Compact Discount site

Has anyone ever seen/used this site? It's a little lacking in the details about which version of the CD you're buying, but you can't beat the prices. Worth a glance once in a while. People who have used it have been complimentary of their service and grading.

Compact Discount

 

Never heard of them.

 

It's hard for me to pass up CDs for $1-2.

 

shipping charges?

 

Media Up to 5 CDs (2 to 6 days) $5.00
Priority Up to 10 CDs with cases (2-5 days) $7.00
Priority Up to 40 CDs with cases (2-5 days) $16.00
Priority Up to 80 CDs with cases (2-5 days) $30.00
Priority Up to 20 CDs without Jewel cases (2-5 days) $7.00
Priority Up to 100 CDs without Jewel cases (2-5 days) $16.00

 

I think you generally are getting what you're paying for. REM Monster for a $1.00! I can get that just up the street for less than a US. $ and no postage. Seems like a fire sale kind of site to me with no seller motivation to even post product details.

 

I guess there's a physical store in NJ if you want to avoid shipping. I browsed the whole list and saw 40 CDs I'd easily pick up at those prices.

 

Hi, I'm Jim, the owner of Compact Discount. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them. I also do a Record Show the Second Saturday of every month in Wayne, New Jersey at the Wayne Firehouse, 97 Parish Dr., Wayne, NJ. There is a, I think, $5 charge to get in, but with all the vendors and collectibles there, if you're into that sort of thing, it's worth it.
I want to respond to some of the comments. No, I do not have a physical store. However, anyone interested who can find there way to the Rockaway, NJ area is welcome to come over and look at stuff. Just drop me a note at the site to set something up.
About the lack of product info: It is very pricey to get track listings and info for a site. I've been quoted in the $2,000 - $3,000 a month range. The only way I can swing that is higher prices but people seem to like the lower prices. So for now that's how it'll stay. If anyone knows of a cheaper, preferably free, way to do this please let me know.

 

Thanks Jim. I used to work at Muze (now Rovi) so I know all about data licensing costs. Is there an email list that alerts to when stock is updated?

 

The newletter link on the bottom of the site on the right just put in an e-mail address and you'll get an e-mail when I update if someone doesn't want to do that I'm on Twitter and send out a tweet when we update Jim (@compactdiscount) | Twitter . I update almost every Monday in the afternoon.

 

Jim, welcome to the forums! Thank you for registering and for being so friendly and open.

Your prices seem super-reasonable, and your shipping charges also are very inexpensive for anyone buying more than 2 or 3 CDs at once.

 

Just ordered 7 CD's for $22.50 shipped. Not bad!

 

Just placed a large order with @Compact Discount - couldn't resist as all the single CDs in the order are $1 or $2, and the multi-disc sets were $3 to $6. I took a flyer on a couple of items: One CD has multiple masterings and I have no idea which one I'll get, but it was only $1. And one of the multi-disc sets says it's 4 CDs, but the actual title variation belongs to a slimmed-down 2-CD version with the same mastering but fewer tracks - but that one was only $3, so why not.

The rest of the CDs are ones where there's only one version/mastering, or where something in the title made it 100% clear which version it was.

They also have an interesting feature where if you order $20 worth of CDs, you can add a mystery pack of 5 randomly chosen CDs, without jewel cases but with artwork, to you order for only a penny. So I tried that too.

Overall, it's a mix of a bunch of stuff: new (to me) music; a CD I already own but never had the original case and artwork for; one or two CDs I sold in the '90s but wouldn't mind having back; a couple of best-of comps of artists I don't collect album by album; and a handful of "I'd like to pick that up if I find it crazy cheap" back-burner items.

I'll report back when I receive to the order, to let folks know about what I ended up getting, the condition of the CDs and inserts, and so on. Should be interesting!

 

Here's the promised update: @Compact Discount order just arrived. The short version is that IMHO as long as you understand the type of service Jim is offering, Compact Discount is a very nice option to have out there.

I initially ordered 21 items - 14 single CDs, 1 CD/DVD set, 1 multi-CD set, plus 5 more single CDs via the site's "5 random CDs without jewel cases for $.01" option. The single CDs cost $1 or $2 each; the CD/DVD set was $6; and the multi-CD set was $3. The discs cost $34, plus $14 for USPS Priority shipping, for a total of $48.

I got an order confirmation immediately, and then a day or so later a personal email from Jim saying he was unable to locate the multi-CD set. So he credited me the $3 and threw in an additional 5 random CDs without cases. I appreciated this - very nice, personal customer service!

Here's what I can report:

• In addition to Priority shipping with tracking, Jim also included insurance for the package - a nice touch.
• Every jewel case arrived undamaged.
• I haven't had a chance to play or test-rip the discs, but they all seem to be NM visually.
• No club versions.
• 5 of the single CDs, plus the CD/DVD set, are cut-outs. Three of these, including the CD/DVD set, are digipaks of some kind, so unfortunately there's a cut, small hole, or barcode scratch on the front, rear, or spine of the digipak. It is worth noting, though, that the CD/DVD set - Depeche Mode's Exciter, is brand new, still shrinkwrapped, with no holes, just a scratch through the shrink and barcode on the rear of the paper slipcase.
• The other 8 CDs are, from what I can tell, perfect.
• The one CD I took a flyer on for $1, actually came with no artwork or case. This is the one slightly unpleasant surprise of the shipment, although looking back I realize what happened: This disc had no artwork preview on the web site, and an "(N)" next to its name. I thought that meant "new" but I think it must've meant "no artwork." I also should note that this CD does not show up when browsing the site - it shows up only if you do a search for the artist using the site's search function. So it appears Jim is only highlighting discs that do have their full artwork.
• The 10 random CDs - which cost me a total of one penny - I've never heard of before. I'll be interested to see if any of them turns out to be a keeper.

Overall, I am very happy, getting 14 perfect or near-perfect CDs with cases and artwork for an average of about $3 shipped each - plus 10 random CDs to try out.

You can find $1 and $2 CDs on discogs all day long. But you cannot reliably find discs that cheap that are in NM condition, and you cannot normally find a single seller with enough selection to enable you to make a large bulk purchase for only $1/CD in shipping costs.

The only suggestion I would make to Jim for the future is that if possible, he might want to note on his site which CDs have cut-out marks. For $1 or $2 apiece, and for CDs that are not on my core "must-have, favorite CDs ever" list, I don't care - but I'm sure there are customers out there who might.

 

One final note: I checked the postage label on the shipping box, and the shipping cost was $13.60, virtually identical to the $14 I paid for shipping. So in case anyone was wondering, there's no secret profit-taking going on via the shipping charge.

 

I received all of mine today and they were all pretty much perfect save for some minor cut out marks, as tmtomh had said.

Very pleased!

 

Glad to hear everyone is having good experiences. Jim, do I get a finder's fee?

 

I've placed a couple of orders in the past few weeks and all the discs were in great shape ... fast shipment too!

 

I don't try and make extra money with postage but sometimes it does happen.

 

I could offer a discount code for everyone on this site but i'm not sure what the rules are here with that.

 

In the CD with no artwork section I have codes on the top of the section and (N) means no artwork. I noticed I do not have a code section linked of the bottom of all pages so I made one. I will so redo a lot of the links on the bottom of the site and make it cleaner with less clutter soon. I tried doing what you say making titles that are cutouts listed but had too may take down notices. If you don't want any cuts you can e-mail or send a note with an order a note when placing a order and I can remove any item that is a cutout and refund your money for the difference including postage cost.

 

Looks like shipping went up. I filled my cart with 9 CDs (one a double, so 10CDs if you count that).

The cheapest option is (up to) 20 CDs WITHOUT cases by Priority for $7. Otherwise (with cases) it's $14 shipping. Put the kibosh on my interest.

 

I looked into this for some reason the 10 CDs Priority Mail with cases for $7 was missing I added it.