How is vinyl records valued?

It is fairly known that vinyl records nowadays, thanks to e-commerce, maintain the same price levels all over the world. Valuing a record can therefore seem easy, it's just a matter of seeing what it's selling for elsewhere, isn't it? It's not really that easy.

The record's value depends on many factors such as condition, demand and supply. A record can have several hundred different pressings and editions that attract different collectors and therefore has different values. Figuring out which edition a certain record belongs to can take anything from 5 seconds to 5 hours, depending on how clear the various signs are.

In addition to the actual value of the record, each record dealer must assess their ability to reach that particular category of collectors to determine how quickly the record can be sold. No record dealer wants a record lying in a pile for years, which all record dealers take into account when making an offer. For this reason, turning to a record store with a customer base within genres that are to be sold can often generate a higher bid, as they can often resell the record faster.

The questions we ask ourselves when we value a record collection or individual record are:

• What is the record worth?
• How quickly can it be sold?
• Can any other store sell it for more than us?

Based on the answer, we will either give you an offer or we introduce you to another record dealer we think can offer you a higher price.

To be able to answer these questions, we need to get an idea of the content of a collection. Of course, you are welcome to bring your records to the store when it suits you best, regardless of whether it is a few single records or a collection of thousands. If you want to avoid dragging the records to the store, you can get a free consultation and an initial estimated value over the phone.

For larger collections, we also offer to visit you at home free of charge for an on-site valuation. Most of the time, we can already determine by phone whether we will be the ones who can give the highest bid or whether we will already pass you on to a better suited record dealer at this stage. Once on site, we go through what titles the collection contains and based on that we give a first indication of a total value. Assuming we meet your expectations in the indicative bid, we will continue to check some selected records we believe may be rarities that can have higher values, as well as make some visual random tests of the record's condition. After this we can give an offer for the whole collection. If we believe that one of our partners can sell all or part of the collection, we contact them on site and vouch for the collection's quality and content.