Garage and Yard Sale Gold, “How to pay the right price for used Records”

Even though we are still a little ways away from spring, it is important to know how to make a purchase at a garage sale, especially when it comes to Vinyl’s. I’m going

to go over some good habits and practices you should do and or look for when buying used records at garage/yard sales. Also I’m going to share with you one of my own experiences I have had in the past.

When you attend a garage sale it’s important to go in with a mind set your going to find quantity not quality. The reason why I say this is most record collectors know the value of their records; they would typically keep them on a shelf or somewhere readily available to listen to. That being said someone who is

selling them at a garage sale is a different story. Odd are they have been sitting in a closet or a garage and the owner has been waiting for a garage sale to get rid of them because they view the records as junk or taking up too much space in their place.

It’s important to ask questions before even looking at the records. If you engage the individual selling the records you should be able to get a read on them of what their intentions are. Are they looking to make as much money as possible from these records? Have they done there research on prices? Have they taken care of the records over the years? If there is a big enough selection available so you can ask something simple like “Have you been collecting records for a while?” Depending on the answer you get to your questions will determine how you browse through the albums available. If the seller is looking to just get rid of them that is a good indication that you can get them for a great price.

How to get the albums you

want at a great price can be difficult at time but is usually very doable. When looking through someone’s collection they are selling, don’t just grab records you are specifically looking for, but rather grab a good mix. This will disarm the seller and it makes it look like your just buying records for the sake of buying them rather then you having other intentions. What I mean by other intentions is you don’t want the seller to feel like the he is getting ripped off. You need to make them feel like they are getting the best deal ever. That the amount of money you are giving them is the right amount.

I’m going to share a story with you about a time where I purchased some albums at a great price because I did not make my intentions known; I browsed around and made friendly conservation with the seller. I was at a community garage sale last spring and a couple of booths were selling records. One particular album caught my eye, Michael Jackson's “Thriller” I had always wanted a copy of this album to add to my collection. As I was browsing people kept asking the seller,” how much for this album?” Th

e seller responded by saying “$15.00” So people would put the album back down as they were not interested in that price for a used album. So I decided to engage the owner and asked “This is quite a collection you’re selling” The seller responded to me “Yeah just moving some albums to make room for new ones” At that point I grab 4 albums of artists I knew but did not necessarily want but would take as part of my collection. I pulled the seller aside and said “From one collector to another I’m interested in these albums as well as the Michael Jackson “Thriller” would you be able to do it for $20.00?” The seller said to me “You know what sure you look like you are going to actually listen to them and not just try and sell them” So I ended up getting all 5 albums for $20.00 I was happy and the seller was happy because it was a positive interaction. The seller and I exchanged emails and he said “If I ended up selling any other albums I’ll send you an email”

Positive experiences like this are what you need to aim for at garage sales. Here are my 5 pointers to follow when going to a garage/ yard sale.