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My First Record Fair !!!!!!


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3 minutes ago, April Snow said:

I have found delivery from UK so much cheaper that US - I prefer to buy from there myself as they also seem to pack for shipping better too. 

 

I have brought some LPs from Discogs and 90% has been "as described" (I only buy albums they grade as NM or Mint), I feel the sellers on there are more honest with their grading (same as Ebay) due to the feedback & Paypal system and if you feel they are not quite up to the grading something can be worked out.

 

Lucky for me a local store will happily let you play before purchasing too

 

The fairs have been more hit and miss for me (but I have only been to two so far) - I have found some LPs turned out to be "diamonds" and others that are "stones" - but I am sure I will get better at looking at records as experience grows too.

 

I think I prefer Discogs and the local store out of them all so far though as I have had a higher success rate with those.

 

 

Haven't been on a record fair in ages, last one was the Northern Beaches fair. It's good fun,  I got my British pressing of Zep IV from the Blue Mountains, I got most of my albums from a local shop that closed down because the rent was too high, I used to go there pretty much every weekend ;)

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1 hour ago, hlov said:

Haven't been on a record fair in ages, last one was the Northern Beaches fair. It's good fun,  I got my British pressing of Zep IV from the Blue Mountains, I got most of my albums from a local shop that closed down because the rent was too high, I used to go there pretty much every weekend ;)

I am looking forward to supporting my local "Wrecka Stow"  I discovered recently, that way we get to keep them if we do *fingers crossed* 

 

 

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candyflip - are you commenting on professional record fairs? did the sellers at these fairs provide strong lighting (LEDs) to inspect LPs of interest, you don't make either point clearly. I'm specifically talking about record fairs run by punters for punters.

 

The other point that hasn't been mentioned is 'skimming' where an LP has the top layer of vinyl literally skimmed off leaving what looks like a 'perfect LP. I once saw such a con artist kicked off a car booting site. There is a technique that allows an LP to be inspected which will expose flaws. It's not always a fact but the condition of a sleeve will nearly always be an indicator of the vinyl within.

 

One of the most common ways that an LP is damaged is at end-of-side, not lifting the arm enough for the stylus to clear the surface, leaving an otherwise NM LP with a nasty deep scratch right across the surface. That's why it's not enough to just examine one side only which maybe perfect. Car booters learn these skills quickly. Some have said that when they actually played an LP that had looked fine at point of purchase it played terribly. With a strong light and good eyesight and moving the LP at angles defects will be seen. 

 

I used to buy lots of stuff from the USA but now it's far too expensive. Too many Americans are obsessed with referring to anything that isn't overtly 'capitalist' as 'communistic'. So the USPS has been attacked mercilessly just like the Royal Mail in the UK and private companies have been allowed into the lucrative parcels business leaving the unprofitable letters business to the State postal systems,  that's when the cost rockets. Also lazy sellers use Ebay post that charges rip-off rates aka no sale.

 

There's no way I'm going to buy a US LP for $10 and then pay $25 + for postage to Europe. Wherever a State postal system has been privatised the cost of postage has soared. There is one exception here in Europe and that is Germany - by far the cheapest postal rates but then the Germans always demand - value for money.

 

For all these reasons I like to examine an LP before shelling out good money. I also like to see who I'm buying from and look them in the eye, most wrong'uns look exactly that. This Spring I will have the time to spend trying to put the idea into practice. 

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Wow record skimming - what next? I googled it and came up with quite a few threads from a US based forum - and also found this article (last 2 paragraphs discuss skimming).

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/record-score-day-princeton-record-exchange

 

And some use lighter fluid to make them look shiny too?

 

Interesting subject. I think I would avoid car boot sales myself anyway and I am sure the regular sellers at Record Fairs would not dare do this as they would want to keep their reputation in tact - but this has made me think it is a good idea to try and listen first before you pay the $

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I was unable to attend the Melbourne HiFi show this year, thus missing the record fair. Last year, as  seller, I had a listening rig set up with decent headphones. I even allowed other sellers access to it for customers to assess the condition of records. Depending on the location of a fair, if power is available, vendors should do what the can to supply a listening rig.

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