Best way to sell a CD collection

I've got around 1,000+ cds that I now want to sell. I'm thinking most of them are only worth a couple pounds given the price of cds these days but obviously want to maximise my profits.

Has anyone here had any success selling in bundles? If so, do you find artist bundles (i.e. someone's entire discography) or genre bundles attract the most attention? any other tips for selling a collection?

 

What type of music are you selling? I think genre bundles would do better than artist bundles. What sort of size bundle are you thinking of? Are you trying to keep each bundle under 2KG (so 14 or 15 CDs) so you can post with Royal Mail or are you thinking bigger and using Hermes?

If you wanted to PM me some photos of the collection (I only need to see spines), I could let you know my thoughts.

I sell on Ebay and Discogs and sell individually or bundles depending on CD value - I can't be bothered listing stuff on Ebay if it'll only make a pound or two so definitely bundles for the lower value stuff.

cheers,

MC

 

Thanks for the advice and good point on the royal mail under 2kg postage.

I’ll start by going through it and individually listing anything worth £5+ on Discogs (I’ve got some rare CDs that should get £50+) and then bundle the rest. My dilemna is whether to say, bundle 4 Blur CDs together or split them with other bands of that time in Brit Pop bundles? Same with 90s dance, 60s rock, etc. I’ve easily got 20+ Dylan cds, would they do better as one big collection or split by decade? It’s actually a huge task that I’m not relishing.

 

That’s how I started - I checked the price of everything I wanted to part with, and then listed everything that looked likely to sell for more than £3. (I started out listing things on the classifieds here but I found the uptake a bit slow...)

Then I took photos of the spines of the rest of them, and posted them on the charity shop trading thread on the forum, to see if anyone wanted any of them. That led to me getting rid of another 50 or so to people here who really wanted them, mostly for postage cost only.

Then I looked at what was left, and sold what I could to MusicMagpie mostly for pennies, just to get it out of the house.

The remainder, that they didn’t even want, I put into a massive crate (ended up being 300 CDs!) and sold it on Facebook marketplace for £40 as a job lot. That’s an average of 13p per CD but it was better than taking them to a charity shop and got me more than if I’d begged a shop to take them off me.

Actually the guy who bought them was just a music fan who was ecstatic to get that much new (to him) music for such little money - so it was nice to have them go to a good home!

 

I don't know about in the UK, but in the US, anything you would get $1 or less for likely doesn't make sense to sell (unless it's selling just for the fun of it). You can donate all CDs to a library or animal shelter store or whatever and you get to claim $3 value for each CD donated, so if you pay about 30% in taxes, you just made about $1 back per CD.

 

Anything you can find easily in a charity shop is better sold in a large bundle. I would try to sell Blur as part of a genre bundle. In fact most popular 90s acts are probably best sold as a large bundle. The only exceptions would be things like Japanese import versions. Of course, if the CDs are immaculate, you might do well as an artist bundle. Valuable CDs (anything over £5) are best sold separately.

Packing: I use bubble mailers, plus wrap each individual CD in bubble wrap, and use a plastic strip over the hub to keep the CD in place. For 2 CDs, I place the CDs between two pieces of cardboard, and place in a large bubble mailer. For large job lots, I will wrap up 3 or 4 CDs at a time and place in a box. Boxes, cardboard and bubble wrap can be found free at your local supermarket. I buy mailers from Home Bardgains because they are cheap, but you might be able to find a better deal online.

Good luck.

 

I have traded stuff into Music Magpie, but generally find it stressful locating £5 of stuff and replacing any broken or damaged cases. I will probably just donate stuff instead (unless I have a high ticket item that I can't seem to sell, then I will bundle it up with other items to MM).

 

Pick the most valuable and sell those first. Discogs or Ebay
You may find some that are more valuable than you think.

Usually bundles go for a lot less on Ebay. I've picked up CD bundles for silly, low money

I've seen multiple listings on Ebay for say £1 each where the buyer picks what they want. That might work for you.
You could also offer them with or without jewel cases

 

Thanks for all the feedback and ideas, some good tips there. It’s such a daunting task to sort through over 1,000 cds and photograph them etc, that I’ve not tackled it yet but the boxes are stacked up and staring at me waiting for a rainy day.

 

If you're dealing with a local shop with a good rep, another alternative is to do a bulk sale through them. With a large collection, you'll inevitably undersell a piece or two but you'll also get some cash and clear out some space while keeping the music stays in circulation.

 

i have fond that there is line that you cannot cross in the amount of CD's you can sell or trade at one time. if you bring in more than 50 the store clerk (who is most likely making minimum wage) is not going to take the time to do it right.

i have been trading in about 30 CD's at a time and i have been getting between $2 and $3 each IN TRADE, in cash in not even close to that. $1 in cash is about it.

to sell individually on ebay is basically a full time job between watching your auctions, packaging (which you need to pay for by the way) the discs, taking them tot he post office *unless you invest in doing that at home too. and don't forget that you have be sure to get paid and have to deal with ebay fees.

there is no easy way. and you are never going to get what you think you should either,

collectible CD's is a whole different story.......

 

Ok, forget bundles, and just sell the good stuff item by item. Forget ebay if you don't like the work involved (can't blame you), and head straight to Discogs. Learn to use the site and quickly ID your pressing, and grade condition correctly. Give the discs away that are offered in the dozens of copies and not fetching anything near $7 or $8. I don't like messing around for less that that per item. I assume you know how to pack media, and have access to bubble mailers, boxes and bubble wrap.

I found I was able to ask for a higher price than others in some cases. Besides having nicer condition than other offers, if you have all nice titles offered (no junk), folks will want to pick up several things at one time and save on shipping. So they will pay a buck or two more for your copy because they will save on shipping them all together. Not sure the UK has media rate shipping, but for us in the US it is a godsend.

 

Second class postage for a single CD is £1.53 ($2.11), so it is quite cheap. Two CDs can be posted for £1.99 ($2.75). A small parcel up to 2kg is £3.20 (£3 online) ($4.42/$4.14). Media rate works out cheaper for more than one CD, but a single CD is cheap to post in the UK. International post is expensive, and Europe is treated as Ireland to Vladivostok.

 

It's worth remembering that a desirable US CD is worth more in the UK, just because the postage from the US to anywhere is expensive.

 

Stock photos should do unless you have a different item

 

I have to face this process too and I am not looking forward to it. Thanks to the OP and other posters for some good tips!

-s1m0n-