Here at VinylFarm we believe in transparency. The value of any given album can change and fluctuate with current events, cultural movements and demands, and sudden popular culture shifts. Traditionally, record stores price based on a projection of the value. For the most part an album will hold value from sale to sale as long as the criteria and conditions are met.
In our physical store we place a QR code on each selection - that code takes the purchaser to the exact variant of the selection for sale on the Discogs Marketplace. This allows for each person to make an informed call on the current market rates of any one album we have listed. We believe we price fairly and this page will offer some insight to questions or concerns you might have when browsing Used Selections on any market place not just ours.
In order to fully grasp our stance on this matter we encourage you to visit our [How We Clean] Page For More Info.
Records are documents. They are tangible assets that hold information in a unique way. Long before digital or magnetic data, storage or cache these physical storage drives are simple in theory. Thousand of micro lifts and drops create an acoustic range when the stylus is dragged across them, they are then amplified and we hear the outcome of the music. Really amazing when you think about it, each instrument and frequency of the recording is uniquely reproduced in a physical manner. Creating the vibration of the frequencies allows for some human listeners to claim there is something more natural, more alive.
Turntables are in a sense their own instrument. Able to produce a range of natural sonics that digital reproductions are only mimicking. Even more interesting is we could still listen to albums technically without electricity - though would be a difficult task - it could be done. It makes these items all the most historical.
Each album holds an overall historical significance with each pressing and variant of the pressing allowing for its own demands and taxonomy of the album. Say one album is pressed twice - and one version of this album is known to have a physical defect that causes the album to skip each time in a certain spot - this happened across every album pressed at the plant (hypothetically) well that variant would lose value rather quickly based on the reputation of the pressing. While the other version may gain value as "the good pressing"; for their own reasons each album may hold this significance to any given buyer. Some folks have learned that the "better" mastering and pressing took place on such and such pressing leaving the quality to be far less on the other variants. We are not here to pass that judgement on any album. However, we recognize that it plays a part in our pricing.
You may see a common album priced at $4 - then another copy priced $10; these copies could have physical attributes or blemishes that affect the pricing. one is more beat up than the other.
It may also be true that the variant - for reasons of the "market" - affect the pricing.
If a certain album, was recorded in Burbank, CA and the artist was from Los Angeles and then the album was Mastered and pressed in Los Angeles - each of these factors could potentially individually & collectively play a role in the demand from certain collectors; thereby setting the price.
WE DO:
1. Look at all factors including: the history of the selection may play a part (was it signed? was it in the personal collection of the band's drummer? etc.), the realistic and absurd mark ups of other sellers, the sales median ( sales history) plays the largest part in our prices, we also include total costs from other sellers, including shipping in some cases in order to ensure our prices remain realistic and obtainable, we do list online for purposes of business. So our prices are the same as in-store however, we don't charge shipping in-store so we are able to beat most listed prices/matching condition listings.
Our intake is pretty straight forward and our grading takes place prior to our pricing. We keep it true and honest there. We first wash and grade, then set aside for intake via runout matrix and we don't speculate our price until we are "Listing for sale". That's when we look at everything collectively and set our price as recommended by the collected data as well as what we personally see in terms of condition and our grading.
2: Factor in our time we took to thoroughly clean and inspect/grade each selection. We see this as a service to the collectors and buyers of these selections and our time is considered valuable to us.
3: Offer in-store albums not available online, that may not get the same process of care we provide for our online listings. 🤫 It's how we offer deals to our in-store family.
Our shipping pricing is based on the cost to ship as well as materials we use to ensure the safe travel of the selections. We offer more information on our How We Ship page.
4: Treat each selection as a potential investment, and as we know as time moves throughout space - for the most part, prices just go up.
5: Try and our best to ensure that buyers have a place to count on for extremely honest grading as well as honest pricing.
WE WILL:
1. From time to time adjust our prices up/down based on the market.
2. Consider offers; in-store only.
WE WON'T:
1. Just mark up an extra dollar to cover our Cultivate Love Initiative 🤣. We encourage you to reread this page. As well as our how we grade page & our FAQs.
2. Always get it right.
3. Expect you to understand all of this.
4. Hesitate to answer any questions.