Everything I’ve learned selling vinyl on Amazon

Get My Next Article Via Email

Lessons learned from the weird world of reselling vinyl on Amazon.

Video: Top things I’ve learned about reselling vinyl

I sold my first vinyl record on Amazon in 2011 (according to my inventory page in Seller Central). And made only very sporadic vinyl sales for many years after.

It wasn’t until the last 18 months or so I that I started to sell vinyl more consistently. It started out with liquidating some records from my personal collection (I’m not exactly a “collector,” but I own a lot of vinyl). Then I began opportunistically picking up vinyl when book sourcing, and listing on Amazon as an experiment.

When it started selling (and with an average selling price much higher than books), I got more serious about sourcing vinyl. I started noticing opportunities everywhere from used record stores, to antique stores, to random chain stores (yes vinyl is that mainstream now).

I’ve come to see vinyl as a largely untapped niche. Here’s (almost) everything I’ve learned reslling records on Amazon…

#1: Yes, people buy vinyl

Let’s get this out of the way.

After years of being flatlined, vinyl record sales started to rise in 2007. At that time, sales were around 1 million record sold per year.

This year, vinyl sales are expected to surpass 50 million units. That means vinyl sales have increased 50x.

Many thought the “vinyl resurgence” would be a fad that would pass quickly. But sales have increased every single year for over 15 years.

If you’re not sold yet, consider this: Vinyl is now outselling CDs.

Vinyl is back. And people are buying.

#2 It’s rare to see a record selling for less than $15

If you’re used to selling books, you’re going to love this.

You’re simply not going to see vinyl records selling for sub-$10 amounts. The price of the average used record is still north of $15. And with new vinyl, expect to list if for over $20 almost always.

#3 Old records (without barcodes) are still profitable

Just because you can’t scan a record, doesn’t mean you can’t (or shouldn’t) list it on Amazon. Most older, pre-barcode records released by major labels have Amazon product pages.

To illustrate this for you, I asked myself: “What’s the most common thrift store record in the world?” I knew it was that Billy Joel record where he’s throwing a rock at a glass house. Whatever that record is called (turns out it’s called “Glass Houses.” Who knew?)

So I pulled up the prices for this record (released in 1980):

 

This is an old vinyl record you can find at thrift stores for 50 cents all day long. And it’s selling for $18.95 landed (merchant fulfilled) on Amazon.

#4 New vinyl sells faster than used vinyl

This took awhile for me to accept, but I can finally admit that Amazon buyers have a strong preference for new, sealed vinyl.

The reason should be obvious. Unlike a book (or even a CD), the downsides of ordering a used record can be significant. Records can get damaged in a way (and to a degree) that is uncommon with books. Buyers have legitimate concerns about scratched vinyl, and are willing to pay more for a new record as insurance.

Another contributing factor to “new records selling faster” is that you may notice used prices are usually very close to new. Unlike (say) books, where used condition copies are generally significantly lower than new condition; with vinyl there is no such gap. Generally used vinyl is only selling for slightly lower (not significantly lower) than new. When buyers see that they only have to pay a couple extra dollars to get a new copy, most are willing to.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sell used vinyl. Just be prepared to wait longer for a sale.

#5 Some vinyl is better to sell on Discogs

It’s not common, but there are some records that aren’t suitable for listing on Amazon, and are better for a site called Discogs.

What is Discogs,com? It’s the biggest buying and selling site specifically for music in physical format. You may never have heard of it, but it’s a huge site with a lot of activity.

(I’m leaving eBay out of this conversation. It’s not a bad place for collectible records either, but serious collectors are more likely to trust Discogs. Discogs is to eBay what Abe Books is to Amazon.)

Good news is, it’s very easy to set up a seller’s account on Discogs. None of the crazy hoops that Amazon makes you jump through. If you have a PayPal account, you can be selling on Discogs very quickly.

When is a record better to sell on Discogs than Amazon? Here’s a couple scenarios:

When a record is highly collectible, sell it on Discogs instead of Amazon

Records often have many variants. Let’s take a random Billy Joel record for example. You can have the regular black vinyl version. Then there’s the red vinyl version. Then the red, white and blue vinyl variant. Then the 180 gram vinyl pressing. Then the picture disc version. Then the remastered gatefold embossed cover limited edition pressing. And on and on.

Some records can have hundreds of variants. And some of them are very sought after. But the vinyl collector isn’t looking on Amazon (if you can even find a product page for your variant). They’re looking on Discogs (or eBay).

Here’s a trick: No matter what record you’re selling, find it’s specific variant on Discogs. Then look at two things:

• Average selling price (Discogs shows you this)
• The “want to have” ratio (for the “want” statistic, Discogs shows the number of Discogs users who have the record on their “want” list)

Both of these are clues as to whether you should sell on Discogs instead of Amazon.

If the average selling price is higher than what its listed for on Discogs, that’s obviously a good sign. And if more people want the record than have it, that means there’s lots of pent-up demand and the record will (probably) sell fast.

 

When a record doesn’t have a product page on Amazon, sell it on Discogs instead

It’s very common to have a variant of a record that doesn’t have a product page on Amazon. You have two options in this situation:

1. List it on the product page for the “regular” black vinyl version (only if your variant is more sought after – more on this in a minute).
2. List it on Discogs instead.

Alternately, you could create a product page for it on Amazon, but I think Discogs is always going to be a better bet.

#6 It’s not worth selling scratched records

Personally I won’t sell vinyl records on Amazon that have more than very minor blemishes to the record itself.

This is totally opposite of my attitude about books, where I will often sell books with a degree of damage that would scare other sellers. With vinyl, I’m very conservative. Vinyl with even small scratches is begging for negative feedback.

#7 Keep the Amazon Sales Rank to 400,00 or better

Personal opinion here.

My maximum Sales Rank (BSR) for vinyl (and all music) is 400,000. Anything worse than that, and I’m listing on Discogs (or not at all).

I’ll admit this is not a highly scientific opinion. And I am very open to being corrected. But I have noticed from years of selling CDs that it gets dicey north of 400k. When the rank is worse than that, vinyl is probably better off on eBay or Discogs.

#8 Condition descriptions matter (for used records)

After watching some used records not sell for longer than I thought they should, I went through and edited the condition descriptions. Some sales quickly followed.

And I learned to give extra detail to the condition notes for vinyl. For reasons mentioned above (concerns about scratched records), Amazon buyers need extra assurance that they are getting an unblemished record.

My condition notes for records now read:

“I personally inspected this record. No scratches. Vinyl in perfect shape.”

Anything that communicates to the buyer that the record was individually graded should be fine.

#10 It can pay to list records on the wrong Amazon page

Wait what?!

Here’s what I mean: Often when I have a record where the vinyl is a color other than black, I will list on the product page for the black vinyl edition.

If you’re not comfortable with this, skip this part. But here’s why (and when) I do this…

Its very common to find a record in a color other than black. Some records have dozens of color variants. And the key thing to understand is that the color vinyl version is (almost) always considered a more desirable upgrade.While it’s certainly possible that a buyer is seeking the black vinyl over rarer colored versions, its unlikely. Generally someone buying the regular vinyl and getting a color variant considers this a bonus (if they notice at all).

So I’ll list color vinyl on the page for the “regular” version when either of the following conditions apply:

1. There is no product page for that color on Amazon, or-
2. The Sales Rank for the color is worse than 400,000.

When those conditions apply, I will list my color vinyl on the “regular” product page.

#11 How you pack vinyl is important (FBA or Merchant Fulfilled)

There’s nothing complex about packing vinyl. You just want to make sure it doesn’t bend in transit.

I approach shipping vinyl in the opposite way I approach selling books. With books, I feel Amazon sellers tend to overthink packing and shipping. Books aren’t fragile. So you can just throw in a box and tape it shut.

With records, care is required. They actually are fragile .

Here’s how I do it…

Shipping vinyl FBA

As a buyer of vinyl on Amazon myself, I save their vinyl shipping boxes and reuse them for FBA shipments. I know this is cheating and this isn’t useful for most sellers, but this is how I always do it.

Whatever boxes you use, just make sure the records are somehow reinforced and the corners are not subject to bending.

Shipping vinyl Merchant Fulfilled (or when selling on Discogs)

When shipping records directly to your buyer, there’s two ingredients that prevent the records from bending.

1. Vinyl-specific mailer.
2. Cardboard “insert pads.” (these provide extra reinforcement).

You can get these cheap(ish) on eBay. Here’s a couple examples of what you’re looking for:

#12 Finding the right product page for vinyl is tricky. Here’s how.

Perhaps the most challenging part of selling vinyl on Amazon is finding the right product page.

In a perfect world, every record would have a barcode you can scan. And it would always bring up a product page on Amazon. But it isn’t always that simple.

As mentioned, vinyl releases can have dozens (or hundreds) of variants, and matching up your record to the correct product page is often tricky.

Problem #1: The barcode doesn’t bring up any results on Amazon.

The solution (actually two): The first thing I’ll do is go to Discogs and find the Release Page for the next closest version of my record. Maybe there are other variants that are almost identical. I’ll grab the barcodes for those and run them through Amazon for a hit.

Here are the steps:

• Find your record on Discogs. Every record on Discogs has a “master release” that lists all the variants. Find a variant that is “close enough.”
• Copy the barcode. You can find this on Discogs under “Barcode and other indentifiers.”

 

 

 

• Paste into Amazon search bar. Be sure to remove any spaces. This will usually bring up the product page for a variant that is good enough to list on.

What if there’s no barcode for the record on Discogs? Then I’ll do some deep searching on Amazon until I find the right product page (or one that’s close enough).

Problem #2: The record doesn’t have a visible barcode.

The solution: There’s a very good chance that just because you don’t see a barcode, the record still has a UPC code associated with it (it is often on the cellophane wrapping which may be removed, or not on the album artwork itself for design reasons).

Use the steps above to find the barcode on Discogs.

What if Discogs doesn’t display a barcode? As with Problem #1, your best option is to use Amazon’s “Advanced Search” option and try to refine the search results as much as you can to find the correct page.

In conclusion

Selling vinyl on Amazon is awesome.

1. Higher average selling prices than most categories.
2. Lower competition than most categories.
3. Vinyl sales are only going up.

Amazon profit trifecta.

-Peter Valley

Get My Next Article Via Email

Related