Really expensive buying records from the US at the moment - today's rate is £1 = $1.35

That's the lowest I can recall for years

What with the postage rates and some using the really helpful Pitney Bowes scam its getting to be a waste of time.

 

Trev

Tell me about it been watching Timmy Shaw's Thunder in my Heart on Ebay for a while at $750 and it gone up by $38 in a month. Thank god I've got all my money invested in old string and pocket fluff. ?

very rarely buy from the usa these days.. with the exchange rate and with the added taxes.. not really viable....certainly not thru ebay anyway

28 minutes ago, dave pinch said:

very rarely buy from the usa these days.. with the exchange rate and with the added taxes.. not really viable....certainly not thru ebay anyway

Hear, hear. And the grading is shocking. I was sending more back than I was keeping.

My buying is getting less and less from the states but I do buy from discogs as the prices still better than uk dealers.  Something that is £75 to a £100 is often as low as $25 to $40 from the US .  With postage around $20 it is still a massive saving on UK dealers who it would appear have no desire to sell their records.  Gradings, No one worse than UK dealers for overgrading.  M- here is often vg+ from the states.

Just got a 45 from states (from discogs) and grading was spot on.

Im in the u.s...When i ship..it comes out to $13.90 for one 45..Thats first class...I have actually got better deals from u.k sellers than u.s sellers when it comes to buying

Edited February 25, 20169 yr by Chess1458

3 hours ago, chalky said:

My buying is getting less and less from the states but I do buy from discogs as the prices still better than uk dealers.  Something that is £75 to a £100 is often as low as $25 to $40 from the US .  With postage around $20 it is still a massive saving on UK dealers who it would appear have no desire to sell their records.  Gradings, No one worse than UK dealers for overgrading.  M- here is often vg+ from the states.

The biggest bug bear is the current prices, do people actually sell records?

Every week I see records at say £30-50 that I sell at £20-30 or that I have and value at much less.

 

1 hour ago, headsy said:

The biggest bug bear is the current prices, do people actually sell records?

Every week I see records at say £30-50 that I sell at £20-30 or that I have and value at much less.

 

Some don't mate.  Too many out to exploit the market.  I have been looking at a couple of Lp's on discogs....everywhere in the world up to £35 for a mint sealed lp, here UK dealers want £100 for Vg+ down to £75.  The will never sell when you can buy for less than half the price.  Most US dealers will also put a low price on the customs if you ask as well.  You can see what everyone is selling for on discogs, you can see the sales history but UK dealers for some unbeknown reason price themselves out of the market.

1 hour ago, chalky said:

Some don't mate.  Too many out to exploit the market.  I have been looking at a couple of Lp's on discogs....everywhere in the world up to £35 for a mint sealed lp, here UK dealers want £100 for Vg+ down to £75.  The will never sell when you can buy for less than half the price.  Most US dealers will also put a low price on the customs if you ask as well.  You can see what everyone is selling for on discogs, you can see the sales history but UK dealers for some unbeknown reason price themselves out of the market.

I don't get your arses over to :   https://www.discogs.com/seller/kevinscho/profile

 

Edited February 25, 20169 yr by Kegsy

I find the best way to buy records from the US is to have them sent to a single point of contact over there - postage is never more than $4 and often free -  then when enough have been aggregated go and collect them personally....

I spend up to 10 weeks in the US each year BUT our lass has banned me from buying any more vinyl. So I haven't been making use of my time over this side of the pond for over 18 months. Could just try & have them smuggled in but she caught me many times in the past so it ain't really worth it anymore.

She has a point though; some of the 45's / 12" & LP's I have haven't found their way onto a turntable in many years (size of collection & my change in taste down the years being the reasons PLUS being away from the things for about a fifth of each year).   

Current exchange rate still gets me though. Changed £500 before we left the UK & got $1.48 per £, now it's nowhere near that. 

I embarked on a U.S. buying spree from Nov 15 to Feb 16. Buying from the U.S. only makes sense if the $ to £ exchange is $1.50 to £1.00 or over and only if you order a minimum of 3 records a time.  By the time the records arrive in the UK you may make a small margin which just makes it slightly worthwhile. The fact that the $ to £ exchange rate has now dropped to $1.35 to £1.00 makes buying from the U.S. uneconomical. Plus postage costs are also uneconomical too. And, if you're unlucky enough to be also hit with customs and UK Royal Mail handling charges, then it's probably cheaper to source from the UK.

So I think the market for buying from both the US and continental Europe at a feasible price has pretty much dried up. A real shame because I was buying a lot of records from the US, and using them to supply better copies for my collection and selling on my old copies. But the way the £ has dropped in value against the $ and Euro over the last few weeks has rendered that strategy void. I'm glad that I swooped in that window before it went to shit though!

Ian D

 

I think it is still worth buying from the US and Europe if the records you are buying are worth more than you are paying. For instance I have just bought a copy of the Tymes - Here she comes on Parkway Demo for a little over a fiver, the postage cost was $14 about a tenner? so £15 is a good buy. There are many others I could name. But I have cut back on buying records that are selling for what they are worth from the States and Europe due to the £ to $ exchange rates. It's also worth remembering that it costs the same to post from Europe as it does to post within the UK so a 7" single shouldn't be costing any more than £4 postage wise, of course you have to take into account the cost of packing materials, but that's pennies.

Edited February 26, 20169 yr by Northern Soul UK

Also it's a good plan to avoid US sellers that use the eBay Global Shipping Plan. I wonder how many know that wherever you buy from in the US, the package has to travel to Pitney Bowes in Kentucky, where they open the boxes and repack it them make the package lighter for shipping so that it is cheaper for them to send? although they get a certain amount from eBay for the shipping, it is in their interest (but not the buyers) to ship for as little as possible. There are videos on Youtube from people that know and have experienced this.
Here is one.

 

Edited February 26, 20169 yr by Northern Soul UK

It's fair to say that the pound is going to struggle against the dollar until the EU referendum is out of the way

But if you are a seller then the pound dollar factor will be of a benefit if selling to the states.

I rarely if ever consider the pound dollar exchange rate when buying, they aren't an investment, it is my hobby.  If the price is right and I have the funds I will buy, not wait until the exchange rate is more favourable.

Postage wise, it is no different for US buyers as it is around a tenner tracked and signed for from the UK.  

Edited February 26, 20169 yr by chalky

If you are buying to sell you have to buy well. It's that simple. I do miss the 2 for 1 days. 

Them you still have to get raped by paypal on conversion, then some people want $23 for postage on ebay. 

I should imagine with the amount of tunes that are over here we can sell some back to the Yanks and reverse the currency issue. 

It will all become redundant when the $ crashes to the worth of a bean. Its been patched together for years now. Anyone stocking up on gold and silver? Will be the best currency for tunes in the future.  Plenty of large US banks have been backing up with physical metals for a some time now. Wonder why.  

 

A related question ...... I used to buy from Sth American countries such as Brazil, Argentina (& Mexico). In Brazil for instance, their 33 rpm 7" releases many times feature 4 tracks with 2 being LP only in the US. BUT a while back a rule was introduced that you had to pay from a Brazilian bank account !!

Even though the £ is weak against the US $ at the moment, it is strong against currencies in countries such as Brazil (& Canada) coz theirs have sunk even more than our £ has.

Anyone know if this Brazilian rule is still in place or can you now buy normally from over there ?

Edited February 26, 20169 yr by Roburt

7 minutes ago, Roburt said:

Anyone know if this Brazilian rule is still in place or can you now buy normally from over there ?

Brazil, has exchange controls, which restricts the flow BRL and foreign currency in and out of the country.

12 minutes ago, Roburt said:

 

Anyone know if this Brazilian rule is still in place or can you now buy normally from over there ?

Good God old boy, at your aged you shouldn't be worrying about anything remotely Brazilian. 

Edited February 26, 20169 yr by Kegsy

Guess it's still almost impossible to buy vinyl from there (Brazil) then.

Edited February 26, 20169 yr by Roburt

1 minute ago, Kegsy said:

Good God old boy, at your aged you shouldn't be worrying about anything Brazilian. 

Kegsy, I have mine done differently ..... I have a Brazilian undertaken on the top of my head (as Mr. Searling has done for years) .... that bloody tape hurts though when they rip it off.            Trust you are keeping well sir (& making a bit on the side from vinyl sales).

What's it like in Bradford today, it's only gonna reach 70 degrees here @ Deerfield Beach, much colder than recent days here. They've been shooting the new film version of BAYWATCH down @ Deerfield Beach all this week .... bet there's a few 'jellytots' on display today with these colder temperatures.   

7 minutes ago, Roburt said:

Kegsy, I have mine done differently ..... I have a Brazilian undertaken on the top of my head (as Mr. Searling has done for years) .... that bloody tape hurts though when they rip it off.            Trust you are keeping well sir (& making a bit on the side from vinyl sales).

What's it like in Bradford today, it's only gonna reach 70 degrees here @ Deerfield Beach, much colder than recent days here. They've been shooting the new film version of BAYWATCH down @ Deerfield Beach all this week .... bet there's a few 'jellytots' on display today with these colder temperatures.   

Do you seriously think the weather makes any difference, this is Bradford we are talking about. Have a good time, love to Neet.

 

 

6 hours ago, chalky said:

But if you are a seller then the pound dollar factor will be of a benefit if selling to the states.

I rarely if ever consider the pound dollar exchange rate when buying, they aren't an investment, it is my hobby.  If the price is right and I have the funds I will buy, not wait until the exchange rate is more favourable.

Postage wise, it is no different for US buyers as it is around a tenner tracked and signed for from the UK.  

True about the US postage cost to the UK, it is, or should be about the same as UK to US, but some US sellers are charging $24 for some reason, and if they use the eBay Global Shipping Program , it will cost more. You really have to take the postage costs into account when buying from the US, it can make the difference between it being a bargain or the right price to it being expensive. For instance I found a record on Discogs for $3, it was cheap at that but only still worth about £8 in real terms. The seller was charging $24 P&P, which made it expensive to buy so i cancelled the order saying it was not worth buying with that price postage added.

I have no idea why anyone would get involved with this Global Shipping thing, any extra link involving a load of corporate jobsworths can't end well.
I don't think there a particularly strong $ it's more a weak GBP since the US increased interest rates and you didn't for one thing. All this Europe in /out isn't helping either. Don't worry though, if the insanity/stupidity continues and that lunatic clown Trump gets anywhere near the White House the $ won't be worth squat in 5 minutes.
When postage rates here went up in January it was very vague beforehand but it seems now that 6-7-8 oz which is 1 or 2 maybe 3 45s is $13.50 but from 9-1lb it jumps to $22.50 which is bonkers.
So all in all for the rest of this year it's gonna get much worse / better whichever way you're coming from.

22 hours ago, Mr Smithy said:

I have no idea why anyone would get involved with this Global Shipping thing, any extra link involving a load of corporate jobsworths can't end well.
I don't think there a particularly strong $ it's more a weak GBP since the US increased interest rates and you didn't for one thing. All this Europe in /out isn't helping either. Don't worry though, if the insanity/stupidity continues and that lunatic clown Trump gets anywhere near the White House the $ won't be worth squat in 5 minutes.
When postage rates here went up in January it was very vague beforehand but it seems now that 6-7-8 oz which is 1 or 2 maybe 3 45s is $13.50 but from 9-1lb it jumps to $22.50 which is bonkers.
So all in all for the rest of this year it's gonna get much worse / better whichever way you're coming from.

I tend to agree that the dip in £ - $ exchange rate has had an effect, particularly this last week or so, and is one more factor in the equation when purchsing fron the US.

Ebay has opted sellers in to the GSP and many do not seem to realise so it's always worth asking the seller if they will ship for less.

Overall, in my opinion, the biggest bargains are still in the US and there are still plenty of reliable sellers willing to ship their accurately graded records at cost (or sometimes even less than cost).  It's still a no brainer as far as I'm concerned but for how much longer is impossible to predict.

2 hours ago, tiberius said:

I tend to agree that the dip in £ - $ exchange rate has had an effect, particularly this last week or so, and is one more factor in the equation when purchsing fron the US.

Ebay has opted sellers in to the GSP and many do not seem to realise so it's always worth asking the seller if they will ship for less.

Overall, in my opinion, the biggest bargains are still in the US and there are still plenty of reliable sellers willing to ship their accurately graded records at cost (or sometimes even less than cost).  It's still a no brainer as far as I'm concerned but for how much longer is impossible to predict.

It's gonna be a roller coaster for a while while you sort out the in / out thing, possibly solvable if you do whatever the right thing is in June, and we decide after the conventions which psychopath to elect.
They've never even come near me with it, and I'd certainly notice it and bag it if they did.
It's getting tougher to sell over there mostly due to the mail insanity ( although the rate at the mo doesn't help) but still doable.
Not so much for people on EB one at a time but for those that pay as they go and then ship when they have a few to make it worth it.
 

I am sure the exchange rate will sort itself out, maybe before June, once the currency-markets get used to the thought of Britain's in/out referendum. I'll be honest though, and no disrespect to any sellers on here, but I also find albums better graded, packaged and priced from the US and mainland Europe.