GOODSOUND!GoodSound! "How To" Archives

Published November 15, 2006

 

GoodSound! Research Project: How to Buy Used Vinyl

I love LPs. I love everything about them -- from the first time I pick one up to flipping the cover around in my hands to opening it up to pulling the record from the sleeve to examining the playing surface. Then, of course, there’s the sound! It all excites me in ways that no digital product has ever come close to equaling. But with the prices of vinyl -- especially good, high-quality reissues -- climbing past $30 or more per disc, I’m unable to indulge myself anywhere near as much as I did in my teens, when, for that same triple sawbuck, I could go home with an entire collection of new records. And if I bought used, as I often did even back then, I could double or triple my take. Those were golden days.

Because buying new LPs is now so expensive, the used market has exploded. Log on to eBay, poke around a bit, and it won’t be long before you’ve found thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of LPs for sale in all shapes and conditions and prices. Even the used market is getting to the point where, unless your last name is Trump or you own an oilfield in the Middle East, you’ll gulp when you see what some original pressings sell for.

How to avoid buying trashed originals or worthless reissues -- or paying more for good ones than you want to pay? The first place I look is my local used-record store. Most of these either have no idea what they have and rack it accordingly -- or know only too well and price it at or above top-level cost. But if you’re smart and aren’t looking for, say, original RCA Living Stereo or Mercury Living Presence or Blue Note titles (to name a few labels that go for big bucks used), you can usually find original rock and classical albums at decent prices. Plus, you get the chance to examine the record itself, to see just how "used" it really is, and if it meets your standard of cleanness. If you do enough business with a particular store that you get to know the folks who run it, you can sometimes negotiate a discount on certain albums -- or batches of albums -- much as you do at a good audio dealer you regularly work with. Living up here in Vermont, my biggest problem is that genre selection can be limited. But hey -- if finding good used vinyl was easy, you wouldn’t need to read this column.

If your local used-record hut doesn’t stock the types of records you love -- I have trouble finding my favored jazz titles -- where do you turn? Next time you go on vacation, once you’ve reached your destination, grab the local phone book to see if there’s a used-record store in the area. I usually drop the family off at some attraction they want to see, then hit the local shops. This has worked out pretty well -- other areas tend to attract a different selection of vinyl than I find near home.

And, of course, there’s always eBay. The site has changed over the years. Once upon a time you used to find individuals selling their own records for reasonable prices; now, eBay is primarily a place where used-record dealers can unload items that they either can’t move locally or can’t sell for as much as they’d like. Still, if you’re persistent enough, and you go in with a plan and don’t deviate from it, you can still find deals. And every once in a while you will get lucky and find that original Blue Note, rated VG (for Very Good), at a price you can afford -- and when it’s delivered, you find that it plays more like VG+ to NM (Near Mint). I live for those days.

Keep in mind that you’re going to have to pay more for some titles than you might otherwise like. That’s just the law of supply and demand. But it’s important that you pick a price you think is fair (to all, not just to you) and don’t exceed it. The old saying "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again" applies to hunting for used records as well. Maybe you won’t get that album you’ve spent a lifetime searching for on your first or second try -- or even on your third or fourth. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. Keep to your plan. Sooner or (usually) later, you’ll be the winner, and that’ll be one of the good days that help to balance out all the frustrating ones. Despite its problems, eBay is still the best source of used vinyl.

And don’t forget family and friends -- talk up your love of vinyl to them. They may know someone who has a collection that they need or want to get rid of. In such cases you can be right there to get first pick of the litter -- or to snap up even the entire collection, if you’re feeling greedy (and what card-carrying vinyl lover isn’t?). If you want to go whole hog, place an ad in your local paper stating that you’re looking to buy good-quality used LPs, singly or in lots. Most of what you’ll be offered will be junk, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy any of it. But who knows? Buried somewhere in all the dross might be a nugget or two of black gold. And because this way you can usually buy records for pennies on the dollar, you’ll feel extra good about how smart you’ve been when those nuggets appear.

I haven’t mentioned yard sales or flea markets, mostly because I haven’t had any luck with them in these parts. But don’t let my experience stop you -- you might be more fortunate. Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself spending many a Saturday morning doing a lot of driving for little or no gain. Still, it’s worth a shot.

These are trying times for those searching for decently priced and clean used vinyl, and the searching can be long and arduous. The key is persistence. Don’t give up. Keep looking. Think outside the box. Ask lots of questions. Try used-clothing stores, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, your local landfill operator. Any of these can be of help if you’re willing to ask. Pick up copies of the Goldmine books on the types of music you find most interesting, and read them carefully so that you’ll know a first pressing from a later, cheaper reissue. But mostly, just keep at it -- that next great find could be literally right around the corner.

...John Crossett


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