Selling CD Advice

[Lou]

Got a question for the masses. I realize that I am on the back nine of life now, so I am trying to downscale what I have. I realize that I have
WAY too many cds. Most I probably won't listen to again. The question is, how does one sell a large quantity of cds? They are almost all progressive
rock. In the neighborhood of 4 to 5 hundred. Any ideas? I really don't want to try and sell on ebay. Ideal situation would be to find a used store, or buyer who
would take the lot at very discounted pricing.

[Brad 2 the Bone]

If you want to get rid of everything quickly in bulk and for very little return (probably $2-$3 each at best), take them to a local used CD store in your area.

If you are willing to commit the time to selling them individually - very slowly but for more money - start listing them on Discogs.

[mozo-pg]

Lou, you can just give them to me!

[Sputnik]

400-500 CDs is a lot to list on Discogs/eBay, then pack up and ship out. I like the idea of selling them in bulk to a nearby store, or maybe listing them here in bulk lots, or even individually at low prices that you might get at a store, just to see if you can clear bunch out pretty quickly. I suppose you could also put them in cheap bulk lots on ebay too, just to save on the logistics of shipping them out. It's not easy. There's no great solution. I'm glad I don't have that many I'm looking to unload.

Bill

[JKL2000]

You're making me sad, Lou! Do you have a list of the CDs? Not for me, but I can think of a couple of people who might be interested to look at your collection and might make an offer. Definitely send a PM to Peter Renfro, who's on PE but I forget exactly what his user-name is because there's someone else with a very similar user-name. It's Prognerd something - there might be a number after it or something. You'll find him. Peter lives in NC, but might possibly be interested. Did you say where you live? For some reason I was convinced you live in Cincinnati! I don't know where that came from...

Any other prog vendors

[Proglodite]

You can e-mail me some photos and a general breakdown of what you have and an idea of the condition (scratches, cut-outs, promos, record club editions) and I'll be happy to make an offer on everything. --Peter <prognerd@mindspring.com>

[Lou]

Thank you all so much for the replies. I do live just north of Cincy. I will try to have this done by the end of the week Peter.

[progmatist]

Expanding on what Sputnik said, and as I've posted in other threads: selling a collection piecemeal on one's own is more trouble than it's worth. Say you sell a CD for $5. If it took about an hour to photograph it, write or copy and paste the description, post it, print the postage and shipping label, package it, and drive it to the Post Office....you've just made $5 an hour. That's $2.25 below the federal minimum wage. Further below the minimum wage in some states. Then subtract from that the paypal transaction, and ebay/discogs listing fees. Flipping burgers at McDonald's would be a better use of one's time. It pays better.

[JKL2000]

^ Yes, but the CDs must flow!

[MudShark22]

May thy jewel case chip and shatter.


But in all seriousness, as someone trying to do this with my comic collection; the self selling can be the painful....

[Proglodite]

Discogs and Amazon do not require you to post your own photos (though I will when one is not in their database). Most listings take me less than a minute to generate on Amazon and Discogs. Ebay is where it can take 'forever' to create a listing. But, unless you're retired or doing it full time, it's going to be hard to justify the time involved in doing it. Biggest upside to doing it yourself - you can conceivably give each disc a good final farewell listen before shipping it off. --Peter

[ronmac]

Seems like it would be best to rent a table at a local record show.

[Gruno]

Expanding on what Sputnik said, and as I've posted in other threads: selling a collection piecemeal on one's own is more trouble than it's worth. Say you sell a CD for $5. If it took about an hour to photograph it, write or copy and paste the description, post it, print the postage and shipping label, package it, and drive it to the Post Office....you've just made $5 an hour. That's $2.25 below the federal minimum wage. Further below the minimum wage in some states. Then subtract from that the paypal transaction, and ebay/discogs listing fees. Flipping burgers at McDonald's would be a better use of one's time. It pays better.

Discogs and Amazon do not require you to post your own photos (though I will when one is not in their database). Most listings take me less than a minute to generate on Amazon and Discogs. Ebay is where it can take 'forever' to create a listing. But, unless you're retired or doing it full time, it's going to be hard to justify the time involved in doing it. Biggest upside to doing it yourself - you can conceivably give each disc a good final farewell listen before shipping it off. --Peter

Why does it take so long to list CD's for some? Ebay takes very little time once you set up your first CD listing.

Take a photo of the front, back, opened case, back of CD. Four images.
Track listing shows in the images, most times.
On eBay, for example, list one CD then once that listing is live, use that existing listing to then choose the "sell similar" button,
then replace the images & short description, & price.
Everything else should remain the same.
Do a day of cataloguing, then allocate a few dozen that you want to begin with, then use a day for photography, then a day listing.
As your first few dozen CD's are sitting on sale, repeat the process with the next few dozen.
If organized well, you will get into a solid flow and can rattle off a bunch of listings with minimal time wasted.

[Sputnik]

Why does it take so long to list CD's for some? Ebay takes very little time once you set up your first CD listing.

An hour per disc is an overestimate, but if you include the time to pack up 500 CDs, many individually, then take them to post office, the time spent per disc starts to add up. Even using the listing method you detail above, if you figure five minutes per disc, which includes time to take the photos, write the description, and then do the actual listing, that's over 40 hours of work for 500 CDs, a good number of which will probably not sell, unless the price is near zero.

If I had fewer discs to list, or more valuable ones, I'd do as you suggest, but not for 500 CDs of stuff that won't command much, if any, value.

Bill

[ronmac]

^^ Gotta put a good value on your time, that's for sure.

[Dave (in MA)]

I think the last time I sold a CD on eBay, sellers still had to put HTML in the description to get the listing to look good. It was certainly time-consuming. It was worth my time, because I was able to unload CDs that found that I didn't care for and didn't cost me much, and for multiples of what I'd paid in a few cases.

[progmatist]

Why does it take so long to list CD's for some? Ebay takes very little time once you set up your first CD listing.

It's not one singular step in the process, but all steps involved. The most time consuming task would be the trip to the post office. The entire process from start to finish can easily total an hour per CD.

Not long ago I sold a Digitech looper pedal on Ebay. I struggled with Ebay continually changing my listing to the newer model. While I continually changed it back to the older model. Just one unexpected headache when listing things online.

[Camelogue]

I've sold a good number of lots here. Key is to not ask too much. I usually sell between 10 and 20 at a time, it sometimes takes a while to sell, and all are always in very good condition.

[hippypants]

Selling them in ten lot listings on Ebay sounds like the easiest way to go, but I've never done it.

[Gruno]

It's not one singular step in the process, but all steps involved. The most time consuming task would be the trip to the post office. The entire process from start to finish can easily total an hour per CD.

Not long ago I sold a Digitech looper pedal on Ebay. I struggled with Ebay continually changing my listing to the newer model. While I continually changed it back to the older model. Just one unexpected headache when listing things online.

I have never had ebay change a listing on me. How does that happen? Are you using their pre-determined fields to add your item?


I suppose I just have it down to a science that takes minimal time & effort. I purchase USPS postage online. Trips to the post office are done when I am out and about running errands. I make sure to allow 2 or 3 days handling time in my listings, which lessens the amount of postal runs I have to make. Plus, there is a contracted USPS station within a local Hallmark store 8 minutes from my location. Clerks on-hand same as going to an actual post office. I walk in, hand the package(s) to the desk clerk, and I am out of there within 90 seconds.

[Lou]

Lou, you can just give them to me!

Sorry Mozo, I can't afford the postage to Canada.

[soundsweird]

I'll second the suggestion of record convention, depending on the cost of a table. Here in Austin, that cost is ridiculous.

[Bartellb]

Last year I wanted to get rid of most of my collection but didn't feel like dealing with trying to sell them so I gave them to a nephew. If he wanted to keep most of them or sell most of them either would be fine with me.

[SteveSly]

Last year I wanted to get rid of most of my collection but didn't feel like dealing with trying to sell them so I gave them to a nephew. If he wanted to keep most of them or sell most of them either would be fine with me.

My sister has a big garage sale every year and I always give her a box of CD's to sell. She usually goes through them to see if there is anything she likes then the first morning of her sale there is some guy who comes along and buys the whole lot. Same guy, every year. I assume he must be a CD dealer, but don't really know.

[progmatist]

I have never had ebay change a listing on me. How does that happen? Are you using their pre-determined fields to add your item?

I used the custom field, not a preset. The ebay algorithm decided for me the newer model was the more appropriate description. Every time I changed it back, I had to deselect the preset and add my own custom description.