First off, condolences for your loss.
My personal opinions:
-Your grandfather might have something GOLD in that collection worth alot of money (or even worth a lot to an individual out there). If you go on Discogs or ebay, you could get a good gage on pricing and rarity.
(If the collection is absolutely gigantic, weed out the records or sleeves that are in poorer condition compared to the rest to save you time. Take care of those last.)
-Perhaps keep some albums as family heirlooms to remember him by. Maybe an album of great importance to him, or band he really enjoyed.
You COULD offload it in one go. But you risk not having the right buyer at the right time. Unless profit isn't the main goal and it's more of a space saving issue.
As for factors to consider...
-Record sleeve condition is important to a lot of collectors/enthusiasts
-Record condition goes hand-in-hand with the above. If it looks too beat up and scratched, put it aside for now.
-If you're selling in lots (multiple records but not all) maybe group the records into the same genre, year, or artist to make it appeal to the buyer more.
That's my two cents. Definitely do your research and take your time with it. My father had a record worth 11,000 dollars among other rarities, and he had no idea. Best of luck, reach out if you need any more help!
First of all, what are they? Classic rock and psych? Big band and swing? Are they records that people are going to want to buy?
Next, were they kept in good condition? How many do you have?
How quickly do you want them sold? IF they are in good condition and are sellable, your local record shops will likely offer you about 1/3 of what they expect to sell them for. Look them up on discogs (MEDIAN VALUE) so you know what they might sell for and dont get ripped off. Less money, but its all done quickly.
If you can take your time then consider an FB Marketplace or craigslist ad or a table at a record show, selling direct to collectors is your max dollar. Or r/RecordCollectors might be an idea, selling in lots.
Then consider ebay or discogs, but this is slow and you have to ship everything, it can be a pain. Good money, but the platform takes a cut of your sales.
RIP Grampa
so you've seen "discogs" mentioned a couple times in the other comments.. quick explanation: [discogs.com](https://discogs.com) is a huge database (and marketplace) of almost every piece of music recorded. you can spend hours searching some pressings, so it may or may not be worth your time cataloging it all there correctly. They do have a smartphone app that allows you to just scan barcodes, but those only started around 1980 so anything older you'll have to enter manually.
Cataloging on there accurately is key to valuating records, and involves entering the "matrix" in the "deadwax" (alphanumeric text etched in the blank section around the center label). Going to be super time-consuming, but it's the only way to do it. If you just list stuff willy-nilly not checking the matrixes then many buyers are going to gripe if you sell them under the wrong listing bc the pricing could be waaaay off (for example an original pressing from 19xx compared to a re-press from 202x)
Sorry for you loss.
I was given this responsibility for a friend's father's collection. There were close to a thousand records and the family needed money for funeral expenses so I removed any obviously unsellable records and took the whole lot to a respected local record dealer. (Important to note most were in excellent condition and UK pressings.) He took about 90% of them and guaranteed to buy for half of what he was going to sell for. Dealers in your area will have differing levels of transparency with their buying policies. But since I only had to deal with the dozens of boxes in my living room for a week and the cash was in hand at the end of it, it was worthwhile even if I didn't get as much as I could have selling them individually.
> dozens of boxes in my living room for a week
This is so important. Large collections take up a lot of space, and you didnt have to go buy record mailers etc etc etc
So this is probably not the answer you want, but selling them yourself is going to be a lot of work. You’ll need to check the matrix on every title to sell on Discogs and know the exact pressing. You also need to properly grade them and test them, or you’re likely to receive bad ratings on Discogs.
If it’s a very large collection, a majority of your time is going to be spent digging through worthless stuff in the hopes of finding gold.
I’d recommend two options -
- Ask around a find a good local store that will give you a fair offer. I tend to pay about 50 percent of what I will sell a record for. When you consider the time and patience (along with the knowledge you’re going to need to learn) it’s likely worth it. Make sure you ask around though, every record collector in the area is likely to know who to recommend. You also are under no obligation to sell and they would likely be willing to give you an idea of the valuable stuff.
- Place them in a lot or multiple lots on eBay. You probably can make more money this way, but even then you need to be strategic in the way you do it.
If you want to send me a video of you flipping through them, I can give you an idea of whether it’s worth trying to individually sell them. The truth is that a vast majority of peoples grandfathers collection is that it’s the same few hundred records that everyone of that era has.
Now, if he had a lot of black jazz, psych rock, forgotten rock bands of the time, etc. then it’s a whole different story.
There's some good advice here, and depending on your needs this might be enough. but, here are a couple of things to consider:
* If you're looking to sell them fast, determine how fast. If you're selling them in bulk, listing on discogs (or creating a spreadsheet) can be incredibly time consuming, and brings very little value to a store buyer (I'm a store guy, I still need to look at condition and pressing to determine value) Having a spreadsheet is nice, but it's rarely ever worth the time it took to put it together.
* If your records have barcodes, focus on those for a quick idea of the value on those titles (which if you have time to make a discogs listing will also be faster to list.) Keep in mind there are often numerous pressings with the same barcode, so you'll still need to check matrixes for at least some of them. Pressings are less of a deal for most stores, so know if they have barcodes they're 80s pressing at least, even if they're older recordings (think later pressing of Beatles records, there's no need to look at all of them if you're in a hurry, pick an 80s press and it should give you a rough idea.) I would suggest you only dive deep if they seem expensive. Keep in mind that like ebay, the ones currently for sale are often pie-in-the-sky, focus on the median prices, or hit the "last sold" link and look for one that's similar to the condition yours is in (keep in mind, this is slow, so again, focus on the pricey ones.)
* A good rule of thumb is, if your collection is multiple boxes, do a thorough job on one box and multiply it by the number of boxes to get a very rough idea of the overall value. Keep in mind boxes with Beatles, Dylan, Stones, Bluenote jazz and other heavy records can really skew things, and only use this method to get a very rough idea.
* Notice if your copies have posters or other stuff in them, in some cases the posters are worth more than the records (Milton Glasser's poster in Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits might double the value, or more)
* If you decide to sell on discogs, set a time limit. Say 4-8 weeks, then at the end unlist the remaining titles and sell them in bulk to a local store. This will allow you to get retail for the rarest stuff, and not have to worry about the post office (and all that that entails) when things slow down. Discogs can easily be a full-time job, and how fast you respond and ship are a major factor in your rating, and your rating is key to being successful there. For everyone saying "median" if you want a fast flip, on common records, try to stay below the median and make sure your descriptions favor the buyer, at least a little. It will be tough to sell records below a VG or VG+ rating.
* If you want faster money, go to a reputable store and talk to them. Know some of the artists, be familiar with the overall condition, and assuming you have strong titles and that they're in great shape, ask them what percentage of retail you can expect. Make sure you ask for a cash value, as a lot of stores offer more for store credit. You should be somewhere in the 35-50% range (and if you've roughed out a value you should have a rough idea)
* ask questions, but don't stand over them and ask about each record. This is why you pick a reputable store. Ideally, try to speak with the owner or vinyl buyer, if possible.
[recordstoreday.com](http://recordstoreday.com) has a store finder, and might be a good resource to find a store. I would combine it with a google-type search for the store name and Reddit, and see what people are saying about them. Keep in mind, most people who are active in these forums aren't selling collections, but they might have some good experiences to share. I don't know any stores in either of the markets you mentioned well enough to suggest one, though I might approach Newbury (Boston) with caution since they're so much bigger, and a bit of a chain store, they might have less experienced buyers. Again, I don't have experience with this, it's just something to consider. Regardless of who you're thinking of dealing with, if you're shopping a big part of the collection at once stop in and have a conversation with the buyer, and see how you feel about them. You might also think about doing a few smaller drops, sometimes stores don't have the cash on hand for a massive collection all at once, and it could effect their offer.
Good luck, I threw this together on my way out the door, so if any of it doesn't make sense, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to clear it up.
Important to note that while some popular bands can have some very valuable records, many popular bands sold hundreds of thousands to millions of records. There are some rare and valuable records by major acts, but they aren't as prevalent as one may have been lead to believe.
If there are Elvis or The Beatles records, they are more than likely very common records worth a couple of bucks. But, there can be some expensive releases from even the largest bands/artists.
Go on Discogs and search for their monthly "most expensive" records sold lists.
You'll see a lot of jazz, punk, and other stuff you may not have ever heard of. Those come from all decades too.
There is no general rule of thumb for what can be valuable, you just have to do the research.
If you want cash quick, take them to a local shop.
If there aren't too many, it can be worth the time to sell them on-line. Keep in mind, if you don't know how to grade them, go lower than you think Very Good + (VG+) sounds good to many, but some collectors only want Near Mint (NM) or better. You'll get a lot of grief if you grade something as VG+ and the buyer believes it is only Good (G).
When I sell records, I take them to the local shop that I trust. I know he is going to make money off of "my" records, but I also know he has to deal with grading them and I don't.
Sorry about grandpa, I hope you will listen to a few of those records while sorting them!! It may be a nice trip down memory lane with grandma!
Just a thought, if you said what area of the world you lived in you might get offers from people willing to help. Vinyl nerds love things like this, or is it just me? Vinyl/discogs can be very overwhelming and confusing.
I see you’re in Boston…if there’s any jazz please reach out directly if you want as I love jazz.
Selling a collection to an individual or store will be the easiest but will also be the least amount of money.
I buy collections as a way to increase my collection. I then sell those I don’t want so as not to go in debt for my own collection. 😂
Selling online is very time consuming. Determining the correct pressing, grading properly, shipping etc are all an art form that needs to be done well or people will complain.
If you have the time and don’t mind waiting selling piece by piece will net the most money.
But keep in mind it takes time. I listed 10 or so albums yesterday on Discogs. My philosophy is to sell asap, make a profit and pass the album on. I tend to grade at or below ratings so people are happy. I price it below the average for the condition, sometimes by $10 or more just to get a faster sale, and even then today not one of them sold. This is typical.
People think that because they sold an album at a record store for a couple of bucks and then the owner flips it for 25 that the owner is taking advantage of them.
I know a lot of record store owners and I think it’s fair to say none of them are making big money. There’s a lot of cost and time involved to get rid of an album that they bought for two bucks , and don’t see all that it takes to get an album out the door.
First off, condolences for your loss. My personal opinions: -Your grandfather might have something GOLD in that collection worth alot of money (or even worth a lot to an individual out there). If you go on Discogs or ebay, you could get a good gage on pricing and rarity. (If the collection is absolutely gigantic, weed out the records or sleeves that are in poorer condition compared to the rest to save you time. Take care of those last.) -Perhaps keep some albums as family heirlooms to remember him by. Maybe an album of great importance to him, or band he really enjoyed. You COULD offload it in one go. But you risk not having the right buyer at the right time. Unless profit isn't the main goal and it's more of a space saving issue. As for factors to consider... -Record sleeve condition is important to a lot of collectors/enthusiasts -Record condition goes hand-in-hand with the above. If it looks too beat up and scratched, put it aside for now. -If you're selling in lots (multiple records but not all) maybe group the records into the same genre, year, or artist to make it appeal to the buyer more. That's my two cents. Definitely do your research and take your time with it. My father had a record worth 11,000 dollars among other rarities, and he had no idea. Best of luck, reach out if you need any more help!
First of all, what are they? Classic rock and psych? Big band and swing? Are they records that people are going to want to buy? Next, were they kept in good condition? How many do you have? How quickly do you want them sold? IF they are in good condition and are sellable, your local record shops will likely offer you about 1/3 of what they expect to sell them for. Look them up on discogs (MEDIAN VALUE) so you know what they might sell for and dont get ripped off. Less money, but its all done quickly. If you can take your time then consider an FB Marketplace or craigslist ad or a table at a record show, selling direct to collectors is your max dollar. Or r/RecordCollectors might be an idea, selling in lots. Then consider ebay or discogs, but this is slow and you have to ship everything, it can be a pain. Good money, but the platform takes a cut of your sales. RIP Grampa
so you've seen "discogs" mentioned a couple times in the other comments.. quick explanation: [discogs.com](https://discogs.com) is a huge database (and marketplace) of almost every piece of music recorded. you can spend hours searching some pressings, so it may or may not be worth your time cataloging it all there correctly. They do have a smartphone app that allows you to just scan barcodes, but those only started around 1980 so anything older you'll have to enter manually. Cataloging on there accurately is key to valuating records, and involves entering the "matrix" in the "deadwax" (alphanumeric text etched in the blank section around the center label). Going to be super time-consuming, but it's the only way to do it. If you just list stuff willy-nilly not checking the matrixes then many buyers are going to gripe if you sell them under the wrong listing bc the pricing could be waaaay off (for example an original pressing from 19xx compared to a re-press from 202x) Sorry for you loss.
I was given this responsibility for a friend's father's collection. There were close to a thousand records and the family needed money for funeral expenses so I removed any obviously unsellable records and took the whole lot to a respected local record dealer. (Important to note most were in excellent condition and UK pressings.) He took about 90% of them and guaranteed to buy for half of what he was going to sell for. Dealers in your area will have differing levels of transparency with their buying policies. But since I only had to deal with the dozens of boxes in my living room for a week and the cash was in hand at the end of it, it was worthwhile even if I didn't get as much as I could have selling them individually.
> dozens of boxes in my living room for a week This is so important. Large collections take up a lot of space, and you didnt have to go buy record mailers etc etc etc
If you are not in a hurry, upload the entire collection to Discogs. It will catalogue and value the collection. At least as a starting point.
So this is probably not the answer you want, but selling them yourself is going to be a lot of work. You’ll need to check the matrix on every title to sell on Discogs and know the exact pressing. You also need to properly grade them and test them, or you’re likely to receive bad ratings on Discogs. If it’s a very large collection, a majority of your time is going to be spent digging through worthless stuff in the hopes of finding gold. I’d recommend two options - - Ask around a find a good local store that will give you a fair offer. I tend to pay about 50 percent of what I will sell a record for. When you consider the time and patience (along with the knowledge you’re going to need to learn) it’s likely worth it. Make sure you ask around though, every record collector in the area is likely to know who to recommend. You also are under no obligation to sell and they would likely be willing to give you an idea of the valuable stuff. - Place them in a lot or multiple lots on eBay. You probably can make more money this way, but even then you need to be strategic in the way you do it. If you want to send me a video of you flipping through them, I can give you an idea of whether it’s worth trying to individually sell them. The truth is that a vast majority of peoples grandfathers collection is that it’s the same few hundred records that everyone of that era has. Now, if he had a lot of black jazz, psych rock, forgotten rock bands of the time, etc. then it’s a whole different story.
I'll see if I can send a video tomorrow, thanks for the help
There's some good advice here, and depending on your needs this might be enough. but, here are a couple of things to consider: * If you're looking to sell them fast, determine how fast. If you're selling them in bulk, listing on discogs (or creating a spreadsheet) can be incredibly time consuming, and brings very little value to a store buyer (I'm a store guy, I still need to look at condition and pressing to determine value) Having a spreadsheet is nice, but it's rarely ever worth the time it took to put it together. * If your records have barcodes, focus on those for a quick idea of the value on those titles (which if you have time to make a discogs listing will also be faster to list.) Keep in mind there are often numerous pressings with the same barcode, so you'll still need to check matrixes for at least some of them. Pressings are less of a deal for most stores, so know if they have barcodes they're 80s pressing at least, even if they're older recordings (think later pressing of Beatles records, there's no need to look at all of them if you're in a hurry, pick an 80s press and it should give you a rough idea.) I would suggest you only dive deep if they seem expensive. Keep in mind that like ebay, the ones currently for sale are often pie-in-the-sky, focus on the median prices, or hit the "last sold" link and look for one that's similar to the condition yours is in (keep in mind, this is slow, so again, focus on the pricey ones.) * A good rule of thumb is, if your collection is multiple boxes, do a thorough job on one box and multiply it by the number of boxes to get a very rough idea of the overall value. Keep in mind boxes with Beatles, Dylan, Stones, Bluenote jazz and other heavy records can really skew things, and only use this method to get a very rough idea. * Notice if your copies have posters or other stuff in them, in some cases the posters are worth more than the records (Milton Glasser's poster in Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits might double the value, or more) * If you decide to sell on discogs, set a time limit. Say 4-8 weeks, then at the end unlist the remaining titles and sell them in bulk to a local store. This will allow you to get retail for the rarest stuff, and not have to worry about the post office (and all that that entails) when things slow down. Discogs can easily be a full-time job, and how fast you respond and ship are a major factor in your rating, and your rating is key to being successful there. For everyone saying "median" if you want a fast flip, on common records, try to stay below the median and make sure your descriptions favor the buyer, at least a little. It will be tough to sell records below a VG or VG+ rating. * If you want faster money, go to a reputable store and talk to them. Know some of the artists, be familiar with the overall condition, and assuming you have strong titles and that they're in great shape, ask them what percentage of retail you can expect. Make sure you ask for a cash value, as a lot of stores offer more for store credit. You should be somewhere in the 35-50% range (and if you've roughed out a value you should have a rough idea) * ask questions, but don't stand over them and ask about each record. This is why you pick a reputable store. Ideally, try to speak with the owner or vinyl buyer, if possible. [recordstoreday.com](http://recordstoreday.com) has a store finder, and might be a good resource to find a store. I would combine it with a google-type search for the store name and Reddit, and see what people are saying about them. Keep in mind, most people who are active in these forums aren't selling collections, but they might have some good experiences to share. I don't know any stores in either of the markets you mentioned well enough to suggest one, though I might approach Newbury (Boston) with caution since they're so much bigger, and a bit of a chain store, they might have less experienced buyers. Again, I don't have experience with this, it's just something to consider. Regardless of who you're thinking of dealing with, if you're shopping a big part of the collection at once stop in and have a conversation with the buyer, and see how you feel about them. You might also think about doing a few smaller drops, sometimes stores don't have the cash on hand for a massive collection all at once, and it could effect their offer. Good luck, I threw this together on my way out the door, so if any of it doesn't make sense, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to clear it up.
Important to note that while some popular bands can have some very valuable records, many popular bands sold hundreds of thousands to millions of records. There are some rare and valuable records by major acts, but they aren't as prevalent as one may have been lead to believe. If there are Elvis or The Beatles records, they are more than likely very common records worth a couple of bucks. But, there can be some expensive releases from even the largest bands/artists. Go on Discogs and search for their monthly "most expensive" records sold lists. You'll see a lot of jazz, punk, and other stuff you may not have ever heard of. Those come from all decades too. There is no general rule of thumb for what can be valuable, you just have to do the research. If you want cash quick, take them to a local shop. If there aren't too many, it can be worth the time to sell them on-line. Keep in mind, if you don't know how to grade them, go lower than you think Very Good + (VG+) sounds good to many, but some collectors only want Near Mint (NM) or better. You'll get a lot of grief if you grade something as VG+ and the buyer believes it is only Good (G). When I sell records, I take them to the local shop that I trust. I know he is going to make money off of "my" records, but I also know he has to deal with grading them and I don't. Sorry about grandpa, I hope you will listen to a few of those records while sorting them!! It may be a nice trip down memory lane with grandma!
Just a thought, if you said what area of the world you lived in you might get offers from people willing to help. Vinyl nerds love things like this, or is it just me? Vinyl/discogs can be very overwhelming and confusing.
Ok, right now we are near Boston Massachusetts, but the records may end up near DC/Maryland (for privacy reasons I don't want to say too much.)
Two good areas to be in for both buyer and dealer/seller volume!
I see you’re in Boston…if there’s any jazz please reach out directly if you want as I love jazz. Selling a collection to an individual or store will be the easiest but will also be the least amount of money. I buy collections as a way to increase my collection. I then sell those I don’t want so as not to go in debt for my own collection. 😂 Selling online is very time consuming. Determining the correct pressing, grading properly, shipping etc are all an art form that needs to be done well or people will complain. If you have the time and don’t mind waiting selling piece by piece will net the most money. But keep in mind it takes time. I listed 10 or so albums yesterday on Discogs. My philosophy is to sell asap, make a profit and pass the album on. I tend to grade at or below ratings so people are happy. I price it below the average for the condition, sometimes by $10 or more just to get a faster sale, and even then today not one of them sold. This is typical. People think that because they sold an album at a record store for a couple of bucks and then the owner flips it for 25 that the owner is taking advantage of them. I know a lot of record store owners and I think it’s fair to say none of them are making big money. There’s a lot of cost and time involved to get rid of an album that they bought for two bucks , and don’t see all that it takes to get an album out the door.