Possible to sell large collection in Europe or Asia?

[dsockel]

I may be looking to buy a 5,000 record jazz collection and was wondering how I could sell about half of it in Europe or Asia to take advantage of the weak dollar.

I am not sure how much truly rare stuff is in there. Probably more so typical $5-10 records from the 50s-80s.

Has any tried to do this? Anyone living in Europe or Asia know of someone who might be interested?

[porcy62]

Not enough elements to judge, BUT as yurpeans I can tell you that:

if you're talking about 5/10 bucks records I can just type any title on eBay, or Google, right now and I can have half a dozen of it for that price.

In case of truly mint records you can go up to 20, even 30 bucks, BUT you have to consider the time you'd spend on put them on eBay, the fees and the time for packaging and shipping.

Obviously you could rely on the eBay crazyness: pretty common records one years ago, could fetch $$$ tomorrow, but it's a bet.

If I were you, and I'd have the money and time, I'd buy the collection and enjoy it, selling the stuff I don't care, a time consuming strategy, but at the end you could end owning a good personal collection at zero cost. My two cents.

Seriously, you should check the collection out, before buying it.

Edited May 18, 2008 by porcy62

[dsockel]

Thanks for the input.

I will certainly check it out first thoroughly.

I guess my question is: Would there be a market to sell 2,500 records relatively quickly for a fair price rather than eBaying it out over several months?

[Big Beat Steve]

Dave, I don't know about buying craziness in those "emerging collecting countries" in Asia at all (the way they sometimes calculate is unfathomable to the "old world" ), but as for Europe, have you ever figured out the cost of shipping such bulks? And then the customs duties come on top of that. This would break the viability of almost ANY deal of not so valuable/reissue items to European buyers. This kind of records IS around here and I'd bet most collectors who'd be in the market for collections of this size will already have a substantial part of it and/or find a substantial part of it are just duds or of no real interest to them.

Even prime collections of nothing but originals suddenly become fairly expensive if you add shipping (even as by-loads in 20ft containers - and you'd have to find some trustworthy soul who'd take on your by-load anyhow) and customs duties.

And make no mistake about it - Europeans are not gullible enough to NOT know about the weak dollar. So if you charge them a Euro total amount that would net you a nice profit they'd start wondering before buying.

Good luck anyway.

[porcy62]

Dave, I don't know about buying craziness in those "emerging collecting countries" in Asia at all (the way they sometimes calculate is unfathomable to the "old world" ), but as for Europe, have you ever figured out the cost of shipping such bulks? And then the customs duties come on top of that. This would break the viability of almost ANY deal of not so valuable/reissue items to European buyers. This kind of records IS around here and I'd bet most collectors who'd be in the market for collections of this size will already have a substantial part of it and/or find a substantial part of it are just duds or of no real interest to them.

Even prime collections of nothing but originals suddenly become fairly expensive if you add shipping (even as by-loads in 20ft containers - and you'd have to find some trustworthy soul who'd take on your by-load anyhow) and customs duties.

And make no mistake about it - Europeans are not gullible enough to NOT know about the weak dollar. So if you charge them a Euro total amount that would net you a nice profit they'd start wondering before buying.

Good luck anyway.

I agree about everything. Shipping costs (and customs duty, though you may declare low values for small shipping) will kill every gain on cheap records, in case of original and rare pressings you will fetch more money on eBay selling them individually. Now if you really find a complete BN original pressings' collection we could talk about shipping cost and the cointainer.

[AllenLowe]

nah, don't worry about that stuff - just have them put it in a big box and mark it "salmon."

[porcy62]

nah, don't worry about that stuff - just have them put it in a big box and mark it "salmon."

Nice idea, how many time does a record need in order to be defrozen?

[AllenLowe]

first it must be sauteed -

[porcy62]

first it must be sauteed -

Another cost to add.

[Teasing the Korean]

Some good information posted so far. As someone who has both sold records in bulk and also individually on eBay, I would add this: How much time do you have to deal with this project? During a stretch when I was unemployed, it made a lot more sense for me to list a bunch of albums on ebay that only went for $5 a throw. On the other hand, working full time and always having stuff to do, I only list albums on eBay that I'm pretty confident will fetch a lot.

So, depending on how much time you have, you may want to eBay only the more desirable titles, and sell the rest in bulk to the record store.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Some good information posted so far. As someone who has both sold records in bulk and also individually on eBay, I would add this: How much time do you have to deal with this project? During a stretch when I was unemployed, it made a lot more sense for me to list a bunch of albums on ebay that only went for $5 a throw. On the other hand, working full time and always having stuff to do, I only list albums on eBay that I'm pretty confident will fetch a lot.

So, depending on how much time you have, you may want to eBay only the more desirable titles, and sell the rest in bulk to the record store.

That looks a sensible approach.

This is something we all should think about a bit. When we pop our clogs, our nearest and dearest will have this problem.

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

This is something we all should think about a bit. When we pop our clogs, our nearest and dearest will have this problem.

Could you bring yourself to thin out your own collection in a SUBSTANTIAL way in your lifetime to ease the plight on your nearest and dearest after you've left the building?

Better appoint a knowledgeable and trustworthy caretaker in good time (and tell him so) to make sure your beloved ones won't dump your prized collections or be fooled into throwing it into the greedy hands of a cutthroat wheeler and dealer who'd give only a tiny fraction of even its wholesale worth.

[porcy62]

This is something we all should think about a bit. When we pop our clogs, our nearest and dearest will have this problem.

Could you bring yourself to thin out your own collection in a SUBSTANTIAL way in your lifetime to ease the plight on your nearest and dearest after you've left the building?

Better appoint a knowledgeable and trustworthy caretaker in good time (and tell him so) to make sure your beloved ones won't dump your prized collections or be fooled into throwing it into the greedy hands of a cutthroat wheeler and dealer who'd give only a tiny fraction of even its wholesale worth.

Mmmhh, I hope I'll left something more then a record's collection, though valuable, to my beloved ones.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

This is something we all should think about a bit. When we pop our clogs, our nearest and dearest will have this problem.

Could you bring yourself to thin out your own collection in a SUBSTANTIAL way in your lifetime to ease the plight on your nearest and dearest after you've left the building?

Better appoint a knowledgeable and trustworthy caretaker in good time (and tell him so) to make sure your beloved ones won't dump your prized collections or be fooled into throwing it into the greedy hands of a cutthroat wheeler and dealer who'd give only a tiny fraction of even its wholesale worth.

Mmmhh, I hope I'll left something more then a record's collection, though valuable, to my beloved ones.

Indeed! But those records will be there and someone will have to do something about them.

MG

[porcy62]

This is something we all should think about a bit. When we pop our clogs, our nearest and dearest will have this problem.

Could you bring yourself to thin out your own collection in a SUBSTANTIAL way in your lifetime to ease the plight on your nearest and dearest after you've left the building?

Better appoint a knowledgeable and trustworthy caretaker in good time (and tell him so) to make sure your beloved ones won't dump your prized collections or be fooled into throwing it into the greedy hands of a cutthroat wheeler and dealer who'd give only a tiny fraction of even its wholesale worth.

Mmmhh, I hope I'll left something more then a record's collection, though valuable, to my beloved ones.

Indeed! But those records will be there and someone will have to do something about them.

MG

Yes, but vinyl is the symbol of impermanence

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=42452

Who cares?

[dsockel]

Thanks for all the good advice.

One other option I am thinking about would be to pay a high school or college student by the hour to list the records on eBay and maybe handle the shipping too.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for all the good advice.

One other option I am thinking about would be to pay a high school or college student by the hour to list the records on eBay and maybe handle the shipping too.

It's not just listing; it's grading the buggers.

MG

[Jazzmoose]

Some good information posted so far. As someone who has both sold records in bulk and also individually on eBay, I would add this: How much time do you have to deal with this project? During a stretch when I was unemployed, it made a lot more sense for me to list a bunch of albums on ebay that only went for $5 a throw. On the other hand, working full time and always having stuff to do, I only list albums on eBay that I'm pretty confident will fetch a lot.

So, depending on how much time you have, you may want to eBay only the more desirable titles, and sell the rest in bulk to the record store.

I agree. You don't get free money; if you want a decent price, you have to put in a little work. If you're willing to settle for low prices, it's easy enough to dump stuff.

[porcy62]

Thanks for all the good advice.

One other option I am thinking about would be to pay a high school or college student by the hour to list the records on eBay and maybe handle the shipping too.

It's not just listing; it's grading the buggers.

MG

Agree, and you'd need some experienced guy about different pressings, etc.

[AllenLowe]

just, whatever you do, stay away from THE SALMON MOUSSE *

*Monty Python reference

Edited May 20, 2008 by AllenLowe

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for all the good advice.

One other option I am thinking about would be to pay a high school or college student by the hour to list the records on eBay and maybe handle the shipping too.

It's not just listing; it's grading the buggers.

MG

Agree, and you'd need some experienced guy about different pressings, etc.

Also agree. And the really technical part is smearing them with salmon mousse.

MG

[porcy62]

Thanks for all the good advice.

One other option I am thinking about would be to pay a high school or college student by the hour to list the records on eBay and maybe handle the shipping too.

It's not just listing; it's grading the buggers.

MG

Agree, and you'd need some experienced guy about different pressings, etc.

Also agree. And the really technical part is smearing them with salmon mousse.

MG

Unless you have the the machine that goes ping.

[dsockel]

What's the emoticon for a highjacked thread?

[AllenLowe]

you got a problem with salmon?

[porcy62]

What's the emoticon for a highjacked thread?

If you want to sell the collection in Cuba, that would be a real highjack.

Seriously, I think there are enough valuable answers to the question.

Edited May 21, 2008 by porcy62