just added you, Spiros!
"Alienated-so alien I go!"
So, Spyros and Mike, are you saying that for selling higher priced items(say $500+)you would still use eBay over Discogs? Or did I miss something?
Yes, but I would still list on discogs concurrently . I love discogs, but I think you still have a bigger audience with ebay, and might get more out of it, especially if you went the auction route. If your goal is to sell quicker, ebay may still be the better bet, but still much more work.
With discogs, there's more patience required. Without the limited availability time of an auction listing, people might not be as hard pressed to jump on your item. But then again once you list something on discogs, the listing never expires. And it takes about 30 seconds to change the price or edit the listing. Even with ebay auto re-listing, that only happens 3 times, and then you have to go through the hassle of listing again.
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Mike |
The Vinyl Archivist : Record Cleaning Service |
The Vinyl Archivist Catalogue Sale : New Sale coming Fall 2022 |
Discogs Listings: CD | Discogs Listings: Vinyl | Ebay Listings | The Giant Progweed Reviews Archive
I would opt for a combination of strategies for such items. List them on both sites. Taking advantage of an eBay auction, as mega-players still hunt on eBay for highly-priced rarities (probable quicker sale that goes beyond the initial pricing) but simultaneously take advantage from Discogs never expiring availability and focused search (if the item doesn't sell in the auction).
Generally on Discogs (as it is primary a discography listing site and secondary a site for selling), one can have a more targeted search on specific releases, according to his wants and preferences on genres and styles. And this is one of its bigger advantages. It's easier to locate your extremely limited krautrock want f.e. than waiting for it to appear on eBay, once in 2-3 years... As a buyer, I have purchased some extreme hard to find items there, that had been on my want list for ages -and in quite reasonable prices.
I agree, it's much easier for people to find things on Discogs, narrowed down to the exact pressing. The Wantlist feature on discogs is infinitely better than saved searches on ebay. Especially for things of the more obscure variety, or not easily searchable. My best example of something on my list is Grime - you'd probably need 3-4 permutation saved searches on ebay to track one down and weed out all the random results would bring up. A quick search on discogs and you've found it.
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Mike |
The Vinyl Archivist : Record Cleaning Service |
The Vinyl Archivist Catalogue Sale : New Sale coming Fall 2022 |
Discogs Listings: CD | Discogs Listings: Vinyl | Ebay Listings | The Giant Progweed Reviews Archive
I have found albums on Discogs that I have not been able to find elsewhere, including eBay. Discogs want list has allowed me to fill in some very important cracks in my record collection.
Recently, Corrado Rustici's Heartist on CD. Been searching for ages.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Same here. Got Frank Klare's Transcental Medication, a like-new copy, for $30 + shipping. No brainer for me, as I love the album and had it near the top of my want list for years. Same with Peter Hammill's OOP Fall Of The House Of Usher. Discogs has worked well for me.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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After reading most of this thread a couple of times, I think you folks make ebay and discogs sound ideal for selling and buying. I'm going to list a few CDs at Discogs and some on Ebay and see what happens. I've already signed up to contribute to discogs, which should be a lot of fun since I belong to Music Nerds R Us.
After doing some research, I decided to list a few hundred CDs on Discogs, rather than on eBay. While my sales have been slow so far, I have no complaints. I'm "rottersclub" there too and it's mostly 90s prog.
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
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Mike |
The Vinyl Archivist : Record Cleaning Service |
The Vinyl Archivist Catalogue Sale : New Sale coming Fall 2022 |
Discogs Listings: CD | Discogs Listings: Vinyl | Ebay Listings | The Giant Progweed Reviews Archive
I've been selling on Discogs for last 6 months or so. 23 positive feedbacks so far and twice as many transactions - some people just don't bother to leave feedback it seems. I find this not bad for a selection of goods which is mostly focused on ultra-obscure no-one-in-their-right-mind-would-really-need-it kind of stuff Plus, Russia is not generally considered a good place to order music from - even though I haven't had a lost item yet, I'm perfectly aware of Russian post's horrid reputation. Of course, politics doesn't help either, and it's understandable that some folks aren't inclined to buy from a Russian seller even though he's probably not Vladimir Putin, but a different fellow. So, there are some downsides to being a Russian seller on Discogs, but generally I have found this to be a really good experience.
All of my 400+ records are listed with a "make an offer" option, and people are using it actively. It takes a couple of clicks to decline a ridiculously low offer, which I have done a few times, but most buyers' suggestions were actually absolutely reasonable and I went ahead with them. I also made a couple of trade-friends through Discogs and have been swapping interesting items with them outside the platform.
As regards buying, I think I have only bought 4 records on Discogs so far, but that's mostly because Russian ruble dropped considerably in the light of the recent political turmoil, so I have limited my purchases to the rarest things - those that are basically unavailable anywhere. I also no longer borrow money from "real life" to spend on record hunting, so it's a closed system now - the funds I make from selling stuff are spent on buying new stuff, no more no less. I have found Discogs and eBay both pretty helpful in this regard. On the former you can sometimes find a really rare record for a very decent price, especially when there is no "sales history" with big transactions for this particular item. On the latter there can be some bargains too - especially when the item is listed with the starting price of $1 or $5 as it often happens. Or if the listing was done with an alphabetical error - some people are searching for particular items, and if there's a typo they are not going to see the listing.
Recently, eBay.com introduced the Global Shipping Program which makes it quite hard for foreign people to order stuff from the USA (international shipping costs, for instance, are more than twice as high this way - and they were not very low in the first place). Thankfully, not all sellers are using this program thus far, though I fear they might eventually turn it into an obligation for the sellers who wish to ship their goods abroad.
I made my first purchase on Discogs - an item that I have been looking for, quite literally, for 20 years!
I only recently decided to check out Discogs for hard to find cds,and i've been pleased with all three transactions i've made there,with sellers from Spain,Germany and Denmark.All cd's received in near perfect condition, all at a price i could live with.
I'm a believer(so far)
Last edited by walt; 07-24-2014 at 07:55 AM.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
Interesting that Levgan mentioned a ~50% feedback rate on Discogs. I'm at a similar rate, but it's a bit of a pain to bug your buyer to give some feedback. Is it OK to gently pester a buyer to leave feedback on Discogs?
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
Me neither.Originally Posted by spacefreak
I'm a bit too lazy to send reminders. At a certain point I started specifically telling all the buyers that they shouldn't forget to leave feedback when I write them a message to confirm that the record is sent. So usually it now looks like this: "hello, item is on the way, tracking number such-and-such, please leave feedback when it arrives". There are people who still neglect it, but my rate increased noticeably since I started mentioning this bit in my sending confirmation messages.Originally Posted by rottersclub
I still find it strange, though - after all, Discogs actually does send automatic feedback reminders. Once when I bought a record and it didn't arrive promptly because of postal delay, I received a reminder: please don't forget to rate the transaction number so-and-so. I think that happens when a month has passed or something like this. So, it's not that buyers forget about feedbacks - they just don't give a damn it seems.
I always leave feedback.I have 99.99 percent good experience for both ebay and Discogs.
Just my advice - don't deal with artionmusic from Greece.That's the only dishonest from Greece.My dealing from Greece goes the long way
Last edited by Modry Effekt; 07-24-2014 at 02:46 PM.
Lack of feedback on Discogs is horrible. I only have 155 left on 284 orders. I actually have a 1/4 page sheet that I include with all my orders reminding people to leave feedback, as well as reminding them to contact me if there are any issues, etc. I'd say I was only getting feedback about 25% of the time before I started including the print out.
I've had a few bad experiences with people trying to blackmail me with threat of negative feedback, so as a seller, I tend to leave feedback only after the buyer has left it for me.
For those of you that send reminders, what has your experience been?
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Mike |
The Vinyl Archivist : Record Cleaning Service |
The Vinyl Archivist Catalogue Sale : New Sale coming Fall 2022 |
Discogs Listings: CD | Discogs Listings: Vinyl | Ebay Listings | The Giant Progweed Reviews Archive
Ok..ok..next time i use Discogs i'll leave feedback.I didn't notice the part where they request feedback.
Mea culpa....
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
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