Second hand record prices rising well over inflation?

If you want $10 for your precious collectible CD, sell it yourself on eBay or on the classifieds here. Record stores aren’t charities, and when they pay you $10 for ten CDs, eight of them can easily sit in their used bins for months before they get their asking price for them.

 

It's the self-titled first album from 67. I've actually got two of them, one is in my collection.

 

Part of it is that far less CDs are manufactured per title than there used to be. Even albums that would be popular enough to sell 5-10 million copies if this was 20 years ago now only get made in fractions of those amounts.

Also, until the mid-2000s or so, CDs were used as loss leaders at places like Best Buy and Circuit City. They're not a mass consumer product any more, so those days are now gone.

 

If it's a clean mono, I'd probably take it!

 

Buy the odd single ..but £2.00 is my max.
I’m very select, so naturally what I want is fairly rare. Ie.. never turns up. I want it in the original bag as well. Pass on LPs unless they’re in VG condition..also inexpensive £5.00 ( under), rare if I find anything. But .. the snag is I don’t play them - fetish thing / nostalgia.

 

Hey Glen!

 

It's a stereo, VG conservatively graded.

 

There are records and then there are "records". I still see bins where you can buy many for a buck. However, there are some that can go for hundreds of dollars. They are not all created equal.

 

Hang on to that guy!! I regularly buy from a fella that runs a TINY collectibles shop in a town near me that stocks old toys and CDs as well as records, he used to run a market stall, and he's been selling 2nd hand vinyl for decades. He's not on the web, and he knows each of his regular customers by name. He knows the price he can sell a record as soon as he sees it, and he keeps prices low so he can sell and clear out stock. He regularly has 20% off sales, and sends me text messages when hes about to get a good collection in. His prices havent been affected in any way by the vinyl resurgence, lockdowns, pandemic - he just keeps on truckin'. I'm going there on Saturday to spend my monthly vinyl allowance!!

 

Yes for sure, I definitely don't blame the shops, I think it is most likely online sellers are pushing up prices and shops have to compete. I know I can get online but I always loved going for a brows

 

I am soooo happy with the records I managed to get back in the day, grateful I got such great music and love listening to it! I do feel for younger people who want to get into vinyl. However I suspect most younger people listen to music in a different way so it is probably less of an issue for them. I just think people are being priced out of a hobby they used to enjoy. As I said times change

 

little spinny silver things - love that!
And yes I have moved over mainly to LSST, but mainly for space

 

Love this! I have a similar store near me that is now my go to place. I always find something good, even if it is just one LP and he is open to bargaining!

 

Ha ha brilliant

 

I am part of a local vinyl Facebook group and myself and others sell stuff on there for realistic prices. Of course this is different as no overheads like a shop and we are not running a business, just local enthusiasts selling. But I will normally check what the average price is on Discogs is for the grade of record and take a fiver off that.

 

My wife made me stop buying music all together. I make substantially less than I did 15 years ago and she has an unreliable gig job. Collecting just ain’t in the budget anymore.

 

It seems like only a few years ago I could get decent copies of most titles at my local shop for single-digit prices. They want more for everything and now they are running out of room to put out new merchandise.

 

Thanks Andy.....Looks like I will have to plan a trip to Watford soon.....!

 

Better start now. If you sell 10 a week, it will take you 20 years, but you’ll probably generate half a million bucks!

 

I feel so sorry for a record store that pays $1 for something and it takes months...to sell it for $10 !!

Yeah....a profit of $9 on a $1 investment just isn't hardly worth it is it ?

WTF ?

So much of this valuation talk is BS. More dollars than sense I tell ya.

 

❤️

 

This doesn’t take into account the likelihood that many will never sell at all, driving up the cost per unit sold. Or the opportunity cost (and probably borrowing costs, as most places won’t have the cash flow to run strictly in the black) of tying up the $1 they paid for the CD. Or the cost of operating the storefront for that period of time. Or the labour to clean it, tidy up the presentation (replacing broken jewel case bits, e.g.), grade it, price it, sort it, display it, etc. $9 gross profit on a single CD likely turns into $2-3 net profit at best.

 

So...in this scenario...maybe only a 200-300 percent profit. I'm still just soooo sorry !

 

What's the profit margin if they sell three out of the ten cds traded in? What's also the profit margin if the same guy used that money (or trade credit) to buy a brand new vinyl album that the store is only making $5 on from a $20 investment? If he had wanted to just trade for other used deadstock cds in the store, most stores would probably let them have much more. But I'm sure they deal with people bringing in their trash and then going for the gold. It's like trying to sell a bunch of expired light beer to a bar owner for a nice case of stout.

 

One local record shop has jacked up the price of their used CDs from $9.99 to $12.99 and the titles are generally not-sought either. There is one that still maintain their prices pre-pandemic time and I give props to that shop, albeit that their stock tend to go pretty fast.