UK Charity (Thrift) Shop CD Hunting

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by MC Rag, Jan 17, 2016.

  1. serendipitydawg

    serendipitydawg Dag nabbit!

    Location:
    Berkshire UK
    Another Oxfam irritant is the fact that they sell off all the CD's that don't sell in a very short time cycle (two weeks I think) to Music Magpie for 15p!

    In my part of the world Oxfam seem to have standardised CD prices to £1.99. They never ever reduce slow selling stuff, to,say, £1. They always have lots I wouldn't pay £1.99 for but would snap up for £1. I never get the chance due to this short sighted policy. Deeply irritating!

    I am not imagining this: I have seen a courier in a Music Magpie polo shirt collecting from my local branch.
     
    Lost In The Flood and therunner like this.
  2. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    I have 3 or 4 thrift stores that I try to hit about once a month. They sell CDs between $1 and $2 and I've come away with some oddball things and/or staples that I never owned. The vinyl is usually a mess, so I half heartedly flip through them. CDs are easier to skim the spines, so I spend more time on them.
     
    Fullbug likes this.
  3. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    No. 1 over here is Streisand's Guilty for vinyl. I see a lot of Sheryl Crow CDs too.
     
  4. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    Enya...everywhere.
     
  5. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    As some others have said, you got to go regularly. I have found the following CDs

    Pink Floyd - Meddle Japan for Europe black face £1
    Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon hybrid SACD 50p
    Tangerine Dream - Firestarter soundtrack 99p
    Pat Benatar - Tropico early Sonopress 99p
    John Cale - Music for a New Society Yellow Moon £2.99 (this one was placed in their window and was OOP at the time)
    Nick Drake Bryter Layter remaster sealed 99p
    Various Klaus Schulze CDs including Picture Music and Audentity £1.99 each.
    Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell WG with the metallic blue stripe £1.99
    Abba - Greatest Hits Vol. 2 early WG Polydor 50p
    Barclay James Harvest - Ring of Changes red face WG Polydor £1
    Eurythmics - Revenge Japan for US 99p
    Kenny Rogers - They Don't Make Them Like They Used To Japan for US 99p
    Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love WG picture disc £1.50
    Various targets including rare PDO versions of Elaine Paige Stages and Al Jarreau High Crime (50p-99p)
    Various classical CDs including some Japan for Japan Denon issues (50p)

    I'm sure there are more.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2017
  6. qwerty

    qwerty A resident of the SH_Forums.

    We also have some op shops that know records are valuable and price them as such. Unfortunately, they have no idea what is valuable. Non-collectable 78's are "old", so they are valuable, and priced at $15 each (when they are actually worth 50 cents). "Old" LPs are rare, so they must be valuable, so they put $40 on a 1950's very damaged disk of "South Pacific" (with equally damaged sleeve). Along side these jokes, are 1980's disks in excellent condition for $1 which might be reasonably priced at $10.

    What really gets me is when I try to talk to them about the pricing and try to educate them (they are a charity, and I would like them to make money). Every time they don't want to know. Just like the time one op shop had about 10 cardboard boxes full of records in good condition. I wasn't interested in any of them, but I'm sure that they would have sold quite quickly given the titles and condition of the vinyl. The drawback was that the covers were all very damp, right through to the record. I suggested that they take the records out and air dry the covers, and told them how this could be easily done. I explained that if they didn't the records would be stuck to the sleeves and all the sleeves would be stuck to each other, making the complete set unsellable. I received a blank look in response.
     
  7. Paul Saldana

    Paul Saldana jazz vinyl addict

    Location:
    SE USA (TN-GA-FL)
    I would be excited by exotica/lounge at the thrift store, but these days all I see are the later Denny albums that are straightforward pop tune covers - nothing with any atmosphere. I don't think I've ever seen a Les Baxter or Esquivel lp worth buying. All my Arthur Lyman titles came from Goodwill.
     
  8. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    The counterpart to Billy Joel's 'Glass Houses' where I am. :laugh:
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2017
  9. hutchenstance

    hutchenstance Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Arlington, VA
    i have noticed that thrift stores for some reason attract suspicion and distrust .. on the part of staff and buyers.....its kind of a weird con game... so even if your intentions were right on the money and your advice could have saved them hundreds of dollars i bet their reaction was based on the fact they probably suspected you of trying to pull one....

    i see so much cheapskateness and nastyness at thrift stores..its unbelievable.. the amount of people that will steal a $1 cd from the case for example.. the haggling at the end... ughh
     
    Fullbug and qwerty like this.
  10. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    What about for Rolf?
     
  11. bosskeenneat

    bosskeenneat Forum Resident

    It seems that two more fast movers for the future "Barbra Streisand/Andy Williams" thrift store award are Diana Krall & Norah Jones. More and more Whitney Houston & Michael Bolton titles are also hitting the bins. Man oh man.....If this is definitely the way the ball bounces for these kinds of artists, I have news for Taylor Swift & Adele they may not wish to hear.
     
    domfjbrown and phillyal1 like this.
  12. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    I seen a Jackson C Frank LP original in a UK Oxfam shop they wanted £50 quid for it, wasn't mint ..good condition.
    But, that was a decade ago.
     
  13. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    I Pooh. Always thought that was a funny name for a band.
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  14. Zongadude

    Zongadude Music is the best

    Location:
    France
    Well, it might well be just a matter of perspective then, because, I've always been fascinated by UK's charity shops each time I crossed "the water". Whenever I stumble upon an Oxfam shop or a similar boutique, I enter because you never know what you'll find inside. One day I found a copy of "Plastic Ono Band" by John Lennon in Southampton (Oxfam). And it wasn't a reissue. It was an original UK copy (which is hardly ever foundable where I live).
     
    mahanusafa02 likes this.
  15. hominy

    hominy Digital Drifter

    Location:
    Seattle-ish
    Checking Goodwill's auction site, I can see where a lot of it is going now. Everything from Barbara Streisand to autographed Bee Gees to duct-taped Johnny Cash records getting bid up to the stratosphere on there, some understandably. Most not. My local thrift stores don't seem to participate in online auctions and sales, but still have been dry of good vinyl for months.
     
  16. Raving Russell

    Raving Russell Forum Resident

    I agree that regular record hunting is what must be done to get the best bargains at Charity shops.
    My all time best finds:
    1. Beatles White Album First UK Mono No.0003964. Near Mint vinyl. £1 in Trowbridge, England.
    2. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. Solid blue triangle. First UK. Found in a disgusting PVC cover. Cleaned up to Ex+. £0.50. Found in Trowbridge, England.
    3. Deep Purple. Shades of Deep Purple. First UK. Bought for £5. Sold to a Russian buyer for £158. Found in Yeovil, England.
    4. The Fool LP (as in Pepper Fool). Near Mint. £5. Trowbridge, England.
    5. Roy Orbison. Only the Lonely. Test pressing. One sided. Best sounding version heard by anybody? £5. Sold to a Roy Orbison fanatic for £125. Swindon, England.
    I have never found a "good find" in either Bath or Bradford on Avon, two rich places!
     
    RobNeil, Cassius, mc7t and 4 others like this.
  17. Raving Russell

    Raving Russell Forum Resident

    If anybody likes Jim Reeves or Perry Como then these are rich picking times for sure! Mrs Mills is frequently seen too. The days of seeing No Parlez on each visit have greatly diminished, though. Perhaps there was a sacrificial bonfire!
     
    domfjbrown and Lost In The Flood like this.
  18. Raving Russell

    Raving Russell Forum Resident

    The Apex Predator is still the Record Hunter. DVD man is far more mild mannered but also more inconvenient as he is slower and more ponderous in his decision making. He does not have that crazed, addict look about his eyes...
    Two record hunters hitting a charity shop simultaneously can never end well...
     
  19. Spruce

    Spruce Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brigg, England
    Most of the gripes on here can be correlated the to the second hand vinyl stores.
     
  20. Sytze

    Sytze Senior Member

    Here in the Netherlands it's still unavoidable!
     
  21. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident

    AveryKG likes this.
  22. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I've never given up on charity shops for vinyl and up until a year or two ago I was frequently finding worthwhile stuff, as well as some incredible rarities occasionally. Some of my most treasured and valuable records have come from charity shops but they are now getting very few and very far between.

    I did get an original Julie London - Calendar Girl for £5 as well as a Modern Jazz Quartet original album from the 50s for £1 only a couple of days ago from a market though, so I'm still finding cheap and unusual records. I hope it continues, if it doesn't I can't complain. I've had more than my fair share of luck!
     
    OneStepBeyond and Fender Relic like this.
  23. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    Never really thought about it, but I haven't seen a Rolf Harris LP in ages, so maybe they have thrown them out. I often wonder what they did with his potrait of the Queen.
     
    Man at C&A and Lost In The Flood like this.
  24. inigo jones

    inigo jones Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, England
    A few weeks ago I bought this collection of Beatles singles for 99p each, all in excellent condition. Strawberry Fields picture sleeve included. You can still strike lucky occasionally.


    [​IMG]
     
  25. richierichie

    richierichie My glass is always full.

    95% of the LPs I have bought from UK charity shops have been in unplayable condition once I have got them home for a proper check. warped, scratched, dirty (which is reparable when put through my cleaner). Yes I do check them in the shop as best I can but these things only show up when checked at home in more appropriate conditions. I take them back to the shop and give them back, maybe they can sell `em to someone less finicky than me. It`s all for a good cause innit? Although I don`t bother buying LPs from them any more.








     

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