When to Shush Up. What to Say and What Not to Say When Selling Your Vinyl Record Collection

Question: How can I ensure I get the best price for my entire vinyl record collection in Ontario?

Answer: To get the best value for your entire vinyl record collection, avoid pre-selecting or selling individual records before a comprehensive assessment. Allow a professional buyer to evaluate the whole collection based on each record's unique merits, rarity, condition, and market demand. This ensures you are not left with less desirable records and maximizes your overall sale. Consider contacting a network like VinylRecords.Pro, which evaluates the complete collection without cherry-picking.

NOTE: We are a network of record collection assessors/buyers across Ontario; not a singular entity.  The circumstances described below are provided in effort for you to have a smooth interaction with the assessor/buyer ultimately assigned to you.

Have Your Best Record Albums Already Been Picked Out by a Competent Buyer?  Do NOT Let Your Record Collection Get Cherry-Picked.

In January 2020, we received a phone call from a man from Mississauga, Ontario; who asked us to come assess and buy his approximately four-hundred seventy-five (475) records.  During some follow up, we arranged a mutually agreeable time for an appointment to come to his location to assess/buy his records.  The man subsequently messaged us back about an hour later, informing us that he had previously sold about thirty (30) records to a buyer/collector "a few months ago" for CAD$8.00 each; so by his calculation he expected CAD$3800.00 (475 X 8) for his remaining records.  We immediately cancelled our appointment with him; here is why...

Via his own words, he inadvertently/inherently informed us that:

1. His thirty (30) best (collectible) records had likely already been picked out of his collection by a presumedly competent buyer/collector, and hundreds of less desireable/non-collectible records remained unpicked.
2. He arbitrarily expected $8.00 each for the balance of less desireable/non-collectible records, regardless of any actual merit of each record, such as their condition, artist/title, specific label/pressing, or supply/demand as a collectible.
3. Said another way: he unreasonably expected $8.00 each for the lesser desireable/non-collectible records, based on no specific merit/factor other than some earlier transaction with a presumedly competent buyer that had already declined an interest in them; oblivious to the inherent fact among his own words, that his record collection had already been depleted of records that (also according to his own words) were worth $8.00 for the presumedly best.

Avoid Saying that You "Made a List"

Another thing NOT to say is: "I made a list of the records".  A list is usually only helpful with very small collections of a few dozen albums or less, as it can help a vinyl record collection assessor/buyer to determine whether the particular titles/artists can justify the fuel/lease kilometres and drive time for a closer examination of your record collection.  When a professional vinyl record assessor learns that a layperson has spent 'hours making a list', flags go up including suspicion that the layperson holds a mythical/grandiose expectation of what their collection of records is worth.  Even if a layperson only respects their time at a minimum wage rate, they are bloating up their expectation of the value of their collection and making their collection less competitive and undermining the mathematical viability of the purchase of their record collection.

A list created by a seller/layperson, does not contain the assessors' professional determination of each record's proper condition/grade on the Goldmine Grading Standard, nor does a layperson's list denote the rarity or commonality of a particular pressing and mastering of each record, nor the particular salability/frequency of buying interest (supply/demand) for each particular record among the market of collectors in Ontario versus global market.

Unless your 'list' includes the frequency (how often) each particular record actually sells in Ontario (not globally), and includes the volume of market supply/inventory of each record versus the market demand for it, and includes the history of Ontario sales for each record per a professional grading scale notched one measure lower than a visual grade, and your expectation of prices include an HST number for a remittance setoff; and undercuts all other similar prices by 10% for competitiveness, and are then divided by three (3) from Ontario retail prices; then a list of artists/titles is effectively meaningless in assessing viability and value for purchasing your entire record collection for sales/distribution in the Ontario market.  It is not a constructive use of your time; and it bloats up your expectation of the mystical value of your record collection, even if you only value list-making time/effort at a minimum wage rate.

We buy entire record collections.  Your old vinyl records have a value based on their individual merits.  Some rare vintage record pressings might be worth as much as hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars; while most common record albums might be worth a few dollars if they have been kept in extraordinary great condition, such as being still in shrinkwrap and with their original 'hypestickers'.

Supply & Demand: Understanding Value and Saleability of Common Pop Albums

Example: At the time of this writing, seven-hundred thirty-seven (737) copies of "American Fool" by John Cougar are listed for sale on Discogs, another one-hundred thirty (130) are listed for sale on Ebay, hundreds are for sale in Flea Markets and on Kijiji, and likely over a million (1,000,000+) are still in record collections around the world.  Also, likely over a thousand brand-new 180gram pressings of the album have been made in recent years and are currently for sale on retail record store shelves.

At time of this writing, hundreds of copies of the album are available for sale for a dollar or less; with thousands more people trying to sell, than wanting to buy.  On average, seven (7) copies of particular vintage pressings of American Fool sell per month, meaning that at this moment, there are one-hundred and five (105) months worth of supply already available, rendering inventory of said album in competition against nearly a thousand others; which translates that if it not absolutely pristine, then it is not even worth a dollar to hold in inventory.

We buy your entire record collection on its positive merit.  Meaning that aside from refusing anything that is blatantly garbage, we won't cherry-pick your collection.  We won't leave you holding a bulk of worthless records that you'll never sell individually - while not all records have a positive value/merit.