No Buy Vinyl Support Thread

Sonicpharmacist said:
In Great Falls, my local is 3 hours away. I know i won’t get as much if I do it as a bulk sale, but I have to do it all at one if I really want to change. If I sell on my own, one at a time, I’ll keep making excuses to buy. “I just sold $300, I can buy another $100”.
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might be worth giving shops near you a call even if they are that far away? i know some shops near me offer to travel to you if you have a collection to sell and they go pretty far distances depending on the size + items in the collection. worst that could happen is you send them a list and they don't want to make the trek.

totally hear you on selling only a few at a time vs bulk. i've culled my collection a few times and sold about 70 records to a shop near me 6 months ago. Ended up spending almost half the money at their shop on more expensive records I wanted that same day haha.
 
MikeH said:
might be worth giving shops near you a call even if they are that far away? i know some shops near me offer to travel to you if you have a collection to sell and they go pretty far distances depending on the size + items in the collection. worst that could happen is you send them a list and they don't want to make the trek.

totally hear you on selling only a few at a time vs bulk. i've culled my collection a few times and sold about 70 records to a shop near me 6 months ago. Ended up spending almost half the money at their shop on more expensive records I wanted that same day haha.
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That’s a good idea to call a local. I took the week off work, I might just do that. Thanks for the tip!
 
After peaking during the work from home days of Covid, my listening time has plummeted as well. I do sell and trade a decent amount, and started doing so at shows which has been fun. But at home I’ve been making a conscious decision to what stays. I mostly find myself listening more obscure stuff on vinyl these days, stuff I won’t really throw on in the car, at work, running, etc. Majority of that is jazz. I think most of my at home listening now is jazz or world music.

That’s not to say I don’t listen to a lot of what I still have, but honestly there’s so much stuff I have that I just never play. This holiday weekend I went through my shelves inside and pulled out 300-350 records (mostly classic rock, modern stuff that I stream, etc) that I haven’t touched in the last few years, or if I did played maybe once. Put them in the garage and honestly haven’t decided what to do with them yet. All in all I probably have 1,000 records in the garage now just sitting there, likely to sell in the future. I’m going to see if I find myself going down there much to play them, but honestly if I haven’t played them in years, why would I play them again? That tells me it’s just not that important to me.

I think it’s important (and healthy!) to have those conversations and really think about what it is you value. I would rather someone else use something than have it sit on my shelf to be used once every 5 years.
 
MikeH said:
might be worth giving shops near you a call even if they are that far away? i know some shops near me offer to travel to you if you have a collection to sell and they go pretty far distances depending on the size + items in the collection. worst that could happen is you send them a list and they don't want to make the trek.

totally hear you on selling only a few at a time vs bulk. i've culled my collection a few times and sold about 70 records to a shop near me 6 months ago. Ended up spending almost half the money at their shop on more expensive records I wanted that same day haha.
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Would it be a good idea to keep some of the higher ticket items off a list I send to shops, or would doing so make my collection less enticing? Thinking things like my mono Beatles, Siamese Dream, not necessarily my MoFi’s
 
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Sonicpharmacist said:
Would it be a good idea to keep some of the higher ticket items off a list I send to shops, or would doing so make my collection less enticing? Thinking things like my mono Beatles, Siamese Dream, not necessarily my MoFi’s
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Its easier to sell the high ticket items, but its also quite a bit of work/time. It really depends on how much value you put on your time. I priced on the low side try to move them and once they sit for a couple months, I take whatever is left to the local. I got bored with that eventually and just took everything to the local. Its weird seeing my records on the "high price" wall, haha.

Also with the new IRS rules, you really need to keep track of how much you bought them for and how much you sell them for so that you can address the 1099K properly. I figure once I take out all of the selling and shipping fees from my gross intake, and take off Uncle Sam's cut of the profits, and factoring in my time...I really should just take them to my local.
 
Kris said:
Its easier to sell the high ticket items, but its also quite a bit of work/time. It really depends on how much value you put on your time. I priced on the low side try to move them and once they sit for a couple months, I take whatever is left to the local. I got bored with that eventually and just took everything to the local. Its weird seeing my records on the "high price" wall, haha.

Also with the new IRS rules, you really need to keep track of how much you bought them for and how much you sell them for so that you can address the 1099K properly. I figure once I take out all of the selling and shipping fees from my gross intake, and take off Uncle Sam's cut of the profits, and factoring in my time...I really should just take them to my local.
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I do sell on Discogs (and I’ve gone over the threshold), so maybe I’ll try to move a few of the more desired titles there.
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
Would it be a good idea to keep some of the higher ticket items off a list I send to shops, or would doing so make my collection less enticing? Thinking things like my mono Beatles, Siamese Dream, not necessarily my MoFi’s
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My dad is also trying to unload his collection in bulk. I keep telling him that when you sell in bulk, he should expect to get about 30 - 50% of what the collection as a whole is valued at. I told him it might be worth trying to sell them locally via Facebook Marketplace. Have a vinyl record "garage sale." I know Great Falls is a fairly sizable community by Montana's standards (I used to live in MT), and the nearest records shops are in Bozeman and Missoula. There has to be some diehard vinyl collectors in your community that would love to thumb through your collection via a garage sale. You'll get better returns selling singly or in small numbers to locals and, also, cash in hand. Granted, it is more work on your end.

I would not sell the MoFi's, mono Beatles, and Siamese in a lot. Those should easily sell online, if you don't mind the hassle of boxing and shipping them out.
 
zdkaiser said:
My dad is also trying to unload his collection in bulk. I keep telling him that when you sell in bulk, he should expect to get about 30 - 50% of what the collection as a whole is valued at. I told him it might be worth trying to sell them locally via Facebook Marketplace. Have a vinyl record "garage sale." I know Great Falls is a fairly sizable community by Montana's standards (I used to live in MT), and the nearest records shops are in Bozeman and Missoula. There has to be some diehard vinyl collectors in your community that would love to thumb through your collection via a garage sale. You'll get better returns selling singly or in small numbers to locals and, also, cash in hand. Granted, it is more work on your end.

I would not sell the MoFi's, mono Beatles, and Siamese in a lot. Those should easily sell online, if you don't mind the hassle of boxing and shipping them out.
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Yeah I’m going to post the ones you mentioned specifically on the cogs. I’ll figure out which other ones I have that were on the higher end and list those as well
 
zdkaiser said:
My dad is also trying to unload his collection in bulk. I keep telling him that when you sell in bulk, he should expect to get about 30 - 50% of what the collection as a whole is valued at. I told him it might be worth trying to sell them locally via Facebook Marketplace. Have a vinyl record "garage sale." I know Great Falls is a fairly sizable community by Montana's standards (I used to live in MT), and the nearest records shops are in Bozeman and Missoula. There has to be some diehard vinyl collectors in your community that would love to thumb through your collection via a garage sale. You'll get better returns selling singly or in small numbers to locals and, also, cash in hand. Granted, it is more work on your end.

I would not sell the MoFi's, mono Beatles, and Siamese in a lot. Those should easily sell online, if you don't mind the hassle of boxing and shipping them out.
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Your dad really gonna snub you on handing down his collection to his son? Precious heirlooms. Unless he only listens to Dan Fogelberg.
 
I think for 2023 I really want to downsize. Between my wife and myself, we’re sitting at 1,500ish and there are plenty of titles that don’t get listened to. Earlier in the year I culled about 80 records but have been super lazy about listing them. My purchases this year were way down mostly because I wasn’t working, but I’m back at it and my purchases aren’t necessarily going to increase. I have several shops to disperse my culling to if I chose to go that route.
 
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Ginormousthumbs said:
I think for 2023 I really want to downsize. Between my wife and myself, we’re sitting at 1,500ish and there are plenty of titles that don’t get listened to. Earlier in the year I culled about 80 records but have been super lazy about listing them. My purchases this year were way down mostly because I wasn’t working, but I’m back at it and my purchases aren’t necessarily going to increase. I have several shops to disperse my culling to if I chose to go that route.
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I usually keep 2 lists on discogs, 1 is those that are "on the block", meaning they are 1 step away from being sold. Once I inspect the item, it's as easy as listing it and removing from the list. The second is those that are potentially "record store sells", meaning ones that likely will sit forever online until they reach the right buyer, and even then it's not worth the time to let it sit. So I'll take those in and get some credit to buy something I want. Usually 3-4 average-ish records will net me 1 new one. I figure that's my way of ensuring the collection remains "curated."
 
Ginormousthumbs said:
I think for 2023 I really want to downsize. Between my wife and myself, we’re sitting at 1,500ish and there are plenty of titles that don’t get listened to. Earlier in the year I culled about 80 records but have been super lazy about listing them. My purchases this year were way down mostly because I wasn’t working, but I’m back at it and my purchases aren’t necessarily going to increase. I have several shops to disperse my culling to if I chose to go that route.
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I don't really mind the size of the collection, but I do do a good purge once a year in the spring, I think it's a good way to force yourself to be honest about what you listen to, means something to you, or is a keeper just because. We all end up having albums that can be moved on in some way, sold, PIFed or traded in for something else.

To @Melt Face Molly Drop comment, it helps keep the collection well curated ;)

And with all that, we've hit the NO BUY zone for 2022, no new purchases until after the new year.
 
AnthonyI said:
I don't really mind the size of the collection, but I do do a good purge once a year in the spring, I think it's a good way to force yourself to be honest about what you listen to, means something to you, or is a keeper just because. We all end up having albums that can be moved on in some way, sold, PIFed or traded in for something else.
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Absolutely. I haven't done one in years, and Q1 2023 before my season ramps up, it's well past due time for a comb-through.
 
All three local record shops have sales going on today and I'm not going to any of them! I'm not going because I know I'll just end up buying something just to buy something and I'm doing my best to change that behavior, if I buy a record from now on it has to be something I really want and will listen to more than once... This is my first step towards changing the way I spend money on records, I've spent far too much on records I kind of like and then just filing them away and never really listening to them again...next step is to figure out which records I can get rid of... That's a much harder step for me!
 
4080 said:
All three local record shops have sales going on today and I'm not going to any of them! I'm not going because I know I'll just end up buying something just to buy something and I'm doing my best to change that behavior, if I buy a record from now on it has to be something I really want and will listen to more than once... This is my first step towards changing the way I spend money on records, I've spent far too much on records I kind of like and then just filing them away and never really listening to them again...next step is to figure out which records I can get rid of... That's a much harder step for me!
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Believe me it is not easy. You will slip and feel bad about yourself, that is normal.

If you can I do recommend that you do a big purge of records to trade in at a local. But don't spend all the credits right away. This way you have some credit to burn later. I find this helps when I buy 3 records when I didn't intend to, but at least I spent credits not cash.
 
4080 said:
All three local record shops have sales going on today and I'm not going to any of them! I'm not going because I know I'll just end up buying something just to buy something and I'm doing my best to change that behavior, if I buy a record from now on it has to be something I really want and will listen to more than once... This is my first step towards changing the way I spend money on records, I've spent far too much on records I kind of like and then just filing them away and never really listening to them again...next step is to figure out which records I can get rid of... That's a much harder step for me!
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What I find most helpful is manually tracking/budgeting spending. The wife and I are budgeting hard to save up for some major life purchases and keep track of every purchase, no matter how small. This has greatly impacted my vinyl budget. $25/30 here and there doesn't seem like much individually, but it adds up!

My current gameplan is if I want to buy, I must sell to get the money to do so. What I have found helpful is looking at my collection, pulling out stuff I haven't listened to in a while or rarely ever reach for (in some cases records were sealed for quite a while!). After pulling them out, I put them in the garage. If I found myself not thinking about them or wanting to play it over a month or two, I figured it was not worth it for me to keep them. May or may not be helpful in your situation, but its made parting with stuff much easier!
 
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