Record Fairs (Can You Still Find Good Deals?)

I was reading online yesterday how Record Fairs aren't "good" anymore. Since the advent of the internet people know what the prices of their LPs are so, there are fewer deals to be found. Do you agree? also, comment your experiences you've had at the record fair in your area. The next one that is near me is in Austin from May 19th- May 20th at the Palmer Event Center.

 

Last Sunday I just picked up a copy of Guided By Voices' Half Smiles for the Decomposed for $20. It easily fetches $100+ online.

 

Yes, there are deals to be had still, but there are also dealers with everything greatly overpriced. The good news is, it's easy to move on to the next dealer when you see ripoff pricing. Also, many dealers are open to price haggling, particularly if you are buying multiple items.

 

Yes - but not as many. Was at one yesterday...just doesn't make sense to buy anything available on Amazon for over $10 when you get an unused LP with an autorip. Got Genesis Foxtrot and Zappa Over Nite Sensation for $5 each.

 

The last two NYC shows (two different promoters - one in Astoria, one in the city) seemed fairly small as I'm used to much larger monthly shows in the DC area. Many more interesting things at the Astoria show but they were way overpriced. I compared prices afterwards and Discogs dealers were much cheaper. It wasn't worth paying for parking for the show in the city. Anyway, I came away with nothing from both. I'll stick with Discogs until there is a large multi-day show in the area.
I will go to the next Astoria show, though. We'll see if I can prove myself wrong.

 

Everyone just needs to keep in mind that the dealers aren't people that have fallen off the turnip truck. And if you think the usual "Hoffman board heroes" can be had for screaming deals, well....pardon me if I am stifling a few giggles.

 

I voted no. It's not a hard no. There's always a chance a dealer will price something a little lower than online or might not know how much a record might be worth. But generally, the prices are going up and the quality is going down. Supply issues really, which will be different depending on your location.

But I still go to shows regularly. I'm not there to find deals per se. I'm just looking for titles I want and if I can afford the price I go for it.

 

Early admission maybe, otherwise no.

 

Some dealers aren’t looking to get the absolute maximum amount, but are just looking to get their money back or make it worth their time. Those are the folks you want to deal with.

 

Depends. I've discovered that there are guys who have boxes on the tables at 'normal' prices but can often have stuff out on the floor under the stall, cheap. Sometimes I have got decent stuff from that - five albums for ten bucks or whatever. Okay it takes a while to wade through but you can pick up elpees for two dollars to satisfy a curiosity that you wouldn't take a chance on at ten or twelve. Nothing rare or elusive but once I think it was some DJ's collection of promos a guy had; eighties and nineties pop. All mint. I grabbed loads. Not exactly my prime interest. But you couldn't leave them behind. Not at those prices. And I didn't flip them either.

 

There's a building from the 1700s in Liverpool, the Bluecoat, which has semi regular record fairs.

I picked up a few good original pressings:

My Generation
The Bonzo's Gorilla
Forever Changes

Some slightly scuffed covers, but I've wasted many an hour poring through those. It's not set, different sellers can turn up, so there's variety. Aimed at the listener, not the collector I'd say, but I'd never paid more than 20 per album.

I buy to play em, too. Apart from my dad's original Elvis and Beatles, I use every record enough to not warrant packing it away.

Someone with a bit more nouse about finding and seeking rare deals might have a good time indeed. It's just one huge hall, with tons of crates, always the same, but always different.

 

You can assume the guy behind the table has looked up the prices of unsold items on eBay/Discogs to help him determine how to price things. You may run into someone smart enough to realize that if those prices were reasonable the items would already be sold rather than still listed online. And you get to at least visually grade the items yourself before buying, since it's likely 90% of the items graded as "Near Mint" on those sites are a solid VG+. An actual better than VG+ record at 20+% below Discogs "NM" prices is a good deal, and yes they can still be found.

 

I've found that there are often two kinds of sellers who typically sell at record fairs. There are those who sell "professionally" (whether they are truly fulltime or not is not really relevant, it's more of a mindset than anything else) and they have a very precious and specific firm idea of what each individual item in their entire stock is worth, as in "book value," Ebay listings, Discogs, etc. And these individuals feel so much attachment to their records that they are quite willing to lug it all back into their car and then schlep it all home again at the end of the day, if nothing they bring out sells.

And then there are often a second group of those who sell at record fairs, usually as a part-time or sideline gig, perhaps to enhance their own collection or to "flip" valuable items from the surplus of their own personal collection in order to finance them acquiring something else, and other scenarios like that. Those are the ones who will make deals and offer discounts and who will occasionally miss something rare or mis-price an item in their own stash, resulting in a "score" for someone.

When I used to have a table and sell at record fairs, I know I always kept one eye "in the back of my head" fixated on how much of the damn stuff I was going to have to lug back into the car and drag home at the end of the day, and how my back would feel later that night, and I often sold and priced things accordingly. I also kept a running mental tally all day of what portion of my "good stuff" that I brought out had sold, and what hadn't, so I knew where I stood in the big picture, at any given moment. When you get to the point where you KNOW most of the "good stuff" you brought in your crates is picked through and gone, and you're really just waiting around for someone to buy that ONE last big-ticket Zappa album on Verve that you really hoped would sell, and you've stuck it in the front of the bins instead of under "Z", and you're hoping maybe you'll sell off a few more of your dollar records but basically you're just killing time.... When I'm in that situation the rare and precious Zappa price tag for me can get very flexible and go waaaaay down at the end of the day, especially when it's late and I am getting bored with being out there all day.

However, not every dealer at a record fair is going to think that same way.

 

I've been to and sold at some bad shows, but ideally you have a lot of vendors with a wide selection of product that you can actually look over the condition of. No postage, no poor handling and no dread of "is this actually the pressing, version or condition that the seller listed on line". If the price is within the neighborhood of what Discogs or Musicstack or whatever online resource you use has it for, that can be a deal. Also you might meet some like minded folk that can steer you to something else. Social interaction comes free of charge. If everyone has bathed and brushed their teeth, well that's a bonus.

 

This thread title assumes record shows USED to have bargains, which has never been my experience.

Going back to the 80s, when people were still pushing scratched up/sanded down doo-wop 45s at top dollar, you'd be more likely to see overpriced pseudo stuff in lesser condition at a show than most stores.

 

Good deals are getting fewer and further in between. One of the main reasons have already been adressed. Almost everybody is online nowadays. So people who have something for sale but are not proffessional dealers look everything up on websites like discogs. They often neglect to compare pressing details and sleeve/media condition. If somebody in Los Angeles with money to spend bought a Los Lobos LP at a certain price people on a fair in Poland ask the same price. But another big reason (in fact there's only one reason among proffesional dealers and that's greed ha-ha): early on the day even before the "early admission" starts they check out the other dealers. Many of them know each other. They will be looking for those they don't know. Hoping that they are people clearing out their attic because they desperately need space or money or they are selling the collection of a deceased family member. They buy all the underpriced treasures from those stand holders so they can offer them at their own stand for inflated prices or more discretely take them home and offer them on ebay or discogs.

 

Bonus? I'd call it a miracle.

 

I think record fairs are fun for having lots of records you wouldn't see day to day in your local record store. You're gonna find lots of great stuff at reasonable prices if you're smart. I never walk in expecting to find a Beatles one box mono Help! for $20 or something. It's just a great place to flip through a lot of dealers best stuff and be around like minded people. Now saying that the last time I went to a fair sometime last year I got original DCC's Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw LPs for $8 a piece.

 

Yes, there's something to be said for just going to see some really rare records in person - even if they are on the wall behind the table and priced in the stratosphere. Or, as I often do, chuckling that I found the same record at a garage sale last week for just $1.

 

Thanks for the tip!!!

 

My friend and I started showing up for early admission to get access to the best items. Now even early admission is over subscribed! We're actually talking about getting a table (we both have a lot of records we want to sell) so we can be dealers and do some trading/buying before early admission. Some dealers won't trade before the public is let in but most do.

 

It is like panning for gold.

You dig through hundreds of used records, much of it sonic gravel, then Eureka, a nugget of great reasonably-priced vinyl.

But overall, prices for used LPs are getting are too high.

 

You won't get any `deals'.....but you will find what you're looking for....

 

On cd I sometimes find a Great bargain
Last week I found a Jimi Hendrix Electric ladyland 2 cd original polydor WG cd
I payed 4 dollar
Recently i found a WG target Hearts And Bones Paul Simon For The same price.

 

Yes, you can still find good deals. I'm at five or six record shows a year and find quite a bit of good, cheap stuff.