LP Collection - What Value?

Gavin, this post is very close to breaking forum rules, however I'm allowing it to stand for now, although I have made a small edit.

If I were you I'd get a "base-line" value from contacting a few dealers.  They'll usually work on a nominal value per disc on the basis of a list of titles, overall condition and assurance that the collection is complete - i.e. you haven't had anyone else cherry-pick anything special from it.  Without a detailed list of title, label, issue, condition etc.. dealers will work on the basis that maybe 5-10% will be of some value and the rest effectively worthless.

Take Ben's records in Guildford as an example; he buys big collections and while a handful will make the "special" bin and will be priced from £4-20 each, most will hit the main bins and be priced at £1-2 a disc.  His margins are pretty tight because he works on a high turnover model but from that you can extrapolate what he's paying for the LPs.

From there you can decide whether to sell to a dealer, which is quick and easy but may not give you the best return, or try privately.  Selling individually or in small batches usually gets much the best return but is time-consuming.

Richard

Sorry about that!  I hadn't thought for a moment that this might be breaking the rules, but I can now see how it might be seen in that light.

I really had no idea whether, as a whole, the collection would be worth £50, £500 or £1500.  If I assumed everything went in the bargain bin, I might be looking at 75p per item - and that could mean £1000 for the whole lot.  That certainly would help with a decision - and a dealer would be the route I'd take.

Thanks

Gavin

Try Record Collector's price guide - here

You can borrow a copy from your local library. 

I use the guide for insurance purposes, but ideally I'd like to keep my vinyl collection. 

All the best, Guy

If you had the time I would have thought that selling the top/most popular/still/chart-esque stuff individually on squeebay would net a lot more money than that.  And the rest you could give to a charity shop - the 75p - £1s that this might net them would mean more to them than you.

Good condition vinyl appears to me to be fetching quite good prices at the moment.

I agree that epay would yield a better return. People seem to pay more than they would at their local shop in many instances.

Have a look at this months Word magazine. There is a long article by David Hepworth all about this issue. Some people have sold  off their collections of vinyl or CD in favour of streamed music and he discusses his experience of getting his own collection valued. He also visits the home of whispering Bob Harris who has a portakabin in his garden to house all his CDs, to get another perspective on whether we need to continue to hold onto physical collections.

Although they take up a great deal of space I'm far too attached to my own collection and I enjoy a nice gatefold sleeve as much as I ever did when I first started buying albums as a teenager. The big difference now is I have 2 Naim systems to enjoy them on...