The Art and Hustle of The Vinyl Resell

There’s always two sides of the coin when it comes to collecting and selling records, some people just want what they want, while others get what they can get and sell at a higher price point and no two persons crates are the same. But just like with anything else that’s collectible (comic books, art etc), there will always be those that will attempt to make a business out of buying and flipping to others who missed out on it. I like many have been on both sides of the coin, I’ve missed out on plenty of things that hit the bins on release date and either paid or didn’t pay for it on the secondary market later on but sometimes finding it even later when the hype died off.  When paying for it at a premium, I had to make a conscious decision if it was worth me paying for it but at the end of the day it was something that I either wanted to listen to or something that I wanted to play out in my sets and you can’t place a value on what you genuinely want. Take Records Store Day for instance, I’m not willing to stand in line or deal with crowds to get an exclusive so do I miss out or do I pay? Someone else spent their day to do those things and time costs money which is obvious when you see kids standing in line for the latest Supreme or Nike drop.

Is there a right or wrong, no. It just is what it is at this point and you either set your alarm clock to jump online and buy it when it drops or you pay to play from someone else who was willing to wake up early to do so. One of the things that you hear most from people who missed out is “it should be about the music” which they are absolutely correct, and it is about the music. But it is also a physical product and physical product holds value in any market. The reseller tends to get cursed at for flipping something at a high price but when you have a demographic of people who are willing to pay for it then it’s a have versus the have not’s game. If you think collecting records is a problem then try going online to buy the latest KAWS product that goes up for sale at 12 noon and by 12:02 it’s completely sold out because that many people across the globe want it. The resell market makes it possible for someone in a different country or time zone who might have been sleep or at work to obtain it and there are plenty of legit and reasonable resellers that add $10 to the original price versus those who add $100, it’s just finding those people before everyone else.

Like the old guys that you see collecting vintage Lionel train sets from their youth who spend big money to build the best collection, records are collectible and collecting costs money. Buying and flipping records isn’t a new thing, it’s just new people involved that can or can not afford things. There was an interview in an old issue of Big Daddy with John Anderson “King of the record dealers” where he talks about buying records in the states for pennies then taking them back to the U.K. and selling for much higher prices, it’s no different now. With there being more releases coming out today than we’ve ever seen, it’s even hard for us here at Nostalgia King to even keep up on what’s going on but that’s the fun of being a collector and digging. There’s always something out there to hunt for that we didn’t know existed which makes up for something that we previously missed out on. So dig away from the hype and look for things that went under the radar that might actually be better than the previous.

*5 things you have to pay to play if you want to collect.

Supreme

Thats a no brainer, the hype is real and you either stand in line or you pay the reseller. Regardless, people are willing to do both.

KAWS

Anything KAWS is collectible and an investment and will pay your kids college tuition later on.

Vintage Toys

As a collector of vintage toys from the 70’s and 80’s, I buy what I like or have a nostalgic connection to but it’s also about an investment. I was buying when things were still cheap which is not necessarily the case now but the resell market is as strong as ever with 80’s kids now wanting to reclaim their childhood years.

Comic Books

With boxes and boxes of comics in my storage, I’ve seen the market fluctuate since the 80’s and just when it thought about selling a lot of things, the comic book movie boom happened and books that were $50 are now $500. Everything collectible is an investment even if you don’t see it as such.

Art

Weather it’s an original or a print, you’re buying it because you like it but there’s always room to grow when building a collection. I’ve seen expensive pieces trade hands because someone used it as an investment piece or simply wanted something else that fit their tastes. Art doesn’t have to be expensive, you can catch some of the best artists selling prints for $100 which hit the secondary market two days later for triple the amount.