I held a record sale this morning, And I was amazed at the turnout and results!*

And I was amazed at the turnout and results !

I advertised it as a "Pop Up LP and Vinyl Sale" in Facebook Groups and on Craigslist. I explicitly stated I would disclose the address the day before the event, and that it starts at 8am sharp...not 7 or 7:30.

Inventory was about 600 LPs and about 750 45's. One box of about 30 LPs was $10 for each LP / 3 for $20. About 6 boxes of LPs were $5 for each LP and 3 for $10. The rest, including the 45's, were $1 each. I had previously gone through everything, and all was fairly priced. Lots of common (non valuable) titles, lots of bad covers/good LPs, lots of just OK condition, etc.

I set up everything before 7:50, and went back into my house for about 2 min. When I returned to my driveway -before 7:55am- there were 6 people already looking through everything ! I jokingly asked if anyone read the listing regarding the start time....

This first group gave me a lot of push back because I didn't have any "bargains" or Beatles/Stones/Zepplin etc....

This first group was an assortment of known dealers and flippers and I explained that everything for sale was fairly priced, and anything remotely valuable is sold online. A lot of grumbling...and they left empty handed.

After about a 5min wait, more people showed up and I had a steady stream of buyers for the next 3hrs. EVERYONE after the first group were wonderful to work with. A lot of young people, ranging in age from about 10yrs old (yes abt 10yrs old) to 30, then older collectors. I asked about what equipment they used, and most seemed to use a low end box from Target/Amazon or a Technics 1200. Purchasing tastes ran the gamut from classic C&W, to hard rock, 60's rock, new wave and punk etc. Several were very knowledgeable about what they collected and what they listened to.

Always nice to meet fellow collectors !

Many of us have accumulated records that we no longer want (or never wanted), and have struggled with how to get rid of them. None of us really want to dump them at Goodwill, or be at the mercy of a dealer. For a few hours of your time, holding a popup or garage sale is a great way to spend a few hours on Sat morning, meet some great people -and- end up with a lot more money than you thought your discards would be worth.

This is the 4th such sale I have held in the past year....and each has been very successful in terms of what was sold and how much I made.

Give it a try !

 

Good to see that the dealers and flippers came away empty handed but that a lot of real record collectors benefitted...

 

No.

 

No matter where you go, if you advertise "vinyl for sale", you'll always have the bargain hunters and the Beatles/Stones/Zepplin crowd

 

Do you have any Beatles/Stones/Zeppelin? is the reason I don't advertise my record sales to the general public.

 

I would love to do something comparable to this, as I love the interaction and community that is involved with garage and estate sales. The only problem........I don't want sell any of my music.

 

this

 

I have four garage sales a year and have a box or two of records out also. And you are right, there are definitely more younger people checking them out then one would think, though as you said many are buying new department store type players. I will also have turntables or vintage hifi stuff that I find at thrift stores that need minor repair and put those out, too. It is nice to talk to younger fans who are all ears concerning 'old' music and gear, since none of my friends or coworkers really care about that stuff.

 

damn those flippers!

 

There's a father and son team that has at least one "garage sale" event every year, occasionally two, here in town. It's always popular so I can see it working for others as well.

I generally sold sporadically online, but last year a friend and I decided to finally get a table at a local record show. We had a lot of records (he had way more than I did) that we wanted to part with and neither of us wanted to deal with selling them all online. We did quite well, better than selling to a store and although we likely would've made more selling online, it would've cost us way more time to do it that way. One day of selling, a few days of prep work netted us some good cash. It was also a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. I thought we'd be bored and regret out decision a few hours in but we weren't. It was fun talking to other dealers and customers.

As for people looking for bargains...we priced everything below retail and we still had people asking for big discounts. I'm convinced that some people, if offered the item for free, would ask for bus fair home.

 

Just this morning, my son and I made the 4/10 of a mile trek to the Antique store downtown, where I picked up a UK 1st of Savoy Brown's Raw Sienna, for only $40, marked down from his $50 Discogs price (where I was surprised to first see it).
A fine Saturday for all of us it seems.

 

I've done the same thing, and had pretty much the same experience. When my garage door went up, the feeding frenzy began. Two guys almost got into a fist fight!

 

I've had two garage sales since I've moved here - and of course I've put out some vinyl to sell.

But I didn't put out the really good stuff initially because I know the flippers and dealers would be there. Those went out after the pre-8am people (you know the type) were gone.

 

Maybe I should try a garage sale selling only Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin and Floyd vinyl? Seriously...... I don't think I have any extra vinyl that I'd be able or willing to sell by those artists.......still looking to add stuff to my collection by them actually!

 

Sounds like fun. We used to have a garage or yard sale and always had a crate of records out. A good way to clean up and get a little 'play dough.' Over the years however the unbalanced or nefarious types made us re-think the home sale option. We had a few who deliberately 'strayed' towards areas they were told are off limits, the over aggressive type trying to get an item for item for 1/10 the price, the 'man-handlers' who treat your items roughly, etc. Another good option is local collectors getting together and advertising a combined sale at a local community hall.

Goodwill - at least the ones here - have their pro skimmers. I know a local record collector who gets a 'message' when a good batch of records get donated and the best of these never see the store floor. Just the remainders.

A good local record store owner/dealer is wonderful. True, most try to pay a nickel on the dollar, but when you find one that pays a fair price they are worth their weight in silver. A few times I've had around 500+ spare records accumulate, which individually would move at $3 to $5. However it would take quite a few full blown 'sale days' to move them - and even then it'd only be a portion of them. Having a local dealer take 'em off my hands for about 1/4 their value - all at once in one lump sum - was great.

 

I once rented a table at a "punk rock flea market." It was a great afternoon. Met some really cool people and made decent money.

 

This very interesting to me! I've also thought about doing this but I'm not really sure about a couple of things: #1 do I really want to part with a lot of my albums (pretty big questions still), and #2 what's the time/trouble vs. $ really look like doing this? You've already answered some of #1 this very nicely, but regarding #2, can I ask how much $ you netted doing this for a few hours on a Sat morning? btw - I've got a somewhat smaller collection than you, somewhere around 400 LPs, but I do have a lot of nice Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, etc. lol

 

Just remember, it's your sale - your rules.

 

Yes, I'd definitely be doing this my own way. Thing is, the general idea of a "pop-up" vinyl sale (aka yard/garage sale) seems like a good one. I'm just wondering how much $ you end up making doing something like this, as opposed to say selling the albums at Rasputins or Amoeba.

 

I like the idea as well, how exactly did you advertise your sale on Facebook? (I’m not on there).

 

To answer a few questions-

Facebook (at least my feed) has a few marketplace/sale groups. I can drill down for groups that are local to my area. I create 1 ad, and then can cross-post to other local groups.

I am not going through my collection and selling treasures. These were records I accumulated over the years from purchasing larger lots, seeing something for $1 or 50c and knowing it was worth more, duplicates and so on. I have purchased a few collections ranging from almost 1000 LPs to "make me an offer for these 2 boxes". I pull out what I want, sell what is valuable to someone else, then I am left with the dreck that I set aside. Could be genres or artists I don't listen to, iffy condition, duplicates or other reasons. I set aside LPs as I go along and keep them in one place. When the time comes, it is easy for me to find what I want to sell, flip through and put in boxes. I spend about 20-30min setting up tables and moving boxes on the morning of the event. From yesterday to today, I spent less than 60 min pulling inventory and setting up. I netted mid 3 figures between 8am-11am today, or about 4x what a store would have offered me.

I know that Beatles Stones Zep Doors Floyd Bowie have value if in good condition- these are sold online.

I have gotten to know the dealers/flippers in my area. These vultures are different than collectors who resell. The vultures go from garage sale to flea market to wherever to buy and then travel to shows to sell at top dollar or do the same on line. They will typically buy every copy of "name" artist you have for sale. Then lie or not respond if you ask if they are a dealer. I admit I smiled when they left my driveway empty handed.

Collectors will carefully look at condition, matrix info, ask questions and be willing to engage in conversation. I have gotten to know many collectors in my area, and they are like me. Resell to get rid of excess, always looking to upgrade, raising cash for new aquisitions, willing to take a chance on a new artist, willing to share info and suggest artists/songs I may like.

I have rented tables at shows in the past and always did very well. We have not had a local show in my area for a few years however, though that may change sometime in 2019.

I think the vinyl trend has longevity. Participants seem to be getting younger, and there seem to be more of them every day.

Social Media makes it easy to disseminate a message quickly and to the maximum number of people. Setting up a garage sale type event is easy to do, and frankly there are worse ways to spend a few hours on a Sat morning.

 

Trenton? I've been there a few times.

 

Phoenixville. About an hour from Philly.

 

This is my experience with garage / moving sale .Yup, The Zep,Beatles and Stones flippers show up first and left disappointed. Then I sold a good chunk of stuff I wanted to get rid of at fair prices. The collector crowd bought most of my stuff. I put out a good amount of 45s that were well organized. They sold fairly well. I donated a small amount to goodwill. I had a good time talking music with people.

I also advertised CDs. I had some decent mainstream stuff for a dollar in there. I sold maybe 3 CDs out of a hundred. This indicates that the cd wave is going to happen as soon as people start throwing away their CDs. I won’t do that because I’m a collector. But I do think CDs will rebound. It just takes time.

The Cassette renaissance however, is a complete joke. I put out some good cassettes out. Not one sold. I’ll state it again. Pre recorded cassettes are garbage for the most part.The only good cassettes were the homemade recordings using high grade maxwell and TDK’s with a good deck and source.

Sorry for the rant.

 

Bummer about the Cassettes not selling at garage sales. I have about 200 pre-recorded cassettes, and based on my research of the "median" sale prices on Discogs, and the last sold prices on eBay for a spot-check of about 100 of my cassettes, I thought I could get about $300 -- by selling them for 50% of what they are selling for online -- if all of them sold. That's only averaging $1.50/cassette, but that'd be better than the money I'd get by tossing them in the trash.

I've set a date for my own Pop Up Vinyl+CD+Cassette sale. It will happen this May. I will post more about it in these forums when the date gets closer, to give Portland-area Forums members advance notice.

That gives me a few months to get my inventory together and research some prices. I figure I'll price everything at 50% of the going rate for what they would sell for online. That seems reasonable to me, as it would encourage any customer who looks something up online that I'm selling; they'll see that I'm offering a more than fair price, and they won't have to wait for it to be delivered (or pay for shipping).

QUESTION: How do you handle payment methods at these Pop Up Sales? Strictly cash? Or do you accept some form or Digital payment via smartphone? Or do you have a card reader device that plugs into your phone that you use? I'm a bit nervous about having hundreds of dollars in cash accumulating in my garage at home if the sale goes well...