What is the reasonable price of used LP in good condition...

[alwayslogo]

Hi,
Lot of us are buying LPs from different sources in different cities. I understand the price greatly varies with the title and the condition. But what may be the reasonable price of a common LP in good condition ... May not be mint which is very rare to find. The LPs used to be priced reasonble few years back... But nowadays the shops have substantially increased their price stating their high demand and quoting price in various internet sites.. So if anyone gives any idea of pricing of LP of different genre and languages in different cities and their sources buyers will be more aware and not duped by the differnt sellers.

Regards
Log

 

[reubensm]

LP pricing has sky rocketed these days, thanks to the demand, the internet and of course, the scarcity of mint ones. Earlier today, we visited a seller who was like talking about 2k and 3k for an LP because it was perceived to be rare. They key about LP purchasing is to know the market well and broaden your source-base. If you are into Indian (Hindi and Regional music), there are different approaches towards pricing. For example, anything to do with Kishore Kumar or RD Burman for example means that you are going to look at high pricing. I have very little experience buying Hindi LPs but with english titles, generally Rs.100 is a good price. Some world famous albums may sell for more, eg: Thriller by Michael Jackson, DSOTM by Pink Floyd, etc. Also rock and heavy metal LPs are generally very expensive, can go upto 1000 for an LP. My suggestion is to buy LP record lots from ebay.com with negotiated surface shipping. If you manage to win an auction of a 30 LP lot for about $15, then you are in for a great deal. Also the record condition decides the price. New old stock sealed in shrink wrap is usually premium, on the other side of the spectrum, the ones with surface scratches and torn covers are worth like 20 bucks (INR).

A good and absolutely non-expensive way to source records is to spread the word with absolutely everyone whom you know. You may end up being at the receiving end of a huge give-away from a friend's home. This is how re-sellers mostly source vinyl. Its all about contacts and luck

 

[bhaskarcan]

.............. Its all about contacts and luck

You nailed it Reuben.......

 

[navinsinha]

I have been buying Hindi film and Hindustani classical LPs for almost 5 years now at reasonable prices. The trick is to have various sources. There is a guy Ali in Chor Bazar in Mumbai who sells the LPs starting from Rs. 50 onwards and it goes up to Rs. 200. The condition of these LPs (Rs. 100 and above) is reasonably good. There is another guy in Borivali (E) who also sells within this range but some of his LPs are priced high. It also depends on your luck. Try to spread word and make new friends. That said, fair price of a LP should range between Rs. 100 to Rs. 200.

 

[bhaskarcan]

Also lots depends on the condition of the cover and, of course, of the LP itself. Of late the fair price is on the higher side in Kolkata. Any ex+/nm lp with a nice cover costs >=200. Obviously these are not the popular/rare one's Reuben described earlier.

Finally it comes to discovering the old and forgotten records from friends'/relatives' attic. This is a new adventure our excellent hobby is putting us in........

Bhaskar

 

[reubensm]

Finally it comes to discovering the old and forgotten records from friends'/relatives' attic. This is a new adventure our excellent hobby is putting us in........

Bhaskar

+1 to this

this is definitely the best way. around one third of my 630 strong collection has been accquired by this way (not counting my father's 100 strong collection).

Another piece of advice for buyers is not to be impatient. Never buy something you just come across at whatever price. If you are patient, there is a lot of vinyl out there. LP records were manufactured in tonnes all around the world from the 1940s to the mid/late 1980s. It is only after this extensive period that LP record manufacturing became highly limited to small pockets. Broaden your sourcing to the international market. Most Indian sellers in whatever shape or form are out to make a quick buck. A friend of mine in Mumbai has actually hoarded over 5000 LP records as an investment for his children, now, think about that!! If you search internationally, you'll end up with better pricing and pressing quaility than indian ones for western music (for hindi unfortunately, the only hope is the Indian market). Also broaden the contact base. Many still give off records especially if they know their parents or grandparents prized pocessions will be well cared for. Last month, I got a set of LPs from a family in our neighbourhood. They actually advertised the LPs online but got responses from agents or sellers. They gave them to me without charging me for them because they did not want the records to be resold, but they wanted them to be owned by the person who took these directly from them. Actually many of the sellers and agents are aware of this emotional tinge and approach the usual suspects (families) saying that they are enthusiasts or collectors and take over collections, often for a pittance or for free and then put them up for sale making excuses like, "I have duplicates" or "I did'nt like the content" or "I listen to only a select few of my collection so thought I'll downsize" (its like the other excuse about cars being owned by a doctor or a Garrard idler being owned by a Parsi). Well, business is business and all is fair in love and war as they say. However it is important for us enthusiasts to be aware of the trends of the day.

 

[AmitKumar]

Recently i dropped a mail to one reseller in Pune whose details i got from Olx for buying Hindi Lps. He replied stating that his price starts from 500 per Lp and goes higher depending upon how rare the Lp is. I was kind of shocked to see such kind of Pricing for Hindi Lps.

Simultanously abt a week back i saw one ad in olx, somebody was selling large quantity of Lps as he was shifting out of the country, so he decided to sell part of his collection which he felt were not in good condition. I went there, selected about 55 Hindi Lps based on the names i knew, due to time constraints i could not see the condition of all the Lps. I did a sample check with 10 Lps and i found that about 20 percent were really in bad shape and the remaining were in average to good condition. finally i paid 100 rupees per Lp and all were hindi Lps. next day i checked the condition of the Lps at my home and about 9 or 10 were in bad shape which i may not like to use. so i ended up buying about 45 usable Hindi Lps for 5500, so my cost comes to about 120 to 125 per Lp.

Meanwhile it seems the price of Hindi Lps is more than the English ones mainly due to lower supply. English Lps can be bought from Ebay as REuben suggested but the situation is different for the Hindi ones. I think it is all about Luck and Patience, one day i didnt have any Lp and was strugling to get my hands on to Hindi Lps and within few weeks i acquired one lot of Hindi 45 Lps. Keep searching you will find a source where you will get Lps for reasonable price(100 to 200 depending upon condition)

 

[kuruvilajacob]

The problem for buying or selling LPs ( I do both) is that 85% of those listening to English music want almost the same kind of music ie Rock, Jazz,Blues and few of the popular singers groups of the '60s. so these are not easy to come by. I have almost 100 English instrumentals I have collected and willing to sell at Rs 100 per record. There are no takers. Every one wants Dire Straits, Pink Floyd and the like.So I don't really blame the sellers for asking more for these records. Other pop records in good condition is sold at Rs.200 per record which I feel is reasonable as it is not easy to get them these days . Especially in good condition

 

[reubensm]

The problem for buying or selling LPs ( I do both) is that 85% of those listening to English music want almost the same kind of music ie Rock, Jazz,Blues and few of the popular singers groups of the '60s. so these are not easy to come by. I have almost 100 English instrumentals I have collected and willing to sell at Rs 100 per record. There are no takers. Every one wants Dire Straits, Pink Floyd and the like.So I don't really blame the sellers for asking more for these records. Other pop records in good condition is sold at Rs.200 per record which I feel is reasonable as it is not easy to get them these days . Especially in good condition

This is also very true. From a seller's perspective, rock is probably on top as far as demand is concerned.

 

[bluemask]

in bangalore u cant get good quality LP's for 100rs, last week I got some Kannada LP's in sunday bazar for 50rs each most of good quality records. before 1996 one shop is there in balepete circle, I got sealed records for 10rs each that time(purchased around 450 records that time) now days no one sells in 100 rs

 

[reubensm]

yes, agree no one sells for Rs.100, that's why we buyers have found alternate sources my last 3 LP record collection odysseys have resulted in 43 free LPs and that too in Trivandrum and nearby Kollam.

Last weekend, we visited a guy with a huge collection of LPs, was asking for Rs.55000/- for about 200 LPs (mixture of english, a few hindi, a few malayalam and a lot of tamil records. The collection consisted mostly of run-of-the-mill GCOIL Indian releases. Now, that's going to be difficult to sell. In that entire pack of around 150+ english LPs, I managed to find only 4 LPs that could be considered having some value. Today, one of my brother's friend brought an old Hindi movie soundtrack, Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya, music by Sonik Omi. The guy said it was very rare and wanted Rs.1000/- Now we guys can't care more for Sonik Omi or the movie soundtrack but just for the heck of it, bargained and ended up buying the record for Rs.50/-. So sellers out there, if your Rs.100/- LPs don't sell, sell them for Rs.50/-. Even people who are not interested will end up buying

 

[AmitKumar]

50 rupees for an hindi lp. Wow!!!

What can be a better price than this.

I got two lots of lps totaling about 85 in numbers at average price of 120 or so.

May be i should now target buying the next lot at price of 50 per Lp.

 

[peace_sells]

I have a good friend (he's quite elder to me) who used to collect records even in the 90s (during those times he bought records for dirt cheap prices!)

Now he's selling them at almost 5-30 times the cost price! He has a shop on Ebay (he stays in Germany)..more than 90% of his records..he puts on auction. He starts the bid with 1 euro. People just bid. Most of these records were the only pressing released by the bands during those days. So they naturally become quite rare. And today the rule with LPs seem to be : the rarer, the costlier (if the condition is good, then price goes up even more!). It is only now that some of those bands have started re-issuing their albums on vinyl (i'm talking about rock/metal/jazz albums).

Artists (again i'm talking about the genres that I mentioned above) today that are releasing their new albums on vinyl (or re-issuing)..those go for anything between 15-30 dollars (I recently bought Black Sabbath's new album for 1.6k).

I have very little experience buying Hindi LPs but with english titles, generally Rs.100 is a good price.

Which English LPs have you got for 100?! That's quite cheap. The cheapest I've paid for a used record is 350 (not from India though)! :sad:

 

[shafic]

Some time back i got a windfall of 400 LPs, mostly in good condition from a recording store that had closed down 7 years back due to some property dispute.All these for 11K.

If you get a chance to buy a lot ( rare opportunity) you can get them cheap but you run the risk that some will be broken, some will be scratchy and many will not be to your taste.What did i finally get? i kept 150 LPs for myself of which only 75 LPs are of my taste.125 LPs given to two friends at the purchase price.Remaining i gave away at throwaway price( Rs 10 each) to one poor vendor of my acquaintance.

If you want to buy select LPs of good quality you have to pay through your nose. I have been searching for "NIGHT IN LONDON" since long. One dealer i know has 4 copies. He is quoting a price of 25K (Rs25000)believe it or not!!. I had to get out & drink a SODA

It all depends on how badly you are tempted.Otherwise Rs 100 to 200 is ok price for good LP.

 

[alwayslogo]

In Kolkata I generally get common bengali titles in good condition for 50 and hindi titles for 50 to 100. But anything R D Burman or S D Burman the price goes to Rs 200 to 300. The place to go is Wellington. But one can get EPs in Rs 10 for good titles. Today purchased Mehbooba, Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai in LP and Pakezaah and Yaddon ki Baarat and Abhiman in Ep. Saw a MJ thriller in mint condition for 400. But rock titles in good condition is difficult to find nowadays.
The free school street guys are asking lot for the same titles.

Also informed all the raddiwalas in the neighbourhood about my intention to buy records. Recently picked up 20 bengali LPs for 25 per piece.

Hope my lady luck shines soon.


Logo

 

[Simon Wires]

In Kolkata I generally get common bengali titles in good condition for 50 and hindi titles for 50 to 100.
Logo

Calcutta is a heaven for this, I bet..

when I was there, as a fresh project engineer on duty assigned for a month, in 1995, i stuck a gold mine in the Free School street.

I picked up Eagles/Beatles/Elvis for Rs.30 and BoneyM for Rs.20 in near mint condition, as such with me even now.

Now things have changed drastically.. They charge Rs. 1000, except BoneyM which is even now quoting a bare Rs.100.

But, interestingly I have picked some wonderful rare LPs for Rs.10, for which it may demand high value with collectors, for the seller being ignorant.

 

[alwayslogo]

I observed while buying LPs , some of them in very good condition, shining and without any scratches plays with a lot of crackling sounds and poor sound quality. But some of the poor LPs plays flawlessly. Can anyone explain?

Logo

 

[shafic]

Pls read 'reubensm's posthyeah:

 

[reubensm]

Yes shafic, what one sees is not always what one gets, especially with records. Thanks to the internet, anything to do with Vinyl sells at extremely high prices, be it records or equipment. A moderate collection of around 500 LPs is often worth a lakh or two if positioned correctly and marketed intelligently. The same goes with equipment. Many small time sellers have learnt from the marketing gimmics played by big corporates. When I used to work for a customer in the United States, they had an internet marketing department of around 20 people. Their primary responsibility was to use aliases and put positive reviews and hyped reviews on websites (especially the review websites). This is a common marketing tool used by sellers these days. For example, relatively ordinary turntables can be made to look like the ultimate star on the horizon and even better than proven champs. Its all about creating need. Will any seller write that the Garrard 401 is better than the 301 or the Technics SL1200 is the best ever turntable? I don't think so. Its all about clever marketing and disguise. One has to understand how the game is played and its rules to succeed. Once I mastered this art, for example, I was able to significantly build on my record collection.

 

[jls001]

One generic but very important rule to follow while buying used LPs - if the inner sleeve is missing, do not buy it, no matter how much you like the record.

Inspecting a record: hold the disc at a particular angle where it will reflect light in such a way that you can see if there are scratches on the record surface. Flip and see other surface too. If there are visible scratches and lines, avoid it. Records that have been played less have shiny surface. One should be able to see the shine even if there are dust and grime on the surface (dust and grime can be washed off). Records that have been played a lot tend to have a dull, non-shiny surface.

The inner sleeve on many newly released records are made of thick paper. This thick inner sleeves tend to scratch the record and damage it permanently. Replace this type of sleeve ASAP with plastic sleeve or plastic-lined paper sleeve or plain (thin) paper inner sleeve.

PS: let me know where to buy those famed 100 rupee records