Friday, November 19, 2010

Forget what you paid for that record!

This is a tough one to learn - one I'm still learning myself. When you buy vinyl lps for resale, forget what you paid for each individual record as soon as you walk out of the store

When you go home to check them on eBay, you'll see ones come up that only go for $10. You're thinking, "But I paid $10, I need to charge $20 at least, maybe $25.". Forget it. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. Don't pay more than a buck for that Archies Greatest Hits. You need that money to turn over. Otherwise you'll be sitting on a pile on vinyl, hoping to get that $25 for that sealed Donnie Osmond...and having no money to put into the next buy.

If the completed listings is showing that lp selling for $10...people have multiple copies listed for $10 - $15, then you need to price it at $10. Maybe even mark it down to $5 to get your money out of it if it's a slow seller and there's plenty of copies out there.

List your items at the going rate, get your money out of them, and turn it over so you have the money for the next buy. If you're buying right, the mistakes you make will be far outweighed by all the records you picked up for a buck apiece and turned over for $25 each or more.

Consider it your vinyl tuition.

Don't Forget Back to Black Day, Next Friday, Nov. 26

Sorry for the late warning - this totally escaped me too!

A spin off event of Record Store Day is being held a week from today called Back to Black, a take-off on Black Friday, when traditionally stores start turning a profit for the year (not to mention being the #1 traffic day for stores.

This year's event features indy only releases from U2, Metallica, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen, along with The Ting Tings, Cee Lo Green, Dr. Dog, The Black Keys, Iron and Wine, Gaslight Anthem, MGMT, Roky Erickson and the Black Angels and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

It's probably too late to get product, but you might try. Of course, you know where to go

Record Store Day

If you're a US store and want priority allocation for next year's Record Store Day releases, deadline is Jan. 15, 2011.