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Faceplams: It's a great way to be a dick, yeahOriginally Posted by elevenism
Josh Wink was on HLAH
It's a great way to be a dick, yeah
she/her/hers
1. no one has answered your question because no one knows. it's probably this that he was referring to, but none of us are sure.
2. if you're going to buy vinyl just to flip it for a profit, you're a dick. and you've never come off as a dick before, so i really hope you were joking about that.
3. if you're going to buy vinyl for any reason, leaving it sealed (in shrink wrap) is a bad idea. you have to at least slit the side open, but the best thing to do is remove the shrink wrap and put it in a protective plastic cover (i recommend putting the plastic cover opening on the spine end of the record). if the sleeve is a tight fit around the discs, take them out and put them outside the sleeve, inside the plastic cover (this will avoid ring-wear and physical compression of the discs).
Last edited by eversonpoe; 04-18-2014 at 12:58 AM.
Banned
I don't see how flipping an LP for profit is being a dick. Any rabid collector of any musician is going to buy something like this from the jump. And if they don't, they should expect to pay an exorbitant price for it later if the market value increases.
Josh Wink was on HLAH
Well I'm sorry that I don't always have $300 in my spending account ready to drop on an album? And it's a total fucking cunt move to flip an album ESPECIALLY if you're a fan of the band already, as you know how much a fellow fan would want it.
Banned
Again, if you miss out on the first run of a rarity for whatever reason, it's only natural to expect to pay the increased-value price for it later. Any self-respecting fan of any band isn't going to gouge another fan of the band simply to turn a profit. At least, I would hope not..
I don't understand how, for instance, I'd be a cunt if I had an extra sealed copy of TSN that you wanted, and it goes for $300 on the market, so that's what I charge you for it. Just because you're also a fan doesn't mean I'm just going to knock $50 off the price; then I'd be getting ripped off.
It's just business, man. A record store owner doesn't give a fuck if you're Trent's lost brother; you're still going to pay handsomely for that sealed original of TDS or the Fragile.
Josh Wink was on HLAH
No, you wouldn't be getting ripped off if you sold it for anything less than what you paid + shipping. And if I go to a record store, I expect to pay commercial prices, that's their job. There's a big difference between having a copy you're willing to sell after the fact and buying bulk to flip straight to fans too.
Banned
Fret not, sheepdean. I'll be sure to pick up an extra copy of Gone Girl for you and then sell it to you at a steal when you have the money to pay for it.
Free shipping on me, too. I'm a swell fan like that.
.net (24.24.2.1447)
Don't forget to ignore inflation!
Banned
Lol did that Sheepdean guy really facepalm my post directed specifically to Image13?
What a dick! He's definitely not getting free shipping on his Gone Girl order now.
she/her/hers
to me, the difference between being a record store owner (someone whose job it is to make a profit selling records) and being a fan (someone who appreciates the music and wants to own something unique) is vast.
i agree that, if you miss out on the first run of something, you're pretty much screwed, but i WISH that's not how it was. and it wouldn't be if people were less concerned with turning a profit and more concerned with helping out fellow fans.
for example, if i decided to sell my NM copy of with teeth on vinyl, i would probably sell it for about $50 (which is half of what the cheapest copy is on discogs right now). why? because when i bought it (the day it came out), i think i paid $25 or $30. i've kept it in good shape. i listened to it twice, i believe. and i'm not in it to make a massive profit. if someone who's a fan really wants it, and wants it more than me, the "market" dictating a ridiculously inflated price doesn't make it the right thing to do. but i'm also just a nice person, and i've always been willing to make sacrifices to make other people happy. i'd much rather have it in the hands of an appreciative fan than piss someone off because they had to pay me a shit ton of money for it.
:: shrug ::
i also think that there's a difference between buying something because you want it and then selling it later, and buying something with the INTENT to sell it (at a profit) later.
Administrator
Nice job spilling whine all over the Gone Girl soundtrack thread.
Pro-tip: Want to invest your money? Don't buy and hold on to recordings on vinyl... talk to a financial planner.
Active Member
Yeah...counting on a bunch of aging hipsters - who can barely afford Ramen noodles after paying off their student loans - to sweep in and pay collectors fees for records isn't exactly a safe bet for the future.
However, I'll admit to scalping on two occasions while I was in college. Each time, it was a matter of fully intending to go to a show, finding out I couldn't, then putting the tickets on ebay and letting the free market decide what they were worth. I'm not proud of it, but when you're paying thousands of a year out of pocket for tuition and working part time at a barely minimum wage job, accepting a few extra dollars that have been voluntarily offered to you isn't the biggest dick move in the world in my opinion. And let's face it -a reseller isn't going to put in the highest bid and then try to get more, so the tickets still wound up with fans - just those who were better positioned financially. (Although now that I'm slightly less broke, I'm willing to take a loss on, or even give away, tickets that I can't use, as I just had to do a couple weeks ago.)
Active Member
Agreed. Sorry Sheepdean, but I don't see what the problem is.
I bought two copies of the Nevermind super-deluxe set--one for my collection and one that I might sell in a few years if its valuable. A lot of people sell baseball cards, campaign and movie memorabilia, comics, classic cars and all kinds of stuff for a profit. No one is forcing anyone to buy anything.
I've spent 50-100 bucks on OOP CDs and bootlegs. They cost what they cost and no one forced me to buy them.
Last edited by GulDukat; 05-10-2014 at 07:17 AM.
tempus est umbra in mente
I buy records because I like listening to them, but I can't fault people who are collectors. I see it as the same kind of thing as stamp collectors or baseball cards (is that still a thing?). It's not my thing... I generally don't like owning records that are so valuable that I cannot justify playing them. It's a hobby, and in general it's not a very reliably profitable one, but I don't view it as being on par with something like ticket scalping, which is definitely a lame thing.
Add Violins
Yeah, this.
Like there was this dude who found a place selling a new Burial vinyl single at a much cheaper price than usual (like 60% less), so he bought the store's entire stock and is now waiting a couple years, because Burial's shit always sells out and then gets insanely expensive. I really can't see how that's any different than ticket scalping.
If you find a piece of music and just see an investment opportunity, you're part of the problem. Just cause it has a certain amount of crude market logic doesn't mean it's not parasitic.
Active Member
Didn't we already have this conversation with SIRLONDONCLEANLILLY a while back?
Active Member
Would that also apply to baseball cards and comics?
Josh Wink was on HLAH
Baseball cards exist to be collected. Vinyl, and other things people buy to use, are not just collector's pieces. Sure, people collect them, but people collect all kinds of things. Think of stamp collecting, if someone bought ALL first class stamps in the US, to sell to both collectors and people who simply want to use them, would that be ok because it's just investments? Dick. Moves.
And as I think I said, if you have something that appreciates in value and you choose to sell, that's very different to buying bulk or buying multiples with the intention of selling to people who, had they had the chance, would've just bought first time round.
Related: I really fucking hate intentionally limited runs of things (Ghosts LE etc), because it causes this exact problem. If someone were to buy 500 of a non-limited run, they'd just press more and then the scalper gets nowt.
Active Member
But I don't think that elevenism is going to buy 5k copies of a record. Sounds like he wanted to buy a few records and wait a few years and sell them. Seems pretty harmless.
I will say one thing, sheepdean, you would make a horrible Ferengi.
Last edited by GulDukat; 05-08-2014 at 07:59 PM.
Josh Wink was on HLAH
That's true, but if there's 2500 copies (the usual amount, though I have some limited records from 100 or even 50 runs), then just a handful could be a fairly large chunk ya know?
And I love DS9, but I'm happy to not be a Ferengi :P
Banned
Stop picking on my lil sheepdean.
Active Member
He's a big boy, he'll be okay.
Active Member
Would you rather be a Vorta or a Cardassian?
Josh Wink was on HLAH
I feel there might be a star trek thread
Also, Cardassian, Vorta never seem happy with their lots and are programmed to worship the Founders, whereas Cardassians are more fleshed out and have a society, it's not the fault of individuals that their governance is in the shitter.
Add Violins
Yeah, kind of. I mean, it's not some horrible tragedy, but I do think it's a little parasitic. I could go buy 5 copies of some rare comic and flip them on ebay and make $100 profit on each one, but it's not like I actually did anything to deserve the extra cash from those people. It's just opportunism, where I'm squeezing them for more cash just because I can, cause I know they can't get it anywhere else for cheaper.
I mean, it honestly isn't all that different from scalping. Scalpers know that when the tickets are all sold out they'll be able to jack up the price and turn a profit. It's a different commodity, but it is literally the EXACT same process.
Administrator
Every time I have the opportunity to flip something like this, I just can't pull myself to do it. I've been on the other side too many times, and appreciate it when things that shouldn't cost hundreds of dollars don't. This is probably why I still don't have "For Your Consideration" copies of TSN or TGWTDT, and definitely why when I got a box of "Still" CDs and super cheap deluxe Hesitation Marks CDs, I gave them all away. (Well, most of them, I have leftovers). That's a personal choice, though. Just because my own economic situation has improved in the last two decades that I can afford to do stuff like that doesn't mean I necessarily look down on people who sell for an absurd profit. Some people get stuck in unfortunate situations and that's one way they can help get out of them. For other people, it may be a symptom of a larger money-and-priority management problem.
Add Violins
^Right, well for that matter even ticket scalpers may have understandable reasons. It's not about getting all moralistic and judgmental, I just think it's strange that some people think there's nothing even remotely unethical about this type of thing. If you're intentionally grabbing rare vinyls (or whatever item) with the intent of flipping them for a way higher price later on, you are ripping people off. Maybe you have totally sympathetic reasons for doing so, and that's alright, but we don't need to pretend that this is honest work for honest pay. It's still a bit of a scam.
Active Member
I have little tolerance for ticket scalpers--they're bastards. Buying tickets in bulk and selling them far above face value is just wrong. A few years ago Garbage played the Paradise in Boston (holds about 1000 people) and it sold out in under a second. About a third of tickets were on stubhub at about 3-4x what they were originally sold for. That's way, way different than buying a few copies of a record and waiting a few years and selling it at a profit, IMO.
Josh Wink was on HLAH
How is it different? Commodity is in limited amount and in demand, someone sees an opportunity to turn a profit. And hell, remember the prices of Ghosts LE the following few months after it sold out? This isn't always waiting years, this can often be waiting days (as a vinyl lover, Record Store Day is an example of this where on the same DAY items can quadruple in cost).
Active Member
Because Boston area Garbage fans didn't even have a chance to buy tickets. Everyone who went (excluding reporters, radio DJs, etc) had to pay a fortune. This thread is about a guy who wanted to "buy a few" copies of a record and sell it down the line, not really the same thing. Elevenism didn't ruin anyone's chances of buying these records when they were first released. If he had bought 5000 records and then sold them at a profit, yeah, that would be a dick move, but he didn't. He talked about buying a few, when they were still available, and then waiting a few years and selling them. It's the same when people buy comics or baseball cards and sell them a few years later at a profit.
Last edited by GulDukat; 05-09-2014 at 01:29 PM.
