@@ralphbolton4865 Maybe it is because it is a irrational thought that you just accepted? "pressing vinyl" is a manufacturing process,---and the record is made by man. Really, what are you guys "thinking"?
One of my biggest pet peaves!! I run into that alot in used sections here in Minneapolis. Example: First OG pressing of Star Wars soundtrack in VG condition. Some bonehead slapped a sticker directly on the cover!!
They do that in Tucson too, 😂, so it is not just a Minneapolis thing. Hate when you can barely peel of the sticker or when the sticker rips some of the artwork off the album no matter how careful you are.
I love when sellers set a 20$ price tag on a record, and say its VG++ when the whole damn cover is a giant falling apart at the seams ringwear worn copy. And you're like "Are they kidding me?". Yeah, we got those here in Sweden as well.
At the record store I go to, I have seen record covers that were almost ripped apart along the edges, but at least they will not sell them for more than 4.99 US dollars.
It is really only a complaint if you are forced to buy the product, like the health care system that now resembles a nationalized system of a 3rd world nation.
That Stevie Wonder record may have come from a radio station, who didn't want the DJs to play the first track on the air. They'd often cover up or scratch out tracks that contain obscenities or didn't fit the station's format, and also to reduce the chance of someone borrowing the record and never bringing it back. And also, the next year whose calendar will match up with 1974 is 2030.
"It's staying for 14 bucks!!" " You never see Barbara S. records!!" Hilarious quotes!!! to name a few! Thanks for making me smile today! People take records so seriously all of a sudden! They were always important to me..🎃 Firm!
Prices are nuts right now. The "vinyl revival" can't die soon enough for me. Also, I had the same KISS experience. Something happened to me between those 2 albums. Maybe it was the lack of a hit single. Great video.
I TGINK ITS WHEN THEY HAD THE I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU DICO SONG CAME OUT. I USED TO HATE KISS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. AND M9ST DISCO. BUT THEY DID THAT SONG. GO FIGURE....
So true about the trickle down effect. I started buying records because you could get decent old albums for under $5. Not anymore. It’s become a rich man’s hobby💰
Generally I’ve found antique malls overprice everything as it’s already been picked and the sellers are paying rent, but this is really bad. The condition of some of these are non sellable in my opinion. Also: Kenny G: “$40 FIRM” lmao
Kenny G is in my opinion torture i wouldn´t listen to a record with him playing not even if they pay me ,much more paying good money for a record of him, ,maybe it´s regional thing ,i just don´t get it
Leif Garrett was bad enough, but a Stevie Wonder album with tape around the edge 🤣 ? That Emerson Lake and Palmer album from 1978, which looks like a Bee Gees cover sells for a dollar at the record store I go to, and they have at least two copies of it.
I was in rural PA at an antique mall. ECM and Bluenotes were $2. At the mall next door, mostly OG European pressings Paul Desmond, Brubeck, Monk, Coleman, Gil Evan and a ton more all at $3 each. They were so clean I thought they were brand new. Guy who bought put his name and year bought on the back, he was stationed in Germany from 1961 to 64 and bought all these at the base store.
@@RobertFithen if you come to PA hit me up. I'll show you a spot. The owner isn't into vinyl he puts them in boxes and puts 3 bucks on them no matter what the Album is. I got some decent stuff from him.
There's a guy in limerick ireland who has a place where everything is like this price. He has a sign outside the door that basically says "buy something or get out" so everytime I'm down there I make a point to walk about and not buy a single thing lmao
They're really wasting everyone's time with these prices and mold covered records. Two days of this, shop after shop after shop, I'm glad I got a nice video out of it that gave people a laugh. That's really all you can do... laugh.
I live in Memphis and honestly this has been the case for decades. I don't understand why people would pay to have a space at an antique mall and then not lower prices if an inventory item hasn't sold for a couple months. Sheffield's (antique mall) is the only place I would even venture to go.
Your videos never fail to cheer me up, and this was one of my favorites. One technique I've noticed is putting a crappy record in a protective sleeve. It easily doubles the price.
Nothing worse when your local newspaper or news station does a report on "collectibles"and than everyone with say that Carole King Tapestry calls your record shop to let you know they will sell it to you for a 100 bucks
@@rwparker1968 I remember these stupid stickers you'd put on the outer perimeter of the label side of a CD to get it to stop the "wow" and "flutter". WASTE of money, time, thought....
Ha! This has to be one of the most amusing and funny segments I've seen is sometime. I'm laughing myself silly. Unbelievable pricing. I appreciate you sharing these.
Robert, those prices are every where! Over priced for unplayable records or covers that are falling apart in your hand. I went to a record show and the grading and prices were outrageous. Watch out CD lovers the price increase is coming your way. Have a great day.
I see this in antique stores when I visit them . Over priced Vinyl that never sells that's why I gave up on Antique stores as they are "dealers" . Thrift stores and yard sales are one of the very few ways to get vinyl cheap these days . Although I'm in the trades , I always sneak in that I collect vinyl records to my customers . Sometimes they have records that they give away for free as they are clueless about the resurgence although it's only happened twice in about 20+ attempts haha .
Heck, I still buy CDs at estate sales for a dollar a piece all day long, yeah, in Memphis. If I were guessing, I'd say a lot of these vinyl dealers are buying at estate sales, because I see them there all the time. I buy books, not vinyl.
Yeah I'm getting fed up with this crap. I used to enjoy buying records. I always could find good albums for good prices. That ship has sailed. I'm glad people like records again. But we really need to stop the stupidity involved. Buying records isn't anywhere as fun as it used to be.
My hometown had an antique store and the ONLY reasonably priced record was Thick As A Brick ($5). The rest: $12 for a Cher record $45 for a Linda Ronstadt record $50 for Meet the Beatles $80 for the Hair soundtrack (I tried hard not to laugh out loud when I saw that)
i used to work at a record store in south texas… a lot of those prices seemed in line with the boss’s pricing ethos 😅 every time someone who actually knew what they were talking about came in they would scoff at the prices and i would laugh with them and throw them a discount!
lol. "Antique" sellers are literally just going on discogs, seeing the highest possible price for an album, and then pricing theirs the same, not accounting for different pressings, cover variants, track variants, etc. They don't understand that records are a completely different market that they just aren't exposed to. Over in the antiques world i'm sure old=value, but that couldn't be further from the truth over in the record world.
Respect man. You’re in it for the music, I’ve always been in it for the music too. Flipping to make money has never been a thing for me. I’d rather kick back & spin the 33’s man. Great video btw, a shame I’m in the UK coz that booth sounds worth a trip.
Whenever I come across a place like this I make it very clear to them how ridiculous it is. Either the records mean nothing to their business or there are actually poor rubes out there that pay these prices every once in a while. That Christopher Cross for $22 is just an absolute crime. My local shop can't give that album away quick enough. There's about 8 in the dollar bin right now.
@@RobertFithen I've never been to Memphis, but I've seen this mostly in places that prey on tourists. Last really bad one I saw was a bizarre shop in Smithville, NJ. It was one of those "good old days" type stores that sells unlicensed beatles and i love lucy merchandise. In stark contrast, the antique store I go to every week sells records $2.50 each no matter what, much like the good one you talked about.
@@RobertFithen This exploitation of records/vinyl prices is widespread. I was back home in Ireland 4 years ago and in Limerick city at a beat up charity shop and saw dozens of similarly beaten and battered records, inside and out, selling for 10 euros and more. We're talking Richard Clayderman/ Jim Reeves garbage here! It's a global vinyldemic folks.
in my area record stores are full of very expensive reissues of classic albums and they will never understand that many people have given up on the idea of selling valuable vinyl in stores because the stores either cherry pick or offer next to nothing. I chatted with one seller who said a store offered him a nickel for a stack of vinyl and he was going to put the records in a dumpster instead.
A few years ago my wife and I bought an entire estate sale's vinyl collection so that we could weed through the two to three thousand records at our leisure, take what we wanted for our collection and sell the rest. Out of our haul there were about ten records of value, some obscure audiophile classical vinyl, some Portuguese jazz and a Blue Note album of moderate value but the rest was borderline worthless: Herb Alpert, musicals, Barbara Streisand, etc. We literally gave them all away, an entire pickup bed full of them in decent condition. Antique mall vendors are the most clueless about vinyl values - and the most hopeful that their absurd prices will resonate with local chumps. Even the most casual of collectors know better than to pay those prices, esp. with Discogs on our smart phones.
Our antique shop booths have gone the very same route. The records often look like someone played Frisbee with them in a gravel parking lot and they want a fortune for them. As soon as they heard records were popular again...
old school original pressing records, in theory are very cool. unfortunately, so many millions of them were printed back in the 70s and nobody really took care of them, which is why they're all scratched up and worthless. as a collector myself, it's very rare to come across an original pressing of anything from that era in really good condition.
I've been wanting to make a similar video for a while now because I'm seeing this insanity here at many of the record stores in Brooklyn. Trashed KISS records for $15 to $20, records with mildew and water damage and parts of the cover torn off for $10 to $20. Recently I ran across a copy of Joni Mitchell's "Blue" that looked like it had been found under the wheel of a bus, faded and worn, heavy ring wear, pencil and pen marks all over her face. The price? $50!! AND the next time I was at that store it was gone, so evidently someone bought the damn thing.
@@meyerkarl5276 Unfortunately there will be people who will pay these prices, just like with Sringsteen tickets for $2K-4K. Some will pay whatever prices, money come too easy to them. Hoping there will not be many of such people.
Some of the more underrated artists are: Mountain, Utopía, Poco, The Tubes, The Stawbs, Hot Tuna, Jethro Tull, etc. Found great albums from each and luckily paid between 1 and 3 dollars for each. The albums were virtually unblemished.
Sorry that your Alan Parsons record was defaced by the "B.T." written on the front cover. Next time I see Bernie Taupin, I'll tell him that he should have known better.
I can’t believe the prices…I could sell my regular 70’s records for big money at this place. My record store in Boston could have cared less about my old records like Jethro Tull, Canned Heat, etc
Hi Robert - very entertaining in a tragic sort of way. Ever thought of interviewing people who are purchasing these? Love to know what they are thinking.
Great video and yes these antique people have lost their minds! There must be and Antique Monthly that had an article about fleecing record buyers! I have a place where I go and I educated her and introduced her to Discogs! Of course she had to be re-educated because she always wanted to take the median or the high price! So what I do now as they go through the collections that she has and I pull what I want and then I sit down at the front desk and go through Discogs one by one! I gave her 40% of the medium and I’m happy with that! But it looks like the people that you’re talking about and showing I have a completely lost their minds😂
Nobody buys the records though so they are not fleecing anybody . I stop by a local antique store about once a month if I happen to be walking my dog in the area , there's 3 dealers in the store and none of the records move .
Last time I was in Memphis, the actual record stores were great. And I agree Goner is AWESOME. Antique stores and yard sales…Nuts! Everyone is trying to cash in on their “rare collectibles” (especially in tourist towns that hope to rake in some Yankee dollars)🤪
“C” is for Cookie is a master piece. It has his version of “If I Knew You Were Coming, I’dev Baked A Cake”. If you don’t have that album; can you call yourself a collector? 😜 It is instantly clear when someone who doesn’t collect vinyl, sells vinyl, but doesn’t know two shits about vinyl. In one way, it makes it easy. You just need to see one ridiculously priced record, and you can move on. Another great vid. 👍
That strangley doesn't happen too often in Los Angeles but is laughable when it does. Those prices are unbelievable! It is nice to think of someone else coming to find some good deals after your turn. Whenever I (rarely) come across The Records S/T album or Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout I grab them and give them to friends who do not have them.
unbelievable crazy.... I will say though double check George Strait prices, you might be surprised, if that record was really clean and in the shrink, $35 is about right. I've sold a lot of his records on discogs and at record store i sell at, they always sell quick and most are in the $15-$30 range, he def has a following.
Lifelong Kiss fan here and UNMASKED is absolute power pop perfection. Followed them through every line up change, every genre and that album still holds up to this day. So many great songs!
Great video! I am just astounded by these prices. I'm no economist, but it doesn't seem consistent with the law of supply and demand - am I missing something? At any rate, a number of months ago, you posted a video in which you found several amazing 45s for between 50 cents and $2.00 - I hope you have another experience like that soon! As for me, I'm going to keep looking for that first pressing of Love Forever Changes. Be well!
Great video! I'm late to this one, BUT - I have a story that relates to this absurdity you have so hilariously highlighted. There was a flea market at the fairgrounds in my hometown about a month ago; 1 seller had "sealed, vintage" Beatles LPs priced at $100 and up. Some of these "sealed" albums looked like they had just wrapped common kitchen cling wrap around them; others looked like they had attempted some sort of amateur shrink wrap treatment with a heat gun or something - they were shrunk too tight and were squeezing the covers out of shape. ALL of the "new" LPs had significant ring wear and noticeable damage. Hopefully no one was fooled by this rotten tactic... Some sellers (like the ones you highlighted) may be just clueless, but this was just outright fraud!
Yeah, I can believe it. When I worked at Blockbuster Video as a teenager, we had a heat gun and a roll of wrap that we would wrap pre-rented videos to sell. (We would sell them as used) So it must be somewhat easy to get the two tools necessary to shrink wrap something.
Good deals can still be found, you just need to know where to shop. Same day this video was posted I was at my local record store and I saw Meet The Beatles LP in much better condition than the one in the video, for just $7 (vs $100 in the video). Just don't shop at these ridiculous places, let them sit at their overpriced records.
I found my Mono copy of Meet The Beatles LP for $.99 at a Goodwill some years back. I found an early (if not first) pressing of Zappa Hot Rats for a quarter (25 cents) at a thrift store in Yuma. It needed to be cleaned and flattened, but a local Record shop near me does that (or used to do it - I think they still do) so for a grand total of $2.25, I had that FZ record.
There is a shop in Stoughton Massachusetts that is absolutely crammed from floor to ceiling with records, guitars, cds, and the shopkeeper tells me he has another warehouse space crammed with more merchandise than he can move. The problem is that he nitpicks and overprices every single item to the point where you can barely buy anything, so nothing in his store ever moves.
I would take a bunch of albums from here and sell them to the dealers there. Even if they give you half, you would still come out ahead. And don't forget to push about how "rare" they are, especially if you have one with duct tape.
lol. you never been to a used record store to sell stuff? i gave away my collection for free on craigslist instead of selling for pennies to those bastards.
Asking $10 for a Bill Cosby album is a crime. We won't even put those in blind bags. The most realistic pricing out of this whole video was the George Strait if it was a clean LP. That era of country has skyrocketed since 2018.
@@68wrko all these women who have creepy bill cosby albums in their homes are dumping them at the thrift stores to get rid of them instead of just throwing them away. why? just trash it.
sadly, 99% of record shops, flea markets and antique malls have become like this. The prices have become exorbitant!! It seems that people go on Popsike or Discogs and find the absolute highest price and go with that. The funnier side it being told by other sellers they get that price and mark it up to what it would be with shipping because hey.. "you actually have it in your hand and don't have to pay shipping now!". The whole market is spiralling itself into nonexistence.
Quantum used to be in Bartlett where I live. It's an awesome antique store and glad to see you had a good experience. I been shopping Memphis records for almost a decade and the prices have gotten ridiculous. There used to be a few hole in the walls with better prices but they closed up during Covid.
Thanks for making this video. I've been looking for a good source of old vinyl in Memphis. The thrift stores out here aren't as well-stocked as they used to be.
Good lord! Who’s paying those prices!? I guess I need to sell off my LP collection pronto, i could make a fortune. Mine are well kept and don’t look like they’ve been ice skated on. 😂😂😂
A local video game store started selling used vinyl. All crap condition at top prices. A Johnny Cash album I picked up was in especially bad shape. The vinyl looked like it had been dragged across a warehouse floor and the jacket was held together with brittle making tape. Asking price: $25. Unfortunately, in the last few years or so Half Price Books has also fallen into this habit.
More than happy that I bought 90% of my library thirty years ago at average $5 a pop. Thanks for the info of "Tonight's the Night" ($5) , Goodbye Waterface side two dead wax, black and silver Reprise lable. Added bonus double fold , " Welcome on Miami Beach, Ladies and Gentlemen " insert. Also info of Aerosmith debut, knew it was an early press , just not how early👍
Same here - bought most of my modest collection between '89-'93, some mostly nm copies for as little as $0.50, most probably averaging $4. And at my age, there's not much else or more that interests me enough to spend this kind of money.
Yeah, I see this from time to time here in Finland as well. Luckily, flea markets where "normal" people sell their records are still somewhat of a gold mine from time to time, but usually even amongst common people they know what the records' are worth. Still, you're definitely able to do some nice finds here. Stores however, like antique shops and used books stores... They take a premium for what is essentially crap, regular records you couldn't even give away on any given record fair.
Just got back into collecting, and I'm floored at the pricing at the shops. I somehow picked up "Bridge of Sighs" for $3, but everything else was an embarrassment.
i have most the records you showd but allot of them i bought 4 for a dallar including alice cooper schools out love your show now you cant find or afford what the thrift shops charge
Craziness! Feel sorry for all the people just starting their collections. New deluxe box sets now into the $500 range which includes garbage. Very sad.
Thanks for this one, we don't see enough PSA's like this and yes, it has gotten wacky out there. A few years before lockdown I started seeing "priced" records at certain Goodwill stores, same thing...beat up, scratched to hell and often not even the correct disc. One could go to an actual record store and get those common records VG+ in a dollar bin (maybe $2 or $3 these days) and most of the "money records" you showed could be had at those prices or way less BUT they would be VG+/NM- and maybe with the correct record inside and mold free! Crazy that people don't even bother to look at the actual vinyl when pricing these.
Hey guy 😃 maybe they're doing what ebay sellers do... I recently went on ebay to buy an pb copy of a book I always wanted to read... should sell for about 2 or 3 dollars. People selling the book must not have checked the completed listing to see what the book actually sells for, just what other sellers are asking so now every seller is asking $40.00 or more. Not a first edition, battered old paper back- $40.00. The sellers you encountered know nothing about records, and are probably looking on ebay to see what sellers are asking. Great vid!!!
Some of that is eBay 'recommending' to sellers what price to list... the evilBay fkers do get more fees from the sellers final value fee (being item price plus their overpriced global shttin ripoff).
I'm in Bucks County, Pa. where everything is way too expensive, and all the thrift stores within a 20 mile radius of me have those milk crates full of albums, in WAY better condition, and they run about a dollar a piece. I think the most I've ever seen a vinyl priced at was 15 bucks and it was an old sealed something or other. But that Village People record you showed? I've seen that for 50 cents more than once, same with Streisand albums. That place seems ridiculous, but it made for a great video, so not a total bust! lol Thanks for posting this, really fun watch
I quit going to charity shops long ago. Since moving to Bakersfield I've been to a few antique stores and malls. way over priced. I've never seen masking tape on the actual record. I may do a video of Bakersfield antique shops. This was pretty funny.
Wow, that is painful. Just think I paid $4 for my mono copy of an original pressing of The Psychedelic Sound of the 13th Floor Elevators at a flea market a few years ago. Geez and to think I was bitching because a local record store had a decent copy of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's debut on Cotillion for $15 in average condtion (vg+ lp with a cover with ring wear). Back in the 90s when I bought mine it was $5.99. This was also the store that had a mono "Something Else From The Kinks" for $25 because it was rare and near mint. Times have changed.
The same thing is happening in every kind of specialty market. Yet the entitled crybabies go online to bitch about it instead of just walking out of the store.
I agree with you Robert about the flipping. I was at a Mr K's a few years ago and found several Metallica albums but I already have them. Just left them for hopefully someone who didn't. While the high priced garbage was laughable , gotta say you made out well on what you did buy. Great video as always
I went to an antique mall about a week ago and noticed the same thing. They had Revolver 2012 Stereo press marked as "Rare 1966 Beatles Album GREAT CONDITION" for $70
It’s nice to know this massive rip off thing with vintage shops and antique shops isn’t just happening in the uk, it’s in the states as well! That’s what happens when vinyl comes back into fashion, you end up paying stupid prices for smashed up records which barely play and mess up your stylus!! Good find with the Alice Cooper and Neil Young records by the way!!!!
Insane prices, I would love to know the logic they were using. I just bought a mint first pressing of Some Girls, with the original cover, of course, for $20 in NYC.
I paid $22 for mine and it even was still in shrink wrap with the "Miss You" sticker. btw, I found out recently there are actually two original inner sleeves. One has Lucille Ball, the other has Joan Crawford.
@@RobertFithen Nice video Robert! I was lucky to get good deals on both of my copies of "Some Girls" with the Lucille Ball/Raquel Welch faces. One in shrink wrap. One is beige, the other is the bright red and green. This was a while ago. Now they go for more. One week I was in a record store and bought a shrink wrapped "Deja-Vu" for $10.00 (CSNY). Following week I went in there was one w/o shrink for $30.00. It's happening now in record stores I would frequent for over 16 years. Prices are much higher now. The quality is receding though.
Good find Ben. That's about what you would pay in a NYC record store. I went to Colony Records there years ago. Common albums were 20 bucks and up. Overpriced for Tommy James and The Shondells records which I bought for 5 bucks and under back in the mid 90s.
And then there are the flea-market sellers who don't openly price their records but instead do a quick eBay or discogs search at the cash register, and then provide a laughable astronomical price. I only visit those places once.
About a year ago, in an antique shop in Christiansburg, VA, I came across a vendor with terribly overpriced LP's. There was a Beach Boys Pet Sounds that wasn't even a first pressing. The damn thing looked like it had spent its life in the bed of a dump truck. Cover was ripped, worn, missing slivers of the cover, the vinyl was scratched AF and label torn. They were asking $80 fort this gem.....wonder if it's still there?
Yes, I’ve seen that. Old run of the mill LPs in charity shops and antique shops. This video made me laugh so much!!!! $35 for half a Doors gatefold album!😂🤣😅
Hilarious video! We have a few great stores up here that sell VG+ vinyl for $5 ea. And even $1 bin VG+. I'm kind of shocked by some of my finds. My best to date is the original pressing of 2 lp Manassas with the poster and photo sleeves of Stills on heavy vinyl for $5 VG. Most just needs a cleaning. Here's a question for you Robert: What's up with the 1 and 3 side and the 2 and 4 side set up on the double lps? I'm still trying to figure that one out!
The Aretha and Stevie wonder records being sold like that is SO laughable and insulting! Its wild how some places price their records. I bought a nice copy of the Who's Odds and Sods for like 3 bucks at a flea market back in North Carolina years ago. They're not rare by any means, but now when I go to my local record stores I'll see them for like 25 and I'm just astounded! Same with Pete Townshends Empty Glass. Used to be able to find copies for like 5-10 max but now I see places selling them for 25-30, with small scuffs here and there. Its nuts out there!
Great video! Loved that you exposed those clowns!! It's everywhere!! I live in Ohio and recently talked this guy out of buying pink floyd the wall TRASHED COPY at a antique store FOR 96$ Poor guy was hell bent on getting for it .Thank God my record store I go to had a vg copy for 19.99 and he got it there .Again great video!
Same pricing in Indiana. Applies to most comics and baseball cards. Tattered vintage comic worth a quarter must be sold for 25 dollars. I find it humorous so many sellers think a Streisand record must be worth more than a half tank of gas. In my area, Elvis, Herb Alpert, Kiss & Streisand seem to be worth a whole lot more at Flea Markets.
Let’s all move to Brooklyn and share beard oil secrets over charcuterie boards and “bespoke” bourbon. Oh shit. No room left in Brooknam? Let’s cruise our vintage cafe racers up to Newburgh. No one is from there anymore, so it’s still cheaper. Analog synths, harsh noise, hidden milltown discoveries, frowning stroller daddies, telecommute deez. Cue comet strike.
Been collecting vinyl for 40 yrs. These prices are #_$#@ crazy. I want to give ALL of them a record price guide. There's still a grading system out there.
It really makes you wonder Robert. Would they do this shit with baseball cards or comic books? I highly doubt it. All this overpricing does is turn people away from this awesome hobby, like I really wanna empty my bank on moldy, scratched, overpriced records that I can barely play. Excellent job on exposing these fraudsters!
After visiting a few record stores in my area, I'm flabbergasted at the wanting price. I'd rather search around here and there online for the best price for what I actually want. By now, I am done with vinyl, too much money today, so I am into increasing the CD collection. I bought my records from the 60s to 80s, where it stops, for around $4 each, give or take a dollar. It's nuts and I can't understand why people will separate their hard-earned money for this garbage. There is ONE vinyl I want and it is so limited and expensive that I just gave up. I have a CD of it so I'm content. I fear the vinyl boom will drop like a rock in Lake Tahoe very soon. These prices are not a good way to ensure new titles come out. Sales are dying and I fear people are going to realize collecting these relics of the past is a waste of time and money.
