The Best Merchants For Vinyl Are Online, But How To Distinguish A Superior Store From A Bad One?

By Author: Seth Frank
Total Articles: 17
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Regardless of it being years outdated, vinyl continues to sell surprisingly well and music fans continue to make the claim that LPs are much better than any new medium. The sound of the little static in the background and hearing the needle slightly scratch the album is what some music enthusiasts call perfection. While fewer and fewer records make it to the market because more and more individuals keep or sell their old LPs, fewer and fewer businesses that sell vinyl only are still around. Even today, much of the inventory of most stores are from owners who had duplicate or sealed copies or old, used albums they no longer want and decided to sell the albums or donated them to a business. Rarely do you ever find record stores; many have changed over to selling their products online where the market for LPs is much larger.

What to Look for

A search engine can help point you to various online stores that sell an assortment of different albums at different prices. Since much of the LPs you find online will be used, the album art may be a little damaged, but any new albums you stumble onto may be in perfect condition ...
... or come with bends in the seam. If you’re interested in Jimi Hendrix vinyl, you might find various stores that sell both new and used copies; of course, the rare Hendrix records will likely be used while the popular ones may still come sealed.

Of course, the price you end up paying for an album will depend on the condition of the LP itself; for example, the same Hendrix record may cost a bit less if opened as opposed to if it were sealed. Even if the album is sealed, if a record is rare and fewer numbers exist, vendors are more prone to sell the rare LP for more cash than the one still sealed. Regardless of what condition you select, the company will help you understand what state the LP is in by the descriptions written. One feature you do want is to get a money-back guarantee for any album that you buy so that you are not getting a record that fails after a few uses. What’s superb about websites is most will have a bargain bin section that sells discounted records; however, many of these deals are for specific records. These bargain bins come in handy, as you might come across a Metallica vinyl records for less on one site than on another. Another issue to consider is looking for vendors with wide selections of music from the artist you want an album of, as the larger the inventory, the cheaper the prices.