could have a look at Discogs to get a rough idea of the value, although it is incredibly time-consuming finding the right version/pressing for each album.

The alternative, as you describe, is to do a bulk sale to a collector (or more likely someone who's in it to make some money by selling individually). It's not quite $X per album, as generally the potential buyer will want to look through a list of what you have (at a minimum), and then will come up with a value they're willing to pay for the collection.

Important factors - obviously the album and artist, but the condition (both the record itself, but also the sleeve) is also critical. Serious collectors will also be interested in the version/pressing (country, label etc).

With all of that said, I would be keen to hear more about what you have in the collection, and would be happy to pay a fair/market price if you choose not to go down the path of selling the entire collection in a single transaction.

 

[RooFlyer]

although it is incredibly time-consuming finding the right version/pressing for each album.

Yes, looking at results on a Google search it was very difficult to match what I had to the results (with prices). I chose a rough middle value for what I saw to get a rough estimate of part of the collection.

happy to pay a fair/market price if you choose not to go down the path of selling the entire collection in a single transaction.

Happy to bear that in mind

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Yes, looking at results on a Google search it was very difficult to match what I had to the results (with prices). I chose a rough middle value for what I saw to get a rough estimate of part of the collection.

Have a look into Discogs - as an example, it has 667 versions of Rumours (scroll down a bit). You can then generally narrow the search by year and country fairly easily, but then its an exercise of clicking through each version and checking the pictures to see which one matches.

 

[Pushka]

I think ours are pre vinyl. Inherited from FIL. No popular artists here - all opera and symphonies. Gathering dust in a storage area.

 

[Austman]

I'm in the same situation.

I'd buy a brand new album (vinyl) and then tape it to cassette. And just play the cassette afterwards. I had a very high-end cassette deck (Dolby/Metal Tapes etc)!

I'd then put the album into a protective clear sleeve (a big zip-lock type thing) and store it.

So I have dozens of original vinyl albums that have only been played once. Even the covers would be in original condition.

 

[RooFlyer]

I think ours are pre vinyl. Inherited from FIL. No popular artists here - all opera and symphonies. Gathering dust in a storage area.

78s? Mum & dad had a collection. Don't know what happened to them

 

[Pushka]

78s? Mum & dad had a collection. Don't know what happened to them

Yes. We have six boxes of them.

 

[Austman]

I have several original Elton John albums (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Tumbleweed Connection, Too Low for Zero...), several original David Bowie albums (Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, Pin Ups...) ... and other things around that era.

I'd buy older albums of the artists I liked. But many were when they were released from the mid seventies.

I'd have to save my pocket money, haha. Albums were expensive!

And my cassette deck nearly bankrupted me...

 

[Flyfrequently]

78s? Mum & dad had a collection. Don't know what happened to them

My folks had 33 rpm's- probably went to the tip with a house move last century

 

[CaptainCurtis]

I'm in the same situation.

I'd buy a brand new album (vinyl) and then tape it to cassette. And just play the cassette afterwards. I had a very high-end cassette deck (Dolby/Metal Tapes etc)!

I'd then put the album into a protective clear sleeve (a big zip-lock type thing) and store it.

So I have dozens of original vinyl albums that have only been played once. Even the covers would be in original condition.

Happy for you to PM me if you're looking to sell some of them.

 

[Austman]

Happy for you to PM me if you're looking to sell some of them.

They are a bit of nostalgia for me. So I'm not sure I'd sell just yet.

I don't even have a player (vinyl or cassette) anymore! My favorites have all been repurchased in modern formats.

But I do wonder if the vinyls are worth anything.

 

[Denali]

When clearing out mum in laws house, hubby found his original Beatles box set and was giddy. He has a few box sets from the old days but no player.

 

[RooFlyer]

I still have my Marantz player from the mid 1980s (and the rest of that set) .

 

[tgh]

In the corner of our garage is the kids storehouse ( it is steadily reducing upon threat of..)
Had to sort it a bit yesterday after a pile of crates containing books collaspded…noticed the
two transcription grade turntable in the bottom of the heap..hmmmmm

edit..of course 75% of my collection is currently on Spotify.. maybe a few rare gems though and need to make a list...

 

[VPS]

And I've just got back from a friend's house and he received a record player for his birthday and is starting to buy vinyl