Are CDs Still Worth Selling Online?

[Brad]

Forgot to add that I too have tinnitus (not due to loud listening though) and, in addition, my hearing is not the greatest anymore. Hearing aids can help with that. They make kinds that are both unobtrusive and generally comfortable.  At any rate, I don’t worry about buying the best sounding CDs anymore.  Like Bresna and probably others, I do a lot of listening in my car. 

[Dave James]

When I finally put my cue back in the rack, I'm thinking of leaving my collection to our local jazz radio station, KMHD.  I have over 100 Mosaic box sets so even if they didn't want single CD's they might like those.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Dave James

[HutchFan]

11 minutes ago, Dave James said:

When I finally put my cue back in the rack, I'm thinking of leaving my collection to our local jazz radio station, KMHD.  I have over 100 Mosaic box sets so even if they didn't want single CD's they might like those.

Phew... 100 Mosaic sets!!!

Time for a listening party at Dave's house!  

[Kevin Bresnahan]

People seem to be missing how much of a pain in the ass it is to pack up and ship 100's of CDs. Gotta have all those shipping envelopes/mailers - they ain't free. Getting them all addressed - I've accidentally shipped people the wrong CD (more than once). Fight with the PO/UPS when a package fails to arrive. Crazy long shipping times. People that insist on First Class when only paying for Media Mail. Then there's grading... I grade visually. I have had a few people find faint scratches that I missed. I've actually had to refund a few people for this.

Honestly, shipping large quantities of CDs is really a pain in the ass and is one of the main reasons I'm hesitant to do this.

[Dave James]

4 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Phew... 100 Mosaic sets!!!

Time for a listening party at Dave's house!  

Sounds good.  Let me know when you guys will be here so I can lay in some food and drinks.

[felser]

2 hours ago, bresna said:

People seem to be missing how much of a pain in the *** it is to pack up and ship 100's of CDs. Gotta have all those shipping envelopes/mailers - they ain't free. Getting them all addressed - I've accidentally shipped people the wrong CD (more than once). Fight with the PO/UPS when a package fails to arrive. Crazy long shipping times. People that insist on First Cl*** when only paying for Media Mail. Then there's grading... I grade visually. I have had a few people find faint scratches that I missed. I've actually had to refund a few people for this.

Honestly, shipping large quantities of CDs is really a pain in the *** and is one of the main reasons I'm hesitant to do this.

It isn't as bad as you make it.  Out of 100, you'll have one person give you a hard time and two shipments that arrive late.  That being said, it's still work.  Just sell them here (no one will give you the trouble you are concerned about), then sell the remainder in bulk to Dusty Groove.  You can get 100 good mailers for $25.  Feel free to contact me via IM if you want to discuss some of these approaches in detail.

[JSngry]

Dude, I think it's time for a road trip. Get one of those bigass crossover vehicles, bang it up good so it doesn't look all arrogant, and then get out into some unfamiliar America. Sell them outta your trunk, or trade them for food, or drugs, or sex, or whatever you can get for them. Do that until you get to the West Coast, find Chewy, listen to some cool jazz, and then load the trunk up again for the trip back east. Repeat as necessary.

Take your phone, too. Nobody reads any more, so forget about writing a book, but post on You Tube every day and introduce the rest of us to the slices of life that have been introduced to you.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

So I started this thread in August, and still haven't gotten my ass in gear to create a list of discs for sale, when this thread pops up: 

So after everyone tells me, hey, they have value! Bring them to your local store. Sell them here. Sell them on discogs.

Then I read this thread and find out that others are trying to sell (or give away!) their CDs and not getting any takers.

So disheartening.

[felser]

Try a list here and see how you do.  Start with a smaller list and see if it is worth your while.  Look at the "Offering and Looking For" topic, and you'll see that attractive items do sell if priced well.   Much of what kills selling online is (ever rising) shipping costs, and a concentrated audience here means people may buy multiple CD's from you, saving on unit postage for all involved.  You can see on Ebay history that CD's do still sell, it just takes some work.   Book and CD brick and mortar stores in general are dinosaurish.  I live in King of Prussia, with a massive, 400+ store mall.  Not a single store in that mall sells books or CD's, nor do any stores in the surrounding community.  To all, does somewhere like Dusty Groove still pay decently for used CD's?

[Brad]

2 hours ago, felser said:

Try a list here and see how you do.  Start with a smaller list and see if it is worth your while.  Look at the "Offering and Looking For" topic, and you'll see that attractive items do sell if priced well.   Much of what kills selling online is (ever rising) shipping costs, and a concentrated audience here means people may buy multiple CD's from you, saving on unit postage for all involved.  You can see on Ebay history that CD's do still sell, it just takes some work.   Book and CD brick and mortar stores in general are dinosaurish.  I live in King of Prussia, with a massive, 400+ store mall.  Not a single store in that mall sells books or CD's, nor do any stores in the surrounding community.  To all, does somewhere like Dusty Groove still pay decently for used CD's?

A few months ago, I listed here about 60 or so CDs that I wanted to sell. A few sold (about 25% I estimate). I listed a couple on eBay. They eventually sold but for small money. When you factor in eBay’s and PayPal’s fees and unrecovered shipping expenses, it’s not really worth it.

I eventually sold the remainder to Princeton Record Exchange. I didn’t calculate what I was receiving per cd but it wasn’t much; they don’t jack up the prices when they resell since they’re trying to move them too. I received a little more because I took the proceeds in store credit  

Since used LPs seem more expensive these days, they may do better. 

Coincidentally, I’m going to be in Chicago next week and if I have time may go to DG. 

[porcy62]

My experience:

 I loaded my collection on discogs ( pros: I finally have a true report on what I have, approximate values, dupe, what I care or not, cons: time consuming) 

then I sold on discogs the most valuable records I didn’t care, mostly audiophile pressings, because I had originals or  in mosaic Lp sets ( pros: overall a little gain from what  I paid them, a part some classic rock records out of print that fetched good money, free space at home. Cons: packaging cost, PayPal and discogs fee, dealings with some buyers not very  friendly,  shipping companies and post offices)

Later I putted on sale dupes and Lps I didn’t listen to anymore ( very very little gain but I got free space)

Later on  I putted on sale cds box sets and cds, the real gain on a single cd is around 3,50€ considering mailer and fees.

So far I sold all the audiophile pressings, most of the vinyls, some cd box sets and 30% of cds I have on sale.

I have considerable free time at the moment that allow me that, because it’s some sort  of part time job and I understand people who don’t have time nor desire but for me it’s another way to listen to music when I have to check records and take care of my collection I mean it’s part of the fun of collecting records and having some money on PayPal account helps.

 I have to say that I don’t buy records anymore few exceptions a part, so I am basically trying to consolidate my collection I even trashed some damaged records that were unlistenable and I am very liberal about the concept .

Edited September 15, 2019 by porcy62