Collection MC classical SACDs for sale

[sunra]

I want to sell my classical SACD collection. Over 600 discs. Many common Pentatone, Bis, Channel etc. Some Exton, Telarc, Mercury, and smaller labels. Some DVD-As. Some rarer discs, for ex, Gorecki conducting his 3rd Symphony, Reich Music for 18 Musicians, that 3 channel Everest Antill disc, etc. I don’t have the patience to go through, figure out how many rare ones are there, and become an eBay seller of the discs that are worth premium prices. 11 Mercury, 9 RCA, 6 Mobile Fidelity MC discs, 2 Hungaroton, 3 Hyperion, 3 IsoMike, 11 Audite, 37 Telarc, a number of the older and now difficult to find Philips and Sony discs, etc.

the SACD layers are all playable. Some of the plastic cases have damage. I live in Long Island, NY and would prefer not to ship. I also would prefer to sell the collection as a whole.

Not really sure what is a fair price…so really this is a best offer ad. My discs need a good home.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Wish I'd thought of doing this.

 

[sunra]

There are a few box sets in the collection, so 600 SACD titles, but well over that in the number of individual discs. For example, the Peter Takacs set of Beethoven piano sonatas (a great box unavailable on amazon), Jaap van Zweden complete Beethoven symphonies, Kitajenko complete Shostakovich symphonies, Tokyo Quartet late Beethoven string quartets on Harmonia Mundi, etc.

 

[stoopid]

I want to sell my classical SACD collection. Over 600 discs. Many common Pentatone, Bis, Channel etc. Some Exton, Telarc, Mercury, and smaller labels. Some DVD-As. Some rarer discs, for ex, Gorecki conducting his 3rd Symphony, Reich Music for 18 Musicians, that 3 channel Everest Antill disc, etc. I don’t have the patience to go through, figure out how many rare ones are there, and become an eBay seller of the discs that are worth premium prices. 11 Mercury, 9 RCA, 6 Mobile Fidelity MC discs, 2 Hungaroton, 3 Hyperion, 3 IsoMike, 11 Audite, 37 Telarc, a number of the older and now difficult to find Philips and Sony discs, etc.
I’ve ripped all the discs with my Oppo 103 over the last several months, so that means the SACD layers are all playable. Some of the plastic cases have damage. I live in Long Island, NY and would prefer not to ship. I also would prefer to sell the collection as a whole.

Not really sure what is a fair price…so really this is a best offer ad. My discs need a good home.

Typically you'd have to piece this out to get value out of it. Do you know anyone who transacts in things online (like eBay, Amazon, etc) who could consign the collection for you and just take a percentage off the top? Even at 50% you'll make significantly more than someone willing to buy it all. If you were close (I'm all the way on the other side of the country) I'd offer to do exactly that. Ebay is second hat for someone like me, would take maybe a day of photos and comping to have all the discs live/online. Handling the shipping is the only bother IMO, but USPS offers free packaging for their services and would go that route. Probably plenty of money to be made if given the time (3 months?).

 

[sunra]

Typically you'd have to piece this out to get value out of it. Do you know anyone who transacts in things online (like eBay, Amazon, etc) who could consign the collection for you and just take a percentage off the top? Even at 50% you'll make significantly more than someone willing to buy it all. If you were close (I'm all the way on the other side of the country) I'd offer to do exactly that. Ebay is second hat for someone like me, would take maybe a day of photos and comping to have all the discs live/online. Handling the shipping is the only bother IMO, but USPS offers free packaging for their services and would go that route. Probably plenty of money to be made if given the time (3 months?).

I am sure you are correct about that, just looking at my Mercury or MoFi discs on Amazon.com, they are all listed for about $75 or more per title. So even if someone just sold the OOP discs in my collection, it would probably fetch a fair amount. But I do not know any Ebay or Amazon seller, particularly one who knows about the used SACD or classical market. I'd be happy to hire you do it, but as you say if you're not close, probably wouldn't work.

 

[humprof]

Do you have a spreadsheet of your available titles? I completely understand where you're coming from. My collection of classical SACDs and DVDs only stands at around 200, and while I'd love to drastically weed it, the mere thought of becoming an EBay seller enervates me. That said: I also don't think I'm done acquiring yet. So while there's no way I could--or would want to--drop upwards of two thousand dollars for a huge lot like yours, I might still spend two hundred on a few select titles.

Otherwise it sounds like your best bet might be to contact someplace like Berkshire Record Outlet or Academy Records and see what they would offer you for the whole collection.

 

[ubertrout]

So...if I was in the area I might be interested, but in truth I probably have most of them already. That said, if someone in NYC metro wants an instant good classical collection, this is gold for a few thousand. I just don't think there are that many such people.

Your best easy opportunity might be to call the Princeton Record Exchange, who would be willing to come to you to get it I suspect. They travel much farther...

I've sold a fair bit on Amazon/eBay over the years, and honestly it's a pain. Both take a major chunk of the exchange (Amazon especially), you're paying for shipping, you're dealing with other persnickety collectors, and you'll want to invest in a decent bit of stuff to do it at any kind of scale - ideally a scale, 4x6 label printer, and bubble mailers purchased in bulk (ideally several hundred so they don't eat up a substantial percentage of your profit - if you get something like this it's about a quarter per order, but if you buy in smaller quantities it's closer to a dollar each: Uline Self-Seal Gold Bubble CD Mailers - 7 1/4 x 8

And then there's the fact that especially with classical, piecing out individual discs means that you're going to be selling it over a period of years practically. And frankly, used prices generally seem to be going down.

I will note that if you want to put ten lots on eBay of 60 discs each, 7 day auctions, it will move quickly and probably get you a decent profit without being as much of a pain to sell off. But Princeton Record Exchange will be easiest of all.

 

[sunra]

Do you have a spreadsheet of your available titles? I completely understand where you're coming from. My collection of classical SACDs and DVDs only stands at around 200, and while I'd love to drastically weed it, the mere thought of becoming an EBay seller enervates me. That said: I also don't think I'm done acquiring yet. So while there's no way I could--or would want to--drop upwards of two thousand dollars for a huge lot like yours, I might still spend two hundred on a few select titles.

Otherwise it sounds like your best bet might be to contact someplace like Berkshire Record Outlet or Academy Records and see what they would offer you for the whole collection.

 

[sunra]

I do track my discs on HRAudio.net, so I can create a (reasonably accurate) Excel file. Actually comes to more like 650 titles.

You are certainly welcome to reach out to me directly, especially if you are local. But I'm trying to avoid the hassle of selling individual titles.

I could haul it all into Academy, but I'm sure the result would be very disappointing!

 

[Marplot]

They are right that you will make more breaking it up.
I have a friend who does all my eBay selling for me. I give him 25% so it is worth both our time. Maybe you know someone who would take it on.

 

[sunra]

<<I just don't think there are that many such people.>>

My problem in a nutshell

Maybe I will reach out to Princeton and see what they say. At least they will have a better sense of what the OOP discs are really worth.

Will give this thread a shot for a few days, maybe I will find that one person who is just getting into SACD and wants to acquire a classical collection all at once

 

[humprof]

<<I just don't think there are that many such people.>>

My problem in a nutshell

Maybe I will reach out to Princeton and see what they say. At least they will have a better sense of what the OOP discs are really worth.

Will give this thread a shot for a few days, maybe I will find that one person who is just getting into SACD and wants to acquire a classical collection all at once

I do track my discs on HRAudio.net, so I can create a (reasonably accurate) Excel file. Actually comes to more like 650 titles.

You are certainly welcome to reach out to me directly, especially if you are local. But I'm trying to avoid the hassle of selling individual titles.

I could haul it all into Academy, but I'm sure the result would be very disappointing!

I don't know about Academy, but I think with outfits like Princeton and Berkshire, if it's a large collection they'll send someone out to you.

 

[sunra]

If anyone wants to see an Excel list, please message me.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Gorecki conducting his 3rd Symphony

Got that as well as the Penderecki and Kilar releases in the series. There must be buyers for these things.

I've done Academy but their payout has dwindled. Princeton is not really interested. Have not tried Berkshire.

 

[sunra]

Berkshire only wants new sealed discs they tell me.

 

[ubertrout]

Berkshire only wants new sealed discs they tell me.

Not a shock. They're really a cutout outlet.

 

[stevedemena]

Typically you'd have to piece this out to get value out of it. Do you know anyone who transacts in things online (like eBay, Amazon, etc) who could consign the collection for you and just take a percentage off the top? Even at 50% you'll make significantly more than someone willing to buy it all. If you were close (I'm all the way on the other side of the country) I'd offer to do exactly that. Ebay is second hat for someone like me, would take maybe a day of photos and comping to have all the discs live/online. Handling the shipping is the only bother IMO, but USPS offers free packaging for their services and would go that route. Probably plenty of money to be made if given the time (3 months?).

A day to list 600 titles? Working 10 hours that would be 60 an hour!

You’d need to ship Media mail. USPS doesn’t offer free packaging for that.

 

[Owen Smith]

I’ve ripped all the discs with my Oppo 103 over the last several months,

In which case selling the discs is not ethical. You should either destroy the discs or put them in a storage facility.

 

[sunra]

Thank you for your opinion on that, Owen

 

[Owen Smith]

Thank you for your opinion on that, Owen

OK I'll try this. Forget ethical, in many jurisdictions what you are doing is illegal.