Album Purging - seeking advice

@chappin88:

I totally relate. I went through the exact same scenario in 2015; when I turned 65 the prospect of my mortality became foremost in my thoughts, as did the knowledge that my remaining hours were becoming evermore precious. Would I really again listen to every one of my 4000 or so LPs (and 3500 CDs), even once? Did I even have enough remaining time to do so?

I decided to physically look at every LP in my racks, and be honest with myself. Did I love the music on the LP, or just like it? Some of my LPs had been blind buys, and I had never gotten around to even opening the shrink wrap, so never heard the music. If after never having given an LP a single listen in, say, five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, did I really "need" it? And what about the LPs I had listened to, but not in a long time? Why hadn’t I?

I then decided to do a purge, whittling down my music library to the "essentials." I took about a thousand LPs into Amoeba Records in Hollywood, and used the proceeds to buy more important things, like hi-fi gear. 

The question that then arises is: do I regret the removal of any of those titles from my collection? Yes, actually, but only a few. I’ve rebought a couple of them, with a couple more still in the little book I take with me when going to used record shops.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much good new music was going to becoming down the pike, music I just had to have. In the past eleven years my music library has grown to be larger than it was before the purge. Oh well, I tried. 

+1 @parkergetdean - periodically review some then exchange/dispose/give away the few. 

Common records with ratty covers are hard to monetize. Record shops may not take them at all, and if, maybe 10c or less per records, as they will go into the 1$bin. You may be better off donating them to good will, planned parenthood or some other charitable organization, and claim a tax deduction. Up to $5K you can self-appraise. Depending on your tax bracket and whether you will go over standard deduction with itemized deduction, you may be financially better off donating them than selling them. I AM NOT A TAX PROFESSIONAL, not liable for any tax consequences, check with your CPA.

Even if you don't get a tax benefit, it may make you feel better donating them to charity rather than selling them for pennies on the dollar. That is my general approach with potentially sellable items. Most of them I just give away.

As others have said, I would also start with the obvious ones to remove, the ones you know you don't like. I also put the duds in a separate pile as I listen to records. Then it isn't the one day monumental task, but you whittle away at it.

Good luck!

For the albums you choose to sell I highly recommend doing so on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum classifieds. If you're not yet a member then join up and start contributing some posts, they don't let you use the classifieds until you become active. I've purchase loads of records, CDs, video and gear there with no problems what so ever as both a buyer and seller.

The key thing as a seller is being accurate in your listing. If you have a records that should command some good money then be sure to play grade them. If you have VG+ or NM record and the sleeve is only G to VG, have a look through Discogs. Sometimes you can fine a cheap replacement sleeve is great condition because the record itself grades poorly and then be able to sell the album for significantly more than you would with the bad covers.

I'm also in my early 60's and facing the same issues of lack of space and play time. Right now I have four cartons of records I need to move on. I'll sell 90% of them on the Hoffman Forum, but it's a fair bit of work and I've been putting it off for a while.

If you have the time, try cataloging what you have on Discogs, it really helps to gauge what you've got and what's really of some value. As that previous poster suggested, donating might be the easiest way to go, so if you've got what you donate properly cataloged then you've got proof of value should the IRS ever question the donation. Just go with the low to middle estimates, the high valuation is generally a fantasy.

Of course you can sell on Discogs, but then you're dealing with them grabbing a chunk of the sales, at the Hoffman Forum there are no fees at all. Although I've made many purchases using Discogs, I've only sold there once, a rare punk 45 single that fetched over $500 within 20 minutes of my listing it. I just had to send the buyer photos to prove I had it on hand and the listing wasn't fraudulent. I was paid quickly and shipped it off to the happy buyer.

Best of luck with everything!

It depends on how much time and effort you want to devote to this.  It's like parting out a car.  Sell the whole lot of in one or two shots and be done with it but get less money.  Or pick through them all one by one, taking pictures, writing descriptions, dealing with dozens or even hundreds of people over an untold amount of time to sell them off.  That could take months or even years.  You'll probably get more money that way, but what is your time and aggravation worth?