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Are CDs Still Worth Selling Online?


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I am considering a rather large purge of my CD collection as I just don't have the room in my small house, I mainly listen to LPs at home and since my two cars don't have CD players, I rarely find time to listen to them much these days.

I'm looking at all of them, thousands really, and the sales process for such a large number of discs is daunting. Typing up all the info. Grading them. Deciding on prices. Listing them. Updating the list. Packing them up. Trips to the PO. Shipping snafus. Dealing with PayPal. On & on.

All for a couple of bucks per disc.

Maybe I should just pack them up and bring them to Stereo Jack's and take the hit? Or just suck it up and keep them?

Just venting really.

Oh yeah, and get off my lawn.

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I don't know if its better or not but have you considered setting up as a discogs seller instead? May be less in fees I have no idea but in terms of listings chances are pretty good most of what you are selling is in the data base and I would hope that makes it extra easy to add titles into stock. Of course you'll be mister unknown seller then but maybe could reference ebay handle as proof of good reputation?

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The fees on eBay and Discogs, plus the almost inevitable extra fee that Paypal charges, eat up a big chunk of the selling price. Buyers outside the U.S. often avoid buying because of America's horrendous postage. On top of that, eBay's fee includes a percentage of the shipping cost. (For that reason, a lot of sellers list with free postage.) eBay was wonderful when it started (in the glorious pre-Paypal days) but I haven't sold anything there in 20 years.

As Ben Matlock would say, it ain't easy.

Edited by Shrdlu
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I agree with Felser. Do it here. I’ve done it on eBay as well and listing them on eBay and shipping them depends on a lot of factors such as how much time you have, patience and so forth. Not everyone wants to do that. Because there are so many CDs listed on eBay or Discogs, you need to be patient as they may take awhile to sell. 

I had listed a bunch of CDs here. A few sold but many didn’t.  I listed a few on eBay and some sold but due to the amount of money I would receive, the time involved in listing and shipping, I eventually wound up selling the remainder to Princeton Record Exchange. Yes, not much return but just glad to get rid of them  

Once I sell something, it’s out of sight, out of mind so I don’t regret anything I’ve sold, especially if you need the room. 

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I don't think I'll regret it since there's nothing to regret - I just don't listen to them. I seem to only spin LPs at home these days and even that's becoming more & more of a rarity. I find that I have a lot more to do than listening to music - gasp! :)

Also, a lot of my listening is done on my back porch in the summer and that's almost exclusively XM radio or mp3s via BluTooth.

Even worse is that I'm convinced that my hearing is failing and that my days as an audiophile are behind me. Weird time for sure.

Oh, and what are you still doing here? Get off my lawn.

:)

Edited by bresna
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Sorry to hear about the hearing Kevin. 

I'm downsizing my collection though I'm still listening as much as possible, and as I'm retired it's a good chunk of time. And I've invested in a system that really makes listening immersive and a deep pleasure. My problem is space and storage and spousal . . . lack of interest. I know that I have more than I'll ever listen to with frequency though I want to continue trying. It's silly for me to have a storage unit to house books, cds and instruments. So I'm attempting sales and have had some success. I found a young collector new to jazz who has been buying lots of duplicates I have, and if that continues it will be very helpful, and I'll soon be moving beyond duplicates and seldom visited items and hopefully making cuts that "hurt" more, getting over those, and going further. Wish me luck. I'm still going to try to sell what I can.

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Here is an idea: List the CDs on a spread-sheet, sortable by Artist or Title or Label. Do not bother listing CDRs as they are not worth anything. Send the spread-sheet via email to big CD sellers like Amoeba and see if they want to buy the whole lot or significant portions. I don't think grading is important since CDs stay in good shape, not like LPs that deteriorate over time. The CDs must be in jewel cases and have all front and back matter. I do agree that selling individual CDs online is very unsatisfying. One eBay possibility is if you have a large number of CDs by a particular artist is to list them as a lot and hope that a collector buys them. 

Edited by Stonewall15
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I also have to downsize but not that many - I would think a few hundred - maybe up to 500 discs. I’m leaning towards boxing them and visiting the Princeton Record Exchange. As my listening habits and tastes have changed, I certainly have hundreds of CD’s that I doubt I will ever listen to again. But I’m just so lazy but now both of my large cabinets are filled and I STILL buy a few CD’s a month and I STILL  have a CD player in my cars. Thank god Ford still put one in my 2018 Mustang.

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11 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Sorry to hear about the hearing Kevin. 

I've felt that my hearing was going for some time now. I'm certainly not going deaf but I am having a lot more trouble hearing the nuances I used to hear when comparing audio. I have had tinnitus for years and that doesn't help. I am at the point now where I don't like to engage in the many listening tests that happen here and (more often) over at the Hoffman forums. I'm just not confident that I can hear what others are hearing. Glaring differences - I can hear those fine. But subtle changes are beyond my ability these days.

12 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

My problem is space and storage and spousal . . . lack of interest.

I hear you on that! My wife won't even let me set up a turntable in our new living room. I even looked into one of those Pro-Ject wall mounted ones. Nope. 

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Another thought: If you live in or near a large city you might try selling your whole collection at a record show. Record shows are held several times a year and now feature CDs in addition to LPs. Record show organizers rent tables where you can display your collection. This is a pretty good way to sell individual CDs as long as the price is good- around $5. Attending a record show is also a good way to meet CD/LP dealers, some who might be interested in buying a large collection for the right price.

Edited by Stonewall15
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Yet another thought is to find a music program at a college or university and gift them to their library, then take a tax deduction. You won't make much money, but it will get rid of the cds, and you'll save some money on your taxes, depending on whether or not and how you itemize.

 

 

gregmo

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Another thought: if you have a number of Japanese import CDs they can be listed on eBay individually or as a lot. They do sell. These CDs are valuable, originally imported from Japan and costing $25 and up. These CDs are packaged in a mini-LP envelope (not jewel cases). The most valuable are the ones with an obi.

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I joined the forum in the last couple years but really followed this forum for a long time but didn’t join because I  never thought of selling any of my CDs. Recognized some members names from the old Blue Note forum days which brought me here. Started selling off collection a year ago due  to wife buying me turntable and listening to more vinyl. I have sold through eBay which I hate but mostly boxsets, xrcd’s, SACD’s and Japanese imports. Found that boxsets and especially Grateful sets will sell at decent prices. The downside is you have to spend the time to manage when to sell and have a pricing strategy because eBay will try to direct you to accept lower offers or relist at big discount and the fees are discouraging. I have sold some CDs on the forum and traded for vinyl too. I have been helped a lot by Felser by his suggestions. Number One challenge on forum is most members have most of what you are trying to sell. Will try to do some cheap bundles in the future for the younger guys. I’m retired  but I continue the buy vinyl and some new CDs.

 

Edited by Gdgray
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BTW - I think what has finally pushed over the line is that when I got in a bunch of Black Saint/Soul Note boxes and I added them to the "to listen to pile", I realized that I not only had well over a hundred CDs in it, I had been building that pile for almost 3 years. Nothing has come off that pile in 3 years! :):) 

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A couple of points:

if you don’t listen to them anymore, just get rid of them the quickest way possible. Less aggravation. I know some forum members have some good ideas but sometimes you just want to be rid of them. 

I’d make an exception for Japanese CDs but there is also a lot of them online now so the price you receive may not be as it was several years ago. 

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Maybe you can create a list of 50 to 100 CDs at a time to share with interested parties in this group. Discogs can give you a realistic range of how to price many items, though some may never have sold there. The issue I have found is that many CDs by great artists don't necessarily bring all that much, even if they are long out of print. Too many copies available or maybe a lack of interest in deceased artists.

There are those of us who still have room to expand our collections and are looking for certain CDs we missed for whatever reason. 

I've never sold stuff to Amoeba, but I imagine they are like Dusty Groove, no reimbursement for postage in addition to the low offers. Keep that in mind before going that route.

 

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