Sell my late husband's 40 Mosaic Box Sets on Ebay, Amazon or Disco

[Jazzkats]

Hi, I have about 40 mint Mosaic Box sets (CDs), that I am ready to sell. Trying to figure out the best place to get info on pricing and whether to sell on Ebay, Amazon or perhaps Discogs? Most of them were only played once, to make a copy for listening, and some have one or more factory sealed jewel boxes. Most or all are OOP. I put one up on Ebay, with a reserve. Of course they charge to have a reserve but it seemed like the best idea. It's the Complete Eddie Condon All Stars CBS Recordings, # 152.

I want to post where the most jazzophiles will be browsing and buying.

I also have another 7500 CDs in his collection, with quite a few rarities and imports. That will be the next step. I have these entered into an excel spreadsheet and in Delicious Library. It would be cool to be able to post them for sale by uploading the spreadsheet someplace, but only if it is the right place. I can attach the file here if that's appropriate and helpful.

Jim was a jazz DJ, fan, and collector here in Portland, Oregon, and handled his collection with great care.

Thanks much!

Laurie (Jazzkats)

[GA Russell]

Laurie, a few years ago I had to sell my Mosaics. It was my experience that if you are lucky you will get the highest price at eBay. However, the situation at eBay depends upon the current state of the economy (rather than your merchandise). You may also need to be concerned about scammers from outside of North America.

If you offer your items here, you may not get the highest offer per item, but you might very well "move" the most merchandise when all is said and done. Many folks here are in the habit of buying multiple items from sellers on this board.

The one Mosaic which I believe you are most likely to "strike it rich" using eBay is the Maynard Ferguson Roulette box.

Before you set a price on eBay, take a look at the price that item has recently sold there for. You will probably get a similar amount.

[clifford_thornton]

Consider if you can consign with a local shop who has a good eBay track record. That way buyers aren't afraid of a low-feedback seller.

[Big Beat Steve]

You may also need to be concerned about scammers from outside of North America.

Are you sure there are no scammers IN North America?

Or if you want to advise against SPECIFIC regions of the world to deal with, then please say so and be specific. Otherwise you might do a huge and unfair disservice to honest collectors from outside the US of A (remember there IS a world of decent people and jazz fans out there) who might even be prepared to bear the huge shipping costs for the right item, and/or you might unnecessarily discourage newbie sellers on the forum who maybe have not dealt with buyers from abroad (or maybe even people from abroad at all) before.

In short, please let's be fair.

[soulpope]

You may also need to be concerned about scammers from outside of North America.

Are you sure there are no scammers IN North America?

Or if you want to advise against SPECIFIC regions of the world to deal with, then please say so and be specific. Otherwise you might do a huge and unfair disservice to honest collectors from outside the US of A (remember there IS a world of decent people and jazz fans out there) who might even be prepared to bear the huge shipping costs for the right item, and/or you might unnecessarily discourage newbie sellers on the forum who maybe have not dealt with buyers from abroad (or maybe even people from abroad at all) before.

In short, please let's be fair.

Seconded

[erwbol]

You may also need to be concerned about scammers from outside of North America.

Are you sure there are no scammers IN North America?

Or if you want to advise against SPECIFIC regions of the world to deal with, then please say so and be specific. Otherwise you might do a huge and unfair disservice to honest collectors from outside the US of A (remember there IS a world of decent people and jazz fans out there) who might even be prepared to bear the huge shipping costs for the right item, and/or you might unnecessarily discourage newbie sellers on the forum who maybe have not dealt with buyers from abroad (or maybe even people from abroad at all) before.

In short, please let's be fair.

Seconded

Right.

Watch too much Fox lately, Russell?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Whatever you do decide, Laurie, please let us know - so I can show my wife, for when I die.

MG

[felser]

Laurie, so sorry for the loss of your husband. I agree with the other board members that, if your primary concern is top dollar return on the out of print sets, ebay is the way to go, noting previous sale prices, For a fair and reasonable sale price with a minimum of risk and hassle, selling on the board here is your best approach. It really is a matter of what your needs and desires are. I would recommend selling the other CD's (including "still in print" Mosaic boxes) here. Dusty Groove can give you a decent price on common CD's, but you can probably do better on the board here. I (and other board members) can offer general advice on pricing CD's if desired. You can post follow up questions here or feel free to PM me with any questions. I wish you the best on the next phase of your life.

[jazzbo]

Laurie, my condolences. I agree with all that John Felser says. I'm sure you can receive help here on the board or through PM to anyone on this thread about which sets would be best to go the ebay route, etc. And I know board members here would be interested in the opportunity to purchase some of this collection.

Best of luck! Let us know if we can help.

[mr jazz]

also agree with John.

[AllenLowe]

there's a local guy in Portland Maine who will gladly give you 25 cents per record; which is why I don't sell records in Portland.

on the other hand the most honest guy in the business that I know is Stereo Jack. As a matter of fact my wife has instructions that if I should disappear and she wants to know what to do with my LPs, to call Jack. Assuming they weren't the ones who caused me to disappear.....

[porcy62]

You may also need to be concerned about scammers from outside of North America.

Scammers are mainly sellers, since buyers pay in advance. Some issues may rise because of poor postal services.

[clifford_thornton]

Certainly there are scammers in the States. I've encountered more than a few.

The guy in Portland Allen's talking about doesn't pay much but he has good records!

[GA Russell]

You may also need to be concerned about scammers from outside of North America.

Are you sure there are no scammers IN North America?

Or if you want to advise against SPECIFIC regions of the world to deal with, then please say so and be specific. Otherwise you might do a huge and unfair disservice to honest collectors from outside the US of A (remember there IS a world of decent people and jazz fans out there) who might even be prepared to bear the huge shipping costs for the right item, and/or you might unnecessarily discourage newbie sellers on the forum who maybe have not dealt with buyers from abroad (or maybe even people from abroad at all) before.

In short, please let's be fair.

Steve, did I say that there are no scammers in North America? It looks to me like you're in a bad mood for some reason, and you're taking it out on me. I'm not here for that. Maybe there is a 900 phone number where for $3.95 a minute a beautiful woman will listen to your complaining about American exceptionalism!

Your sentence which I have highlighted suggests to me that you have a desire to write my posts. That's not going to happen either.

My friend, for your impertinence, I will insist that the next time I am in southern Germany, you will buy the first round of your favorite beer, which I'm confident will be outstanding!

[GA Russell]

Watch too much Fox lately, Russell?

LOL! erwbol, American exceptionalism has been around a lot longer than Fox News!

[Jazzkats]

Whatever you do decide, Laurie, please let us know - so I can show my wife, for when I die.

MG

LOL and oh so true too. Yes, all the future jazz collector widows need good advice. Will do!

[Jazzkats]

(I once thought that was a turkey, but it's a thumbs up!)

Thanks to all of you for the kind advice and friendly welcome! This seems like a great list and just the sort of place that Jim would have frequented had he only known about it.

I have heard from one of you so far who knew him, and I'll bet there are others. If you long ago were on rec.music.bluenote, or the Ellington bulletin boards or west coast jazz or jazz-L, then you did know Jim Andrews.

I have liked having the collection for its connection to him, but It's long past time to let it go now, and it makes it easier knowing that he would want the music to be enjoyed and listened to by jazz lovers. I love the music, but rarely sit down to listen to recordings.

So thank you for the wonderful feedback, advice and camaraderie. It's just what I needed. I plan to go ahead with putting the Mosaics on Ebay. I tried to attach the small spreadsheet of the mosaics and other large box sets, but it says that type of file is not allowed to be attached. Suggestions? I'd like to post it. Feedback on pricing for Ebay is very welcome.

For the other 7500 items, plus or minus, I am happy to provide the excel spreadsheet of that list. Those of you who offered to review it, or if you enjoy browsing such lists (like he did!) -- the file is too big to attach, so let me know an email address and I'll email you the excel spreadsheet showing the rest of the collection, including the smaller sets and individual CDs.

Yes, I would very much appreciate feedback on which items on the list stand out to you as possibly being of higher value. Then I can look things up to see what they were selling for. I don't need top top dollar for every item on the big list, but I would rather not sell something worth $50 for $5, just because I was uninformed. Pricing advice is also very welcome, both for individual items that you notice or for the whole list.

I would consider offers for the entire list in the spreadsheet (not including the Mosaics and other higher end large sets which are in a separate list), and maybe also for subsets of it (like maybe all the material from a certain artist, for instance). And at some point I would probably consider selling individual CDs from the spreadsheet list. But at the moment I don't plan to sell individual CDs because it could make it harder to attract a buyer for the whole thing or subsets. A few (5 to 10) of the CDs on this list may have been sold previously and at the moment I don't know which ones they are. They are generally sorted by alphabet, but locating individual items could be challenging.

I love having the referral to Stereo Jack, and might ask them for a price on this whole group. But shipping to Massachusetts? Not sure whether it would make sense. Still if they gave me a ballpark number, that would help.

Thanks again!!!

Laurie (jazzkats)

[Big Beat Steve]

Steve, did I say that there are no scammers in North America? It looks to me like you're in a bad mood for some reason, and you're taking it out on me. I'm not here for that. Maybe there is a 900 phone number where for $3.95 a minute a beautiful woman will listen to your complaining about American exceptionalism!

Your sentence which I have highlighted suggests to me that you have a desire to write my posts. That's not going to happen either.

My friend, for your impertinence, I will insist that the next time I am in southern Germany, you will buy the first round of your favorite beer, which I'm confident will be outstanding!

GA, I was in no bad mood at all until I read your initial post (and not even then ... just a little taken aback by such sweeping generalizations).

Your one-sided slant against "scammers" specifically outside of N.A. (of all places) was uncalled for and unfair.

Talk about impertinence ...

If you are THAT worried about shady characters, would it have been totally unfathomable going for some sort of balanced statement to the effect that "scammers may be everywhere in this business, so beware"? (No, I am not trying to write your posts, just trying to get some common sense across ...)

BTW, I have been on eBay since the middle of 2000, and the ONLY occasions (two in total) I have been scammed were by U.S. sellers. Taking yer money but no goods, and clearly not a matter of postal screw-up. Am I now holding all those from the US responsible who do business either way on eBay or similar platforms? Of course not. You cannot generalize, and shit happens.

So all I was really asking was to be at least halfway balanced when making statements like that. Particularly when trying to give advice to the uninitiated.

Finally, I admit I did have to look up "exceptionalism" (a term I had not heard before) but at any rate, that very notion is ... oh well ... why bother ...

Oh yes, as for beer ... no dice. But some other brew might be quite feasible.

@Laurie/jazzkats:

My sincerest apologies but maybe you will understand such generalizations need at least SOME straightening out. Whatever you do with that collection and wherever you want to sell them IF you want to sell at least part of the collection item by item, please remember the prices you might fetch will be higher in other regins of the world. Though today's postal shipping rates don't help at all. It might be worth a try not ruling out buyers from outside the US from the outset.

(No, I have no personal interest in this but am dead sure others would be more than interested in what would be the right items to THEM)

Edited November 18, 2014 by Big Beat Steve

[felser]

(I once thought that was a turkey, but it's a thumbs up!)

Thanks to all of you for the kind advice and friendly welcome! This seems like a great list and just the sort of place that Jim would have frequented had he only known about it.

I have heard from one of you so far who knew him, and I'll bet there are others. If you long ago were on rec.music.bluenote, or the Ellington bulletin boards or west coast jazz or jazz-L, then you did know Jim Andrews.

I have liked having the collection for its connection to him, but It's long past time to let it go now, and it makes it easier knowing that he would want the music to be enjoyed and listened to by jazz lovers. I love the music, but rarely sit down to listen to recordings.

So thank you for the wonderful feedback, advice and camaraderie. It's just what I needed. I plan to go ahead with putting the Mosaics on Ebay. I tried to attach the small spreadsheet of the mosaics and other large box sets, but it says that type of file is not allowed to be attached. Suggestions? I'd like to post it. Feedback on pricing for Ebay is very welcome.

For the other 7500 items, plus or minus, I am happy to provide the excel spreadsheet of that list. Those of you who offered to review it, or if you enjoy browsing such lists (like he did!) -- the file is too big to attach, so let me know an email address and I'll email you the excel spreadsheet showing the rest of the collection, including the smaller sets and individual CDs.

Yes, I would very much appreciate feedback on which items on the list stand out to you as possibly being of higher value. Then I can look things up to see what they were selling for. I don't need top top dollar for every item on the big list, but I would rather not sell something worth $50 for $5, just because I was uninformed. Pricing advice is also very welcome, both for individual items that you notice or for the whole list.

I would consider offers for the entire list in the spreadsheet (not including the Mosaics and other higher end large sets which are in a separate list), and maybe also for subsets of it (like maybe all the material from a certain artist, for instance). And at some point I would probably consider selling individual CDs from the spreadsheet list. But at the moment I don't plan to sell individual CDs because it could make it harder to attract a buyer for the whole thing or subsets. A few (5 to 10) of the CDs on this list may have been sold previously and at the moment I don't know which ones they are. They are generally sorted by alphabet, but locating individual items could be challenging.

I love having the referral to Stereo Jack, and might ask them for a price on this whole group. But shipping to Massachusetts? Not sure whether it would make sense. Still if they gave me a ballpark number, that would help.

Thanks again!!!

Laurie (jazzkats)

Laurie, Dusty Groove would also likely give you an overall quote for the big list. You might do well to get two quotes and compare them. I'm willing to give suggestions on the pricing of the Mosaic sets if you want to send me a list of the titles. I'm not interested in buying any more of the past/current Mosaic sets beyond what I already have, so can be pretty objective. If one or two others want to also offer suggestions on pricing those sets, you can pool/average the input.

[AllenLowe]

that, btw, is not the Jim Andrews who was the source for some interesting Xanadu releases (the Jim Andrews I am thinking of provided the source tapes, I think, for the Tal Farlow/Eddie Costa, maybe the Art Pepper) is it?

Edited November 19, 2014 by AllenLowe

[Jazzkats]

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the great suggestions. Several of you requested the two lists (Mosaic list and big list) but most did not include an email address so I am not sure how I would send to you. The list is too big to attach.

If you send me contact info I will send it out. Am in the midst of some negotiations now.

thank you!

Laurie

[Jazzkats]

Once again a HUGE thank you to all who replied to me.

I have made a deal with Dusty Grooves, and am pleased because of course my husband was a fan of theirs and frequently bought from them.

Thank you for all the fine suggestions. I'm happy to still share the list but will not be selling any items separately.

I am sending the link to this forum to a friend who also has a collection she is selling, so more may come of this to benefit you.

Best wishes!

Laurie

[Big Beat Steve]

Congratulations to you for being able to get this off your soul with a minimum of fuss.

Just one final note, though:

If you sell to a professional dealer he will give you only a fraction of the actual value of the collection and ALSO only a (somewhat larger only) fraction of what you would have been able to get from "end customers" to whom you might have sold the discs directly at a price that would have been quite attractive to them (i.e. less than what a dealer would charge) and still would have netted you substantially more than what the professional pays you.

It's a tradeoff between getting less money and having no fuss to worry about and getting more money but having to invest quite a bit more work to get the goods sold. So if it works OK for you, perfect!

The dealer, OTOH, will have no qualms about charging whatever he can get (i.e. not too little) out of that bulk and turn a buck. Sure, he is in the business to make money and gotta make money but in the end the collectors will not necessarily profit from such collections that beocme available after the death of their owners.

So to the collectors this may not be the best deal overall.

In short:

Remembe the age-old principle in any such transaction:

"AVOID THE MIDDLEMAN!"

We all will have to face up to that problem of how to prepare the field for those who will still be around to clear out all our hoarding mess (aka "collections" of this'n that) when we have bowed out. And I've already taken some ribbing form my better half about that too. But I know for sure that when the time approaches I will stipulate that the "records/music" part of my collections will under ABSOLUTELY NO circumstances be sold to the local second hand platter shop! I've bought quite a bit from them through the years but they certainly won't give you top money when they purchase collections and I don't see why I should grease their palms by providing them with the opportunity of selling the same goods over and over again. After all, that would be too easy for them ...

[felser]

Laurie, I'm glad it worked out for you and that we were able to be of help.

[clifford_thornton]

Dusty pays well. I may be buying some of these sets from them!