TIPS

Pick 5 random vinyl recordlistings from the thousands outthere and you willsee there is no consistancyfrom seller to seller.Many sellers seem to think they will sell their records with an incrediblybrief description. However, my own and many other sellers' experience has shown that there are particular pieces of information which abuyer expects to find in a record listing.

We must acknowledge that for many genres ofmusic, our products are aimed at incredibly specific/specialist buyers. I am writing this guide in the hope that together we sellers can standardise the format/content of record listings for everyone's benefit:

Sellers' benfit- improve sales, eliminate need to answer questions about items (and potential missed bids), reduce chances of complaint and buyerdisappointment("it wasnt what I expected" etc.)

Buyers' benefit-make it easier to find what they want, eliminate need to wait for question to be answered by seller, improve customer confidence in seller

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What information should sellers put intheir recordlistings?

I suggest the following as a minimum. Bullet points may not look great, but they are CLEAR. Take a look at one of my own record listings to see how to make it more appealing to read.

Artist name
Record title
Complete tracklisting

including all remixes and remix artists' names
Record label which published the release
Year of release (if the record is a re-press, say so and give the appropriate releasedate)
Country of release
Condition of vinyl and sleeve

use the Record Collector's Grading System. Details arehere

The following are also incredibly useful to make sure that the buyer is getting what they think they are:

Link to MP3 sample

Browse onlinerecord stores such asHTFR.com who have MP3 samples of records ready for you to postlinks to in your description. Remember to state what mixes/tracks are in the sample - some samples has several tracks.
Link to relevant page onDiscogs.com

Discogs is the world's largest onlinedatabase of music releases. You should be able to find the release you are selling on here, so put a link to that page in your listinglike this:discogs.com/release/144724 It is also useful for finding out the year of release if you are unsure.

My final tip for successful record selling on eBay is to state what type of packaging you will use to post the record to the buyer. Set up an "About Me" page where you can put this kind ofinformation.Experience shows that it isbest to onlyuse professional 12" mailers with a thick cardboard stiffener insidefor extra support(they stop the record bending in transit). Any other form of packaging is likely to result in adamaged record, and an unhappy (cheated)customer.

By stating up-frontwhat packaging you will use, youshould not find buyers leaving you negative feedback with complaints.Buyers can't claimarecord arrived bent, nor will theyfeel ripped off for payingup to2.50 postage if they are getting professional service.

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ALL of the suggestedinformation for recordlistingscan be found on the internet somewhere - it's just a case of finding it, which I appreciatecan be time consuming. MP3 samples can be particularly difficult to get hold of, but make an effort and see what affect it has on your sales!

I hope that this guideis useful to active sellers andalso buyers considering entering the arena of record sales. It iscertainlya saturated market already, so make sure that you do go the extra mile if you want to be successful. Finally, good luck!