Parting Ways With Your Vinyl Record Music Collection, and Making Money at It

If you're anything like me, you like music... lots of it. If you're like me you are a pack rat. A bad combination, because now you're collecting lots of vinyl records. And you're collecting CDs too, lets not forget those. CDs play and store better than our dusty collection of vinyl records, we use them regularly.

Now you must ask yourself... When was the last time you played one of your vinyl records? Do you have a turntable/record player? How many times have you moved since the last time you played one of your records? You might realize that you don't play them anymore.

If you're like me, you are ready to part with most of these vinyl records. There is no way you or I will part with all of them. Some are just too sentimental and will remain with me, and with any luck the vinyl records can be passed on to my children. I hope to pass on a turntable or two, so that they can play the old vinyl music.

I have almost 400 vinyl records, and I expect to keep about 100 of them in the collection.

Because I have been subject to moving a few times, my vinyl record collection has no order. To start, I just grabbed the first 20-30 records and started making two piles, with the intent of getting rid of most of the records. There are certain bands I will keep all of the vinyl I have like U2, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and more... some of this vinyl came out as collector editions... and I'm keeping them, sorry folks! Once I completed separating the vinyl record collection, I set up a web site to sell them.

If you're like me, you can make your own web site. If you're not like me, you can use eBay, or CraigsList. I used an off the shelf eCommerce web site.

I have indexed over 100 of the vinyl records. I have digital photos I made of each record that is uploaded to the eCommerce system. I make the quantity available of each record is set to one (1) so I don't over sell the item. I also had to setup a Merchant system for accepting credit card transactions. I really liked this part, because when I get a purchase from a customer using a credit card, it goes right into my bank account! Over and over again!

I learned about shipping and order processing. The first order I shipped via UPS, I was way too excited to ship my first order, and all went well. I charged $5 for shipping, and I paid $8 at UPS, that was a lesson learned. I discovered that using the post office and shipping media rate was the best option. Shipping cost at the post office was usually under $3, and adding insurance and delivery tracking the total cost was still under $5 for one vinyl record. I was sure to send communication via email to my customers each step of the transaction. I let the customer know that their order was received and when the order was going to ship. I locate the vinyl records before sending the first communication to be sure I can complete the entire order. When I ship the order I send the delivery confirmation number as verification of shipment. I haven't had a complaint from a customer yet...I'm sure I will at some point.

If you're like me, you will want to please your customer. I used special shipping boxes for vinyl records. They cost me about $1.20 each; the high cost is because I only ordered a few. The more shipping boxes you order the cheaper they each are to buy. My plan was that, if the sales of my vinyl records were working, then I could invest more in the business. The boxes I use are exactly the correct size for shipping vinyl records. The box can fold at different points to accommodate various quantities.

I am making money selling my old vinyl records. It's been such a success selling online that after I am finished adding all my vinyl records, I am going to add the old t-shirts I have. After that, quite possibly adding some CDs too.

Writer: Dan Sharp
Visit http://www.ZiRocks.com for the Vinyl Record Collection online.