We buy record collections all the time! In this video, Lance tells you about our process and shares some highlights from the most recent collection we picked up! Be sure to watch it until the end for all the pertinent info! 
This is what I figured made the most sense. I would love to get back into selling, but I did not want to go look at a collection and attempt to add up prices I was guessing at in my head. I wanted to bring a laptop with Discogs and Excel and get specific. However, I figured buyers would not be okay with me in their house for hours (or maybe even days if it was a big collection).
Very honest method you have. Looking up every record, I think the sellers will definitely appreciate that. As long as they let you take them away or enjoy having you spend the night looking up titles lol
Thanks, Dom! We don't mind looking everything up as needed. It's the best way to make sure we don't miss anything valuable. We've built a lot of trust over the years and we have a solid reputation for paying top dollar for good records.
Lance, these videos are so well done and your content is always interesting. Keep em up 👊 Love that you share wisdom about the business end, pass the knowledge down.
Subscribed. I’ve owned a small shop for 3 years and buy records exactly the way you describe. Sellers, stay away from buyers who say they can give you a price on the spot. They’re likely ripping you off. Great collection you scored there.
@@PermanentRecordsLA I’ve actually had to do it once. Guy was selling 3,000 records and had another offer, which was shockingly lowball. I told him he was getting ripped off. Great jazz collection, including the entire tone poet series. May have paid a little more than I should have, but it’d been well worth it. One weird thing was like 10% of the records, not the jazz, were warped. Thankfully I have an Orb system and have been able to flatten all, but one so far. Still selling from that collection 6 months later!
@@melsrecords-bq3di Those Tone Poets can vary wildly in value too. Sounds like a collection well worth buying! I'm glad it worked out for you and that the seller didn't get ripped off by the other lowball buyer. Warps on new records are unfortunately super common these days. Also, depending on how the seller had the collection stored, the warps could have happened in storage. Not unusual these days. We have a record flattener too. It works especially great on slight dish warps. Crucial and valuable piece of equipment for any serious record dealer.
the thumb piano in the background gave this guy great credibility with me. glad he is somewhat local as a curator is a great help towards avoiding bring home a dud or should have bought the other one record. sadly, the collection pictured here exposes my humble assortment of records as the haphazard assembly that it is.
Tip from a guy that's moved records to multiple places and across state lines. Most wine case boxes fit lps almost perfectly! So hit up your local liquor store they are most likely more then happy to off load them on you.
Using Discogs makes the most sense as you said. But what about albums that are valuable but might sit in the shop for a long and you dont sell online? i know its probably not so much an issue being in Los Angles and you do sell online. Im friends with a local shop owner (South Texas)and he said it doesn not make sense to have a valuable album just sit there. and he does not sell much online.I enjoy the videos.
I completely understand where your shop owner friend is coming from. Each store owner has to decide what to buy based on their clientele and how much to invest in any given collection. That said, my experience has been that rare and valuable records will eventually sell in any given market and if the shop owner doesn't want to pay a fair price for a collectible record, they should just pass on it or refer the seller to another buyer that will pay a fair price. Side note: we offer finder's fees to anyone who sends good records our way.
so insightful and entertaining, you're a natural, Lance! curious - do you factor in resale value at the time of purchase and then factor that into your cost? or do you just pay law of averages first, get the collection, and THEN price? how do you determine how you make profit? the business side of records is so interesting but rarely discussed - so appreciative of your transparency!
Hey Kadrian! We always have the resale value in mind when we're buying records, but it's impossible to predict what any given album might eventually sell for. We are generally albe to turn a solid profit on most of the records we buy, but some records take a long time to sell and we have to mark them down to keep them moving. We break even on some and even lose money on others. That's why we use the law of averages and pay based on the Discogs median for most records. I hope that answers all your questions. Always a pleasure to share what I know.
@@PermanentRecordsLA dude! this is HUGE, thank you so much, and keep doing the great work! watched all your videos last night and learned so much. especially love that on the buying jazz video you discussed about listening to it and sitting with it before it goes on sale. that was a great reminder for me as i continue to start my own record business! thanks for all you do. big fan over here.
@@KadrianAlvarenga My pleasure! Thanks so much for tuning in! Best of luck on your record business journey! Please let me know if there's ever anything you need help with, including going in on a large buy. I'm always ready to throw down on a good collection. The sky's the limit!
How would you value differently a record that may sell in Discogs for $15 but there are dozens of like condition competitors compared to a $15 record that only has a few available? As someone who buys collections I might pay more if I would add it to my collection but if I plan to flip it online I don’t want to wait 18 months for it to sell. BTW the link on your RU-vid channel page is misspelled with an extra R.
If there are a lot of competing sellers trying to sell the same record for less than the median, or if the record in question hasn't sold for a long time, we may adjust the amount we are offering accordingly. It all depends on the title and how much demand there is for that particular title. I'll pay top dollar for records on my personal wantlist, of course, but records that I'm buying to sell in the shop are purchased at a wholesale rate, but we will buy the whole collection. Thanks for the head's up on the typo!
Generally, half of the Discogs median is about where we end up. Sometimes a bit more for an exceptionally interesting collection in immaculate condition.
Often you have no choice but to make an offer. I picked up around 4000 last week, had about 60 minutes to flick through them. I prefer folks dropping them off but deals like this are quite exciting as it's only a month or so later you discover if you made a good deal. You got mostly popular quick sellers in this bunch so should do well, money wise and records like this are much easier to price quickly. Yes, make a fair offer, I find people come back to you if you do and you get a good reputation! If the seller is not in a rush I leave them my offer and tell them to get another dealer or three round.
You’re absolutely right. Sometimes taking the records away and/or evaluating them piece by piece isn’t an option, but I find that to be a small percentage of the collections that we are offered. Thanks for the comment and for being one of the good ones!
I agree..I'd much rather look at them properly and make a proper offer that being made to make an offer on the spot.Some of those people can get quite belligerent
@@user-rq1lv5wy3o Not many folks want you to take them away to evaluate. You can make a ''proper offer'' on collections of the type shown in this video relatively quickly as they are mostly well known records. I tell folks who want ''silly money'' they need to sell them themselves, pointing out it takes about 30 mins on average to sell one record online. Or more ideally find someone who wants the records for their collection who wants to pay more than 30% of the current market price. On facebook marketplace especially you do run into a lot of folks who want 2k for their collection, which a dealer could sell for 1k and get miffed or bemused when you offer them 300$. CD sellers more often as they may have paid 10k for them 20-30years ago.
