Disposition: Selling Off Used CDs and LPs

May 3 19:47 UTC 2001

Or, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do."
Or, Ken's Therapy Item.  :/
 
As some of you may have heard me mumble in party or in person, the time
has arrived to give my collection of recorded music a bit of a haircut.
The key issues are that we have run out of storage space in our 
fairly small house, and I am fed up with not being able to find 
specific recordings I want to hear because they are lost in the 
morass.  I also wouldn't mind raising some cash.
 
How do folks find it most profitable to sell CDs?  How do you make the 
selection on what stays and what goes?
 
I've got a vague algorithm for the CDs which looks like this:
     offer to friends
     Possibly post list in music conf/ classified conf on Grex & M-net
     list items at half.com
     folk items for trade to Elderly Instruments / non-folk items to 
           Encore / PJ's / Wazoo / FBC used shops
     Kiwanis or Library sale for free disposal

I'm hoping I can average $4-$5 each on the CDs.

Getting rid of LPs will be less profitable, but it needs to be done.
Three towers of LPs are taking up valuable living room space, yet I 
probably don't play 20 LPs per year.   At least 500 of these LPs must
go, and 700 would be a better target.  

It's a no-brainer to sell the few valuable items (like a Mobile Fidelity
"Abbey Road" LP) on Ebay, and I know two used folk music dealers who 
might give me some credit for some of the folk LPs.  And Encore
still seems to buy LPs.  People interested in perusing lists of 
my discarded vinyl should let me know.    I'm disinclined to offer 
LPs in bulk on E-bay -- they don't seem to draw much bidding unless
they are collectible, and shipping them is tedious, and there is too much 
room for getting into arguments over grading.

I expect the Collection Reduction Project will take up much of the rest of 
2001.  So far all I've done is look in a few boxes in the basement and 
whimper.  Suggestions and offers of hand-holding are welcomed!

response 2 of 21:

May 3 23:36 UTC 2001

I would be interetestd in the list of vinyl, Ken.  I'm sure there are a LOT
of people who'd be interested on Grex.  You'll get LITTLE money selling them
at stores, but if space is less important than money, then PJ's and Encore
are okay venues.  

But you know that there are some of us on Grex who will give them the love
that you would.  <hold's ken's hands>  A list of CD's too...