Second hand vinyl - are prices for classic rock going up, down or flatlining?

I'm still trying to get you to explain this whole VG++ grade. Are they actually play grading to determine this? Are they rating albums with surface noise VG+ now? That would be the only way I can figure out that there can be anything between NM and VG+. If they are then basically they are rendering the grading system totally useless.

 

Perhaps you missed the big picture. We were discussing common, "classic rock" albums. Boston just happened to be an example several of us used. Maybe currently their albums are enjoying a resurgence, but the point was that generally these types of albums are fairly cheap and readily available. Odds are that Boston s/t will drop back down in value sooner than later. Maybe ELP or Styx suddenly become hipster favorites and prices briefly go up. Regardless, $20 to $30 is way too much for an album that with a little effort can be found for less than half that, either at another shop, on the internet, or from a flipper.

 

I still don't understand why everyone is obsessing about the price of a bog standard LP everyone here owns and is not in the market for, and being upset that some people in some cities are paying over Discogs rates.

 

Personally I prefer the first three or four albums by Chicago, Yes and ELP more than any Boston or Journey album. But that's just me.

 

I'm retired and recovering from a little surgery, so I'm just killing time.

 

The thing is, I don't doubt that there are Journey, Boston and Cars albums for $20. I've been spending time in Mass., as I mentioned, and I've definitely seen a $15 Cars album if not a $20 one, and some crazy-overpriced records, as I mentioned earlier.

Presumably the prices are being driven by newbies as someone mentioned before (with or without Crosleys). They don't want to learn how to use Discogs. They don't want to order something on Ebay and wait to get it in the mail. They want to buy it in a store. If you see a bunch of new records for $20-$30 (Beatles, Queen, Zeppelin, whoever), then $15-$20 for a used Journey album doesn't sound like a bad deal. I guess? I'm an old guy. I still hate to pay ten dollars for a used record, but if you're comparing it to the vinyl you see at Target, it seems like a reasonable price.

 

At the flea market on Sunday I came across a guy selling Beatles albums with $25-$45 price tags on them....................and they were trashed!!! 3 booths down I find an original copy of Introducing the Beatles in VG shape for $3

 

yep

 

I hear ya! And it's not like any of those "trashed" US Beatles albums are ever any of the rare VJ pressings especially in stereo or even a Capitol with cover in shrink with a rare hype sticker or something. Nice "Introducing" find!

 

It is called eBay or Discogs. You find 70's albums like Boston and Journey for well under $10 if you look. Just get the remastered editions like Rumours and don't bother with a VG+ original.

 

I got a hold of a guy I know that owns 3 used record stores in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) and asked him about a retail price for Boston s/t. First he wanted to know if it was the pink or black label, said pink sounded better. He said pink label, no noise, no sibance (spell) it was a $10 record, give or take.

 

Well, for starters, you can tell him that he may wanna visit the optometrist. The label is orange.

 

He said orange, I was going from memory.

 

Wow , you are really out of touch with the market in general , SNF , while not quite on the level of a Thriller , Purple Rain , or Dark Side , is a $25 to $35 bill in vg++ or better condition , in just about every store I service , and an original will sell in a day or 2 tops. Has been an in-demand title for the last 5 years...and truthfully Grease in the same condition, is not that far away , maybe $5 or so less , and sells in 3 days...you really seem clueless to how the market had developed over the last 5 years

 

It must be your location, assuming you are in the metro area's of the East Coast from DC north maybe? Customers must be trendy high income folks? No one I know is paying the kind of prices you are talking about and the titles aren't in great demand. Hey more power to the stores you service but that is literally crazy talk. SNF and Grease are everywhere for next to nothing.

 

There are still collections out there. You just have to stay on the lookout. There are a lot of 60 somethings that are still holding on to their collections. I know because they are my peers and they know I collect. Often they tell me either, "I'll never get rid of my records", "I'm going to give them to you when I clean up" or "I'm going to bring them over for you to look through". Sometimes they just give them to me, sometimes I make them an offer that they take, sometimes they never get around to pulling them out and eventually if I'm still alive when they pass I expect I'll get a call from their children about coming over and getting them.

 

The fly over USA ain't paying those prices.

 

yea, but 80% of the sales/selling happen at these places, which is why the labels still service these area's

 

You are working with new vinyl I'm assuming. Stores that have both. Lots of record stores only sell used vinyl.

 

If I'm clueless of how the market has developed. Than once again. Please list the names of these stores that you so call service. So I can contact them personally and verify the prices you are quoting are accurate.

Sounds like you're a fan or collector of these albums and type of music and are trying to inflate their value by posting these claims on this forum......and not just this time either. Even though the prices for those albums on either Discogs, eBay and record shows tell a different story. Even the stores in California including Ameoba are far from those prices and would love to move that type of inventory even for the realistic prices they're asking.

 

Started Selling Online in 1996 and I have seen a dramatic drop in prices , A lot more competition and unethical sellers as well as the main selling site allowing the unethical operations to continue.
When Ameobe first opened in Hollywood I was able to sell them about 500 lps for big bucks and on Ebay I was selling good to mint LPs all over the world. I held on to some lps that I sold for $500 back then thinking they would go up but they sell for $50 at the most now.

 

It is all supply and demand.
Some kraut rock really records jump in price recently (Can and Neu! are first which comes to mind, but there some more).
If there movie out or some rap star used artist song for sampling- bum! price goes up )).
Punk is all but impossible to find in mint condition, and if found they often overpriced.
In a store I am frequent Lynyrd Skynyrd, which used to be plentiful, disappeared with only poor condition copies left. So is early Allman's.
Other southern rock is still cheap and plentiful, but good luck finding NM copy.
JJ Cale and Lou Reed flying from the shelves regardless of condition or edition.

But yes, Chicago, ELP, Yes, Doobie Bros, etc are dime a dozen.

Wonder if rock will follow crooners, some of which fell from $200 to $10.. Just because of their listeners simply started to die out.

 

Using goldmine ratings almost all used records are VG or less if objectively play graded. If you call a record with a little occasional surface noise VG+ then there is that but really those are VG. True NM is very rare indeed.

 

The few NM records in my collection are ones I personally purchased new and only played once to record a cassette of back in the 80s when that was some people were doing, buying the record to keep as an archive and actually listening to the cassette copy repeatedly and also away from home on boomboxes and car stereos.

 

It is hard - but in a store I am frequent in you can listen to every record you are buying. I remember finding NM copy in a pile of 15(!) copies priced almost the same )).
And for many records you can always find sealed copy )). They may not however be mint anymore - storage wrap, etc ... not to mention quality of pressings of that era is not great.. And some cost a lot! Even common rock end of seventies records, $2-4 otherwise in VG++ condition, sealed often sold for $15-20 and way more in a store.