Found Beatles Vinyls, Best Course of Action?

[acoustix]

I was cleaning out my mother's basement over the weekend and happened upon a box that read "Dad's Books + Records". I opened it and found excellent condition first runs of 15 or so Beatles vinyls (as well as a bunch of other assorted awesomeness by Neil Young, Bread, etc.). My mother told me they are mine to do as I please. I immediately thought EBay, but my fiancee says that a antique record store would probably give me more money. Obviously there is an urge to just keep them as well.

I have never sold anything like this, and I know a bunch of people on this board have done the EBay thing and whatnot. I looked online for what these things are going for in PERFECT condition and that is about $31-$35 a piece. My albums do have my father's name written on the sleeve, but that is the only problem. Would dropping my asking price to around $25 be fair?

So, what is the better option:

Sell on Ebay with "buy it now" price for $25 a piece?

Sell to mom & pop used record store for no less than $25 a piece?

Keep them?


I also found an entire series of Hardy Boys books, but I am keeping those for my book collection.

Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated as I have never done this and I don't want to get ripped off.

[neotope]

Unless you need the $25/piece really bad I would think you would be better off keeping them. Even though they are in average condition they will probably keep going up in value.

[guids]

25-35$, imo, is nowhere near enough for me to get rid of the records, if you dont have one, go out and get a turntable, and listen to them. records are awesome once you go through the hassle of getting a turntable setup, I go all the time to this big shop by my house and just sort through old blues albums and buy 4or5 (like 5$ a piece). cheap hobby, and vinyl sounds great imo.

[acoustix]

I could use some extra cash in the bank at the moment and that's really the only reason I entertain the thought of selling them. There is an inner conflict because of the sentimental value they have, but I have so much of my father's old stuff that it gets to the point of "How much stuff do need to remember him", ya know?

I do have a turntable, and the thought of Rubber Soul on vinyl is very appealing. Then again, so is the extra few hundred bucks in the bank, especially after paying car taxes.

[MrMon]

Bad news - writing on the sleeve drops the value quite a bit. When they say PERFECT condition, they mean like it just came from the store. Any mark, especially writing on the cover, drops that value quite a bit.

I suggest you take them all to a used record store just to make sure you don't have something rare (unpeeled Butcher Shot cover), but after they tell you what they're worth, keep a few, sell the rest.

Also, odds are, something else in the box is probably worth more than The Beatles. The Beatles were always popular and sold a lot of records, other artists now regarded as classics, not so much. Try and find a mint condition copy of the original release of The Who's "My Generation" album for example. And 45s with the original sleeves are apparently where the big money is right now, because everyone threw away the sleeves.

[Gin 'n Tonic]

I'd be inclined to sell them all as one auction lot with a start price of, say, $299. That way you get all your $ in one go and only have to do one lot of shipping and pay one lot of fees.
Put them on a 10 day auction to finish on Sunday around 10.00pm. IMO

[Performify]

As someone who owns and buys a lot of vinyl:

You'll likely have a little trouble getting $25/ea for most of them if they've got writing on them. Some of them, sure, but probably not most.

If they were in perfect condition, and said perfect condition was fetching $30-35/ea on eBay you'd be lucky to get half that at a local vinyl store. They'd probably open with $10/ea for the collection. Maybe even less with the writing on them. Those places generally have to buy at a very serious discount in order to survive.

Your best bet is either the bulk action as suggested, or throw them individually on eBay with no reserve if you don't mind dealing with several trips to your local UPS store / post office. Selling individually should net you more money overall.

I'm a big fan of the open-ended auctions with no buy-it-now price, both as an active seller and as an active buyer.

$3-$4 shipping per is a fair price that will let you package and ship them via media mail via the post office. I'd strongly suggest a shipping discount if people order more than one from you - make each additional record $1 shipping if they order more than one. That's very standard and will cover your costs.

I'd expect them to go between $15 - $30 each depending on which titles you've got. Most of them probably in the $15 - $20 range.

If you want a bulk buyout estimate, send me an email / PM with the titles (or post here) and i'll let you know what I think they would go for.

[acoustix]

The list:

Let It Be
Abbey Road
Rubber Soul
Magical Mystery Tour
Beatles Second Album
The Beatles (White Album)
Revolver
Help
Sgt. Pepper
Yesterday/Act Naturally (single)
Meet The Beatles
Beatles '65
Yellow Submarine
and 2 or 3 others that I don't remember off the top of my head.

[Maulik]

SELL THEM TO ME.

[acoustix]

I don't want this thread to turn into an online auction, but if you're serious you can PM me and maybe I can get some pictures to you to decide on quality and possible prices.