Vinyl-GAF: selling on Ebay and shipping?

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Prez

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I have never used Ebay for anything. I have always used a local alternative which has worked out much better for me, but it doesn't work well for selling LPs.

What should I know about selling on Ebay? Will I have a hard time selling as a new member? How should I avoid being scammed? Sellers could either say they didn't receive the item or that it is damaged (when it's not) and I know that Ebay is always on the buyer's side, no matter what.

I also have to figure out how to ship these records with no risk of damage. Any advice about that?
 
I have sold quite a few records on eBay and have never gotten scammed.

Shipping from Canada throughout North America is about $7 - $10. I usually cut two 12.5" squares from the side of a cardboard box and duct tape the edges to seal the record. Always remove the album from the sleeve so it doesn't hurt the jacket.

For "expensive" records I actually used a super-thin sheet of engineered wood as the backing to the package. I sold an autographed version of this for about $500 USD and had no problems with using regular airmail.

Try to be as honest and upfront as possible in your listing. I unknowingly sold a very rare sealed nine inch nails CD that had a tiny slice cut into the wrapper. The buyer was concerned that I had tried to pull a switcheroo or something, but we worked it out in the end. I always identify imperfections now! I also try to be super friendly when communicating with buyers...I'm not running a business, I'm trying to negotiate a friendly transaction. Keeping the lines of communication open helps mitigate situations arising from disappointment.

Hope this helps.
 
I buy classical LPs from ebay. Honestly, if you're new with very little feedback, yes I would be less likely to purchase from you. Especially with vinyl because you need to build up a reputation for correctly grading what you sell. I wouldn't be too concerned about being scammed, vinyl people are best people, I've never had any problems.
 
Wormdundee said:
Sell your vinyl on discogs, not ebay, it's where all the vinyl collectors and hobbyists are going to look first.

Really? I'm going to look into this. I've always had good luck with my closing prices on eBay.
 
Thanks for the advice guys! I'll check out Discogs.

Also, how do I know how much I can ask? I've checked out Popsike but the prices there are way overblown compared to Discogs. Then again on Discogs I see a lot of prices that are way too low (€3-5 for VG++ while I see other offers for the same record (and same print) in the same condition priced 5x as high)
 
Stabbie said:
Thanks for the advice guys! I'll check out Discogs.

Also, how do I know how much I can ask? I've checked out Popsike but the prices there are way overblown compared to Discogs. Then again on Discogs I see a lot of prices that are way too low (€3-5 for VG++ while I see other offers for the same record (and same print) in the same condition priced 5x as high)

Try completed listings on eBay. Also, I want to stress the importance of LP mailers. I won't even think of buying one from a seller unless they are clear about the type of packaging that they'll use.
 
Stabbie said:
Thanks for the advice guys! I'll check out Discogs.

Also, how do I know how much I can ask? I've checked out Popsike but the prices there are way overblown compared to Discogs. Then again on Discogs I see a lot of prices that are way too low (€3-5 for VG++ while I see other offers for the same record (and same print) in the same condition priced 5x as high)

Just go with what you think it will sell for. Compare the prices that are already there and place your stuff according to relative grading. Pricing is an art, and you need to know how rare your collection is, what it has sold for in the past, and how popular the genre/artist/album is.

It's just something you gotta learn.
 
Just don't skimp on packaging...I can't even count how many times now that I've received ding'd up Sleeves because of shoddy packaging. Bums me out and I left some choice words and ratings.
 
I've looked at several listings on discogs and it appears that items there sell for 10-20% below their eBay counterparts. Is this common or am I looking at the exceptions?
 
Just looking into selling vinyl at the studio. Will be leveraging our existing Bandcamp digital sales store for orders and payment (you have to do physical fulfillment yourself).

There is specialized packaging you can buy to reduce risk of damage in transit. Will try to remember to fish out some links tomorrow.
 
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