Anyone actually managing to sell vinyl?

[Lemurdee]

Hi again everyone

Glad to see this thread seems to be getting started off with more sensible replies and ideas!

To ‘doubleHappinessRecords’ – hope your optimism bears fruit

To ‘huddylion’ – I will build up my ‘about me’ page and try that; nice pic by the way

To Sarah @ Raindropsies2 – (great handle) I will read through your help pages and see if there is anything I can tweak on my listings

Bob @ WindsorBear – hi, seen your pic else where, maybe another thread? Anyway you sound very like me, the audio testing I find the most time consuming, it can also lead to you not wanting to sell! As you say not listed = not sold.

Booksntings – I think you are right in just keeping this a hobby

Ratlintoez – from my many years of trading/collecting/selling (and a few fellow traders) - from what we have seen and concluded, the vinyl bubble burst when

1) feebay and the internet made make the vinyl market place ‘everyone’s market,’ everyone had access and started to get instant answers to ‘how much is this worth,’ the true numbers available became easily assessed (eg, as a chart return shop we had seen the ‘truth’ of limited editions etc.) it was just the ease of information.

2) Also back catalogue music became more readily available, I saw myself as a ‘music’ collector rather then a ‘vinyl’ collector, once back cat stuff became downloadable etc many music collectors switched – I didn’t as I loved the 3 min 7” slice and being an indie addict I was still being catered for.

Getting a bit boring now aren’t I, we could all analyse this for ages, the point is the market changed, collectors became more diverse, collections became ‘complete’ and in some case collectors realised a whole section of their own collection lacked something they had just not know about before.

Heres to more sales to us all!

[WindsorBear]

Hi Lemurdee,

Seen my pic somewhere on the web, huh? Not surprising... I've got pics all over the internet. I just hope it was one of the "more tasteful" pics, and I'll leave it at that.

To comment on the vinyl bubble bursting, one of the major disadvantages to online record trading is that we found out that some titles were not as scarce as we thought they were. Titles that were fetching BIG BUCKS when selling through record collecting newspapers and magazines, started dropping in value when multiples copies of said title started showing up in online auction sites. More people had these titles than we thought, and these people were now trying to sell them. As a result, I've seen some titles loose a LOT of value over the years, simply because the title, in great condition, has become readily available to anyone who wants to purchase it, and the collectors who wanted it, have now already purchased it and their collections are complete.

While audio testing is indeed a major headache for me when listing vinyl, GRADING is the worst. I will sit here and torment myself on whether a record is VERY GOOD or VERY GOOD PLUS. There's this little scuff line.... can I feel it with a fingernail? Does it make a pop, or does it make a click? Can I hear it with headphones? Does it sound different on a linear tracking turntable versus a regular turntable? Wait... did I hear another pop, or was that the cats fighting out on the porch? Is that a scuff line or a scratch line? Was that mark on the label made by a previous owner, or was the label already like that when put on the record? Is this the original inner sleeve? Was the label company using this label when the record was originally pressed... maybe this is a repressing. The list goes on and on and on and on. I guess I try to be so accurate in my descriptions that I usually manage to burn myself out on the first listing. I just hope the buyers appreciate the time and effort. I know when I go to buy a record online, it better have the same type of information in it's listing as I put in mine, or I won't even consider buying it. I've seen some people just list the title and artist, no further info and no picture. I've also seen these same listings have bids, and then I just want to beat my head into a brick wall and have a massive vinyl bonfire. You probably feel the same way.

Anyway, one day soon, I hope to drink several pots of coffee, and then settle down to get some of these records listed before the floor joists give way and I find myself buried in a sea of vinyl.

ßob

[Clint1977]

Hi all can any 1 help please just closed my shop on ebay after 5 years had enough of the site custerm service was rubbish and the money thay were making was takeing the **** for what thay done i am a record and memrobillia dealer i sell rare music prog rock northern 50s 60s soul rare film memrobilla you know the sort of things i mean is it worth me setting up shop on this site it looks good but sales don't sound that good i did have over 10.000 item on ebay at 1 time and sold about 150 to 300 items a month. would just like some help and info please. most of the stuff i sell is very rare and worth over £30 will i get the right prices on my stuff for example i have first uk press elvis xmas lp in ex condition worth well other £100 would i get this price on here. any way any help would be very help full and sorry about my spelling wife away on holiday she dose this side and do the buying and selling sometimes ty from clint

[Huddylion]

Hi and welcome to Ebid.

Would you get the sales?, a few things you can do, email all of your old customers tell them where you are, start your stuff at the minium that you would want as we dont get many bidding wars at the moment.

All items on ebid are put on to google i think its 4 times a month, so if you use the right keywords and the right auction ,buy it now settings it will be found on google so people will buy it.

Get a signature with a link to your shop like mine or something like it, fill your about me page in people like to see that,, use a gallery picture only 2% fvf which is nothing compared to where you have come from, remember you pay £49.99 and then just 2% fee and only if an item sells, and no more fees for life .

Don't use run till sold as your listings will never get to thge front of the que, i use a 14 day listing with 10 auto reposts seems to work for me .
I use auction and buy it now on most of my listings.
Am sure someone else will be along with more ideas, and don't be afraid to ask we don't bite like some places .

[RATLINTOEZ]

Hi Guys.
Another point i should have made yesterday,
Was the Generation thing.A couple of months ago i was at a boot sale & Was watching a guy trying to get a Couple Of Bob Dylan
Promos for less than the Fiver the stall holder was charging!
A couple of A lads in their early 20's were also watching the
proceedings, and were at a total loss as to why anybody would
want to pay £5.00 for two singles from "some 60's Singer"
"Just download them" were the advice they offered.When the
would be buyer (Who walked away with 2 Bob Dylan Promos
for £4.00!) told them that he was a avid Record Collector,the
two youths, started Laughing & replied "that's just old fashioned"

Maybe some of you guys are better placed than me to offer a opinion as to if this is the case.Are there still as many younger folk
who collect vinyl?

Ratlin.

[Clint1977]

ty all for you help i have just started to list a few rare records and go from there and yes the young still do collect i am 31 and been buying and selling for 15 years my own collection is well other 10.000 3800 7" 1200 12" 2000 p/d and the rest lps most is prog rock and 60s nirvana. and I have about 4000 records that i want to sell not this colletion. but same sort of music. any way thanks again by for now

[sunsounds]

Hi all.I've been on this site for about two months and only sold two items (thanx Huddy).When I joined,there was 45,000 vinyl items for sale here,now over 115,000,and growing daily as more and more people move their business over.My average monthly e**y fees were about £70.00 but my last invoice from them was £3.50.Who's losing,because I haven't paid anything to list here?I know that I'm lucky,in that I have a virtually inexaustable stock and loads of time to list items,but I have found this site easy to use,full of friendly people and growing daily.Good luck to eBid and let the vinyl dealers and collectors ROCK!

[SantasWonderland]

Hi all.I've been on this site for about two months and only sold two items (thanx Huddy).When I joined,there was 45,000 vinyl items for sale here,now over 115,000,and growing daily as more and more people move their business over.My average monthly e**y fees were about £70.00 but my last invoice from them was £3.50.Who's losing,because I haven't paid anything to list here?I know that I'm lucky,in that I have a virtually inexaustable stock and loads of time to list items,but I have found this site easy to use,full of friendly people and growing daily.Good luck to eBid and let the vinyl dealers and collectors ROCK!

The lion seems to be keeping everyone going with his sales and buying spree

[griffenn]

I don't know if any of you are still monitoring this thread but here goes. I'm still running auctions on "that other place" and probably will for another few days. They are currently planning to eliminate any listing that offer payment via Cashiers Check or Money Order (sorry, don't know the corollary there). So it will be Paypal or the boot. So my search for an alternative brings me here.

I was a record dealer for well over a decade and a collector of vinyl for several more. My first 45 was the Kinks, my 1st LP was the Dave Clark Five. (We called it "The British Invasion" over here!) I used to attend record shows here, but stopped about 10 years ago when I started listing on eBay. Turned out that few records were ever listed, my time was taken up by test equipment and later electronics parts. Yesterday I attended my first show as dealer in 10 years. Many of my former customers were there as were a number of dealers that I used to see at the shows all those years ago. I also sold more vinyl than I ever did before. So the market is very much still there and the current recession is not allying purchases. I think it is more a case of eBid not being as well recognized as the other place. Once upon a time that other place was not as well know and there were far fewer sales than there are now. Given both time, and involvement by the sellers in the form of LISTINGS, I think the customers will show up to buy.

[bestassets]

Still can't make my mind up whether to list any vinyl