The Best Way To Sell Records!
Best Way to Sell Your Old Records and Turn Them Into Cash Is With We Buy Records!
When it comes to parting ways with your vinyl record collection, finding the best way to sell your records is crucial. Among the numerous options available, selling your collection to We Buy Records Chicago stands out as the easiest and most rewarding way to turn your old vinyl records into cash today! Brian and Andy, our dedicated team, make the process not just straightforward but even enjoyable. They'll ask you a few basic questions about your collection and swiftly guide you on the quickest path to selling your records. It's an easy and fun experience most of the time!
As you prepare to embark on this journey, having a ballpark estimate of how many records you have, a brief description of the music styles they encompass, and a general idea of the condition of both the records and covers will streamline the process. Brian and Andy will help you determine your record collection's value once they have all the information we previously mentioned. Reach out to us today by giving us a call or sending us an email. We cover all of Illinois and many parts of Indiana and Michigan, and we're willing to travel anywhere if the collection is big enough. For more information, check out the areas that we cover!
Selling your vinyl records is not just a transaction; it's an opportunity to contribute to the legacy of music while gaining immediate value. We Buy Records Chicago is your trusted partner in this endeavor.
Condition Grading For Vinyl Records
When doing research on how to sell old records, learning some basics of record condition grading can be a helpful tool. Record condition grading involves both an assessment of the record itself, and the jacket. It is generally understood that the jacket condition is fifty percent of the value and the vinyl condition is the other fifty percent. I would argue that the vinyl condition is possibly a bit more important, though. First off, here are the actual grades with short descriptions. Below this we will go into how grade affects record value.
Mint (M) – Absolutely perfect. Never been played and usually sealed.
Near Mint (NM) – Not sealed, but as close to new inside and out as possible. No scuffs or scratches whatsoever, an NM record is glossy and plays with no noise. An NM jacket is crisp with no flaws.
Excellent (E) – Very light marks where the vinyl has been in and out of the inner sleeve a few times, or tiny signs of use.
Very Good Plus (VG+) – A few further faults are acceptable, but nothing that really compromises the record visually or audibly. A little rub, light inaudible marks, a little background crackle. A VG+ jacket can have light general wear but is still very attractive.
Very Good (VG) – It’s seen a bit of life, but is still usable. Light pops and clicks, an edge split, light visible scratches. You can still listen to it and enjoy looking at it, but it is obviously used.
Good (G) – Good and the sometimes used “Good + / G+” is a very misleading grade as it actually refers to a record that is very, very used. Lots of scuffs, noise and generally fairly ugly.
Poor (P), Fair (F) - Attempting to listen will be a disturbing experience. Expect major noise issues, skipping or repeating. The record itself is cracked, badly warped and has deep scratches. Poor or Fair covers will be extremely flawed.
Maximizing Record Values: The Impact of Condition on Vinyl Worth
A record can only possess its full value if the condition is close to flawless (Mint, Excellent or Near Mint). Any drop in either vinyl or cover condition below this will typically take a percentage away from its worth. In general a good rule of thumb would be a 20-25% reduction in value for each grade you drop. More severe flaws like warping, deep scratching or heavy water damage can easily make even a valuable title worthless, sadly.
If you’d like us to evaluate the condition of your records we will need to see them in person. You can sell your vinyl records for cash locally by bringing them into our shop or if it’s a larger collection we can easily come to you. After seeing them we can get you a fair cash offer within minutes!
Specialty Genres and Rare Records
When selling old records locally, the concept of rare and specialty records plays a big role. While most people may assume that the value in a record collection will come from famous artists’ titles (Beatles, Michael Jackson, Prince, Rolling Stones, etc) , in actual fact most of the valuable records in the world are by artists who are certainly not household names. The famous artists’ titles were often pressed in the millions, making them not particularly rare. Many of the no-name, local or regional groups self-released their albums and may have pressed as few as 500 copies. This makes them much rarer objects. If there is a demand for a particular one of these titles, finding a clean copy will be much harder for a collector and therefore will drive the record's value up. Here is a short list of some of the more collectible genres of old records:
Garage Rock - 60s and early 70s-era rock bands that emulated the larger groups of the era but never attained large-scale success. Most garage rock was issued on local labels, and it is almost entirely a 45rpm (7” single) dominated genre.
Obscure Soul - Similar to Garage Rock in the sense that these records were made by regional/local bands emulating the sounds of more popular Motown/Stax-type artists. Also often 45 RPM releases, although there is a decent amount of rare soul LPs out there as well.
Heavy Metal - Heavier rock from the mid 1970s-current times. Most metal artists never sold in the same quantities as their more commercial counterparts, with some exceptions. Subsequently many heavy metal LPs are harder to source now and can command high prices if in good condition.
Jazz - Jazz is a tricky one as some eras and styles of jazz have nearly zero demand these days, namely the older big-band/swing-era records. But starting with the mid-1950s small combo jazz LPs issued on labels such as Blue Note, Prestige, and Contemporary have become very collectable. Especially the mono, deep groove early pressings. Continuing through the 1960s and well into the funkier 1970s jazz titles, there can be great value in jazz LPs. I should stress that with jazz, even more so than other genres, condition is king! Jazz collectors are notoriously picky about conditions.
Having deep-genre titles in your collection will certainly mean there is better value than a collection filled only with popular titles from their era, provided the conditions are decent.
When considering where to sell your old vinyl records for cash, we feel that there is no better deep-genre specialists than We Buy Records. Andy and Brian are collectors of these obscure genres themselves and can identify higher-value items in your collection, leading to stronger cash offers on your record collection!
Selling your old records? Here’s how we appraise your collections value and get you a fair cash offer!
Here are the key factors We Buy Records uses to get you a fast cash offer when you are selling your vinyl collection to us:
How many usable records are in the collection? By “usable” we would mean any record that we think we can sell. Is it a title that buyers look for? Is it in playable and attractive physical condition? That’s a usable record!
What resale values do those usable titles have? If many of them will sell for $5 or less obviously we will be offering less than if the collection contains many $20 and up titles.
How in-demand are the titles we are buying from you?If they are instant sellers we can make the offer higher as we are guaranteed a quicker return. Many titles will sell eventually but may take a few years to go, these will be offered at a lower percentage of the retail value.
In our forty-plus years of collected buying and selling experience we have have fortunately learned a lot of the ballpark values for most titles by heart, and therefore can do a rough calculation of the values on the spot. After we know how many usable titles we are buying and their ballpark resale value we can offer you a healthy percentage of that value in cash.
At We Buy Records we offer a quick and easy process that ends with cash in your hands and a knowledge that your vinyl collection will end up in the hands of passionate collectors and not at the bottom of a landfill. It’s truly a win-win!