Selling my jazz-records

[Ibuchreitz]

Hello fellow jazz-enthusiasts!

I'm selling my collection of 700 jazz- and classical records. I've loved and cherished those records for many decades, but now I've gotten older and replaced those records for CD's, I dont have the space or time to care for my collection anymore.

...The thing is, I have many, many records. Some ultra rare, some completely common. I pretty much want to sell every record individually, as selling a collection of 700 records all in one, will be too dificult to find a buyer for, I gather. I cant be bothered to put up 700 ebay-auctions all at once, so I've just picked out a few to put on sale (see link below). The point is, that if you're looking for specific jazz-records from the past 5-6 decades, there's a fair chance I got them. Write a reply to this thread with requests, and I'll get back to you asap!!!

I'll sell at very reasonable prices - I really want to get these records out my hair, so let me know if you're interested and what titles you're looking for!!

I'm currenly selling records on ebay, I hope you'll take a look and possibly place a bid. If you have questions or comments, just shoot. Here's the records I'm currently selling: Records on Ebay

Thanks for your time - please let me know if you're looking for specific jazz-titles.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Ibuchreitz

[Ibuchreitz]

Hey J.A.W, many thanks for your interest. The auctions are indeed still on - for some reason the links got ruined when posted into this forum?! I dont know why or what happened. Bottomline is, I've attached a word-document to my first post with all the links in working order. If your patience permits, I'd be happy if you'd check it out! Looking for something else - there's a chance I might have it.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Ibuchreitz

[J.A.W.]

Hey J.A.W, many thanks for your interest. The auctions are indeed still on - for some reason the links got ruined when posted into this forum?! I dont know why or what happened. Bottomline is, I've attached a word-document to my first post with all the links in working order. If your patience permits, I'd be happy if you'd check it out! Looking for something else - there's a chance I might have it.

Well, I wasn't so much interested in your LPs as in the reason why your links produced eBay pages mentioning the removal of your auctions. I deleted my post after you had removed all the links and attached a Word document.

[Ibuchreitz]

No worries mate, I understand your initial confusion, I still can't figure out, why it did that. Not that it matters now.

[jazzkrow]

What might you have of late Blue Note issue of Blue Mitchell or from his Mainstream LPs?

Thanks.

Jeff

[Ibuchreitz]

What might you have of late Blue Note issue of Blue Mitchell or from his Mainstream LPs?

Thanks.

Jeff

Hey there Jeff,

I'm glad you asked, but I dont have any Blue Mitchell. I have quite a lot Chick Corea, with whom he played with for some time, but unfortunately no records where Mitchell participates or leads. Sorry.

[peterintoronto]

I don't get it - are the LPs on eBay or not? The links in the word document are truncated and therefore do not work. Trying to search eBay for some of your auctions yields nothing.

[brownie]

This is the ebay list from lbuchreitz

[Ibuchreitz]

@Peterintoronto: I really dont get it either. When I access the word-document I can click the links and get to the auctions with ease. I don't know why that doesnt work for you?!

@Brownie: Thanks mate, you're a star!

[Ibuchreitz]

I should perhaps mention, that I also have avant-garde classical music in my collection. Stockhausen, Varese, Boulez among others, if any of you are interested in that sort of thing.

[peterintoronto]

Weird, I just noticed that my thoughtful reply to this fellow has been deleted without explanation.

Is simply suggesting that he would get more money for his auctions at the end of the summer forbidden?

I wish I had had an eBay seller with 11 years experience give me good hints like that when I was starting out, but since the guy sold 4 of his 28 records, he clearly doesn't need any advice.

It would be nice to be given an explanation when my posts are deleted though.

[Ibuchreitz]

Thank for this most helpful information. I'd love any tips and advice you might have. We, my father and I, have a massive amount of records we want to sell, but so far ebay has been a difficult and expensive medium.

I use popsike.com for a price-reference and try to make starting prices well below that amount. Still, we dont seem to get a lot of bids. Any tips?

When does the summer end in terms of ebay-activity?

Thanks in advance! (Hope I'm not breaking forum rules - if so, you're very welcome to write me privately!!!)

Ibuchreitz.

[J.A.W.]

Weird, I just noticed that my thoughtful reply to this fellow has been deleted without explanation.

Is simply suggesting that he would get more money for his auctions at the end of the summer forbidden?

I wish I had had an eBay seller with 11 years experience give me good hints like that when I was starting out, but since the guy sold 4 of his 28 records, he clearly doesn't need any advice.

It would be nice to be given an explanation when my posts are deleted though.

See forum rule 8. You commented that the original poster had priced the items way too high, that's why your post was deleted.

You can't be reached by PM, so contacting you is not possible.

[Dan Gould]

Very high starting bids (which is really anything above $20) get fewer bids. If you are worried about selling LPs "too cheaply" either set a reserve price and starting bid under $10 or, as suggested, run auctions in September or later when ebay "action" picks up.

The reality is that for whatever psychological reason, low opening bids/no reserve get the most action, and almost always, if the LPs are in excellent shape, photographed well, and most importantly, rare, the bidding will reach a level that you'll be satisfied.

If you don't believe it, I suggest taking one or two of your LPs and running a test. Be willing to let one go "cheap" if it doesn't attract more than one bidder, but set the parameters very low with no reserve.

But at the opening bids that I saw when you first posted this thread, my thought was "you might as well just set up a store, Rare Jazz, and set these prices as "buy-it-now" options".

[Ibuchreitz]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for sharing your insights.

The reality is that for whatever psychological reason, low opening bids/no reserve get the most action, and almost always, if the LPs are in excellent shape, photographed well, and most importantly, rare, the bidding will reach a level that you'll be satisfied.

Hmm, well the thing is, that we're worried about not earning a profit on each record. I'll grant you that we're not doing well as it is - our records arent selling. The real problem is shipping. We take $9 for shipping outside of the EU. In reality our shipping expenses are much higher. For a gatefold record we might pay as much as $27 (sometimes more) for the actual shipping. After we have been paid the 9 bucks in shipping, there's still $18 to be paid for shipping out the record. Ebay takes 9% of the salesprice and usually about $1.5 for various listing fees. Our fear is, that if we try selling a rare and valuable record, like you suggest, there's a risk that we'd end up with a deficit. If we sold a record for $30, ebay would take 1.5 for listing and 2,7 as their 9 percent cut, paypal would then take 2 for the transfer and we'd pay 18 dollars for shipping, leaving a slim profit of $5.8 - which is near to nothing and clearly not worth the time it took looking into the records value, listening through it to estimate it's grade, listing, packaging and shipping. Our fear is, that if we listed without a starting price we feel gives us a garantee that we wont lose money, we might end up with a significant deficit if we tried listing a batch of records that didnt make good bids. We have many records - not just the ultra-rare - that we want to sell. We need to make at least 30 bucks on each for it to be worth it. Raising our shipping fee's will probably scare potential bidders more than high starting prices, dont you think?

I've been thinking about auction time? We've tried 10 day auctions in the past with bad results. Do you think that 5 day auctions are more successfull. I fear that people who decide to watch an auction lose interest and stop paying attention , when the auction ends such a long time later. Perhaps if we put up records for 5-day spans, we might get more bids? Do you agree we this analysis? We've had several records on auction that quickly gathered 6-7 watchers, but when the last 8-9 days passed, we ended up with zero bids.

I've been thinking about opening an ebay-store, but I dont think it's worth it. As far as I can see, ebay listing wont be much cheaper and if we make "Buy it Now" listing, Ebay will take 15 instead of 9 percent if we sell. Am I right?

Edited August 19, 2010 by Ibuchreitz

[Big Beat Steve]

I won't be taking any sides in this pricing or sales strategy thing, but at any rate (to me, at least) lists like Popsike seem to be way off base in many cases and might really result in "ill guidance".

[J.A.W.]

Thank for this most helpful information. I'd love any tips and advice you might have. We, my father and I, have a massive amount of records we want to sell, but so far ebay has been a difficult and expensive medium.

I use popsike.com for a price-reference and try to make starting prices well below that amount. Still, we dont seem to get a lot of bids. Any tips?

When does the summer end in terms of ebay-activity?

Thanks in advance! (Hope I'm not breaking forum rules - if so, you're very welcome to write me privately!!!)

Ibuchreitz.

Commenting on the prices of items someone is selling is against forum rules, but asking for advice and discussing the best way to sell stuff isn't.

[Dan Gould]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for sharing your insights.

The reality is that for whatever psychological reason, low opening bids/no reserve get the most action, and almost always, if the LPs are in excellent shape, photographed well, and most importantly, rare, the bidding will reach a level that you'll be satisfied.

Hmm, well the thing is, that we're worried about not earning a profit on each record. I'll grant you that we're not doing well as it is - our records arent selling. The real problem is shipping. We take $9 for shipping outside of the EU. In reality our shipping expenses are much higher. For a gatefold record we might pay as much as $27 (sometimes more) for the actual shipping. After we have been paid the 9 bucks in shipping, there's still $18 to be paid for shipping out the record. Ebay takes 9% of the salesprice and usually about $1.5 for various listing fees. Our fear is, that if we try selling a rare and valuable record, like you suggest, there's a risk that we'd end up with a deficit. If we sold a record for $30, ebay would take 1.5 for listing and 2,7 as their 9 percent cut, paypal would then take 2 for the transfer and we'd pay 18 dollars for shipping, leaving a slim profit of $5.8 - which is near to nothing and clearly not worth the time it took looking into the records value, listening through it to estimate it's grade, listing, packaging and shipping. Our fear is, that if we listed without a starting price we feel gives us a garantee that we wont lose money, we might end up with a significant deficit if we tried listing a batch of records that didnt make good bids. We have many records - not just the ultra-rare - that we want to sell. We need to make at least 30 bucks on each for it to be worth it. Raising our shipping fee's will probably scare potential bidders more than high starting prices, dont you think?

I've been thinking about auction time? We've tried 10 day auctions in the past with bad results. Do you think that 5 day auctions are more successfull. I fear that people who decide to watch an auction lose interest and stop paying attention , when the auction ends such a long time later. Perhaps if we put up records for 5-day spans, we might get more bids? Do you agree we this analysis? We've had several records on auction that quickly gathered 6-7 watchers, but when the last 8-9 days passed, we ended up with zero bids.

I've been thinking about opening an ebay-store, but I dont think it's worth it. As far as I can see, ebay listing wont be much cheaper and if we make "Buy it Now" listing, Ebay will take 15 instead of 9 percent if we sell. Am I right?

There isn't much that can be done about your shipping costs, but there is no reason to take a loss on it. State the costs up front to ship outside of the EU. You can even include a couple of dollars for the nice new LP mailers you plan to use. As long as shipping costs are fair and the LPs are worthwhile, my guess is that people will bid. Its possible you lose some US or Japan buyers because of the shipping charge but if the LP is desirable enough I think that can be overcome. I strongly recommend you post a couple of LPs with the correct shipping charge, $9.95 opening bid, no reserve, and see what happens. (Maybe you should wait til September to do this though if Ebay is that slow right now)

As to 10-day auctions, its been discussed here before. A number of people feel that ten days is too long and that 7 day auctions are best. Its also said that you should schedule auctions to end on weekends when more people can bid. But outside of the U.S., how do you determine the right time? If you think your buyers are going to be American, figure out the time to start the auction so it ends at a time when most of the States is awake, like 9 PM on the east coast.

As to the Ebay Store, I only mentioned that because there are other ebay stores that list records for collector's prices, or prices that would only be reached via a competitive auction. I don't know if they ever sell, but there are ebay stores that take that approach.

Good luck.

[peterintoronto]

Thank for this most helpful information. I'd love any tips and advice you might have. We, my father and I, have a massive amount of records we want to sell, but so far ebay has been a difficult and expensive medium.

I use popsike.com for a price-reference and try to make starting prices well below that amount. Still, we dont seem to get a lot of bids. Any tips?

When does the summer end in terms of ebay-activity?

Thanks in advance! (Hope I'm not breaking forum rules - if so, you're very welcome to write me privately!!!)

Ibuchreitz.

You've received some excellent advice so far in this thread. I would truly wait until the end of September to sell any of your more desirable LPs. Why not put together some of your less expensive 'common' titles and build up your feedback now, so that when you do come to selling your heavy-hitters, people will see your history of great feedback. Best of luck!

[Ibuchreitz]

Thank you all for your excellent advice. You've been most helpful.

I'll do this from now on:

1: Run 7 day auctions ending in the weekends - when people are awake in the states, but not so late that people in Europe have gone to bed. Preferably end auctions a short amount of days after the 1st. of a given month, so that potential bidders has just recieved their paychecks (in EU the most common is to get salary on the first of every month).

2: Take $12 for shipping and handling in the EU and $24 for shipping and handling elsewhere in the world.

3: Start records at $9.99.

Here's my only worry. I have some pretty valuable records, that I'd hate to see go for a lot less than what they're worth. A good example of this could be Albert Ayler Bells (first press, white wax, one-sided record) which is both very rare and pretty expensive. I relisted that auction starting up at $350, which is just a bit more than half of what other people try to get for their equivalents. If I started a record like that at $9.99, do you really think it would have a chance at reaching that amount? My worry would be, that it would end up getting sold at $80 or even lower. I have quite a few records that are in the $100+ price-range (JC: A love supreme, AA: Ghosts, CH: Tijuana Moods, MD: Blue Moods etc, etc). Would you start a record like that at $9.99? I might sell more of them, but at what price? I'll try the above out with not-so-valuable records, but I'd rather not put up, say Tijuana Moods which is probably worth $180, for a mere 10 bucks and see it go for $50. Do you believe that the prices listed at for instance Popsike.com or somewhere close to those prices, are realistically achievable from an auction starting at $10?? Would you suggest starting up records like that at $50 or will that be so much, that I might not get more than one bid?? I'm confused :-)

Edited August 19, 2010 by Ibuchreitz

[colinmce]

I might recommend setting a reserve for Bells rather than start the bidding so high. That is a truly valuable record and is just the kind of thing reserve was made for. If the item really is of great worth and scarcity, then you will not have a problem attracting bidders. I've seen rare Beatles records start out under $20 and go for thousands. Mr. Gould is right, I think: auctions that start lower just do better. I think this is because it gives people time to bid. If you start say, an OOP 6-LP Mosaic set at $220, you might sell it and you might not. If you do, there will be very few bids, maybe even just one. But if you start it at $19.99, there may be a dozen or more bids and you'll still sell it for that or more.

[peterintoronto]

One last thing to mention: do you have proper record mailers to send your items with?

As someone who just received a cracked copy of a Mike Osborne on Ogun due to it being wrapped in loose brown paper, I can't tell you how important proper packaging is!

[Ibuchreitz]

Thanks again - good points, Colinmce.

Yeah, I do have some excellent mailers for records. Unfortunately they cost the equivalent of $3.00.

I've tried putting up three records using the plethora of advice the good people of Organissimo has shared with me.

The three titles can be found here: http://shop.ebay.com/ibuchreitz/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

My question is this; do you reckon the three titles are desirable enough for people to place bids, now that the shipping prices are $25.00 for USA and $13.00 for Europe? The records are still cheap, considering what I asked for them before, but I fear that quite a few potential bidders might feel, that paying for postage is like paying for nothing - like not getting value for a huge percentage of the purchase cost... The records are scheduled to start a 5 day auction (ending on Saturday) from 3:00 PM PDT.

Thoughts?

Edited August 23, 2010 by Ibuchreitz

[Big Beat Steve]

Now look ... I don't know if you have done much BUYING on eBay (or on the web) but if you knew the kind of money that non-U.S. bidders/buyers have paid for items mailed from the U.S. then you'd know this just is a two-way street, that's all. If you want to get an item from across the pond, when it comes to shipping costs (assuming the shipping costs have been set fairly and squarely) then it is a matter of PAY UP OR SHUT UP for the buyers. It is as easy as that.

No need to take a loss on shipping. State the kind of savings people can make on shipping by buying several items from you but that's that.

Now of course if you are all intent and dead set on those U.S. or Far East bidders going crazy and outbidding themselves in a bidders' race until they drop nearly dead from exhaustion and if therefore you are hesitant that these shipping charges will make potential bidders shy away then I guess nobody can help. You can't have your cake and eat it, you know.

Same for the question of starting bids. Though I don't like reserves I guess that's the way to go in your case. At any rate, if you really are that afraid that a potentially valuable record might actually sell for just the opening bid of 9.99 (making one very happy bidder in the process) then this is something you either just accept as part of the game or just set a high bid. But a reserve won't guarantee you better results as the item might just remain unsold for several listings just because the reserve is never reached.

You know, sellers who start with low starting bids even on highly collectible items usually make out alright overall when considering all their auctions. Some you win (by getting more than anticipated) some you lose (by getting less). It's all part of the game (and of the FUN of this eBay thing - what fun is left on that platform anyway - and the fun of potentially getting something for really cheap might be an impulse for keen bidding too).

I for one would never bid on any item with a starting bid that is high enough to indicate the seller wants nothing but the full collectors' worth (with little room for potential future appreciation for the buyer) and nothing less. I'd feel sort of ripped off because in these cases I might as well buy an item from a set sale list/site so why bother waiting for the end of the auction at all?

And honestly, if I ever got wind of any seller (of items of interest to me) being worried as much about not getting the full value on each and every item as you profess here I'd steer VERY clear from those auctions. Please note the following is definitely not directed against you (I have no reason to doubt your good intentions) but on a more general level, while such an attitude is fully understandable, to me such an attitude would reek way too much of one of those cases where the bidders who secure a relatively valuable item at a low (or opening-bid) price would potentially incur a huge risk of getting a mail stating "sorry the item has been damaged or lost in the meantime and the auction therefore has to be cancelled". It's happened before, and not exactly rarely, and not surprisingly it has happened mostly in cases where the winning bid for an item was surprisingly low.

You know, a couple of months ago I placed a bid on a job lot of NOS engine and other parts for a 50s classic car (value easily 300 or 400 euros if the parts had been bought individually at "O.K." but not excessive prices) and of course was exceedingly pleased when I got it all for the opening bid of ONE euro (!). But I did fear the worst about the outcome of the auction (especially since the seller was very uncommunicative apart from 1 or 2 automated mails) until the parcel actually showed up on my doorstep. Seasoned bidders will know what I mean ...

So by all means do take ALL aspects of auctioning psychology into account but please don't look at things from your angle only and do realize that you can't have your cake and eat it in EVERY aspect of life.

Good luck!

Edited August 23, 2010 by Big Beat Steve

[Dan Gould]

The link didn't show any current auctions so I can't judge the scarcity of your test subjects. But I do not think an honest listing of shipping cost makes a huge difference. It may effect things at the margins among more rational bidders - as in, if they are willing to pay $200 for something, their top bid might max out at $175. But even among such rational individuals, the desire for the item usually overwhelms rationality.

Where it might hurt you is in the number of US buyers who simply decline to bid and justify it by saying "I'll find a similar copy from a US seller some day." At least with an honest accounting of your costs, you get to keep the records instead of shipping at such a loss.