To sell or to eBay?
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
So it's finally come to this: I need to start filtering out bullshit from my collection. I've been holding on to too many so-so LPs for far too long and at some point, my infant daughter is going to want her own room and that means I need to shrink my collection.The question is: should I sell these things direct? Or via eBay? Mind you - this is not going to be insane heat or anything - most of them will be $5-10 records, with an occasional item that might go for anywhere from $20-50 but those would be far and few between. eBay just seems like a lot of trouble to dump nickle and dime shit but maybe I might be able to squeeze an extra buck or two out of it. On the flipside, a set sale on a website is just less trouble and probably more efficient (not to mention, no fees).I thought about splitting it: save the heavyweight LPs for eBay and then put all the rest up as set sale items. BUT - I do want to move this shit OUT of my house as quickly as possible and set sale may mean I have some LPs sitting around forever. Advice from the more wizened folks out there? It's literally been years since I've sold anything via eBay so I don't know if it's any easier/worse then it used to be. I'll also try to give Soulstrut folks first crack at some of this stuff but believe me, most of it will be pretty MOR. Brian Auger, Cannonball Adderley-type joints (just since I'm in the "A" section right now).
Comments
Ebay's more trouble than it's worth for most shit...
JS
co-sizzla.
If you have a reliable source like Groove Merchant, I would flip some of that medium raer for some credit/cash direct.
Record swap selling with $5 boxes would be very effective, but since the show was today it wouldn't be soon enough. An ad in Craig's list is something I may try this year...
At this point the money you originally spend is far removed to I would trade most of it. I've been trimming my collection as well and it actually feels good to take in 100 records and trade them for a handfull of high quality stuff that I will actually listen to.
I think I'll probably end up getting a table at a record show. Seems like the quickest, easiest way to unload them.
See what's left after--say--two weeks, and then decide whether to go with eBay or dump it at a local record store.
But I appreciate everyone's advice. I'll probably do a set sale first, hold the heavier items for either eBay or GM. And whatever' left after all that - unload at local stores like Amoeba or Open Mind.
I'm curious how much I'll end up dumping. My friend has been doing the same thing and we have comporable kinds of records (his are probably in better condition actually) and we've been jawing about, "should I dump this? How about this?" and I'm telling him to sell all kinds of shit I still keep in my crates...which probably means I should practice what I preach and sell it off too.
I mean, are kids actually looking to be Steve Davis' "Music"?
oliver, you get a lot of traffic to your website, so maybe putting up a page with joints you're selling and prices might be a good way to do it without having to give it too much thought. like tripledouble and thikneck's site (www.smalltimehustle.com)
Sounds like a weiner!
But really, the fastest way to get rid of 'em would probably be to have a yard or garage sale advertised on these pages a week ahead of time.
Oh believe me, I'm already planning on doing that. But like I said, this is a combination: make a little bit of cash back but mostly dump shit approach. We'll see. I don't plan to start selling until I've gone through at least an entire genre (i.e. I'll do all my jazz LPs, A-Z first).
I'm fucking scared to do hip-hop though - waaaay too much to go through.
O -
Just wondering what criteria you're employing to weed out your collection; it's just that having sold off stuff over the years, I occasionally find myself either searchin' for or re-purchasin' a certain title - it doesn't happen very often - in fact, am in the process right now of trying to unload some 200 + CDs of material I am certain will not be of any interest in the future... Thanks for furnishin' your opinion of Common's 'Be,' by the way...
Only if it's a private press that's also well-known. So everybody wants it, nobody has it. But really 90% of private press things are garbage. That said, a lot of people online now will drop 20 or 30 bucks (or more) on a record just as a risk if it looks interesting.... like stylistically, has a good cover, has good players, good year for music like late 60s early 70s.
When I moved last summer, I did this:
1) I put records that I didn't want but though I might sell down the road into "cold storage" boxes where they'll remain until such a time when either I need to dump 'em for space reasons or because I think the timing is good.
2) I put records in a sell pile which I promptly took to Amoeba. I might still have a box or two of shit like this in my basement that I forgot to take over.
My criteria with both is that these were definitely 12"s that I NEVER think I'll want to use or listen to again. And I managed to clear out probably...I dunno, 500 or so pieces? Maybe 600? But that's probably 10% or less of my total hip-hop collection. It's not like the rest of what I kept was stuff that I absolutely think is essential...but it's stuff that I think I MIGHT have a use for at some point (but realistically, there's no way that's remotely likely).
I'm just loath to get rid of stuff that I even THINK I might want in the future. So that's why dumping stuff from my soul/jazz crates tends to be easier than the rap crates...and why I may not even bother going through my hip-hop crates again until I absolutely need to (which may be soon).
Besides listening what other needs would you have? Reference for writting an article and such? Plus, is there stuff you would keep for a future DJ need even if it's not really getting play in your personal life??? Just wondering.
I was keeping a lot of stuff for really complicated DJ routines, but I havn't been DJing much lately so I figured I can just get rid of it and if I actually start gigging a lot most of it is easy to find.
Also, I was keeping a lot of stuff just for liner notes, bios etc, but I just started photocopying that stuff and keeping a file that is much smaller than all the records it covers.
As my friend, who's also weeding, observed: the music he likes today isn't what he would have predicted five, ten years ago. Your tastes change and just because I don't like Brian Auguer's LPs right now doesn't mean I may find a reawakening down the road for 'em (actually, this won't happen, I'm pretty sure).
Hip-hop is where I began collecting and I'm far more sentimental about it, even over bullshit. But sentimentality isn't unimportant in my book.
Did I buy it just b/c it has a loop on it? (Think "Remember Clifford" or *gag* Vic Juris). If so, it's definitely in the sell pile. I admit, it was probably a stupid reason to collect shit to begin with but that's only in hindsight. I think most of us here were there to begin with, you know?
Like - would any of you keep "Mannekind" just for the hell of it?
nope
The fact that a lot of people have been guilty of it doesn't mean it's not stupid.
You mad?
*I* think it was a stupid reason for me to buy records IN HINDSIGHT if the only thing "good" on the album is the loop.
I do NOT, at all, regret learning how to collect records based on samples. Not at all. But at this point, yeah, I feel sheepish owning loads of records that I only bought b/c someone used a loop on it but the rest of the album isn't worth my time to listen to it.
I.e. your "Mannekinds", your Vic Juris', more CTI albums then I probably care to remember, at least 2/3rds of my Cannonball Adderley collection ("Soul of the Bible" ain't going nowhere though). Do I really need Jack Bruce's "Things We Like"?
I'm just saying - I'm not declaring war on shit just because it was sampled. I just don't think I personally need to keep a lot of this though and IN HINDSIGHT, I probably could have saved myself a lot of money if I had more foresight back in the day.
This said - there are some surprises so far, for example: The Crusaders were pretty good. I expected to unload my entire collection but listening to their stuff agian, a lot of their early-to-mid 70s titles still catch my ear. Alas, "Images" has loops galore on the intros, but the songs themselves, I find to be too fusiony for my taste though I might just keep this for "Marcella's Dream."
In general though, I think I'm over fusion. I'm unloading a lot of fusion right now with no regrets.
Damm I hear that. I've unloaded at least 100 LP's just by saving the loop/beat to disk and then buring the whole song to CD.
I can;t lie I actually don't mind Mannekind. But I like screwy stuff like that.