Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

botherly said:
I agree that VMP has gone down quality wise... except for the classics track. You can't get legit AAA reissues for that price anywhere. And their jackets are nicer than Pure Pleasure, for example, plus the liner notes are a nice bonus. In general I think their exclusives are kind of crappy... but classica is still a fantastic bargain.
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Yeah true the Classics are always consistently good quality, but then Classics is almost always the one I have issues with when it comes to warps, which I believe is because they insist on putting the booklet in the jacket with the record.
 
botherly said:
I agree that VMP has gone down quality wise... except for the classics track. You can't get legit AAA reissues for that price anywhere. And their jackets are nicer than Pure Pleasure, for example, plus the liner notes are a nice bonus. In general I think their exclusives are kind of crappy... but classica is still a fantastic bargain.
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You can get AAA cheaper in many cases. Rhino particularly. Kinks reissues. Hendrix reissues. I could go on. Jackets aren't usually as fancy, but that is secondary.
 
Joe Mac said:
The problem I have Nathan is that VMP are creating a normalisation of the $40 price tag being a fair level for their product. They haven’t put out any releases that I think are coming close to being worth it. They produce nice packages, not premium product.

You also have to bear in mind that there is no sales tax is the US and we in Europe are only getting away without paying that because they are committing mail fraud. I’m not complaining because it saves me money but it is a fact!

So if you take $40 as a base and run at a fair level against local pricing (so including the VAT) you are looking at UK £37.04 or IRE €44.45. That’s crazy money, you won’t get that paid outside of idiots and the very biggest of legacy artist for a standard 1LP.

Also a quick comparison. The last N&G AoTM, picked by @ThePakoBuelna , the Ruen brothers. It came in a heavyweight tip on jacket, it was beautifully pressed and mastered, an all around great package, easily better than all pre-Al Green classics and the equal of all inc and post. I bought it from America, including postage and correctly declared VAT, it cost me a total of €22.84.

Don’t believe the hype and don’t feed the hype machine.
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There is absolutely sales tax on online sales in the US, where are you getting that from?
 
RobbieBobby said:
There is absolutely sales tax on online sales in the US, where are you getting that from?
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my understanding was that it wasn’t included in prices on online stores because the regimes differed in each state and so it was added in the basket when you put in your address. I was also under the impression that several states had 0% and that no state really had a percentage that held any real significance (coming from someone living in a European country with a VAT regime). Correct me if I’m wrong by all means.
 
Joe Mac said:
my understanding was that it wasn’t included in prices on online stores because the regimes differed in each state and so it was added in the basket when you put in your address. I was also under the impression that several states had 0% and that no state really had a percentage that held any real significance (coming from someone living in a European country with a VAT regime). Correct me if I’m wrong by all means.
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That changed somewhat recently starting last year and most states (if not all) are now required to collect whether there is physical presence or not. Web stores have slowly started to implement it. Amazon does across the board, VMP started when Motown Anthology was released (which was a painful way to find out). Bull Moose, Plaid Room, and alot of indie stores havent yet but Im sure will sooner rather than later.
 
wynn72 said:
That changed somewhat recently starting last year and most states (if not all) are now required to collect whether there is physical presence or not. Web stores have slowly started to implement it, Amazon does across the board, VMP started right around when Motown Anthology was released (which was a painful way to find out). Bull Moose, Plaid Room, and alot of indie stores havent yet but Im sure will sooner rather than later.
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Yeah I’d heard of that Supreme Court ruling. My point is more that it’s added to the price when you buy so the $40 (or $32 or whatever) is the price before tax. The tax is added in your basket. Therefore for us over here when we’re doing a fair comparison with local prices, and US companies who don’t commit postal fraud, I can add my 23% VAT on to it and that’s a fair reflection of where they are actually placing themselves relative to other sellers in my marketplace.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I’d heard of that Supreme Court ruling. My point is more that it’s added to the price when you buy so the $40 (or $32 or whatever) is the price before tax. The tax is added in your basket. Therefore for us over here when we’re doing a fair comparison with local prices, and US companies who don’t commit postal fraud, I can add my 23% VAT on to it and that’s a fair reflection of where they are actually placing themselves relative to other sellers in my marketplace.
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Got it.
Not that it effects anything but VMP is the one online store on the planet that doesnt show your total with tax until AFTER you pay. Which is annoying for price comparisons (and other reasons) especially since I live in NY which has really high taxes. Hopefully something that changes in the new platform.
 
wynn72 said:
Got it.
Not that it effects anything but VMP is the one online store on the planet that doesnt show your total with tax until AFTER you pay. Which is annoying for price comparisons (and other reasons) especially since I live in NY which has really high taxes. Hopefully something that changes in the new platform.
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Id kill for VAT between 4% and 8.875%...

For luxury items such as vinyl it’s 23% here!
 
Joe Mac said:
Id kill for VAT between 4% and 8.875%...

For luxury items such as vinyl it’s 23% here!
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Yeah thats nuts. Even when I lived in NYC (which I thankfully left earlier this year), my total tax would reach around 10% area which was super high for here.

23% I'd be analyzing every purchase alot more closely (which wouldnt be a bad thing, but thats not the reason I'd want to cut back).
 
wynn72 said:
Yeah thats nuts. Even when I lived in NYC (which I thankfully left earlier this year), my total tax would reach around 10% area which was super high for here.

23% I'd be analyzing every purchase alot more closely (which wouldnt be a bad thing, but thats not the reason I'd want to cut back).
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You kind of don’t. It’s an across the board thing so it’s just included in the price. Websites and shops wouldn’t advertise the pre VAT price so that is just your price for that in your country and if you can afford and justify it you do and if you can’t you don’t. It certainly means you can afford less with the same money but that’s just you doing your budgeting, the VAT rate generally doesn’t enter your thoughts.
 
Memo said:
lol just purchased Night at the Opera on their new site! Here's hoping they don't cancel that. Sad I missed out. If it's available in swaps later, I'll just cancel and swap for it!
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Blossom Dearie is on there too, thought a few people wanted that. And Davis/Coltrane. And Buddy Guy.
 
Joe Mac said:
You kind of don’t. It’s an across the board thing so it’s just included in the price. Websites and shops wouldn’t advertise the pre VAT price so that is just your price for that in your country and if you can afford and justify it you do and if you can’t you don’t. It certainly means you can afford less with the same money but that’s just you doing your budgeting, the VAT rate generally doesn’t enter your thoughts.
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Fair, I guess its all relative. Like I said, I pay more tax than most since I'm in NY but dont really factor it into purchasing too much since Im used to it.
Main downside is it prevents me from picking up at my real locals too often. On things like RSD, I'd pay significantly more at a local indie than if I waited to try and grab from an online store later on that doesnt charge tax (or have a typical New York markup on everything).
 
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