I was reading the thread about paying over the odds for soul records and it got me trhinking of how prices are defined.

There's always lots of reference made to guide books and going rates, but i tend to find that whenever ebay results are mentioned, it's dismissed as being inconsistant and unreliable.

If records are sold regularly at a particular price/price range then is that not the 'going rate'? not what a book produced months/years ago suggests?

Don't get me wrong, i think the guide books can sometimes be quite useful and im in no way dissing their authors work - but lets face it, they run record selling businesses and are hardly going to but bottom end price tags on stuff they're wanting to sell.

Pre-internet days word of mouth and sales lists might have been the only source of finding out who's paying what for records, but that's changed significantly with new technology.

Given the frequency and amount of soul record auctions and exposure that Ebay has globally, is that not a useful measure as to the current price of a record?

Tools exist within ebay to search completed auctions (probably a limit as to how far you can go back), and Popsike et al also have the functionality to search past auction results which helps in establishing the trend of price on a record, and perhaps what its currently selling for.

Is the voice of many (ebay auctions) a better way to establish price than the voice of a few select people (via guide prices)?

My point would be - when does ebay start/stop becoming useful in terms of establishing an accurate going rate for a record against other pricing sources?

Azza

Well I guess eBay prices often get dismissed because they're lower than some guys would hope for. Of course it's hard to establish a going rate when prices are all over the place, but usually it can be a good indicator, especially when there's a lot of copies being sold (the more samples, the more accurate the outcome)

Evilbay has never been so good as a buyer..seen some big records go through recently for a lot less than they are worth..and I've just had a record worth around £300 drop through my letterbox for £13 inclusive of postage

As a seller..if you can't take the hit..put a reserve on it..simple ;)

puttin a reserve on it tends to put people off anyway ..unless youre desperate for the tune..well it puts me off..i sell a lot of stuff on ebay and 80% of the time it dont make what its alledged to be worth..sometimes you have to take the hit. done ok as a buyer but its easy to get into a bidding war on some items..the only reason i think ebay is evil is when people take a fortnight to pay without any arrangment and the odd time dont pay at all

dave

puttin a reserve on it tends to put people off anyway ..unless youre desperate for the tune..well it puts me off..i sell a lot of stuff on ebay and 80% of the time it dont make what its alledged to be worth..sometimes you have to take the hit. done ok as a buyer but its easy to get into a bidding war on some items..the only reason i think ebay is evil is when people take a fortnight to pay without any arrangment and the odd time dont pay at all

dave

My general rule of thumb when selling dave is something like

Record value

Under £10 - start at 99p

Under £20 - start at £4.99

Under £30 - start at £9.99

Anything between £40-100 - put a reserve

£100+ - But it now

Therefore you minimise your losses

Not that i sell much Soul on ebay, plenty of other styles of music though, i just start records at a price i'd be happy to sell them for,

Then if it goes for more it's a bonus.

Ebay has certainly exposed the availability of some records, whilst also confirming rarity of others, this can be said for pretty much all collectors fields.

Years ago, you had the choice to try and sell them yourself, or offload a collection to a dealer....ebay has turned everybody into a potential record seller. if you have a real rarity, providing it's listed properly.....who can achieve decent rates

the bleeding prices they charge to sell things are mate, and there nowhere near as explicit as they could be about charges.

the bleeding prices they charge to sell things are mate, and there nowhere near as explicit as they could be about charges.

I thought the charges were pretty clear, 10% commission of the final sale price, with some nominal listing fees, not as cheap as they use to be, but still cheap compared to established Auction houses

Ten years ago I dug out my box of singles from the garage , due to the impending birth of my first child , wife retraining , etc ..... and generally being skint . Loads of stuff I'd bought in the mid 80's when Stafford reigned supreme .

Anyway the box was sold as a job lot to a well known dealer and I walked away with a nice cheque and purchased a brand new family car . The dealer took the lot at 40% less of the total value .I'm happy at a quick sale , new car for the baby and wife relieved at the sale of that pile of " crap " !!!!!!!

I was happy to get rid of my singles as I'd really always been an album collector and they were happy to get quite a nice little collection of tunes in pristine condition that had been shelved due to marriage, career , and generally getting under the non soulie wife's feet !!!!

Fast forward ten years until now and a lad at work who use to go to Wigan , blah blah blah , states he wants to sell his and his brothers record collection combined ,

I have a quick look and estimate at current prices about £4k to £5k

I tell them my story and the quick sale routine , etc ....

BUT for them it's a no brainer !

Ebay all the way at 15 % on each individual sale ,

Views appreciated ?

I thought the charges were pretty clear, 10% commission of the final sale price, with some nominal listing fees, not as cheap as they use to be, but still cheap compared to established Auction houses

Along with paypal fee's, I find for selling low value stuff, its absolutely an absolute rip off to frank, but thanks I'll be mindful of how good value they are next time I call at sotherby's.

Ten years ago I dug out my box of singles from the garage , due to the impending birth of my first child , wife retraining , etc ..... and generally being skint . Loads of stuff I'd bought in the mid 80's when Stafford reigned supreme .

Anyway the box was sold as a job lot to a well known dealer and I walked away with a nice cheque and purchased a brand new family car . The dealer took the lot at 40% less of the total value .I'm happy at a quick sale , new car for the baby and wife relieved at the sale of that pile of " crap " !!!!!!!

I was happy to get rid of my singles as I'd really always been an album collector and they were happy to get quite a nice little collection of tunes in pristine condition that had been shelved due to marriage, career , and generally getting under the non soulie wife's feet !!!!

Fast forward ten years until now and a lad at work who use to go to Wigan , blah blah blah , states he wants to sell his and his brothers record collection combined ,

I have a quick look and estimate at current prices about £4k to £5k

I tell them my story and the quick sale routine , etc ....

BUT for them it's a no brainer !

Ebay all the way at 15 % on each individual sale ,

Views appreciated ?

Result I reckon!

I've just gone through my entire Discogs stock and re-priced everything. It's all LP's and 12"'s and the price on those formats has fallen off a cliff in the last 3 years. It's actually cheaper on there then in most charity shops now. Kinda frightening. I put it down to lots of mainly 80's & 90's DJ's and collectors cashing out their record rooms. Quite a few of the decent 70's stuff is holding OK but the rest....forget it! I've seen some previously highly collectable albums going for a pittance now.

Northern is holding much much better, but I reckon only the right titles. All of those pretty common £5-£50 records will probably go the same way 'cos no one really wants 'em. The big titles and real rare stuff will still hold for a while. The next couple of years will be a bonanza for vinyl collectors as more stuff gets unloaded (like your mates). Interesting times we're in.

Best of luck on the bay!

Ian D

Along with paypal fee's, I find for selling low value stuff, its absolutely an absolute rip off to frank, but thanks I'll be mindful of how good value they are next time I call at sotherby's.

you don't have to accept paypal you canj take a cheque but it would limit your potential number of buyers.

even at 10% ebay + 4% paypal its still pretty good for basically being able to sell from the comfort of your home with very little effort.

Result I reckon!

I've just gone through my entire Discogs stock and re-priced everything. It's all LP's and 12"'s and the price on those formats has fallen off a cliff in the last 3 years. It's actually cheaper on there then in most charity shops now. Kinda frightening. I put it down to lots of mainly 80's & 90's DJ's and collectors cashing out their record rooms. Quite a few of the decent 70's stuff is holding OK but the rest....forget it! I've seen some previously highly collectable albums going for a pittance now.

Northern is holding much much better, but I reckon only the right titles. All of those pretty common £5-£50 records will probably go the same way 'cos no one really wants 'em. The big titles and real rare stuff will still hold for a while. The next couple of years will be a bonanza for vinyl collectors as more stuff gets unloaded (like your mates). Interesting times we're in.

Best of luck on the bay!

Ian D

I used discogs a lot about 5 years ago to buy classic house and proto rave stuff, to replace the stuff i'd sold to buy northern, LOL. I could buy the same tunes now for around 1/2 the price of less!

ebay gets slated but many buy and sell on there and i like it had some bargains and sold for bloody good dosh too, not had many bad moments to out weigh all the gooduns

I run my business from ebay and have to fork out about £100 a week in fees, but i would struggle to rent a shop for that price and pay Gas/ Electric/Water and Business Rates.

I also get exposure to thousands of people all over the world.

So for me ebay is the dogs bollox

I can completely see the pro's and con's of selling through eBay with fees etc. But just how is it shaping values?

If we see 'so many records' listed there all the time, then why is it dismissed so much about how to judge going rates? Surely if records are listed regularly on there, and go regularly below the so called going rate, does that not make it the going rate?

One thing I have noticed, is the sheer amount of so-so records priced at top dollar from most of the U.S. sellers. They seem to think the price guide prices are the norm for some quite common stuff. In fact, I'd say 80% of bog standard stuff is easily available over here for at least 50% of the prices I'm seeing and they still can't sell LOL. I reckon there'll be some price corrections coming in the near future, since with P&P from the U.S. many of those prices are just patently unrealistic.

Ian D

I used discogs a lot about 5 years ago to buy classic house and proto rave stuff, to replace the stuff i'd sold to buy northern, LOL. I could buy the same tunes now for around 1/2 the price of less!

Much less. No one seems to be buying House/Techno/Rave and 80's and 90's stuff generally. You could amass a great collection of that stuff right now for peanuts. Not that anyone on here will want it LOL.....

Ian D

Much less. No one seems to be buying House/Techno/Rave and 80's and 90's stuff generally. You could amass a great collection of that stuff right now for peanuts. Not that anyone on here will want it LOL.....

Ian D

Ian, i think the problem with Dance 12"s is the fact that the majority of Club dj's now use digital formats, a computor to match your beats, no more counting 1,2,3,4. Do they really want to buy vinyl?

Yes i'm sure there are some real rarities out their, but lets be honest, Dj's heavily involved with labels, good quality House records never went unnoticed. Indie labels had far better promotion

When Joi cardwell - Let It Go became popular in northern/modern circles, you could pick it up in R&TE for £3 a go, got quite a few, managed to move them on before the UK re-issue came out.

generally ive done ok out of ebay - mostly the guys from the US are cool, sadly the trouble ive had has always been in europe.

only the other day i bought an EX copy of a northern track that i paid 250 for, got it and its mashed, the guy claims its fine, but it clearly isnt. he has offered a refund but its a pain and a total waste of time.

in future id only deal with dealers when it comes to top dollar buys.