Second hand record prices rising well over inflation?

More and more teens get into the hobby, you'll see prices go higher. "Hey man it is original".

 

I think it's a main reason for rising prices of vintage LP's. Every time I'm in a record store, I can see that the majority of people around are under 30. The greatest example is "A-1" store in NYC. Always full of kids carrying stacks of records to the register, often without even checking condition. No wonder everything is overpriced there, the worst thing – it's overpriced regardless of condition. The record could have a deep scratch across the whole side, if it's something like Beatles, Zeppelin, or even Dire Straits or Steely Dan, it will be priced $20-30 at least. Even if it's common as dirt domestic pressing.

 

Incredible.

 

There's a record store about I go to once in a long while where the exact same thing happens- mostly under 30 customers, most LPs in taped poly outer sleeves, no one checks condition. If I buy a record there, I insist the open it and let me examine the LP. The clerks look at me like I'm out of my mind or am there to make trouble. Needless to say, I don't go there often.

 

Mike at The in Groove wants this! I think it’s disgusting and the worst thing that can happen to our hobby. Scrooge McDuck record hoarders -guys who need 50 copies of VU & Nico for speculation, are the types that ruin it for everyone else who just want to buy and listen to original records.

 

It’s obnoxious. Especially for rare records like punk or psych. Sometimes on discogs there may only be one or two copies of an original record for sale. So the seller takes their Vg- or at best VG+ copy and looks at the highest ever sold copy which was usually m/nm but no matter- they then take that price and add 10 or 20 percent on top of that. And then frustratingly someone inevitably buys it since it’s the only copy for sale and wah lah-the cycle continues. But there might be a bubble some day. Only time will tell.

 

Rockaway Records in my opinion consistently has the best used selection in Los Angeles but unfortunately you’re usually gonna pay top dollar unless you’re ok with VG stuff which I have gotten some incredible deals from them before. Example I recently bought a Beefheart “Safe As Milk” for $50 that was VG but plays solid. And an original UK Twink with rare pink insert for $250 that was also VG buy plays fine with only faint surface noise here and there. The discogs median for that Twink is nearly $450!

 

Which version of "Creatures?" If it's the Bruce Kulick - non makeup cover, then I can see the $75 price tag as it's a tough one to find. If it's the Ace Frehley makeup cover, those are more common, therefore a lesser price.

 

It was the Ace cover.

 

There’s also VU & Nico hoarders-. I think Mike from the In Groove has like 50-100 copies himself. If he made even half of those available the prices could potentially go down. There’s also other guys that just stock pile collectible records and sit on em as assets. I hate it! I buy records to listen to. Even the ones I have multiple variants of I listen to.

 

That’s a bummer. I hace a shop that always has great stuff and they pay you exactly fifty percent of what they’ll price it at.

 

Not exactly scorching hot titles! Bug everyone is entitled to their own musical tastes!

 

Shops like that are a dying breed and have been for many years now.

 

Or maybe no one actually bought it, but it was a sock-puppet or self-dealing transaction. Such things are ubiquitous in the collectibles market and have hit the vinyl market now for awhile. These things are very hard to root out and an easy game for sellers/dealers to play.

 

"These are the days of miracle and wonder"

 

Discogs Sold data can be misleading in a number of ways. E.g. for a lot of common records the data doesn't go back more than a year or two, so you can't really get a sense of how much prices have gone up over the past several years. I have a theory that people might not pay so much for records if they could see that, say, five years ago a record went for half of what it goes for today, whereas if they can only see recent prices they're more inclined to think that current prices are normal. It may be subtle, but this could be part of the steadily rising used vinyl prices.

 

Another one for the annals of “baffling eBay sales”:

BILL EVANS TRIO Waltz For Debby RIVERSIDE OJC-210LP VG++/VG+ s | eBay

It’s at $109 with almost 24 hours to go.

Granted it’s probably the most trusted record seller on eBay and the Bill Evans OJCs have been a hot commodity for a while now and often go for high prices.

BUT, it looks to be a 21st century OJC and therefore likely digital and typically not as sought after. The Discogs median for that pressing is around $35.

Also, I had just been thinking that maybe the current Craft OJC releases might have already reduced the demand for the old OJCs somewhat; I won an auction for an original ‘85 OJC Waltz for Debby, in practically NM condition, for under $20 just a few weeks ago.

Just weirdness all around.

 

Don’t get me started on UA Blue Note reissues from the 70’s. Even ones without a RVG stamp are climbing in price. When I was hunting for a copy of Art Blakey’s Mosaic there was a seller selling a ‘78 White B reissue for $78 dollars and wouldn’t budge sub $64. At that rate I bought a Liberty Reissue for the same price. Just nuts.

 

Anything semi-desirable is going to have these kind of inflated prices on Discogs or eBay buy it now, unless you get really lucky and happen to be searching just at the moment when some kind soul (or someone who doesn’t know better) puts something up for a bargain price. It does happen, but it’s more down to luck than anything else, since good deals don’t stay up for more than a few hours or a day maybe.

OTOH Ive done pretty well with eBay auctions the past couple years. Still not cheap by historical standards, but things can be found for good deals if you’re patient.

 

I know! Those 70’s Blue label represses used to be my bread and butters. They’re AAA and sound fantastic to my ears and 10-20x cheaper than originals. I think people are finally catching on to these great substitutes.