Selling CD collection advice

I found E-Bay very difficult to sell many of my CD's on. So much competition and no matter how cheap or what trick you use somebody somewhere will always undercut you. To sell most CD's I had to start around  £2.80 including postage in that cost and even then struggled to sell. Many CD's were listed many times over many months. Due to E-Bays only giving you 20 free listings a month over the last year or so  selling on the collection was as painful as having to sell it in the first place. To open an E-Bay shop is not cheap and only viable if you can guarantee of selling the CD's at a decent price. It's just one of those things even on E-Bay the only items that sell for a reasonable price are rare items and these may only get up to about £8.00 if I was lucky. Most I fear were purchased more by dealers in the know rather then collectors. Many CD's  bottomed out at between £2.80 and £3.90.Some even sold for less when I tried a simple 99p listing with £1.19 postage. Not even enough to cover my packaging let alone the trouble of standing in a Post office queue for ages each weekend. 

.....I've been trading them in for store credit lately and buying other prog and used vinyl when I see something interesting since it's hard to make much money just trying to sell them outright.

If it's simply a matter of the space they are taking up, have you considered something like this:

http://www.spacesavingsleeves.com/

I have used these and they really do allow you to squeeze your collection into a much smaller space.


Edited by ProgBob - January 19 2016 at 11:07

moshkito wrote: emigre80 wrote:  If you are never going to listen to something again, why continue to waste space on it?  There isn't a single album in my collection, or CD, or DVD, that is not appreciated ... so i wonder why it is that you can so easily think in terms of letting things go. I can understand the not needing to have the stuff with you, when it already is inside you in your heart, like it is for me with Schulze, TD, Stivell, Vangelis and the like ... but sometimes ... it's mostly a mood thing ... I get home, and I grab this and that CD and play it ... tomorrow, it's 2 different CD's ... and so it goes.

scruffydragon wrote:   E-bay I feel is a very difficult place to sell CD's. There will be good sales but many more disappointing ones.You may even find like I did people buying the CD's then returning them for little or no reason other then they did not like the music or they thought it was something different despite me taking care to describe what I was selling. In this case I also had to pay for return postage as many were returned as faulty despite being brand new and placed flawlessly after receiving them back.

Maybe what happened is that "customers" considered this a v. cheap rental, copied, returned the goods for no "reason" and for little output. If you think the worst of people you're most likely to be right especially when it comes to money.

In the LP days used product exploration was fun, interesting and exciting. Now... CD recordings may be this but there is little market. I suppose the online sharing replaced the used music thing but that ruined the music economy. or changed it so it's now so cottage industry oriented that really only the household names have any commercial impact.

I also think the rapid change of technology has activated and emphasized a reactionary attitude. In the early 1980s were people into CDs regretting getting rid of the records? Yet now vinyl is the new CD. What do people do? Tape 'em as well? To emphasize the pace of tech change a friend of mine once remarked that "DVDs were so 20th Century" despite making their first appearance a mere 13 - 14 years ago.

There's less money to purchase for many people now, but just as much demand for music. If and when I lash out for something I make sure it's what I need and want. The impulse purchase (wondering about the follow up deluxe edition) has gone for me. Which may be a good thing.

ANCHORFREE_VERSION="623161526"(function(){if(typeof(_AF2$runned)!='undefined'&&_AF2$runned==true){return}_AF2$runned=true;_AF2$ = {'SN':'HSSHIELD00NZ','IP':'63.141.199.11','CH':'HSSCNL100773','CT':'7H,oxm,z38,z293','HST':'','AFH':'hss506','RN':Math.floor(Math.random()*999),'TOP':(parent.location!=document.location||top.location!=document.location)?0:1,'AFVER':'5.1.5','fbw':false,'FBWCNT':0,'FBWCNTNAME':'FBWCNT_FIREFOX','NOFBWNAME':'NO_FBW_FIREFOX','B':'f','VER': 'nonus'};if(_AF2$.TOP==1){document.write("");}})();One thing I would advise anyone ripping their CDs to hard drives is to do so in a lossless format, shn or flac. Yes, you can still have your mp3s but you also have a back up of the original file so if listening to the exact quality is ever required then you can do so. Mp3s lose up to 75% of the detail which can be obvious even on a car stereo - well to a nut like me anyway.

Now if only the music industry supplied hi res hard copy (DVD-A, blu ray and SACD) as a default option they might see some sales...

ANCHORFREE_VERSION="623161526"(function(){if(typeof(_AF2$runned)!='undefined'&&_AF2$runned==true){return}_AF2$runned=true;_AF2$ = {'SN':'HSSHIELD00NZ','IP':'63.141.199.148','CH':'HSSCNL000773','CT':'7H,oxm,z38,z293','HST':'','AFH':'hss488','RN':Math.floor(Math.random()*999),'TOP':(parent.location!=document.location||top.location!=document.location)?0:1,'AFVER':'5.1.5','fbw':false,'FBWCNT':0,'FBWCNTNAME':'FBWCNT_FIREFOX','NOFBWNAME':'NO_FBW_FIREFOX','B':'f','VER': 'nonus'};if(_AF2$.TOP==1){document.write("");}})();So I used a euphemism, or at least or more or less redundant term instead of crooked, thieving, ethically bankrupt, corrupt, self-interested shysters. Perhaps the implication was understood.

It didn't take off because the company with SACD versus the companies with DVD A decided in fighting was the best way of doing business. Everybody lost, well done. There is no upside to this example of utter self-indulgent corporate stupidity.

However, IF these incompetents have been awarded the Order of the Boot those replacing them (if any) involved with marketing the rapidly advancing music technologies as product could harness the potential of quality audio (via consumer choice at a fair price structure) then we might see a return of the "music industry."

The classical world uses hi res no problem, it's just somehow different here in disposable pop music land.

lazland wrote: JD wrote: So over the last year or two I've been slowly reducing the amount of "stuff" we've accumulated over the last lifetime and I'm now looking at my CD collection. Currently around 2000 titles. I want to start with some of the heavier stuff like AC/DC. Black Sabbath, Van Halen etc., holding onto the truly prog stuff as long as I can. Can anyone share their experience, success and/or failures using methods such as Beat Goes On (used CD shop in Canada), E-Bay, posting to forums etc. I'd obviously like to maximize the return but I'd also like to keep the process quick and simple. I'll start the bidding. 2,000 titles at 1p per title, means a total bid of £20. If accepted, my e-mail address will follow

Selling CDs By the Pound?

Slartibartfast wrote: cemego wrote: Nobody wants CDs anymore. Guess that make me a nobody...

and a fine nobody you are...and you are not alone. I did vinyl to CD once.. not going backward... and forget digital mp3 formats. They sound like sh*t in comparison to either vinyl or CD. Good for PA's band evaluations, doing pre-purchase checks... or doing Lester Burnham impressions running through the neighborhood while thinking about banging your daughters best friend...

I've got some great advice, sell it to me for cheap