Records LPs

[pinkryder123]

Are records worth selling on eBay? Or pain in the a**? Are they hard to ship? Do they get bent up while being shipped? Just wondering because I often run accross records at yard sales and thrift stores. Thanks! 

[onefootflipper2]

I believe it is actually an all of the above situation with everything you just said being correct.

[toysaver]

depends on the title

[mr_lincoln]

@pinkryder123   Some can be very valuable but one needs to research them before buying for resale.  I learned from selling them that collectors preferred the LP sent OUT of the sleeve ... they can roll around in shipment and cut the sleeve.  

You would benefit from a stereo system to actually play them before listing them ... some may have scratches that cause bad sound or skipping ... 

Packaging can be challenge as the boxes will be a custom size.  The good news is that they can ship Media Mail as can old Plyer Piano rolls.

Regards,

Mr. L

[steve_stuff]

You have to know about records so you don't buy yuk and sell WOW! for too little.

Remember, there are over 10? slightly different pressing of "Meet The Beatles" along with another 50 or so that are 'markedly' different. First pressing in stereo vs a later one...

And that's just one title from one act.

[coolections]

If you are not familiar with records I would suggest do not try. There are way too many variables, and you need to know the ones in the most demand. IMO 85% of people who try rarely get sales. Only those with lots of experience and knowledge of records make it on Ebay. Just the Beatles alone have around a dozen reprints. Also, condition is extremely important to collectors, everyone thinks their records are excellent.

[simba6]

You can search up the rare ones on the net and have that list with you when your out shopping.  The only real way to go.

[nocoolnamejane]

Thrift store records are rarely worth selling online. Their condition often leaves to be desired and they are rarely sought after issues.

Records do need to be mailed in solid record mailers and I wouldn’t ship them in the summer: imagine leaving a record on your dashboard on a hot summer day, you never know where your package will end up during its journey.

[nuclearomen]

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@onefootflipper2 wrote:

I believe it is actually an all of the above situation with everything you just said being correct.

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lol sure

[nuclearomen]

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@pinkryder123 wrote:

Are records worth selling on eBay?

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Yes - if you know what you are doing

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@pinkryder123 wrote:

Or pain in the a**? Are they hard to ship? Do they get bent up while being shipped? 

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No - if you know what you are doing

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@pinkryder123 wrote:

Just wondering because I often run across records at yard sales and thrift stores. Thanks! 

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If you don't know what you are doing, if you don't know the product/industry etc... then the answer is simple, DON'T SELL IT. Been doing vinyl for almost 27 years. I've released, manufactured, distributed it. 

[powell-memorabilia]

My advice - don’t get into it unless you really know records, label variations, collectibility, and, grading.  And you need to have the right shipping materials, which are unique to LP’s.  

I used to sell LP’s - you can make money, but it is a pain.  I did well because I’ve done a huge amount of collecting, and I knew very well what I was selling.  I was mostly focused on Beatles and related records.  

Listing records, honestly, is a pain.  Every sleeve flaw has to be identified and photographed, grading is essential, and some items take a while to sell.  

most records out there are junk - and popular titles are often worth almost nothing.  Even valuable records can be worthless if not in the right condition.  

Oh, and get used to media Mail issues!

No, I’ll never return to selling records 🙂

[nuclearomen]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

My advice - don’t get into it unless you really know records, label variations, collectibility, and, grading.  And you need to have the right shipping materials, which are unique to LP’s.  

I used to sell LP’s - you can make money, but it is a pain.  I did well because I’ve done a huge amount of collecting, and I knew very well what I was selling.  I was mostly focused on Beatles and related records.  

Listing records, honestly, is a pain.  Every sleeve flaw has to be identified and photographed, grading is essential, and some items take a while to sell.  

most records out there are junk - and popular titles are often worth almost nothing.  Even valuable records can be worthless if not in the right condition.  

Oh, and get used to media Mail issues!

No, I’ll never return to selling records 🙂

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@powell-memorabilia 
It's not a pain, like many other things, you need have a lot stock, can't have a few titles and expect much, thus it's like any other business, stock stock and stock some more - but you need to know what is going to sell, what will keep value, the right editions to have how to handle store and care for the vinyl is also important. Yes, they can take a while to sell, especially if your in a niche genre.

You don't need shipping materials unique to ship vinyl records - in fact those are garbage, if you want to do it right and have the vinyl's arrived undamaged you'll invest in real shipping boxes not those vinyl record mailers sold on ebay and amazon they are junk. 

You need to know how to grade vinyl, and one mistake sellers make is labeling things as Mint - there is no such thing as Mint so don't use it. Photograph / Specifications / Description need to be accurate - especially if something you list that has been pressed 100 times now and you list the wrong edition going to have a pretty amped buyer flooding your email. 

Yes & No - doing commercialized bands put out by large commercial labels Yes - the quality is crud because they don't care what the vinyls sound like, they don't do test pressings before giving the OK to have them run off etc... and Especially those vinyl editions put out by Walmart, Best Buy etc... anything put out by these large retailers as "exclusive edition" STAY AWAY from! The quality of that stuff is horrendous! In general vinyl made today is superior to old vinyl but it must be mastered for vinyl correctly and must be ordered correctly and must have at min 5x test pressings to listen to and OK the plant to continue. In the Metal genres quality is generally quite high the small independent labels have to, it's their life blood to make sure everything is good, talking difference of doing 200-600 copies verse large labels doing 5,000 and then keep repressing everything to death. That is why those you mention are worth nothing - crud quality and over 300,000 + out there to be had. 

Listing is easy with Template - takes less than 1 min. 

Media Mail is fine, gets there between 3-5 days - typically ALWAYS shipping inside immediate USA (Hawaii / Alaska not included)

[stainlessenginecovers]

Selling records without knowing the industry of selling 'used' records is the same as stepping into the Operating Room to do a Liver Transplant. 

If you don't know what you are doing you will just wind up killing that patient.

[yesterdazed-newz]

My experience with them is that they sell pretty well. Classic Rock especially. but any rock does ok. Easy to ship if you get the right LP mailers. Never had one break in transit, They are pretty durable as long as they arent the old 78s. Condition is important. If the record looks like it was scarped across a concrete floor then DO not try and sell it. However some covers are worth more than the record...even on 45s. Country sells OK, jazz OK. Classical will sell but you really have to have a mint record. . The classic music listeners skip over most anything that isnt.  Beatles outsell Elvis by a large margin. If you get the right stuff, they will outsell CDS. But whatever you sell just make sure you describe everything about it. The ratings standards are flawed in that there is more than one standard out there and "Used" is not a rating. If it's used it has some wear and needs to be noted. Records with some scratches will sell..just make sure you note it for the buyer. 

[m60driver]

Like other collectibles such as Barbie Dolls or Hot Wheels, if you know the category you can identify the few titles that have value.  But most LPs don't have that much value and you will need to buy cardboard LP mailers which can be a bit pricey unless you purchase in large quantities.  The other downside of selling LPs that many vinyl collectors are incredibly retentive and can be a real pain in the derriere.