Discogs - Help, Tricks, Secrets And Tips

waruv said:
I would assume something the seller has goofed up on the rules yes, I am guessing related to the shipping rules update a little while back. Probably easiest way to verify is to find something else with UK sellers and check against it, if you can buy from one UK seller then it's probably not a full on region lock. The listing below has UK sellers for me both that I can buy from (queencollector91, afrika1974) and ones I can't (151records, pcornish1) for instance.

Queen - Made In Heaven (Vinyl, UK, 1995) For Sale | Discogs

Shop the 1995 UK Vinyl release of Made In Heaven by Queen at Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com
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Thanks. Yep, okay, that’s what I thought. He seemed a little confused/cautious (understandably) so I wanted to verify that this was indeed something within his control before I asked him to spend time looking into his end.
 
djdavedk said:
Probably his shipping policies. (or lack thereof)
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Agreed.

Indy: If you go to the seller's profile and click the "ships from:" hyperlink near the top (underlined in the first image), it'll probably say no policy. If his does have a U.S. Policy and you can't select it...then I got no idea.

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vesrus

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www.discogs.com

Almost Famous (Music From The Motion Picture) (2021, Purple, Vinyl)

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2021 Vinyl release of "Almost Famous (Music From The Motion Picture)" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com


No votes would be nice here. The data should go the other way.

I added this without seeing it anywhere - the first sub had the wrong Cat # and wasn't in the master - so I didn't see it at all.

The UPC code didn't even pop a duplicate error.

My data and images are a lot better than that web sub it will become.
 
A general question for my fellow Discogs sellers:

Does anybody here sell new inventory purchased directly from distributors? I've been thinking of dipping my toes in those waters but the cost of entry is pretty steep and margins are razor thin. I was hoping to get some feedback or pros and cons from somebody (or somebodies) that have made that leap.
 
OneWhoWalksAway said:
A general question for my fellow Discogs sellers:

Does anybody here sell new inventory purchased directly from distributors? I've been thinking of dipping my toes in those waters but the cost of entry is pretty steep and margins are razor thin. I was hoping to get some feedback or pros and cons from somebody (or somebodies) that have made that leap.
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@Ethos99
 
OneWhoWalksAway said:
A general question for my fellow Discogs sellers:

Does anybody here sell new inventory purchased directly from distributors? I've been thinking of dipping my toes in those waters but the cost of entry is pretty steep and margins are razor thin. I was hoping to get some feedback or pros and cons from somebody (or somebodies) that have made that leap.
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DM me or I'm open to talk publicly. What are you concerns?
 
OneWhoWalksAway said:
A general question for my fellow Discogs sellers:

Does anybody here sell new inventory purchased directly from distributors? I've been thinking of dipping my toes in those waters but the cost of entry is pretty steep and margins are razor thin. I was hoping to get some feedback or pros and cons from somebody (or somebodies) that have made that leap.
Click to expand...

First, cost of entry doesn't have to be steep. You don't need to compete with bullmoose to be successful. I started selling my collection to thin it out and decided I enjoyed it enough to continue. For the longest time my inventory was under 100 records.

When I decided I wanted to stop paying retail and marking up and hoping something didn't drop in price, I got a business license and contacted the biggest distributor in the business. The first thing they said was we have a $2000 minimum for your first order and the second thing they said was 'but we can work around that".

When you get started as a real business, the first thing you notice is your margins suck. Low volume sellers get crap prices, you won't get discounts until you're averaging $4k a month and then you need to ask for it.

The best thing to do Is be extremely selective of what you buy; not 20 copies of Evermore or Led Zeppelin III! Research each title in the beginning and decide if the artists' past albums sell well. You're not running a store where people will impulse buy, they have to want your item and you have to compete with everyone else online.

Take into account your cost to ship, including boxes, bubble wrap, filler pads etc. And be prepared to have some things sit on the shelf. My philosophy is everything will sell on a long enough timeline. Constantly re-evaluate your prices, consider the lowest selling price you can do while covering overhead.

Alright, can't give you all my secrets but one more thing. Don't quit your day job and build this on the side. If it's not for you, you can get out without being in debt.
 
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Ethos99 said:
First, cost of entry doesn't have to be steep. You don't need to compete with bullmoose to be successful. I started selling my collection to thin it out and decided I enjoyed it enough to continue. For the longest time my inventory was under 100 records.

When I decided I wanted to stop paying retail and marking up and hoping something didn't drop in price, I got a business license and contacted the biggest distributor in the business. The first thing they said was we have a $2000 minimum for your first order and the second thing they said was 'but we can work around that".

When you get started as a real business, the first thing you notice is your margins suck. Low volume sellers get crap prices, you won't get discounts until you're averaging $4k a month and then you need to ask for it.

The best thing to do Is be extremely selective of what you buy; not 20 copies of Evermore or Led Zeppelin III! Research each title in the beginning and decide if the artist past albums sell well. You're not running a store where people will impulse buy, they have to want your item and you have to compete with everyone else online.

Take into account your cost to ship, including boxes, bubble wrap, filler pads etc. And be prepared to have some things sit on the shelf. My philosophy is everything will sell on a long enough timeline. Constantly re-evaluate your prices, consider the lowest selling price you can do while covering overhead.

Alright, can't give you all my secrets but one more thing. Don't quit your day job and build this on the side. If it's not for you, you can get out without being in debt.
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Thanks for all this!

I was quoted a $1000 minimum order from probably the same large distro; good to know that isn't a hard and fast rule they stick to.

My hope is that I can place an initial order around $500-$800 and make at least a $2 to $4 margin on each item but the little voice in my head keeps telling me that's an unrealistic expectation.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
What’s the upside?
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Ideally (and perhaps unrealistically), some new stock would shore up my dwindling personal collection that I've been selling since covid hit and I can continue on making a livable income from my discogs store, delaying the necessity of returning to the full time workforce while I work towards [finally] finishing my bachelor's degree.
 
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OneWhoWalksAway said:
Thanks for all this!

I was quoted a $1000 minimum order from probably the same large distro; good to know that isn't a hard and fast rule they stick to.

My hope is that I can place an initial order around $500-$800 and make at least a $2 to $4 margin on each item but the little voice in my head keeps telling me that's an unrealistic expectation.
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2-4 is reasonable. Keep in mind it will be over time though, and chances are there will be some slugs in there you bought too many of and then a few that sell higher than you thought and quicker but didn't buy enough of. Just be prepared.

Speaking of which, anyone want to buy a copy of Arcade Fire/Owen Pallett's Her, at cost?
 
Anyone know why discogs is suddenly suspending payment through "discogs payments," effective tomorrow? Seems odd because I would guess this was a way for the company to earn additional revenue.
 
mingerton said:
Anyone know why discogs is suddenly suspending payment through "discogs payments," effective tomorrow? Seems odd because I would guess this was a way for the company to earn additional revenue.
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Guessing they were bad at how it was managed. Given everything else they do from a coding perspective, managing a financial database and dispersing a payment system seemed like a large undertaking.
 
Curious, why do sellers list an item as "make offer" and unless said offer is 3 dollars less than asking price, reject sending a reasonable counter-offer and send the "you'll have to buy it at the listed price" message? I am not talking about unrealistic low-ball insult offers, I mean a reasonable above average fair offer. Why would a seller include that option at all if they aren't willing to negotiate?
 
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