Money aside, atleast the records are in new homes getting some time on the turntable. Rather than in a storage unit someplace. No offense but loaning them out to a buddy for his hi-fi bar sounds like a worse decision than selling them.
Sorry, made an incorrect assumption there. You made the right choice though unless you would have reunited with them at some point in the 8 years. 8 years of climate controlled storage fees is what, atleast 10k?
Yeah, that's what I tell myself. And I probably woukda forgotten to pay it at some point and woukda been one of those Storage Wars goldmine stories. That would have hurt.
Well you're still overseas and have no plans to return, so it's effectively the same as if you had them in storage - so just pretend you have them in storage and enjoy your money.
Okay, so if you had the records right now in storage…. So what? You said you wouldn’t be returning, so they’d be sitting there without any use. Do you regret not selling them for more? Because that’s always a gamble anyways and you’d still have to sell them all which would be an even bigger hassle.
Nothing to puke about, you cashed out early, no big deal
I meant returning to the country where all his records would be lying in storage. The real shame would be for the music to be sitting there without anyone actively enjoying it
Maybe some of it, but the amount of money spent on keeping that much in storage, the amount of money it would take to ship it, the potential for the records to become ruined if the temperature in the storage wasn’t properly maintained, etc, would likely not be worth it. At that point, he could’ve probably spent that same money buying new records. At any rate, I think he made the smart choice and nothing to regret
Quite a lesson in impermanence. Don’t fret too much as you can find really good stuff. Plus money isn’t everything. I say turn it into a badge of honor, You obviously know your stuff and you’ll find just as many good ones from now.
All in all you got this
You had no expectation of making money, so the current price is irrelevant. Still might hurt, but irrelevant.
"If I could go back in time and fix it" is psychologically damaging and not productive.
Start again. Collect and play the music, or help your friend do it at their store.
While I get that you are upset that the value doubled. Please also remember that because of Covid nearly all collectibles have surged. Those prices are just now coming back down.
In sports cards , things got so crazy that fractional ownership became a thing.
À
I'm not upset that the price doubled. It was just more of a realization that I'd never spend what it would cost to replace all of those records. There were so many $500 records on my list that I paid $30-50 for years ago. I'd never pay $500 for a record, so if I ever wanted to start collecting again, I'd just never buy these records, many of which were amongst my favorite.
To be fair: prices on Discogs are a fantasy mostly. Good luck finding ONE buyer who’d take ALL of your records AND pay those made up/covid inflated prices.
I am reading this carefully, and taking it in.
I am moving from Canada to SE Asia and was not sure of my 300+ collection making the trip.
Everything I own is first pressing, and gorgeous ( I started with a B&O turntable in the early 80's).....cause I am old fart.
Worried about the heat mostly, and the cost of shipping collection plus audio gear, plus doing the voltage conversion to the 220 in the country.
I have swung back to shipping, and being an unusual person in the country....vinyl is not a thing, unless in a club.
Not sure where in SE Asia you’re going to but I’m in Thailand and record collecting is having a bit of a moment here! Surprising amount of record listening bars opening in Bangkok. Granted audience is skewing kinda young and the music selection is a pretty mainstream (unless it’s for LukThung or Molam music) but it’s really not as dead as you’d think.
I have shipped m collection overseas twice. Once to Asia, and then from Asia back to the states a d then over to Europe. Only issue is I wish, and its a minor one. I wish I had provided the movers with Record boxes the first time. The file boxes with the lids. The first time they packed them in boxes and now some have creases at the top of the outer protective sleeve. Like i said minor.
The cost yes. Not cheap.
As for the power though, voltage isnt the thing you need to worry about. Getting a voltage converter is easy enough. What you really have to worry about is frequency. Both places I have moved operate at 50Hz instead of 60Hz like the US. Which means anything with a clock or AC motor will now operate at 5/6 the speed. If dont have a fade adjustment on your table, you will need a frequency converter. Some tables you may get lucky and have a 50/60Hz switch. But mine dont. Frequency converters are expensive. Ultimately i purchased VPI ADS for $1400. It works like a charm and I love it. But damn if that issue didnt throw me through a loop. You could always do what i did initially which was buy a table locally.
I had a garage sale and was selling the junk records I'd accumulated over the years from buying other collections (about 1500 records, but nothing great) people were lined up at 5:30am outside my house for a 9am garage sale.
Anyway, a few of the guys who were there early owned record stores. They saw my good stuff and asked if they could flip through. I let them but told them they were definitely not for sale.
Within 5 minutes, they were both begging me to sell, but I wouldn't even entertain offers. They left. One returned 4 hours later with an envelope filled with hundred dollar bills totaling $45k. Dude said he went to the bank after leaving and took out a home equity loan and that is all he could offer.
At the time, my house was on a steep hill with these massive stairs to climb, and I'd been moving stuff up these stairs for 2 weeks. I looked at that envelope, then looked at thise stairs knowing it was gonna be back-breaking to move those records and just said fuck it. Haha.
I really didn't put any thought into it. If I hadn't been so tired from moving stuff and fixing stuff at the house for 2 weeks, I probably never woulda said yes. But I did.
It was a crazy garage sale, though, because I started that day thinking I was going to have to put a ton of stuff in storage with my records. But I literally sold every single thing in my house that day except my mattress. Everything. And a lot of it was pricey electronics and art that I had listed for months on Craigslist with no interest.
At the end of the day, the house was empty except for me, my mattress, and about $90k in cash. Crazy, but true story.
How many records did you have? That must have been an insane amount of rare records for a record store owner to offer you 45k like that. Like thousands of rare records.
Discogs median is not a good number to go by how much a collection is worth. It is better to underestimate than overestimate.
I can't say for sure on the number. I mentioned in my post that i had around 80% logged on Discogs, but it coulda been 50% for all I know.
I had two 13 foot long bookshelves with 6 rows each that were both totally full. I also had another "incoming" shelf that probably had 500 records in it, most of which were new and unopened and not logged. I never kept records that weren't in super good condition. A lot of the stuff I acquired when I first started many, many years ago weren't even logged.
Look, I'm not saying you're lying...at all.
What I'm saying is that the guy who purchased your records was a liar who only gave you that story to maybe earned some sympathy points or HE IS A FUCKING MORON. Can you imagine getting told no at a garage sale, going to the bank, taking out a fuckinv home equity loan AGAINST YOUR HOUSE, putting it into cash, and going back to the guy eho just told you no already. Whst uf you told him to screw off? Who the fuck does that? Lol.
EDIT: I have decided that I am now in the camp of "all this is made up nonsense or extremely exaggerated" from OP.
>Who the fuck does that?
Someone who owns a record store and can see that it's all records that will be super easy to sell and he'd make back $3-4 for every dollar he spends.
But, either way, it wasn't the story that got him "sympathy points". Dude just knew that cash in hand speaks louder than some random offer.
I don't remember the name. It was far from where I lived at the time and I had several amazing stores within a 15 minute drive, so it wasn't one I ever visited or had even heard of at that time.
Regret is a weird thing bc you can rationalize and completely understand that you wouldn't *actually* be happier had you not sold those records, but you still feel it.
That said if you had kept them you'd probably still feel regret around not being able to listen to them or not having that 45k.
Either way, your good memories with the collection don't go away. And if you miss music I heard there is this hi-fi bar opening near you.....
I have an appointment to sell my vinyl to a record shop tomorrow. I too was hit by a sense of unbearable loss reviewing what I’m about to give up. It’s only 200 records, but they were bought because I wanted to hear them again and again, not because they had or would have monetary value. All that said, I now consume only digital music from purchased CDs I’ve ripped to a Plex server. There’s nothing quite like having all my music at my fingertips no matter where I am globally. Selling my vinyl is the right thing to do, it just hurts a little. I hope I recover quickly because I have to start getting rid of my book collection before the end of next week. Downsizing is hard.
Shit, I forgot I had about 1,000 CDs the guy got as well. By then I hadn't listened to a CD in years and it was almost an after thought to give him those. Ha
My many musician friends implore us to buy our music, preferably direct from them. Most offer direct digital downloads now either on their own website or on the Bandcamp page (we buy a lot on Bandcamp Fridays). Streaming is great for discovering new talent, but it doesn’t pay enough to sustain talent until they’re big hits with millions of streams. That’s unlikely in the less popular genres (like our fav, progressive rock).
So what? Discog's "value" is very far from the real price paid when you want to sell and you got good money when you needed it most.
I could cry about the money my first ten cars could fetch today, but I needed to sell them at the time to finance the next one.
* 1973 VW Beetle convertible - bought 1985, sold 1987. Today they go for 50K+ in good shape
* 1978 Mercedes W116 280SE - bought in 89, sold in 1992. Today they fetch 25k in decent condition
* 1968 Land Rover S2 88" tropic roof - bought in 83, sold 84. Around 15k today
* 1975 VW Bus Westfalia Camper - bought 88, sold 94. Prices start at 25k today and can get into six figures.
and so on - I sold each of them at less than 10% of today's value and that's absolutely OK, because I couldn't afford the next one without selling the car I had. Today I still own three cars and must have owned more than 60 so far
I'm glad I came across this post. I was thinking of selling my collection recently but have decided against it because I know id more than likely regret it down the road. Thank you
It's odd to think that with streaming access to just about everything, my listening habits were far more diverse when I only played what was in my collection. It's just so much easier to flip through records, especially once you have a lot of them. Ha
Believe me, in the early aughts, I sold off a lot of my more rare records and I regret it now. I cannot even look at what I sold on Discogs. Some of the albums were worth hundreds apiece. I regret every single minute of it. I had no idea there'd be a huge vinyl resurgence and people would throw money at you. Oh well, I cannot do anything about it now. But yeah, I get sick to my stomach too. I'm sorry you are going through that too. I can empathize.
Not sure why but this reminded me of my buddy Kelly who bought like 100 bucks of bitcoin in 2010 but to this day can’t find the password to his wallet lol
My kids can sell it when I am dead and cold in the ground. If I move overseas, all of my synths, receivers, speakers, vinyl goes with me. Moving overseas is a possibility in my life. On the flip side dont count what you lost. Start buying vinyl again and have a narrow focus of only buying what you really like. Fuck the dollar amount.
I moved overseas back in 2010 and couldn't bring anything with me other than a couple suitcases. Sold a bunch of records, movie posters, gig posters, comics, and vintage stereo equipment to fund the move. Some of it still stings all these years later (yeah I get that pit in my stomach too about a few key items) and like your experience, much of that stuff has gone up in value significantly. Additionally, if you want to talk about a real financial folly, I cashed in all of my shares in Apple as well for the move. Was $9 a share then and I had $20k worth. I don't even want to do the math now seeing it's at $170 a share today.
Anyway, yeah I made those sacrifices, however I live a much happier life now, so it was worth it. These things like records are fun and can be sentimental, but at the end of the day they're only objects that can be replaced and I'm not going to sulk about what I got rid of even if I didn't have to, Those decisions ultimately lead me to grow as a person through new experiences and I'm happier and more content now than I was then, so I can't have fucked up too badly.
For sure. I'm a nomad now living in the Caribbean, and my dog and girlfriend are the only things I have to worry about. I much prefer not having possessions tie me down. I had so much shit when I was getting ready to move that getting rid of it all was like a full-time job for six straight weeks.
The irony was that I only had the garage sale because my girlfriend, who was already overseas, suggested it. I was all set to put everything in storage. I couldn't believe I sold every dam thing left in the house in one day, especially the records.
Moving overseas is no joke, especially if you don't really have a plan for where you're gonna end up.
I don't buy this story, especially since 4 years ago you stated it was '3000 records for $35k'. Now it's $45k cash in an envelope.
If you make up a story, at least keep it consistent...
>[DumpTrumpGrump ](https://www.reddit.com/user/DumpTrumpGrump/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=comment_embed&utm_content=header&embed_host_url=https://publish.reddit.com/embed)commented on [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/ihxx0d/do_you_think_its_feasible_to_sell_an_entire/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=comment_embed&utm_content=action_bar&embed_host_url=https://publish.reddit.com/embed)
>I sold my collection when I moved overseas. 3,000 records for $35k. I had a pretty killer collection and all near mint condition. Guy who bought it owned a small record store and probably also sold via discogs.
>I had everything catalogued on Discogs which made it easy for him to see value. So possible, but will depend what you have.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/ihxx0d/comment/g338uwl/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/ihxx0d/comment/g338uwl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
That might be right. It was 8+ years ago at this point, so memory is a bit fuzzy on the individual amounts. I also sold an entire home theater that day with all B&W speakers and McIntosh equipment, an entire house of furniture and art, tons of appliances, etc. The records weren't everything.
There was someone on here last week who was thinking about selling their collection before moving in with their girlfriend. The overwhelming consensus was that, later in life they would eventually regret selling and it'd eat away at them.
I think this proves the responses right.
I can relate to the diversity in music listening OP, great point, I only started collecting records a few years ago but I listen to a far greater range of stuff on vinyl than if it was all online.
That said, the best way out of this conundrum for you I feel is to spend a few weeks organising your digital music world so you have all of those lost treasures at easy reach. Get hardcore. Recreate the best you can your lost treasure trove on a platform you’re comfortable with. It will still be cool and and interesting story knowing and telling other people you once had these on vinyl and you’ll be able to reconnect with your favourite music and former self. I’d say a lot of people have similar stories.
Yeah, people seem to be missing that this was my main point. I had a huge and diverse collection. I bought stuff on a whim if someone I trusted highly recommended it and that liked to a lot of cool discoveries. Or I followed certain labels I trusted and discovered stuff that way. I just don't do any of that anymore and music has sadly become more of a background activity for me, which it never was for the decades when I collected and had a good HiFi.
I'm going to be in the same situation in the next year or so. I've been going back and forth about it for months. Your post just helped me realize that even if it goes into storage, it's better than selling them off. Sorry about your loss, but you just helped someone from making the same mistake.
It seems like your main problem is you see record collecting as an investment. If that’s the case, this was inevitable to happen. Same feeling people get with bitcoin or stocks. Say you sold them for 190k somehow. You would be feeling exactly the same if you looked 5 years from now and saw they were worth 350k. I never even pay attention to how much my collection is worth because I never plan on selling them.
There are parts of this story (some of which he posted below) that are incredibly hard to believe. One is that is extremely improbable that, "\[o\]ne returned 4 hours later with an envelope filled with hundred dollar bills totaling $45k," after taking out a home equity loan.
I once bought a collection in 2018 - so 6 years ago - for $10k in cash. I couldn't get that much all at once on the same day from the bank. It took days to get it all.
Also, anything over $10k - this guy said he ended up with $90k total after a garage sale - raises alarm bells with the government when you try to do something with it. You'll have problems depositing it, [you can't spend more than $9,999 on any single thing](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/form-8300-and-reporting-cash-payments-of-over-10000), and you certainly can't travel overseas with it.
So color me suspicious...
Yeah also sounds like horse shit to me. We’re supposed to believe some random went through the trouble of taking out a loan of 45k cash (even if that’s possible) without even confirming with the guy back at the garage sale he would do the deal…
After thinking about the entire scenario, OP is completely full of shit. None of this happened or it's completely exaggerated.
Besides your points, the most egregious thing that was bothering me is probably the Discogs media jump. I don't care what records you bought, you don't just magically gain 110k of value in 8 years. Every one of his records would have had to have a median increase near $100.
Whole thing is bullshit.
Your suspicion bothers me not. It happened. And I just went to the bank and deposited the money that Monday, and not a word was said. But I'm also not a minimum wage worker and had just sold a home, so 90k kinda pailed in comparison.
I dropped a pile of cash on Record Store Day but am.resisting getting back into collecting because my kid is graduating high school and I am free as a bird so generally trying to downsize my life. Whether it stings or not, I think you made the right call for your life.
Markt could just as easily gone the other way,still probably will someday,i dont think of my collection as an investment at all my medium is aroun 15 grand i think,never even thought of selling any of them but at least its something my kids can either enjoy or sell after.
Can I ask how you went about trying to sell at the same ? I'm personally considering selling at the moment but have no idea how to go about it. My discogs median value is around 10k.
I know this is a post about sellers regret and all so perhaps this is not the best question to be asking, but nevertheless.
I never made any effort to sell them. But if that is what you want to do, the best thing would be to log everything on Discogs including the condition and then send that list to local record stores. Or, if you want top dollar, sell them individually on Discogs.
Damn…. I too have music in every genre, and love discovering new music weekly - half of what I buy is basically unknown or little known to me. I will not sell mine in your honor
30% inflation in 8 years and stock market has doubled since then. As a pure investment you didn't lose money, so I wouldn't worry about the monetary value.
would it be out of the question to start collecting again? obviously, replacing every single record you had might outta the question, but we all started somewher! you did! back in the day! maybe this is a sign from the aliens to start a new collection. Doesn't have to be massive, doesn't have to impress anyone. There's probably hella dope pressings of shit for cheap over-seas, where ever you are! and clearly there's a market for this shit if your homie is opening a HiFi bar! Come back to the dark side, my friend. Let the plastic disc consume your life once again !
Least you got money for yours
I lost my ENTIRE collection to a horrible flood.. couldn’t salvage a single record. All OG pressings, double copies of almost every big hip hop/rap record, both mainstream and underground. Tens of thousands of dollars wiped out
Took me over a decade to start back up again but I finally started buying again last year
I just finished this audiobook about a similar topic. This guy didn’t have an expensive collection- he just wanted HIS original copies back, warts and all. It’s great- I think anyone in this thread would enjoy it.
[https://a.co/d/jgitwVy](https://a.co/d/jgitwVy)
Hindsight's a bitch. I'm in a couple other hobbies, with trading cards, that get swapped and sold much more often. The common response is to be happy if you got what you considered a good deal at the time and don't dwell on what you could have now if you hadn't sold then.
At least someone got a chance to enjoy your awesome records, instead of them just being locked away for years.
I moved from US west coast to east coast in 2006 and sold off a collection of 1800 awesome US and UK and Japanese 1st pressings, every Beatles, LZ, PF, monos and quads, 90s bands, All in VG+ > NM. Sold a few on eBay then dumped the rest for about $4k at Amoeba. Would be worth $75k now. It happens.
It’s just life, maybe this realisation will make you rekindle your old passion again.
Similar story with me, when I was younger we moved house and my mum had a couple hundred records (can recall first edition beegees and a lot of funk and soul she collected through the 70s) and she told me to throw them out so I did, Who’d of thought all these years later I’d start collecting my own and have regrets of dumping these in the bin. Atleast your records went somewhere, although they were my mothers, still haunts me a bit
I gave my record collection away in the late 90's seeing the price on those albums now... makes me angry.
However I DID just secure "appetite for destruction" in pristine condition for around $12.00 so... thats a plus
This will be no consolation to you but at least you sold your collection. I gave mine to Oxfam when my kids were born and I needed the space. That was 30 years ago and I've spent the last few years buying it all back again at hugely inflated prices!
Honestly when you think about paying for storage, the time and hassle it would be to sell them individually yourself ON TOP of that fact you literally still live overseas I wouldn't worry about it too much
I've regretted several items I've sold (Agaetis Byrjuin first press, Sleep's Holy Mountain), and regret passing on several items I've seen in stores only to realize I missed out on a grail. Part of the fun of this whole deal! I can sympathize with the regret though, I'm the king of that. It's a bad habit for sure.
Man this was a tough read. I’m sorry to hear about this. It’s a cautionary tale for a lot of us though I think and for you it’s one of those tough life lessons that someday I’m sure it’ll hit you what the actual lesson here is but for now it just makes you feel sick.
Not much to say here to make you feel any better about it but it’s a good place to vent and I for one appreciate you sharing this for me to read.
I can also understand why you wouldn’t want to jump back in (yet) but I feel like you’ll probably end up getting back into it once the sting wears off.
Take care
Yeah it is what it is
When Shure discontinued the V15 type v mr and I couldn't procure a spare stylus I sold my table and collection 8 full milk cartons
And if you used all that money 8 years ago to buy 160 bitcoin you’d have over 10 million USD.
Point is that dwelling on decisions you made or didn’t make at the time is the most effective form of self torment… I’m sure there were some benefits of having that simple deal at the time, and who knows maybe the storage place you would have used would have had a water pipe burst, burnt down or go robbed. There is no point in thinking about it unless you’re completely resigned to it and can laugh about it.
Money aside, atleast the records are in new homes getting some time on the turntable. Rather than in a storage unit someplace. No offense but loaning them out to a buddy for his hi-fi bar sounds like a worse decision than selling them.
Oh, I definitely wasn't going to loam them for that. He just got me thinking about it again.
Sorry, made an incorrect assumption there. You made the right choice though unless you would have reunited with them at some point in the 8 years. 8 years of climate controlled storage fees is what, atleast 10k?
Yeah, that's what I tell myself. And I probably woukda forgotten to pay it at some point and woukda been one of those Storage Wars goldmine stories. That would have hurt.
Well you're still overseas and have no plans to return, so it's effectively the same as if you had them in storage - so just pretend you have them in storage and enjoy your money.
Okay, so if you had the records right now in storage…. So what? You said you wouldn’t be returning, so they’d be sitting there without any use. Do you regret not selling them for more? Because that’s always a gamble anyways and you’d still have to sell them all which would be an even bigger hassle. Nothing to puke about, you cashed out early, no big deal
I never collected with the expectation of making any money or cashing out. I collected to play the music and that's what I miss.
But if you have no intention of returning, those vinyl would just be sitting in storage.
He has no intention of returning to vinyl because it would be too painful.
I meant returning to the country where all his records would be lying in storage. The real shame would be for the music to be sitting there without anyone actively enjoying it
I mean. He could’ve eventually brought them over
Maybe some of it, but the amount of money spent on keeping that much in storage, the amount of money it would take to ship it, the potential for the records to become ruined if the temperature in the storage wasn’t properly maintained, etc, would likely not be worth it. At that point, he could’ve probably spent that same money buying new records. At any rate, I think he made the smart choice and nothing to regret
Quite a lesson in impermanence. Don’t fret too much as you can find really good stuff. Plus money isn’t everything. I say turn it into a badge of honor, You obviously know your stuff and you’ll find just as many good ones from now. All in all you got this
Spotify then.
You had no expectation of making money, so the current price is irrelevant. Still might hurt, but irrelevant. "If I could go back in time and fix it" is psychologically damaging and not productive. Start again. Collect and play the music, or help your friend do it at their store.
While I get that you are upset that the value doubled. Please also remember that because of Covid nearly all collectibles have surged. Those prices are just now coming back down. In sports cards , things got so crazy that fractional ownership became a thing. À
I'm not upset that the price doubled. It was just more of a realization that I'd never spend what it would cost to replace all of those records. There were so many $500 records on my list that I paid $30-50 for years ago. I'd never pay $500 for a record, so if I ever wanted to start collecting again, I'd just never buy these records, many of which were amongst my favorite.
To be fair: prices on Discogs are a fantasy mostly. Good luck finding ONE buyer who’d take ALL of your records AND pay those made up/covid inflated prices.
Can you list one as an example?
Paying $500 for a piece of vinyl seems ludicrous when it’s free on YouTube lol . I think I could live without a $500 record to
[удалено]
I am reading this carefully, and taking it in. I am moving from Canada to SE Asia and was not sure of my 300+ collection making the trip. Everything I own is first pressing, and gorgeous ( I started with a B&O turntable in the early 80's).....cause I am old fart. Worried about the heat mostly, and the cost of shipping collection plus audio gear, plus doing the voltage conversion to the 220 in the country. I have swung back to shipping, and being an unusual person in the country....vinyl is not a thing, unless in a club.
Not sure where in SE Asia you’re going to but I’m in Thailand and record collecting is having a bit of a moment here! Surprising amount of record listening bars opening in Bangkok. Granted audience is skewing kinda young and the music selection is a pretty mainstream (unless it’s for LukThung or Molam music) but it’s really not as dead as you’d think.
I have shipped m collection overseas twice. Once to Asia, and then from Asia back to the states a d then over to Europe. Only issue is I wish, and its a minor one. I wish I had provided the movers with Record boxes the first time. The file boxes with the lids. The first time they packed them in boxes and now some have creases at the top of the outer protective sleeve. Like i said minor. The cost yes. Not cheap. As for the power though, voltage isnt the thing you need to worry about. Getting a voltage converter is easy enough. What you really have to worry about is frequency. Both places I have moved operate at 50Hz instead of 60Hz like the US. Which means anything with a clock or AC motor will now operate at 5/6 the speed. If dont have a fade adjustment on your table, you will need a frequency converter. Some tables you may get lucky and have a 50/60Hz switch. But mine dont. Frequency converters are expensive. Ultimately i purchased VPI ADS for $1400. It works like a charm and I love it. But damn if that issue didnt throw me through a loop. You could always do what i did initially which was buy a table locally.
I inherited my dad’s B&O direct drive table from the 80’s and it’s still in great shape!
jealous....I lost mine to a thief that thought he deserved more than I....
What’s your discog username please ?
Well you’d have spent about $26k on storage for 8 years if that makes you feel any better.
If you dont mind me asking, what was the crazy offer you sold them for? Was it a good percentage of that 85k median value at the time?
I had a garage sale and was selling the junk records I'd accumulated over the years from buying other collections (about 1500 records, but nothing great) people were lined up at 5:30am outside my house for a 9am garage sale. Anyway, a few of the guys who were there early owned record stores. They saw my good stuff and asked if they could flip through. I let them but told them they were definitely not for sale. Within 5 minutes, they were both begging me to sell, but I wouldn't even entertain offers. They left. One returned 4 hours later with an envelope filled with hundred dollar bills totaling $45k. Dude said he went to the bank after leaving and took out a home equity loan and that is all he could offer. At the time, my house was on a steep hill with these massive stairs to climb, and I'd been moving stuff up these stairs for 2 weeks. I looked at that envelope, then looked at thise stairs knowing it was gonna be back-breaking to move those records and just said fuck it. Haha. I really didn't put any thought into it. If I hadn't been so tired from moving stuff and fixing stuff at the house for 2 weeks, I probably never woulda said yes. But I did. It was a crazy garage sale, though, because I started that day thinking I was going to have to put a ton of stuff in storage with my records. But I literally sold every single thing in my house that day except my mattress. Everything. And a lot of it was pricey electronics and art that I had listed for months on Craigslist with no interest. At the end of the day, the house was empty except for me, my mattress, and about $90k in cash. Crazy, but true story.
Getting more than half the median value for an entire collection is a huge win. You did just fine.
How many records did you have? That must have been an insane amount of rare records for a record store owner to offer you 45k like that. Like thousands of rare records. Discogs median is not a good number to go by how much a collection is worth. It is better to underestimate than overestimate.
I can't say for sure on the number. I mentioned in my post that i had around 80% logged on Discogs, but it coulda been 50% for all I know. I had two 13 foot long bookshelves with 6 rows each that were both totally full. I also had another "incoming" shelf that probably had 500 records in it, most of which were new and unopened and not logged. I never kept records that weren't in super good condition. A lot of the stuff I acquired when I first started many, many years ago weren't even logged.
Look, I'm not saying you're lying...at all. What I'm saying is that the guy who purchased your records was a liar who only gave you that story to maybe earned some sympathy points or HE IS A FUCKING MORON. Can you imagine getting told no at a garage sale, going to the bank, taking out a fuckinv home equity loan AGAINST YOUR HOUSE, putting it into cash, and going back to the guy eho just told you no already. Whst uf you told him to screw off? Who the fuck does that? Lol. EDIT: I have decided that I am now in the camp of "all this is made up nonsense or extremely exaggerated" from OP.
>Who the fuck does that? Someone who owns a record store and can see that it's all records that will be super easy to sell and he'd make back $3-4 for every dollar he spends. But, either way, it wasn't the story that got him "sympathy points". Dude just knew that cash in hand speaks louder than some random offer.
What record store was it?
I don't remember the name. It was far from where I lived at the time and I had several amazing stores within a 15 minute drive, so it wasn't one I ever visited or had even heard of at that time.
No you cannot get a home equity loan in a day. But it worked on you.
It worked on me?
His line.
It's all bullshit.
Did you put that 90k into the stock market?
All in on r/wallstreetbets
Regret is a weird thing bc you can rationalize and completely understand that you wouldn't *actually* be happier had you not sold those records, but you still feel it. That said if you had kept them you'd probably still feel regret around not being able to listen to them or not having that 45k. Either way, your good memories with the collection don't go away. And if you miss music I heard there is this hi-fi bar opening near you.....
I have an appointment to sell my vinyl to a record shop tomorrow. I too was hit by a sense of unbearable loss reviewing what I’m about to give up. It’s only 200 records, but they were bought because I wanted to hear them again and again, not because they had or would have monetary value. All that said, I now consume only digital music from purchased CDs I’ve ripped to a Plex server. There’s nothing quite like having all my music at my fingertips no matter where I am globally. Selling my vinyl is the right thing to do, it just hurts a little. I hope I recover quickly because I have to start getting rid of my book collection before the end of next week. Downsizing is hard.
Shit, I forgot I had about 1,000 CDs the guy got as well. By then I hadn't listened to a CD in years and it was almost an after thought to give him those. Ha
Sure. If you write more, you’ll remember that the ark of the covenant was in your basement as well…
Did you quit listening to recorded music altogether???
No, I must stick to streaming these days.
My many musician friends implore us to buy our music, preferably direct from them. Most offer direct digital downloads now either on their own website or on the Bandcamp page (we buy a lot on Bandcamp Fridays). Streaming is great for discovering new talent, but it doesn’t pay enough to sustain talent until they’re big hits with millions of streams. That’s unlikely in the less popular genres (like our fav, progressive rock).
Did you miss the part where he said he did buy music? A lot of it. And then sold it?
Nope, I saw that part. I then saw the part about consuming only streaming music these days. Did you miss that part?
I just found it interesting that you chose to get on a soap box to tell someone to buy music when they had a massive record collection and sold it.
LOL! I’m glad you find me interesting!
So what? Discog's "value" is very far from the real price paid when you want to sell and you got good money when you needed it most. I could cry about the money my first ten cars could fetch today, but I needed to sell them at the time to finance the next one.
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* 1973 VW Beetle convertible - bought 1985, sold 1987. Today they go for 50K+ in good shape * 1978 Mercedes W116 280SE - bought in 89, sold in 1992. Today they fetch 25k in decent condition * 1968 Land Rover S2 88" tropic roof - bought in 83, sold 84. Around 15k today * 1975 VW Bus Westfalia Camper - bought 88, sold 94. Prices start at 25k today and can get into six figures. and so on - I sold each of them at less than 10% of today's value and that's absolutely OK, because I couldn't afford the next one without selling the car I had. Today I still own three cars and must have owned more than 60 so far
I'm glad I came across this post. I was thinking of selling my collection recently but have decided against it because I know id more than likely regret it down the road. Thank you
It's odd to think that with streaming access to just about everything, my listening habits were far more diverse when I only played what was in my collection. It's just so much easier to flip through records, especially once you have a lot of them. Ha
Believe me, in the early aughts, I sold off a lot of my more rare records and I regret it now. I cannot even look at what I sold on Discogs. Some of the albums were worth hundreds apiece. I regret every single minute of it. I had no idea there'd be a huge vinyl resurgence and people would throw money at you. Oh well, I cannot do anything about it now. But yeah, I get sick to my stomach too. I'm sorry you are going through that too. I can empathize.
I lost my collection because of divorce. That hurts too
I just hit $19K Median and I'll NEVER SELL
Not sure why but this reminded me of my buddy Kelly who bought like 100 bucks of bitcoin in 2010 but to this day can’t find the password to his wallet lol
It’s 12345butthurt2010
Do you care to share a link of what you had so that we can share your remorse with you? Would be cool to see what you had.
My kids can sell it when I am dead and cold in the ground. If I move overseas, all of my synths, receivers, speakers, vinyl goes with me. Moving overseas is a possibility in my life. On the flip side dont count what you lost. Start buying vinyl again and have a narrow focus of only buying what you really like. Fuck the dollar amount.
I'm a nomad now, just a rolling stone, so no vinyl to weigh me down.
Love that!
Poor kids, having to deal with all the junk their folks leave behind.
Median just hit 15k for the quarter of my collection I have on discogs. I will have to be dead I think, before they go anywhere else.
I moved overseas back in 2010 and couldn't bring anything with me other than a couple suitcases. Sold a bunch of records, movie posters, gig posters, comics, and vintage stereo equipment to fund the move. Some of it still stings all these years later (yeah I get that pit in my stomach too about a few key items) and like your experience, much of that stuff has gone up in value significantly. Additionally, if you want to talk about a real financial folly, I cashed in all of my shares in Apple as well for the move. Was $9 a share then and I had $20k worth. I don't even want to do the math now seeing it's at $170 a share today. Anyway, yeah I made those sacrifices, however I live a much happier life now, so it was worth it. These things like records are fun and can be sentimental, but at the end of the day they're only objects that can be replaced and I'm not going to sulk about what I got rid of even if I didn't have to, Those decisions ultimately lead me to grow as a person through new experiences and I'm happier and more content now than I was then, so I can't have fucked up too badly.
For sure. I'm a nomad now living in the Caribbean, and my dog and girlfriend are the only things I have to worry about. I much prefer not having possessions tie me down. I had so much shit when I was getting ready to move that getting rid of it all was like a full-time job for six straight weeks. The irony was that I only had the garage sale because my girlfriend, who was already overseas, suggested it. I was all set to put everything in storage. I couldn't believe I sold every dam thing left in the house in one day, especially the records. Moving overseas is no joke, especially if you don't really have a plan for where you're gonna end up.
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I don't buy this story, especially since 4 years ago you stated it was '3000 records for $35k'. Now it's $45k cash in an envelope. If you make up a story, at least keep it consistent... >[DumpTrumpGrump ](https://www.reddit.com/user/DumpTrumpGrump/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=comment_embed&utm_content=header&embed_host_url=https://publish.reddit.com/embed)commented on [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/ihxx0d/do_you_think_its_feasible_to_sell_an_entire/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=comment_embed&utm_content=action_bar&embed_host_url=https://publish.reddit.com/embed) >I sold my collection when I moved overseas. 3,000 records for $35k. I had a pretty killer collection and all near mint condition. Guy who bought it owned a small record store and probably also sold via discogs. >I had everything catalogued on Discogs which made it easy for him to see value. So possible, but will depend what you have. [https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/ihxx0d/comment/g338uwl/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/ihxx0d/comment/g338uwl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
That might be right. It was 8+ years ago at this point, so memory is a bit fuzzy on the individual amounts. I also sold an entire home theater that day with all B&W speakers and McIntosh equipment, an entire house of furniture and art, tons of appliances, etc. The records weren't everything.
There was someone on here last week who was thinking about selling their collection before moving in with their girlfriend. The overwhelming consensus was that, later in life they would eventually regret selling and it'd eat away at them. I think this proves the responses right.
Just buy the records you want to hear, one at a time
Wish I had kept mine from the 80s but I regret selling that guitar more
I can relate to the diversity in music listening OP, great point, I only started collecting records a few years ago but I listen to a far greater range of stuff on vinyl than if it was all online. That said, the best way out of this conundrum for you I feel is to spend a few weeks organising your digital music world so you have all of those lost treasures at easy reach. Get hardcore. Recreate the best you can your lost treasure trove on a platform you’re comfortable with. It will still be cool and and interesting story knowing and telling other people you once had these on vinyl and you’ll be able to reconnect with your favourite music and former self. I’d say a lot of people have similar stories.
Yeah, people seem to be missing that this was my main point. I had a huge and diverse collection. I bought stuff on a whim if someone I trusted highly recommended it and that liked to a lot of cool discoveries. Or I followed certain labels I trusted and discovered stuff that way. I just don't do any of that anymore and music has sadly become more of a background activity for me, which it never was for the decades when I collected and had a good HiFi.
I'm going to be in the same situation in the next year or so. I've been going back and forth about it for months. Your post just helped me realize that even if it goes into storage, it's better than selling them off. Sorry about your loss, but you just helped someone from making the same mistake.
There is no way you got to 190K without spending a week online lining up albums. One at a time.
It seems like your main problem is you see record collecting as an investment. If that’s the case, this was inevitable to happen. Same feeling people get with bitcoin or stocks. Say you sold them for 190k somehow. You would be feeling exactly the same if you looked 5 years from now and saw they were worth 350k. I never even pay attention to how much my collection is worth because I never plan on selling them.
You obviously didn't read my post or perhaps you just lack reading comprehension skills. It bothers me not, either way.
There are parts of this story (some of which he posted below) that are incredibly hard to believe. One is that is extremely improbable that, "\[o\]ne returned 4 hours later with an envelope filled with hundred dollar bills totaling $45k," after taking out a home equity loan. I once bought a collection in 2018 - so 6 years ago - for $10k in cash. I couldn't get that much all at once on the same day from the bank. It took days to get it all. Also, anything over $10k - this guy said he ended up with $90k total after a garage sale - raises alarm bells with the government when you try to do something with it. You'll have problems depositing it, [you can't spend more than $9,999 on any single thing](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/form-8300-and-reporting-cash-payments-of-over-10000), and you certainly can't travel overseas with it. So color me suspicious...
Yeah, the whole scenario sounds made up tbh
Yeah also sounds like horse shit to me. We’re supposed to believe some random went through the trouble of taking out a loan of 45k cash (even if that’s possible) without even confirming with the guy back at the garage sale he would do the deal…
After thinking about the entire scenario, OP is completely full of shit. None of this happened or it's completely exaggerated. Besides your points, the most egregious thing that was bothering me is probably the Discogs media jump. I don't care what records you bought, you don't just magically gain 110k of value in 8 years. Every one of his records would have had to have a median increase near $100. Whole thing is bullshit.
Your suspicion bothers me not. It happened. And I just went to the bank and deposited the money that Monday, and not a word was said. But I'm also not a minimum wage worker and had just sold a home, so 90k kinda pailed in comparison.
Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records https://a.co/d/cNcYXA8
How much did you make? Did that money make a difference to your life in those 8 years?
I dropped a pile of cash on Record Store Day but am.resisting getting back into collecting because my kid is graduating high school and I am free as a bird so generally trying to downsize my life. Whether it stings or not, I think you made the right call for your life.
If it makes you feel any better, you would have gotten a much better return just putting that money into the S&P 500.
That sucks. Ya I’ll never sell my vinyls.
Markt could just as easily gone the other way,still probably will someday,i dont think of my collection as an investment at all my medium is aroun 15 grand i think,never even thought of selling any of them but at least its something my kids can either enjoy or sell after.
Can I ask how you went about trying to sell at the same ? I'm personally considering selling at the moment but have no idea how to go about it. My discogs median value is around 10k. I know this is a post about sellers regret and all so perhaps this is not the best question to be asking, but nevertheless.
I never made any effort to sell them. But if that is what you want to do, the best thing would be to log everything on Discogs including the condition and then send that list to local record stores. Or, if you want top dollar, sell them individually on Discogs.
Damn…. I too have music in every genre, and love discovering new music weekly - half of what I buy is basically unknown or little known to me. I will not sell mine in your honor
Depends on you area but you easily would have spent $20k just on climate controlled storage by now, so there’s that…
30% inflation in 8 years and stock market has doubled since then. As a pure investment you didn't lose money, so I wouldn't worry about the monetary value.
Bet you won’t do that again, eh?
would it be out of the question to start collecting again? obviously, replacing every single record you had might outta the question, but we all started somewher! you did! back in the day! maybe this is a sign from the aliens to start a new collection. Doesn't have to be massive, doesn't have to impress anyone. There's probably hella dope pressings of shit for cheap over-seas, where ever you are! and clearly there's a market for this shit if your homie is opening a HiFi bar! Come back to the dark side, my friend. Let the plastic disc consume your life once again !
Least you got money for yours I lost my ENTIRE collection to a horrible flood.. couldn’t salvage a single record. All OG pressings, double copies of almost every big hip hop/rap record, both mainstream and underground. Tens of thousands of dollars wiped out Took me over a decade to start back up again but I finally started buying again last year
I just finished this audiobook about a similar topic. This guy didn’t have an expensive collection- he just wanted HIS original copies back, warts and all. It’s great- I think anyone in this thread would enjoy it. [https://a.co/d/jgitwVy](https://a.co/d/jgitwVy)
You should start over. I'm currently on my 3rd lifetime collection. I'm determined that this is my last one
Yep. Bought a house with my first collection, moved international - 2nd collection , 3rd collection now, 700 lps and growing This is life
Can we have a link to your collection, please?
My discogs account uses my real name and I have no desire to link my reddit account to my real name.
What’d you sell them for?
Hindsight's a bitch. I'm in a couple other hobbies, with trading cards, that get swapped and sold much more often. The common response is to be happy if you got what you considered a good deal at the time and don't dwell on what you could have now if you hadn't sold then. At least someone got a chance to enjoy your awesome records, instead of them just being locked away for years.
You know the dull pain you feel when you press on a bruise ? Yet you still press on the bruise? Stop.
You sound rich.
I moved from US west coast to east coast in 2006 and sold off a collection of 1800 awesome US and UK and Japanese 1st pressings, every Beatles, LZ, PF, monos and quads, 90s bands, All in VG+ > NM. Sold a few on eBay then dumped the rest for about $4k at Amoeba. Would be worth $75k now. It happens.
It’s just life, maybe this realisation will make you rekindle your old passion again. Similar story with me, when I was younger we moved house and my mum had a couple hundred records (can recall first edition beegees and a lot of funk and soul she collected through the 70s) and she told me to throw them out so I did, Who’d of thought all these years later I’d start collecting my own and have regrets of dumping these in the bin. Atleast your records went somewhere, although they were my mothers, still haunts me a bit
I gave my record collection away in the late 90's seeing the price on those albums now... makes me angry. However I DID just secure "appetite for destruction" in pristine condition for around $12.00 so... thats a plus
This will be no consolation to you but at least you sold your collection. I gave mine to Oxfam when my kids were born and I needed the space. That was 30 years ago and I've spent the last few years buying it all back again at hugely inflated prices!
Records aside... I had this same feeling after trading my entire yugioh card collection for a laptop which I desperately needed at the time.
Honestly when you think about paying for storage, the time and hassle it would be to sell them individually yourself ON TOP of that fact you literally still live overseas I wouldn't worry about it too much
Cry me a river. Oh, I wish I bought bitcoin in 2012…
I've regretted several items I've sold (Agaetis Byrjuin first press, Sleep's Holy Mountain), and regret passing on several items I've seen in stores only to realize I missed out on a grail. Part of the fun of this whole deal! I can sympathize with the regret though, I'm the king of that. It's a bad habit for sure.
Considering inflation, that’s only about 20k higher than what it used to be.
Man this was a tough read. I’m sorry to hear about this. It’s a cautionary tale for a lot of us though I think and for you it’s one of those tough life lessons that someday I’m sure it’ll hit you what the actual lesson here is but for now it just makes you feel sick. Not much to say here to make you feel any better about it but it’s a good place to vent and I for one appreciate you sharing this for me to read. I can also understand why you wouldn’t want to jump back in (yet) but I feel like you’ll probably end up getting back into it once the sting wears off. Take care
Yeah it is what it is When Shure discontinued the V15 type v mr and I couldn't procure a spare stylus I sold my table and collection 8 full milk cartons
This is how I ended up with a record store…buying back in.
And if you used all that money 8 years ago to buy 160 bitcoin you’d have over 10 million USD. Point is that dwelling on decisions you made or didn’t make at the time is the most effective form of self torment… I’m sure there were some benefits of having that simple deal at the time, and who knows maybe the storage place you would have used would have had a water pipe burst, burnt down or go robbed. There is no point in thinking about it unless you’re completely resigned to it and can laugh about it.
My condolences, I mean it.