Recent used vinyl price increases: what are the most surprising titles?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by rain_king, Jun 22, 2022.

  1. wwright

    wwright Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA.
    A few just don't add up. The Sade Ultimate Collection LP set resale price went through the roof after a year or two.

    I bought one when it came out, then forgot about it - and later noticed it had shot up to $450+ for a sealed copy.

    They did a great job on the sound quality, but it was missing a few key tracks. You can't put all her work on three slabs of vinyl, but some of her very best songs were left off (Haunt Me, etc.).

    Plus the original pressings generally sound pretty incredible. That one didn't make much sense.
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2022
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  2. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    Common stuff like Billie and Taylor on vinyl will go up as they distance themselves from the release date...."wow, it is a '22 pressing!".
     
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  3. Telemark

    Telemark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Calgary
    ^This x 1000

    Most of the highest-priced “common” records are also the ones that sold the most. You can hardly overprice a beautiful copy of Rumours, Thriller, Dark Side, LZIV… all of them spent years on the Billboard charts and sold many millions, and all of them command premium prices these days.

    Many of the folks new to vinyl — and there are LOTS of them — are seeking exactly these records and not many others. I feel like there’s a huge gap widening between the top echelon of common records and everything else. People will pay $20 for Glass Houses but The Bridge might be $5-10. Live at Leeds vs By Numbers, Tubular Bells vs Ommadawn… Lots of folks I talk to (jes’ folks, not “collectors”) only want to have maybe 50 records in total, not a house bursting at the seams with them, and so they’re buying just the peaks — not the whole mountain.
     
  4. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    But a house bursting at the seams with records is fun. :laugh:
     
  5. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Def Leppard's big 2, Pyromania and Hysteria, have doubled in the last couple of years. And those are not all that rare '83 and '87. That puts Hysteria right on the cusp of the disappearance of American vinyl releases. But there are a lot of them out there.
     
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  6. TheHutt

    TheHutt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I mentioned Sparks' Propaganda in this thread already, so I'd elaborate on that.

    Living in Germany, I am in a bit in a luxury situation of having vintage vinyl at more or less adequate prices. So I got a good selection or early Sparks albums at pretty decent prices (I think, the most expensive was Woofer for 20€).
    So the one I was lacking was Propaganda, which I used to see for under 10€, but didn't need it at that time.

    Then, couple of months ago, I was browsing my favorite vinyl store's new old arrivals and suddenly ran upon a US copy (a cutout, too). And then I was absolutely astonished when the seller said this one is actually valuable. He checked the US pressing at Discogs and it came up with a 50$ price tag. So that was what he wanted to be paid for it.

    Needless to say, German pressings of the same album still go for about 15€ (though they used to be under 10€), and the store owner sat on his $50 US copy for months.
     
  7. Ste_S

    Ste_S Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, UK
    It's happening. Anecdotally, locally, the flood of CDs has been drying up for me. Things like the £3-4 new RVG Blue Note CDs have all been sold, and aren't being repressed. CD donations to the local charity shops have dropped off a cliff, and anyone who was offloading their CD collection to record shops has already done so. Music Magpie (UK online used retailer) prices are creeping up.
     
  8. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    I'll never understand this philosophy.

    The purpose of a business is to get as much money for a product as possible.

    If you price a $15 CD for $10,000,000 and Elon Musk comes in and buys it for that, you're not evil, you're a smart business owner and should be congratulated.

    Your best bet for current pricing information is to check Discogs.
     
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  9. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    There's a big difference between getting top dollar and taking advantage of someone. If the person that came into the shop and paid, what was it, $1,500 for a record that's true value was a fraction of that, was led to believe that that was the going price then they were taken advantage of and that is unethical. I'll stand by that position. If I found out that a shop did that I wouldn't patronize that shop anymore. It would be a clear indication that I couldn't trust anything they said and I wouldn't be dealt with fairly.
     
  10. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    When I’m shopping for something that’ll cost real money (i.e. $50 and up) I always check both Discogs and eBay. You’d be surprised at how much the going price can vary between the two.
     
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  11. G L Tirebiter

    G L Tirebiter Forum Resident

    Location:
    east of Pittsburgh
    Not if you live there. Anyway, wish you were east of the Mississippi....
     
  12. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    You're not taking advantage of anyone.

    As long as it's a willing transaction between buyer and seller, it's not unethical.

    In a market economy, you charge as much as the market will bear, there is zero wrong with that.

    We're not talking the last syringe of insulin with a diabetic at the door here, we're talking a 53 year-old used LP you can get a CD copy of for $14.

    If I had Taylor Swift concert tickets I'd be selling those for $100K and would wait to drop the price until the night before.
     
    ARK likes this.
  13. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    One at a time at Discogs but what about a site with a few hundred crazy prices now listings.....it would make sense and cents!
     
  14. All '80s metal has skyrocketed over the past 5-10 years. When I first got back into collecting vinyl about 20 years ago the "expensive" standard releases in that genre were in the $10 range. Most everything else was in the $3-5 range, other than a few exceptions for especially rare albums. Even things like Slayer's Reign in Blood and Metallica's Kill 'em All on Megaforce were $15-25 range. I can remember going to record shows and picking through a box of gold stamped promo '80s metal albums for $1 each. Wish I had bought the entire box now lol

    The prices I mention above were for very clean copies, these days I've seen pretty common '80s metal titles that are VG at best selling for $30, any Iron Maiden album seems to automatically get priced at $40+. It's clear that the demand has skyrocketed along with prices.
     
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  15. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    The first time I noticed this "Best Of" phenomenon was with Blurs "Greatest Hits" that fetched top dollar around 2009. I guess in the case of compilations there's the added - perceived - value that this particular collection might never see a reissue.
     
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  16. wwright

    wwright Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA.
    I had a conversation with her a number of years ago in the typically long coffee line of Four Barrel Coffee, in San Francisco.

    A nice coincidence - she was standing right behind me. We only spoke a few minutes, but she struck me as a wonderful human being.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2022
  17. errant_knight

    errant_knight Full Time Dreamer

    Location:
    Raleigh
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  18. 4-2-7

    4-2-7 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Peninsula
    Anything Sade on vinyl goes through the roof, other than old copies of the first three albums, but those even average higher price than many common records today. The music is timeless so it fits today for new listeners as well as the nostalgic buyer. They also didn't put out many records, 5 in the last 40+ years putting quality out over volume, hard to pick a title that is not full of great songs and not loaded with filler.
     
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  19. wwright

    wwright Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA.
    Yes, I have to agree with you. Definitely timeless, and they took a quality over quantity approach to those albums. Not much filler at all - even the instrumental Punch Drunk is brilliant, and would have been included on any other artist's "Ultimate" collection. Guess we all have our favorite tracks.

    There's one on eBay for $1000 right now.
     
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  20. 4-2-7

    4-2-7 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Peninsula
    I can't buy enough Sade these days. It's funny we were so overloaded with them back in the 80s I ignored them for two decades. But now it's another story for me, such a great band and the magical voice of Sade. Look at any past reissues and any first pressings past the 1989 date of the demise of records, everything put out on vinyl by them is through the roof once OOP. Needless to say I bough many of the This Far Box Set that came out a couple years ago and many Best Of, it's only a matter of time for the demand of this set. It's funny people want what's OOP, and fail to get things while in print not seeing the real value when widely available.

    I love the 12" singles as well and would love to get the UK 45 RPM copies, but shipping is very expensive these days, like $35 just to ship one single on top of the record price.
     
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  21. Jana L

    Jana L Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Kansas City
    I own this - but I’ve never set it up. I use my AT LP120XUSB, but had the idea of getting a second turntable to set up with a mono cartridge. Haven’t gotten around to doing that yet.
     
  22. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    why not a second head shell with the mono cart? That’s a major advantage of the S arm Technics design—I even have a three head shell holder/case for mine. I mean I don’t have mono, but…I would if I had the need.
     
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  23. Jana L

    Jana L Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Kansas City
    .

    Well - I guess that would be easier and take up less space. Half of my vinyl is mono. Thanks for the suggestion.
     
  24. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Well, that's the best way to start a collection (imo).
     
  25. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    It depends on what was said or implied in the interaction. If the shop owner or employee simply said "that's our price" and the buyer pulled out his billfold then maybe so. But if the potential buyer asked why it commanded such a high price and the seller told him some ******** story about it being a rare misprint or was once owned by George Harrison or that it was part of a hot mix run that was called back and could possibly be the only one that survived the recall, or any other crap like that then that makes a big difference. Especially if they calmed that that was similar in price to what had previously sold and it wasn't.
     
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