I did record shows for a few years as a seller & definitely found organization to be the key to a successful day. I would price items a $6 Dollars or $12 Dollars .. fully prepared to take 5 or 10 dollars. People love a discount , they need not know it was only a perceived discount !
When I’ve done record show selling, I always have a FREE box for some of the $1 or less or beat-to-hell but desirable records. Brings people over when they see “FREE.” So helps sales but also clears some clutter out.
You are so awesome, Robert. Thank you so much for coming out and setting up. I am sad that I didn't really get to look at your stuff. You are the best, and I love your humor so much! I think we should do skeet shooting with the Helen Reddy records. Haha
I have loved records for 56 years. I was born the week I Want To Hold Your Hand was No.1. Wish I could afford these record shows. I had to sell my vinly collection on several occasions. I have managed to keep my over 500 and growing Beatles albums but I'm trying to rebuild my other albums.
Hey Robert, great video. I always donate albums I don't want or have 2 pressings of etc. to my local thrift store. They are always very grateful to have some stock.
Onya Robert. Basically, people don’t like spending their money! I set up at a Market once and sold lots of old CDs and shitty records for $2. All good cleaned up a bit and thought, maybe I was selling too cheap. Next time around, I put the price up to $3 - $5 to maybe be in line with other sellers. What a shambles- I received more insults than sales because, “the prices had gone up faster than inflation.” Friggin’ tight arses!!
Good For You Robert!! Glad It Went Great!! In All My Years Of Collecting, Have Not Been To One Yet!! Was All Ready To Go To One In Jacksonville... Got Cancelled... So One Of These Days!!!! Good Show!!
I met a older dealer and we became friends, and since i dont drive, i offered to be his helper for shows, so i could get in early. I didnt mind carrying in all the stuff and setting it up, i got to go to lots of shows i never could of got to go. There's probably some young collecter dudes like me, you might meet, to watch your table so you can look around.
Great tips. I'd like to try selling at a show some day. I give records nobody wants to Goodwill. At least they'll have a chance of escaping the landfill that way. There use to be more record shows near me but many of them stopped because the venue owners raise rent for their buildings so high. So now instead of renting at a lower rate for a Sunday afternoon, they get nothing. Makes no sense to me.
You're right about selling in person. I have yard sales and occasionally post on Nextdoor and I'll get cash without the hassle of shipping or paying eBay. Each time the buyer bought the whole lot.
So, you're no longer a virgin? Congratulations on your first record show as a seller. It can be a tough crowd and you definitely see all types. Enjoy your channel and your humor..
Great video good to hear about a record show in the US (we call them fairs in UK) $1 drop off at charity stores if you have them save the hassle of carting around. Andy
Still on the other side of the table but at least from a buyers side I see you left some space between your albums. Many times at shows I am surprised at how sellers have them so jammed in there you can't even get them out let alone flip through the albums. Guilty more than once for trying to buy a 3 dollar record and having a 20 bill. Douche move on my end, but best I guess on both buyer/seller side to have some stripper money. Great video!
Thank you for an excellent video. I finally found a "Good Will" type store and donated 50+ classical music LPs. Ebay was once a great tool but now the scammers, crooks and "I want it for nothing" crowd has moved in. And guess who is paying for them? Ebay's fees are now between 10% and 15.5 % depending on the item category and the shipping cost is included in their fee calculation. And on top of everything else you'll get a 1099 form if you sell over $600 during a calendar year. Seller beware!
For future shipping, never ship records in the cover. 70% of records shipped to me in the cover get seam splits. This is because all packages including records that weigh under 75 pounds go through auto sorting. And record mailers are an odd shape, so they get bumped around a lot.
I didn't. It was behind the cover and there's no way that particular kind of scuff happened in the mail. My guess is they were caught up in the heat of the moment bidding $180 and then had buyer's remorse.
@@RobertFithen people suck. I wonder if he just tried to rip you off and send you back his record. It has happened to me a couple of times. As a seller we have no legs to stand.
Price haggling is definitely accepted in Canada at shows. I had my eye on a pricey Japanese import that the seller wanted $80 for. I said I’d think about it and cruised by his table and every time he came down a little. At the end of the show I walked past again and he reached out saying the best he could do was $40. Sold!
Im doing my first record show in January. I will take your tips and advice into consideration. My nightmare is going and not selling anything. Lol I have had several yard sales to decent outcomes. One time even selling over $1k in records so i was like this is great. Then my last yard sale i had 3 total people come by all day and $80 total sales all to the same guy. That wasn't so great. Lol
@RobertFithen got it, i think thats what happened the time i sold the most. I had just purchased a collection and those where probably the better records that sold. Definitely need to Lower my expectations and hopefully it will just be fun.
Those dollies that convert into a flat cart are awesome.. throw a piece of plywood on there and you can carry alot more. Dollies and passenger cars dont mix though.. Borrow a buddies truck or SUV.
I was curious about the age demographic. It's always nice to see young people that are interested in vinyl, but usually those shows seem to skew older.
Solid tips. A hand truck or dollie is essential. Nothing you sell will be worth the price of wrecking yourself carrying those bins. Sorry to hear about ebay. I have a few valuable records I'd like to sell but only if I can do so in person.
I sold at three shows back in the day. An important tip: learn how to recognize counterfeit bills. If a bill looks bleached, hold to the light and compare the print face with the watermark face. I had someone try to pay me with a fake $100 bill.
I take my unwanted records to a place here in chattanooga called McCays( also in Nashville and knoxville) they'll buy them and guve you either money or store credit. It may not be much but you can always find something in their store to use it on
Jewlers glass, what clown brings one of those....wait, I do. Dammit. 😅. But definitely not for 3 buck chuck records. Anyway, sounds like you had a good experience. It was my first time at that show and it was better than i expected.
I’m mad that I’d didn’t get to look at your table as much as I would of liked. I was curious what all was in your ashamed bin. Also I didn’t even see those 8-tracks so maybe next time I’ll get to see those.
The ashamed bin was albums that were ruined (either the record or the cover) by the previous owner (who should be ashamed for how they treated the record.)
I took two boxes of trash records like you are talking about to goodwill a couple of weeks ago. No one wants that crap, glad to have it out of my garage.
I did notice the crowd for the day just shows up at the open then no line and people just trickle in. Most people know what they’re looking for so they just wanna get in and out.
Same here.. I inspect every record, and you'd be foolish not to. It's gotta be at least VG or VG+, otherwise it's a waste of time, plus taking a chance of damaging my stylus.
I used to go to a lot of shows. I need to get back to it. I check everything thoroughly, but I pay whatever the price is. Or I just don't buy it if I don't like the price. I wonder if USPS opened your package with Pet Sounds to inspect it and then repacked it wrong. Pet Sounds strikes again! When I used to work for a guy who sold large quantities of records, we had a local guy who would take care of all the worthless bargain-bin records. We would sell hundreds to him at a time for 8¢ each. He would then palletize them and sell them wholesale to someone in South Korea. This is not a joke, I swear. The only catch was they had to have jackets and the jackets couldn't be in awful condition (i.e., water-damaged). But in terms of artists and genres, this was the stuff you couldn't give away. This guy was a lifesaver considering we not only didn't have to pay to store or dispose this stuff, but we actually got paid anything at all for them. Oh, and he would load them in used Wendy's french fry boxes. Again, I am dead serious.
i do some record shows as well...and it's how you say...basically some people want gold for nothing...browse only first or two records. They don't understand the fun of digging and find out that record that they are looking for years. you can hope to find cheaper that in stores but don't expect prices like in charity shops. Not all people...but some are very annoying...but also a lot of fun. I enjoy them a lot.
Hi, fun video. Hope you made a good profit. I took 23 records to a small show in a bar where you could sell without a charge. I went there to buy stuff, but thought maybe i can sell some stuff that i don't need. It was fun. Found nothing that i need, but sold 6 records. The pro seller next to me said, that i did a good job, with that small amount off records i brought. He was really surprised, that i sold Ray Manzarek-Carmina Burana and a Gipsy Kings record. We laughed a lot. Greetings
Great video and seems like valuable advice. I've thought about selling before, too, but I just don't have the patience to deal with people. I might have to make a video about that, myself - I'm trying to come up with more topics to cover on my channel. Great channel, you've got a new subscriber. 👍
Hey glad you did well at show, try giving a free $1 album away with purchase of another album keep a dozen for customers to pick. I don't get pet sounds? Dave Brubeck great album but no Jack Jones Bread Winners I guess?
Great insight, Robert. Regarding the alphabetizing of records- I agree it's awesome when everything is alphabetized, but I've found that at those tables the prices can been higher. From my own personal experience as a buyer if you are willing to invest the time and patience to sift thru the unsorted boxes and crates, it can pay off big time... 😊
Found this really interesting, was the Beach Boys damaged in transit or did he send back a different copy? Also in the UK people usually donate undesirable albums to the charity shop, there are quite a few albums that will never sell due to that generation of people passing on & certain types of music no one has absolutely no interest in. Anyway keep up the good work 👍
I think it was the same one, they just added a scuff. I'm assuming they got caught up in the heat of the moment, bidding $180 and then had buyer's remorse.
It looked like the same one with a scuff added. I think the person had buyer's remorse after getting caught up in the heat of the moment and bidding $180.
Say Robert...Made some cash huh, cool. Cash is King... I been thinking of selling some records of mine for quite some time but never decided on the venue to do it with. Being in Canada using the postal service to send the records is financially daunting for seller and buyer. A record show sounds like a lot of toting and carrying and setting up. Sounds like fun though dealing with the people... I'm toying with the idea of having a record sale in my home by appointment only. Then again I might get one of those guys in that buy whole collections and sell the whole kit & kaboodle. Stereo, cabinets, speakers, albums, 45s, cassettes, CDs, the whole works. Some guy ought to start up a business to sell other peoples wares for a percentage. I'd go that route so long as the percentage was reasonable. Cheers.
Robert, Have sold antiques and collectibles for 25 plus years. People always want to see if they can get something for less. it is part of the hunt I guess. Also people will look for every dent, crack to get you to come down on your price. Attended toy shows that ran for 6 hours.. First hour was busy and for 5 hours you sit at your table. Agree with you on internet selling I am done.
I did a little better than break even my first record show because I bought too much. I had an Elvis Blue moon of Kentucky OG Sun 78 for $100 and no one bought it! Depending on the venue, having a good location for your table is important.
Yes, organised. Some folks pop in and have 15-30mins, they ask for X and if you don't know if you have it, or where it is, you often lose them. Joel G Hits is quite common, I sell them for around 25$ vg plus, but I've seen stores price it now around 50$. Did you make 300$ or more, that tends to be my it was worth it level. I sell dollar albums at yard sales or sell to the local store for 33 cents each.
I made much more than $300, but I had some really good records that I bought with collections. No longer having those, I don't expect to make as much at the next one.
@@RobertFithen For me each show was about 20hrs work, so even 300$ is not great. But over the years I probably made as much, if not more, buying to re-sell. There are often sellers there who you can 'hit' early who are quite clueless or desperate for cash, or both.
I had a woman this week looking through my $5 records, she looked over a Dolly Parton, said it had a couple small marks ... yeah. I haven't down a "real" record show since the early 1990's. maybe this summer
I can see how the online selling could suck you may get more for some things but if they want to send stuff back it could come back in poor shape. The downside of shows is you have to pay the event to be in it that cuts pretty deep into what you get for the items. It would be the same for any collectable selling.
I think the buyers summed you up. Collectors don't pay to get in the door to look at F-G+ graded records. If a seller is disorganized, he'll deal with people who have more time than money. Natalie Cole will sell as well Kenny Rogers. They have to been clean. Condition is king or else it's $1 record at best. Again I don't think it's what buyers pay to go their to see.
I always donate records like 101 strings, Firestone Christmas album etc, inflate the amount and value and write it off on the taxes. How did the analogue tapes sell?
Hey, great that you did well at the show. Might I sugeest those records that you can't give-away be donated to your local animal humane association, sometimes they have thrift stores that will gladly take records. Hell, the little doggies and kitty's don't care who the artists is, cause eventually they will sell and it helps to feed them. Oh did "Almost Blue" almost sell?
I don't think so. It looked just like the one I sent with the exception of the split side and the scuff. My thought is that they were caught up in the heat of the moment bidding, realized they spent $180 on a Beach Boys record and had buyer's regret. Received it and damaged it to get a refund.
I’m about to start selling records online and your pet sounds story is pretty scary. How was the packing job? Was it an LP mailer box or mailer envelope? ?????
LP mailer, well packed with bubble. There's no way that scuff happened in transit. The record would have had to have moved completely out of the package to scuff like that.
Lol. I buy dollar records off a shop here in town. Many are mint or NM bc I inspect them. I plan on cleaning and playing them and don't want 30 or 40 crap dollar records. Usually they are solo artists, solo artists from famous bands, female singers, or second tier bands from the 70's and 80's usually, all analog. Then again, maybe I'm the one who's crazy. Or as Jeff Lebowski would say, You're not crazy. You're just an asshole, Walter!
I think it was the same one with a scuff added. I assume the buyer got caught up in the heat of the moment in the auction, ended up buying a Beach Boys album for $180, then had buyer's remorse. So, they came up with a plan to get their money back.
Excellent video Robert! I’ve considered doing this and you have some really helpful tips. Do they also have security in the event that someone tries to steal a record?
My impression of record shows is people are bargain-hunting. Although I’m going to eventually sell my collection via shows, I’m not looking forward to it.
Step 1: Buy rare records in poor condition. Step 2: Buy those same records in good condition online. Step 3: Claim you received poor condition albums to your online sellers. Online sellers have their rackets too such as minimum dollar-amount purchases so when the buyer objects in a DM to the seller he's countered with "Do you want me to raise the price of your one item?"
I think it was the same one I sent with an added scuff. My theory is they got caught up in the heat of the moment bidding, realized they had purchased an album for $180 dollars, had buyer's remorse, and scuffed the record to get their money back.
I didn't look like it. My theory is they were caught up in the heat of the moment bidding, realized they spent $180 on an album, then scuffed it so they could send it back and get a refund.
How many did you bring? I’m about to do an event in Chicago & I’m rockin like 250 records, but can def bring more…. I don’t wanna bring too much or too little
Around 600. I've found out you never know what people are looking for. I actually sold things like the "American Graffiti" soundtrack and a Sammy Davis, Jr. album while records from Aerosmith and the Allman Brothers just sat there.
@@RobertFithenAwesome! After doing one show, I am at about 550 records & still have much more to invest in merchandise! I also noticed the same thing selling at a show… things that I know nothing about that I have priced for like $4, people will see & get super excited about. But it messes me up because I’m lugging all this cheap crap! It’s hardly even worth the effort it feels like
Any sellers who are not willing to use paypal or a card reader are potentially turning away a lot of customers, especially where big ticket items are concerned.
I offered PayPal, but no one needed it. I'll see if it happens at the next one. I think it's important to have a sign letting people know you use PayPal, otherwise they may not ask.
You mentioned sorting by price, then Alphabetized added in text in the vid - does that mean you will alphabetize the $3-5 bin and then alphabetize the $6 - $10 bin etc or just alphabetize and the price is just the price
An employee will most likely just grab them. I know this happens at several Goodwills around here that's why the local ones have absolutely NO records anymore.
It didn't look switched. It looked deliberately ruined because they had buyer's remorse. I would guess they got caught up in the heat of the moment bidding.
Yes, a few people. Even a couple of people who bought jazz records and thought it was funny that those were some of the actual records featured in the jazz video.
