Selling Vinyl (Records)

[JimK]

Dusty Groove (Chicago) buys used vinyl...
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[ElectroVibe]

So if your end goal is to donate the proceeds to charity, could you just donate the records to the charity?

 

[PWRL]

A friend of mine is in a couple Facebook groups that are all about buying and selling vinyl. They buy and sell each other crates of stuff all the time.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

FYI Reverb LP closed down.

 

[bolophonic]

I sold a ton of records on eBay in the late 90’s.. never again. Record dealers specialize in collections. Accept the wholesale deal and be done with it.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Get the best quote you can then beat it. Hand the funds over to your charity. Take the whole collection in and move it piecemeal, at your leisure, and donate the profits, all the while fishing out the best discs and accommodating them in your own collection Save for a rainy day or enjoy them at home. Or move them on.

I might do that, if I had the chance. It's quite a haul. Good luck with it.

 

[catcauphonic]

This could really turn out to be a large but very interesting project! Don't just take them into any record shop that deals in resale unless you already know what among them is valuable. They could very well lowball you worse than a GC trade in!

I've had that happen before (with specialty magazines that are long out of print from the late 60s - early 80s)... Dude nearly jumped out of his seat while trying to keep a poker face and offered me $50 per box. I sold him 2 boxes (of 60-80ea) because I didn't know any better. Some eBay research showed them selling for between $10-50ea on average, with some closer to 100! Luckily, I had about a dozen boxes of them, and the remainder actually funded my cross country move.

You should be able to tell right off the bat which are mass produced and near worthless, which will likely be the biggest percentage of them. First pressings in great condition of anything pre the early-mid 80s (when records got flimsy) could be worth something, even 80s stuff that had an extremely limited run in a very specific genre could be worth researching further. Colored vinyl and import pressings could fetch more than usual. Seriously, go into a good resale shop and see what those old Zappa and early VU albums are selling for... I think you'll be surprised!

Make 3 piles... 1) keepers 2) maybe, and 3) donation, or sell as a lot to a record store that resells mostly inexpensive vinyl.

DISCOGS and eBay's ended auctions are your friend. I think DISCOGS even has a template to help you catalog your collection easier, and I'm positive they have listed almost every pressing of almost every album that makes it easier to find out exactly what you have in your hand.

Personally, I'd love to see the finished list out of curiosity. Good luck

 

[ElectroVibe]

Most collections are so personal, full of albums that most collectors would have no interest in. I would look for the most interesting 100 out of that 1000. Take those to a dealer. He may not give you much though. Donate the other 900 to a Goodwill charity.

 

[Jason Stock]

So if your end goal is to donate the proceeds to charity, could you just donate the records to the charity?

That would be easier indeed, but the two charities that the proceeds will go to do not have the capacity to deal with all the records and instruments. They are both rather small and run by volunteers

 

[Jason Stock]

I started playing with Discogs last night and started the catalog process. Cool little app and worked well.
I will update some of the titles in a few weeks when I have more of it put together.
Thank you again to everyone for your insights and help.