Dear soul seekers

As well as the 49 auctions currently on eBay, I am also launching auctions on eBid at 6pm tomorrow (Tuesday 10th) and setting up an online store of vinyl (45s and LPs) and CDs, once I work out the details. There will be more than 50 items new listed on eBid as of tomorrow, with more added as auctions/store items each week.

Here's a direct link to one very desirable disc that's among that batch: https://bit.ly/cjH6Oc

It is compatible with PayPal and also other payment services, so using eBid should be as easy as using eBay. As a seller, it is considerably cheaper - if you also are a vinyl seller but fed up with eBay's fees, you may want to check it out. (They're not paying me to boost the site - honest! Just, as one seller to another, eBay sucks and this looks like a sane and viable alternative.)

All my eBid auctions this month will be starting at £2.99, no matter how rare or in-demand a disc is; almost everything will be listed without a reserve (The Crow will be an exception, for obvious reasons; but all reserve prices will be realistic).

I hope you can be encouraged to come visit my auctions and store at eBid, and to join a growing community of people fed up with eBay's capricious service and insatiable appetite for ever-increasing fees.

Best regards

Kevin

PS Here's a link to one of my current eBay items: https://bit.ly/aZbO1U

Hi, the question I'd like an answer to is how you came to be in possesion of these items. It is my understanding that all of Dave's possesions were to have been sold to raise funds for the Donkey Sanctuary.

Sean Hampsey

Hello Sean

sorry but your understanding is incomplete. Dave left me his records, with permission to dispose of them as I wished. I'll be happy to post a (suitably redacted) extract from Dave's private correspondence with me where he bequeaths me his collection among other things.

Best regards

Kevin

Yes, I'd very much like to see such correspondence. Where did you collect the records from? Did you collect them from Rotherham or Sheffield?

Sean Hampsey

from Ken's house in Rotherham, Sean.

Send me your email address and I'll send you a scan of the relevant part of the relevant letter.

Best regards

Kevin

On my way back from the states so no access to my email right now.

Please post on here or send to me by pm.

Many thanks

Sean Hampsey

Hello again Sean,

Before I do, you need to do something for me.

You need to apologise for the meritless and unfounded accusation you insinuated into your initial messages. I didn't realise what you were doing until much later, and I'm incensed that you accuse me of stealing from Dave with absolutely nothing to support such a suspicion - and incensed that you even think you can do this.

And I expect you to maintain a civil tone, as in your third message, and not to bark your questions at me, as in messages one and two.

Best regards

Kevin

PS Record fans: I'm discovering eBid is very different from eBay - and much better. I always wanted to have a record store, and now I do. There are 100 listings there already, many fixed price and some in traditional auction format. I'm adding new things every day.

Here's a link:

https://bit.ly/dd53VG

and another:

https://bit.ly/coHTQH

and one more for luck:

https://bit.ly/bg6OFQ

I didn't realise what you were doing until much later, and I'm incensed ....

How did you come to realise this? I must have missed the post accusing you of theft, all I saw was a question.

For those who don't know, Dave lived for years in Sheffield but spent his last months being looked after by friends in Rotherham.

After he died, his house in Sheffield was cleared by friends. Someone is said to have joined in this effort, loaded up a van with things from Dave's house and disappeared with the contents. By asking where I got the records from, Sean is insinuating that it was I who filled that van.

So his line of questioning attacks my integrity. If Sean has such suspicions, a simple bit of research would have settled the matter without him coming here and impugning my reputation.

I hope this helps fill in the picture.

Best regards

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Am now back in blighty.

Apologies if any of my messages sounded curt. They were done from my iPhone, which does not afford me the same dexterity I get from my laptop!

Surprised you thought I was insinuating anything. I'm well aware of the rumours surrounding the disappearance of some of Dave's records and other personal effects from Norwood Road and I am quite comfortable that you were not a party to that - so relax!

I'm just asking perfectly reasonable questions about a record collection which belonged to a very close friend.

From the outset I was in touch with the executors of Dave's Will and also other individuals very close to Dave. We discussed at length the Funeral / Wake (Party!) arrangements etc. but there was (as I understood it) no formal agreement regarding the record collection which (again as I understood it) was owned by Dave and his long term housemate Alf Billingham.

There was talk, initially, that Dave's part of the collection was to have been archived by Liverpool University. Another conversation centred around it being donated as a 'resource' for Ace / Kent records who had released Dave's own compilations (The Deep Soul Treasures series) but that these discussions were not concluded.

I've been asked many times, by many different people, what became of the collection, so, I'm naturally curious that some of these artefacts are now appearing in an eBay sale.

If there is a letter which clearly bequeaths the collection to you, then, purely out of historical interest and curiousity (if nothing else) then I'm sure many of us would like to see it.

Hope you can oblige.

Best regards,

Sean

Well said Mr H.--must admit i didn,t see your first correspondence on this matter as "insinuating anything", but merely an enquiry.

T.C.

I've been asked many times, by many different people, what became of the collection, so, I'm naturally curious that some of these artefacts are now appearing in an eBay sale.

There was certainly nothing furtive about it; it was explained on BBC radio a year or so back.

https://postbocks.com/audio/download/2992/Kevin+McCardle+Craig+Charles.mp3

Alan

Ha!

I dont listen to that show.

Very interesting clip though.

I'd not heard it before.

Thanks

Sean

160 discs now listed, including gems like this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/silky-hargraves-superb-northern-soul-on-dearborn-30804145.htm

and this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/freddie-chavez-northern-soul-monster-on-look-30803434.htm

and this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/jay-lyle-good-can-it-get-on-angel-city-northern-soul-30809638.htm

and this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/paul-kelly-you-don-t-know-on-philips-northern-soul-30805500.htm

They aren't all Northern - there's crossover and funk and RnB in there too. I'll be adding more discs on Friday.

The auctions are set to begin when the first bid is made and to run for seven days thereafter. The reserves are sensible, and most have Buy It Now prices as well. And if you've ever been frustrated by a sniper, fear not - most auctions are set up so that a bid made in the last minute extends the auction for another minute.

Hoping you find something to your taste - otherwise I may have to sell my other kidney.

Best regards

K

160 discs now listed, including gems like this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/silky-hargraves-superb-northern-soul-on-dearborn-30804145.htm

and this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/freddie-chavez-northern-soul-monster-on-look-30803434.htm

and this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/jay-lyle-good-can-it-get-on-angel-city-northern-soul-30809638.htm

and this:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/paul-kelly-you-don-t-know-on-philips-northern-soul-30805500.htm

They aren't all Northern - there's crossover and funk and RnB in there too. I'll be adding more discs on Friday.

The auctions are set to begin when the first bid is made and to run for seven days thereafter. The reserves are sensible, and most have Buy It Now prices as well. And if you've ever been frustrated by a sniper, fear not - most auctions are set up so that a bid made in the last minute extends the auction for another minute.

Hoping you find something to your taste - otherwise I may have to sell my other kidney.

Best regards

K

Please don't take offence at this but sometimes high reserves deter people from bidding - I just bid twice on the Silky Hargreaves and am obviously way under the reserve at £254 but people like to think they may be in with a chance of getting a bargain. A record like that, especially on issue, could be listed at £100 start and it will still go for between 350 and 450 quid. You won't need to sell your kidney with records like that at your disposal!

thanks for the advice - I am still finding my feet as it were and appreciate the comment.

KMcC

With your words in mind, I've amended a lot of the reserve prices so that they are now even more attainable.

Good luck

KMcC

With your words in mind, I've amended a lot of the reserve prices so that they are now even more attainable.

Good luck

KMcC

That's good of you. It does work though. High reserves put people off - well they put me off anyway, dunno about the rest of them!

Hey thrill seekers - there are more than 200 7ins listed now, and some really choice and lovely things among them - Pat and the Blenders on Fast Eddie, Lee Roye on Decca, Sam E Solo on Ruby, Dee Dee Sharp on Gamble demo, Turley Richards on Columbia demo, Johnny Howard on Bashie demo.

After some thought, I decided to dispense with reserve prices. So the opening bid will secure the record if no one else bids on it. This has meant raising the opening prices on some records, but I don't think the new prices are prohibitive. Every auction is set to run for seven days from the first bid. Also, to go some way towards ending the frustration of sniping, any bids within the last minute extend the auction by another minute.

Here's a link to the main store:

https://uk.ebid.net/perl/main.cgi?mo=user-store&title=rare-and-collectible-soul-vinyl-and-cds

and here's the other one:

https://uk.ebid.net/perl/main.cgi?mo=user-store&title=the-vinyl-countdown

I'll be adding about 150 more records this week, in all genres - Northern, deep soul, some funk, some RnB - and there will be more big ticket items among them.

Happy hunting through my virtual crates,

Kevin

Hey soul seekers

rather than pile up more and more listings, I decided to add sound clips to the existing ones.

More than half of the 200 listings currently have clips taken from the actual records - just MP3s, so not hifi quality but good enough to give a sense of the track and the quality of the disc.

And I've removed all reserves - every opening price will secure the record if no one else joins the bidding. Most have prices to buy immediately if you don't want to wait. Each auction will run for four days from first bid, and I aim to post the next working day after payment.

Here's some links:

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/jay-lyle-good-can-it-get-angel-city-northern-soul-hear-30809638.htm

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/johnny-howard-chase-is-on-on-bashie-northern-soul-hear-31070814.htm'>https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/johnny-howard-chase-is-on-on-bashie-northern-soul-hear-31070814.htm

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/johnny-howard-chase-is-on-on-bashie-northern-soul-hear-31070814.htm'>https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/johnny-howard-chase-is-on-on-bashie-northern-soul-hear-31070814.htm

https://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/silky-hargraves-superb-northern-soul-on-dearborn-hear-31167491.htm

I'll be adding sound files to all the other auctions, a task I expect to finish within 48 hours. Then I'll be adding new discs to the existing sales, all with sound clips.

And if you were after the Herb Ward on RCA - sorry, it's gone.

Happy hunting!

KMcC