Are the Craiglist music offerings in your area as bad as they are in Boston?

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by kwadguy, Sep 3, 2014.

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  1. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I look at the music listings on Craigslist in the local area (Boston) with some frequency.

    In the past couple of years, they've become just horrendous. While there's still the rare listing offering a decent collection at a reasonable price, most of what you have now are either dealers trying to unload their CD inventory at above-market prices to suckers or low rent dealers who have picked up a collection of basement fodder at a garage sale and are trying to foist it on suckers at inflated prices, or know-nothings trying to sell Montovani records for $10/each.

    It's really quite pitiful.
     
  2. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    Lacking is about all I can say. Tried selling through CL a couple of times, but it was useless.
     
  3. efraley

    efraley Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond Va USA
    Most here in Richmond are flea market or thrift store vendors. The private ones are mostly junk as are the electronics for sale that are mostly overpriced.
     
  4. HiFi Guy 008

    HiFi Guy 008 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    I believe Audiogon.com may be a safer bet.
     
  5. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I have been looking for a collection for a few years. One that is loaded up with nice stuff, and then some very clean copies of common boring stuff, but at least it would be rock. So that I could grab the collectibles including imports, and oddities, and then sell off the common (but very clean) stuff here in the classifieds and on Amazon. Common I mean Steely Dan, Supertramp, Journey, Genesis, Tull, ELP and Yes. So long as the common stuff is in very clean shape I would spring.

    I was willing to pay a few grand for such a collection. $3,000 to $6,000 depending on size condition, and contents obviously.

    This is what I found, the super nice collections with imports, and tons of Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, and Floyd, with the common stuff as well, was never as listed in the ad. There would be tons of beat to hell Styx, Journey, Nugent, one beat up Hendrix album, and very few imports at all. There would be show/cast/soundtracks after the seller swore there was none in this collection. The near mint stuff was ragged, bad ring wear on all.

    I got the feeling that the collection was already picked over for many months at yard sales or there never was a good collection. You know you are in trouble when you arrive and meet the person, and see the house. It looks seedy, and dirty, and all wrong.

    I have visited about 10 homes. Usually they are bullS'ers, and they reek all the way from the car.

    So I now have always some questions to ask on the phone to help me decide if I want to make the drive at all.

    1. Are the LPs or any of them in jacket poly liners?
    2. Are any imports, if so how many which countries, or a title or two please?
    3. Any audiophile, like perhaps one MFSL in there?
    4. Any bootlegs?
    5. Do any of them have shrink wrap still on covers? (good sign for resale material)
    6. Any cast, show, soundtrack, comedy or childrens? (if so I am far less interested in the drive)
    7. If they say Jazz I ask about labels or era, and a few titles? If they say David Sanborn, Kenny G, and Grover Washington Jr. then I know its not real jazz.

    I have seen them answer to the positive on several of these questions, like some shrink, some boots, plenty of imports, but no MFSL. So I drive 25 miles, and there is one bad Zep boot, and one beat up Beatles UK Abbey Road, and nothing worth putting on a good turntable. And they start with how they can give discounts on larger purchase!!!!!

    I really hate the ones who have a couple of nice things, and will only sell the entire collection of none.

    Or the ones who turn down your $2,500 offer because a guy just offered $4,000 and is about to come the next day with the cash. You get a call four days alter that the guy never showed up. But by this time you figure the collection has been cherry picked, and not worth the $2,500 anymore either.

    So I have never found a collection to buy even with thousands of dollars to drop, and offers I have been made but turned down. I could not go higher with so much 101 Strings, Cast, Broadway, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. in there. And they insisted I take it all.
     
    EdogawaRampo likes this.
  6. Lebowski

    Lebowski Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here!

    Location:
    Greater Boston
    LOL. You're killing me. Great post. Though I do enjoy Dean Martin...
     
  7. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    I'm always, er, impressed with how much some sellers think their CDs are worth: "Huge lot of used CDs, good condition, $5 each!" You look at the picture and it's the same CDs that clog every pawn shop shelf in America.
     
  8. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Yeah, sounds about right.

    A general red flag is this: If a large pop/rock collection doesn't contain a run of Beatles albums, you can be pretty sure it was cherry picked already. Typically, the seller went to a record store, they bought what they really wanted, and the Craigslist seller is trying to offload the rest of what the store offered them pennies a title for.

    Of course, there are large collections without The Beatles. But not a lot of them.
     
  9. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Or when they can't state condition clearly on phone, just a bunch of exceptions. A good clean collection does not have any trashed records in it. Sure some are lesser condition sure, but if they have to say some are pretty beat up, but most are really good! Then you are wasting your time. I've mostly wasted my time driving out to look.
     
  10. shinedaddy

    shinedaddy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Valley Village, Ca
    I know all about this man. I have yet to meet a person who UNDERvalued his collection
     
  11. zongo

    zongo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Davis, CA
    I don't know about this. I have some pretty beat records in my collection because they are rare and you just don't find them that often, although most of my collection is in very nice condition. If someone asked me the condition of my collection, I might say something like "some are pretty beat up, but most are really good!" And I'm pretty sure that most collectors and sellers would be overjoyed to be able to purchase my collection!
     
  12. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    Exactly. I would be pretty skeptical of someone who says, "I own absolutely nothing but sublime records."
     
  13. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    You would need to follow the sentence up with another short comment, it would have to go like this: "some are pretty beat up, but most are really good, things like a butcher cover and Elvis Presley first album signed by entire band are showing some wear".

    The hidden issue you did not see with the comment is not only the "pretty beat up" part, but the "most are really good" is another clue that the collection is trash. You would need to state "most are Near Mint, and bagged in poly sleeves". Or "most are Like New and played once, twice if that" Most are "pretty good" sounds to me like the records suck. Pretty good is just not going to cut it with collectors, trust me I have seen "pretty good" many times out there.

    So my comment was written to have two clues in it that this collection is not worth a 20 mile drive - or a 30 mile drive which I have done looking at collections.
     
  14. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    If I hard this on the phone "I own absolutely nothing but sublime records, originals like Velvet Underground, Big Star, Stooges, and complete UK Beatles and Stones sets. Boots, audiophile, picture discs and colored vinyl from the 70s are included. But I want $12,000 cash, and no hagglers.

    I would be over there within 45 min. and I would be driving a van, not the car.
     
  15. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    And you swear you wouldn't try to talk the guy down to a nice even 10 grand? :rolleyes:

    It just seems incredibly naive to expect anything from anyone when you're dealing with Craigslist, no matter what you're interested in buying or selling.
     
  16. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Naw, don't be quite so cynical. I have bought things that turned out to be good deals. I got two printers, a color Epson, and a b/w HP (very cheap). I needed these because I had (expensive) full ink / toner cartridges I needed to use up, and the printers were discontinued. And I had screwed up my older printers. The HP I took on vacation to do some printing and it took a few bumps in the car and was never the same. The color one had reached the "end of life" stage.

    Anyway, both used printers I go were fine and in condition stated. I also got a Cannon digital SLR camera. It was just as described and all went fine, other than I knew it was "hot" when the drove off with the cash in a way that I never saw their car plate numbers at all.
     
  17. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    Right, it can definitely happen, and it has for me (never even tried with records) a few times! But whenever someone is a flake, has mold growing on their beautiful Restoration Hardware couch, etc., I can't ask myself what's wrong with these people when it's Craigslist, because...it's Craigslist. :agree:
     
  18. Thesmellofvinyl

    Thesmellofvinyl Senior Member

    Location:
    Cohoes, NY USA
    I once found a strong VG double RL LZ II, a few Beatles reissues and a few other titles for forty bucks. I almost never made the ten-minute drive because communicating via e-mail with the seller was a chore. Me: Where are you? Seller: Where are you coming from? It turned out to be worth it.
     
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