In what ways did ebay change record collecting for you?

Oh, another thing: the web is not just about purchasing. More efficient discovery/learning processes too.

 

Everything's easier to find - I've bought so much stuff that I would never have found or otherwise would have paid well over the odds for.
Generally it's meant supposedly rare records are cheaper. If not, at least you can take comfort in that it's the going rate.
People complain about record grading but it's far less of a lottery than buying something at a fair/record store when there's no player to hand, and you feel pressure to buy in case you don't see it again.

 

I sold a CD for £50 last week on ebay, and kept most of the money - something that wasn't possible in the past.

 

Never have bought anything from ebay. Amazon or Discogs have been my online preference.

 

eBay, iOffer.com and Discogs have enabled to find albums and singles I never thought I would lay my hands on. So I love all three. Yes, you lose some of the "thrill of the hunt", but I can live with that. I have also discovered loads of artists I never would have stumbled upon if Steve Hoffman Forums and the aforementioned websites didn´t exist.

 

It was exciting at first seeing things for sale that were hard to find, especially down here in Australia. In the end a lot of the enjoyment I got out of the hunt, checking Goldmine, Record Collector, record fairs etc was gone.

 

makes it more convenient for sure.also good to see what records you have might fetch.have not been to a record store in ages.dont miss it one bit.

 

Opened up my vinyl collection for sure with some great buys but some of the prices are just silly. Britpop especially, £100 for a Pulp album??????

 

I turn to ebay and such as a last gasp when looking for something in VG+ and up condition and at a good price. I prefer to buy in person from brick and mortar stores. So - there are times I'm glad its there.

 

It completely distorted the market for vinyl, in particular, original pressings. The amounts that clean UK first pressings go for on eBay these days is ridiculous!

 

That would be my response too. The only thing that I regret about getting shut of my vinyl (approx 300 albums) in 1991, is thinking about how much they would fetch on ebay now as they were all in pristine condition with the exception of a few second-hand records.

Another plus is that I was able to make about £2,000 from selling my death/doom/black metal CDs as some items (Merciless, Darkthrone, Hellhammer etc.) had gone out of print.

Worst thing – the inevitable chancers and non-payers you have to take action against at the risk of them retaliating by posting negative feedback (sellers cannot post negative feedback any more).

 

I've done that, too!
Never again, will I have to hear a 'used record store' guy say, "Well, if you had a BOX of them, I'd give you 2 bucks."

 

...suddenly everything became easier and I could find imports and rare stuff i only could hope to stumble upon in stores or sales.
But I have to say it: discogs propelled this into a more professional setting.

 

I prefer the thrill of the hunt to scrolling through ebay. That said, if I see that something I own is regularly going for upwards of $100 I'll try and throw my copy into the ring as well. I have made a few snap purchases for things I had to have, but had never seen. I really need to be better about selling. I have a lot of sealed CDs I acquired for free through my years in the biz. Even if I'm selling them for $2-3 I'm making money...not sure why I don't do it more...lazy I guess.

 

eBay really created a single international market for collectibles and out of print materials of all kinds, and at the same time replaced the primacy of professional dealers with a kind of mobocracy of sellers. The result was higher prices for some stuff, lower prices for other stuff, but in general a kind of global price setting power and transparency; a kind of if not total demise at least a dramatic diminution of the bricks and mortar dealer business in most markets, and more of a caveat emptor environment and widespread overgrading for buyers. The rise of Discogs and Amazon secondary sellers means that there now not just that single international market. But eBay, and the internet, really changed everything for me. I've barely ever visited a dedicated record store in the last 15, 20 years.

 

Specialty Ebay sellers tend to know what they have and charge accordingly. Joe record store owner who takes in large collections tends to price them all the same (with a few exceptions). It's more exciting for me to find something rare (or sought after) for $1 than find it on Ebay for $50.

 

I did a smililar thing with my alternative/ punk/ postrock/ noise cd collection. Without thE bay I would never have been able to get back into vinyl in the late 90s. But thanks to it I could almost "swap" my cds for records.

 

Living in a small town in Wisconsin, it's has given me access to music I would and will never find stocked in any store near me.

 

I've never eBayed, ...so it hasn't changed anything for me at all

 

It definitely removed the thrill of the hunt, or the thrill of the score, as I say it. Nothing (and I am tempted to put that in all caps) beats finding a gem in a thrift shop, yard sale or record store/show.

I have done very well buying on ebay, but the lack of a "story" for the score seems to have an impact on how I feel about my ebay winnings. I scored a nearly complete Hanna-Barbera LP collection through various ebay purchases, but those I purchased as garage sale, dollar bin, record show finds give me more of a true "feeling."

I apologize how New-Agey and ridiculous this sounds. It's just difficult to find the right words.

 

For me, the "thrill" of the hunt was not thrilling. As an instant gratification guy, being able to get anything I want right away was thrilling, and eBay provided that in spades.

Still thrilling in fact: Last Saturday I decided I wanted to replace all my Velvel Kinks CDs with their Hybrid SACD counterparts. Within an hour, using eBay and Discogs, I had ordered all of them. THAT was thrilling in my book...and will be for a while as the shipments trickle in. A bonus tangential thrill will be handing down the ones I replaced to my son who will dig the hell out of them.

 

I am WAY too fussy need to see the record in-person and with my reading glass on to READ the vinyl>

sean

 

Ebay is just a larger store with a massive selection... The same shopping rules apply. Caveat Emptor.

 

I've found a few quirky 45s and LPs on eBay such as a "Music to Shave By" cardboard record with Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and a few others and a BBC record sampling different accents around the UK

 

Yeah and you just described plenty of sellers on discogs as well.