The Deep(er) End Of The Pool - Bulk LP Buy

Opportunity? And at what cost? Assuming my analysis is correct what would you do?

  • Buy if the price is $10,000- $20,000

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Buy if the price is over $20,000

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    42
He's way off on his expectations.

I'd give it a look, and tell him straight up, then NOT be afraid to walk when he gets shitty (which he is likely to do).

There are some truly unrealistic mf'ers in this world, and this sounds like the High Priest of them.
 
I really doubt it's the seller's collection. People who sell their own large collections of stuff tend to go into a lot more detail and use phrases like "my collection" in there. The seller really doesn't sound like they collected these on their own.
 
I would likely go on line sales here and on Discogs. The small town I'm from has zero places to buy vinyl or any music, so it always struck me as an opportunity to start a B&M shop with LPs, vintage gear and musical instruments but not sure I'm ready for that ATM. The closet places to buy music are about an hour away unless you count occasional finds at an antique mall. This would provide a chuck of inventory though.


Just be really careful about the percentage of top tier, and even then the top mastererings, yo the commons. As you might have to Goodwill those out.
Vinyl sales may have exploded with new releases at a rate not seen in recent history...but it is still a tiny, tiny market unknown to most.
That amount of LP'sis not enough to start a B&M, and are the titles/pressings valid enough to excite web sales?
 
That amount of LP'sis not enough to start a B&M, and are the titles/pressings valid enough to excite web sales?
Well it's a start, and as he said there is nothing in town. What ends up happening people see the store and say I have some records in storage, maybe I'll bring them in. Then you have the ones that get a kick out of seeing a record store again and walk in the door. Before they know it they are going home with a little pile of records and a player.

Also today the record store I mainly go to went from 85% old records and 15% new in the main filing area to the opposite today. Most the old records don't make it out of the new arrival area anymore as they sell fast mainly because they are cheaper. There is so so many new records now it's a mute point not having enough to sell, since less used are coming in also.
 
Just remember one thing; for records under $20, wholesale is 10% of retail. That's what a dealer would pay. If the average retail of all 6000 records is $5, a dealer would pay $3000, or maybe $3500, or maybe a little more if he needed stock.

For personal use, you can offer more. I can't see him getting more than $1-1.25 in a bulk sale like this.
 
Well it's a start, and as he said there is nothing in town. What ends up happening people see the store and say I have some records in storage, maybe I'll bring them in. Then you have the ones that get a kick out of seeing a record store again and walk in the door. Before they know it they are going home with a little pile of records and a player.

Also today the record store I mainly go to went from 85% old records and 15% new in the main filing area to the opposite today. Most the old records don't make it out of the new arrival area anymore as they sell fast mainly because they are cheaper. There is so so many new records now it's a mute point not having enough to sell, since less used are coming in also.

Reality is seldom in line with our dreams. Do it as a hobby....or steer clear!!!
 
Fuzzy, I'm thinking you are high in your expectations having recently just disposed of most a collection I bought of 750 records. I got them in spring, sold the high value records I was planning on selling within the first month, and that paid for my initial investment. Those were mainly great first pressings of desirable classic rock, metal, and hard rock. There were lots of others, but they are the type people pick up in record stores. My prices are now at $2 apiece for the last 180 of them and I kept about 300. It has taken me until now to sell the others at average about $4 each. I will likely set the remainder at $1 each and there is still some good stuff in there! After another month, these are going to the thrift. And this was a good collection!

So figure you will get greater than $5 on maybe 30% of the collection depending on the distribution. It could be less, but isn't likely to be more. And you are going to have to work at it. It will take a lot of the fun out of it if you need to recoup someone else's money and turn it into profit.

Just saying...

Edit: I agree, this is a flipper. And the 50k is the starting point of the discussion. Going there with a good chunk of change more than he paid for it will do wonders In negotiating, if you do decide to go.
 
I just got off the phone with a buddy in Florida. He went to look at a collection of 5000 rock records offered for $1000. There was a lot of great stuff, but there was also a lot of crap. Only about 30% of the records were in really nice condition, and they were not necessarily the good titles. He probably could have pulled 300 or 400 records out of the collection and sold them for $10-20 at record shows, but he decided that the labor of transporting and sorting that big a collection wasn't worth it at his age.
 
Just remember one thing; for records under $20, wholesale is 10% of retail. That's what a dealer would pay. If the average retail of all 6000 records is $5, a dealer would pay $3000, or maybe $3500, or maybe a little more if he needed stock.

For personal use, you can offer more. I can't see him getting more than $1-1.25 in a bulk sale like this.

Thanks for quantifying this, my assessment of trading in/selling to a LRS has been somewhat less precise and limited to feeling like I have been bent over the counter. This is the reason why I started selling on line. I am not trying to make a killing off this possibility or any of my sales, but balance out the costs of my own vinyl addiction.

Reality is seldom in line with our dreams. Do it as a hobby....or steer clear!!!

There is truth in that statement. As I said above, my goal is not so much to make money through this but primarily to make this hobby self sustaining. I have more time than money, and time spent dealing with LPs and vintage gears is enjoyable to me as well. I do intend on keeping it that way.

Fuzz-- I can't add any more to this than everybody has already said. Some real good analysis and food for thought here...

I, like you, am a collector, and I also have an interest in possibly selling or having a store some day. So I'd actually like to consult with you some time about how you develop the discipline to let things go! I'm good at acquiring, not so good at selling/getting rid of/passing things on. GJ

Its a work in progress, but I remind myself that certain LPs I have probably will just sit there as they aren't my cup of tea and that I would rather use the funds from them to acquire something I can more realistically enjoy on a more regular basis. Anytime you want to discuss further just PM me Bud.

Fuzzy, I'm thinking you are high in your expectations having recently just disposed of most a collection I bought of 750 records. I got them in spring, sold the high value records I was planning on selling within the first month, and that paid for my initial investment. Those were mainly great first pressings of desirable classic rock, metal, and hard rock. There were lots of others, but they are the type people pick up in record stores. My prices are now at $2 apiece for the last 180 of them and I kept about 300. It has taken me until now to sell the others at average about $4 each. I will likely set the remainder at $1 each and there is still some good stuff in there! After another month, these are going to the thrift. And this was a good collection!

So figure you will get greater than $5 on maybe 30% of the collection depending on the distribution. It could be less, but isn't likely to be more. And you are going to have to work at it. It will take a lot of the fun out of it if you need to recoup someone else's money and turn it into profit.

Just saying...

Edit: I agree, this is a flipper. And the 50k is the starting point of the discussion. Going there with a good chunk of change more than he paid for it will do wonders In negotiating, if you do decide to go.

I agree this guy is a Flipper, and a lazy, unrealistic one at that. I don't mind doing the leg work, sorting, pricing, cleaning and selling but I appreciate your thoughts on not getting to deep into it price wise. As I said, in the past I have done well with smaller versions of these types of bulk buys. I mainly do it to build my collection and as long as I get my money back and "a little something for the effort" (Gungagaloonga), I have been happy. This would obviously be taking it to the next level as I can only assume I would be looking at inventory for months. I need to decide if I am ready to do that, and if I am what my walk away point is on this particular deal.
 
I learned much in this thread and will try to recall "bulk LP buy" so that I can search out this thread in the future.

But, speaking metaphorically, enough talk already about whether you will kiss the girl at the end of the date. You have not even met her yet and have no idea what she looks like. Pick up the phone and call her, if you like talking with her, ask her on a date -- then think about whether you want to try to kiss her.
 
Now THERE'S a dad-gum metaphor!!! If only we could get Shatner to recite those lines! It would move a level up from Gold to Platinum.

But seriously Fuzzy, ^^^^ This. "Call the girl," and let us know how it goes. And make sure she's not a call girl...

GJ


Or Adam West.
But it's too late for Batman, Capt. Kirk will have to do.
 
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Well. Lesson number 1: act quickly if you see an opportunity. The ad says he's out of town until tomorrow so I just went to contact him and here is the updated ad. I guess that means one way or another he won't be interested in my best offer at around 10% of his asking price.

Thanks for all the responses all they are truly appreciated and I will bear them in mind for the next opportunity.

Cheers,

Fuzz
 
Hehe, yep that's always a risk. I was really riding the fence on whether to even bother. All good, now I can justify not worrying about it any longer. If his asking price was more reasonable I would have been all over it like stink on a dog...
 
True enough. There have been a few threads here that ended up this way. It is so easy to forget that there are also sharks out there and they read AK too!
 
I suspect the seller has no clue what is in all the boxes. For $50k asking price, he should have a detailed inventory box by box. He should also be able to point out that the sale value is $75k to $100K if you take the time to sell these individually. If he just has the boxes and no inventory list it is BS, they seller has slapped a stupid price on it and is not willing to do any work to back it up. If those LPs are the best "bait" he can put in the picture that is not very impressive. For the crazy price being asked it is on the seller to show the value. Just looks like the typical local reseller wanting to get Ebay+ prices without the work, or someone who built a collection, is attached to it, and thinks their stuff is gold.

I also look at that picture and can smell must and old cardboard. Maybe not, but they need good sniff test, and outside of the locker.

The amount of work here is crazy, it's slugging 3,000+ pounds of LPs here (if there are 9,000). To get paid for your time you need to buy this for more like $.50 per LP. He needs to shift the decimal point left from $5.50 to $.550 per LP.

There is no need to panic on this one, this deal is not going anywhere soon. Leave an offer that is as low as his is high, say no problem but if he gets to the point of wanting to move them all at one point to give you a call. Explain the market for wholesale selling of markets and suggest he try contacting some album stores to see how he can do.
 
Don't forget, OP has to SPLIT any profits there may be while doing all the work (in this particular case).
So it's not all icing on the cake.
 
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