The Beginners Guide To Buying Second Hand Records - Online

The Beginners Guide To Buying Second Hand Records - Online

 

Ebay, Discogs and similar sites are fantastic ways of getting directly to those long sort after gems, you should though, keep on your toes for charlatans tellin’ stories.

 

1- I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.

   If you know what you want, www.discogs.com will give you a good idea of price. They list the highest, lowest and median amount paid for that record. Bear in mind that information is for that particular pressing. The Doors debut album on Electra has 165 different versions to plough through. The other resource is rare record price guide, this is an online and/or book subscription service available at http://www.rarerecordpriceguide.com/

 

2- Who Are You?

   Check out who you are buying from, their feedback and how many sales they have made in the last 6 months.  Is it a casual seller or a shop? 

If it’s from a website is it a genuine website? http://www.wikihow.com/Find-if-a-Website-Is-Legitimate

 

3- Jump Around

   Read the listing carefully regarding what is being sold. What condition is it in? Are there quality pictures of the actual record being sold?  The record & sleeve should be graded separately, what is the grading system being used? One person’s Good+ is another one’s fair.  The record collector magazine grading is shown here http://recordcollectormag.com/advertise/listings-help ​

Also watch out for Buy It Now prices on eBay, some of these are fantastically above the book price.​

 

4- Ask

    If there is something not mentioned in the listing (like the deadwax matrix number or if the original inner sleeve is present) then contact the seller. Just make sure that what you are asking isn't in the description, few things tick off listers more than those that are too lazy to fully read the description. 

 

5- You’re Just Too Good To Be True

   The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen on an A&M label for £200 may sound like an incredible bargain. Genuine original’s go for thousands of pounds. This is why you need to be on the lookout for fakes. Yes, the soaring price of rare records has led to a sickening trade in pirate records. This is a subject I will cover in more depth at some point, for now take a look at the aforementioned single http://www.philjens.plus.com/pistols/pistols/counterfeit_gstq.htm

Remember, if it’s looks too good to be true, it probably is.

 

 

 Happy Diggin'