How do you value a record? It’s an imprecise artform and is basically worth what people will
pay. But there are some basics. It isn’t helped by the fact some people radically overprice
records. Let’s take the debut Grateful Dead album for example on an original gold Warner
Brothers label. A UK pressing. Quite a rare album which has sold from £20-£200.
The first thing to ascertain the condition of the whole thing. The difference between vg and
near mint is vast. And the sleeve needs to be flat, not creased or gone furry from 50 years of
handling.
It still doesn’t really give you a cost because there’s no universally agreed base, you also
have to decide how long you want to wait to sell it. Higher will likely be longer.
If you had this (I do) and its scratch free and the sleeve is crisp and you’d like to sell it soon,
take a middle path, which in this case it’s 60-100. Then you’re not wanting too little or too
much. The mistake many make is to think you’ve got an incredibly desirable item that
queues will pay top dollar. Lots would want it at £20 far less at £60 and even less at £100. I
see people trying to sell too high and have the record for three years.
Remember if you sell to a shop or dealer, they have to make a margin and store the record
for a long time often. The advantage is if you’ve got a lot to sell, they’ll take them and you
won’t have to faff around selling them on eBay. If you think it’ll sell for 60, take no more than
30 off them. They have thousands of records to store for ages. They need paying for their
trouble.
But the whole business is random. For example, you might have a complete Moody Blues
collection but good luck selling them in a shop at all or for more than a pound. They just
don’t sell. If you’ve got early Fairport Convention albums on the other hand, step this way.
You learn all these odd nuances over the years. You can probably get a tenner for Rumours
now, whereas 30 years ago you couldn’t give it away. Records are sometimes valuable but
often they’re not. There are rare Beatles albums but chances are your copy is a bog
standard one and sold in millions and is worth no more than £5 if its in good condition.
In general, don’t give rare stuff away. Look them up on Discogs but don’t think you’re going
to be rich and if you need the money be prepared to get less than you expected and
remember most collectors are old geezers and have been doing this for years and you can’t
pull the wool over their eyes. Be honest and don’t try to scam someone. The great debate in
the community is do you use your knowledge honestly? Do you pretend a rare record isn’t.
Except in extreme circumstances, if the seller is a ‘civilian’ don’t, if its a shop and they should
know better and have priced a rare item low, feel free, though I know people who would point
out the mistake.
Lastly, enjoy it. Records give great pleasure and you were never going to go to your grave
owning all these things were you? You were just the latest custodian, not the owner.
How do you value a record?
