Selling LPs?
Vinyl records make (another) comeback!
Considering selling your LP collection? Because All That Music & Video is the most important seller and buyer of new and used vinyl records in the region, you will want to bring them to us first!
- As a public service, ATMV is happy to offer sellers free appraisals of their LP collections. We will grade, sort, and appraise your LP’s as our time permits.
- LPs have recently made another comeback at All That Music & Video! Our “LP Vault,” containing thousands of collectible records by many of the most in-demand music artists, is now more accessible to our customers.
- ATMV now also has a section of the store with a frequently renewed supply of specially priced pre-owned LPs by Rock, Pop, R&B, Soul and other great artists. For a time, LPs were removed from the sales floor at ATMV due to space limitations and low demand for LPs. We now invite you to join in the latest comeback of LPs by selling and buying LPs at ATMV!
In the 1980’s , when CD technology replaced LPs as the primary format for recorded music, it was predicted that vinyl records would quickly become obsolete. They mostly did become obsolete for a time, but before long, LPs made somewhat of a comeback thanks to their use on the turntables of Hip Hop DJs; the recordings of some rock bands that insisted upon continuing to release their music on vinyl as well as CD; young and old collectors of LPs who never really go away; and a few audiophiles that insist that their favorite music sounds better recorded in analogue on LP than on CD or other digital formats.
There is some things you should know about selling your LPs. ATMV will give you the best price possible for LPs that have some value. However, we ask our customers to be realistic about the value of their record collections. Sometimes, there are just too many copies of some records available for sale, and not enough buyers. The law of “supply and demand” dictates that an overabundant supply and little or no demand, equals little or no value. Also consider the fact that we are presently warehousing over 20,000 records in storage. Many of those records are multiples of some of the records you may be selling. We accumulate so many used records that periodically we throw out the duplicate copies and keep only the better ones. We see perhaps an estimated 500 records weekly, not all of which are we prepared to purchase. However, since used collectible records are our genesis, we still seek quality LPs that may turn up. We also offer our library of LP recordings to record-hounds and collectors at fair prices
Sometimes, sellers bring us collections of many LPs in good condition by artists that are in demand. However, more often a collection of 100 records may contain perhaps only an average of 3 to 8 items which may still hold some limited commercial appeal, provided that the general condition of the LP and cover are not seriously diminished. The rest, while at one-time perhaps bonafide best sellers, are now no longer in demand. Buyers simply are not seeking these artists or titles. If they are, they’re purchasing the CD version to replace their original LP.
Record value in part can be correlated to stamp & coin collecting standards. That is, the better the condition the better odds the item will have any value. But just because the LP is in good condition, doesn’t necessarily mean it has any value or collectibility. Quite the contrary, If the LP was never or rarely played, it was probably of little interest to its original owner, so would anybody be interested in it now? If your LP’s were played and enjoyed frequently, chances are the album has suffered from moderate to serious wear & tear. On the other hand, if the LP is a historic critically acclaimed item, and has been meticulously cared for with minimal play, then there is a chance it could be worth something. That is, of course, if it is not a common recording. Click on this hyper-link to see examples of recordings that are of little or no value and examples of collectible artists and recordings that may hold some value, pending condition.
Hope you’ve gotten a better understanding of our appraisal process. Don’t be dissapointed with our bid. Be realistic. We recommend that you keep any records that have emotional or sentimental value to you, because generally speaking, 90% of the LP’s in any collection are common and have little or no value. For those, we can only pay-out pennies, nickles, and dimes at best. The other 10% may have a value of 25 cents to $1.00 dollar. True collectibles may command $5 to $25 dollars at the wholesale level. Good Luck!
Thanks for considering All That Music for the most honest and fair appraisal of your LPs!