Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

some laboratories have acid in them

or diseased monkeys!

diseased monkeys can be trusted not to open sealed copies of Young Rascals records.

One of those later Rascals records has Alice Coltrane and other hip people on it. Not that one, though.

just heard a VINYL ME, PLEASE ad on Pandora. "music discovery for humans, by humans."
VINYL ME, PLEASE is maybe the worst name for anything ever.

but is MOVIE ME, PLEASE worse than Qwikster?

is MOZZARELLA STICKS ME, PLEASE worse than Applebee's?

kill me, please

but is that worse than ♥☮☯♫ PC MUSIC ♫☯☮♥ ☺☺☺ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°✌?

a guy who used to run a little record store in chicago closed his shop a few months ago. a few weeks ago he posted this to his store's old FB page:

To all the hipsters that get a hard-on when you find a shit record (or no record inside, or wrong LP) at a yard sale, or thrift store for $1.00, thanks for the support, Hope ALL your records are, or will be warped !

https://www.facebook.com/wilbillys

how do sealed young rascals records go for 200 bucks (he sold more than one at that price!) and a white label promo of loaded goes for less than a hundred

My theory is that the typo in the listing title meant that it didn't show up in a lot of searches, so fewer people saw it and bid on it than would otherwise have done.

a guy who used to run a little record store in chicago closed his shop a few months ago. a few weeks ago he posted this to his store's old FB page:

was this the one in roscoe village?

"To all the hipsters that get a hard-on when you find a shit record (or no record inside, or wrong LP) at a yard sale, or thrift store for $1.00, thanks for the support, Hope ALL your records are, or will be warped !"

He thinks $1 records found at yard sales and thrift shops helped kill his business?

was this the one in roscoe village?

― gr8080, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 8:16 AM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, i think it went under a few names.

but NOT hard boiled; the one after that.

a large portion of their clientele that seemed to want to have an electric guitar as a lifestyle accessory

^^^ these guys keep guitar stores in business (as opposed to, say, drum stores). It's really weird the number of people I know who own guitar(s) and never, ever play them.

― Οὖτις, Thursday, June 11, 2015 2:27 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tone attorneys are basically fender and gibson's main audiences now, $5000 "relic'd" Strats made to look beat up with a belt sander in the factory, made in the USA (because no other countries can make good instruments) and at just MAYBE a better instrument to a fuckin $75 Craigslist Squier that someone dumped $200 in better hardware into

https://reverb.com/item/391129-2014-fender-custom-shop-54-stratocaster-relic-cimarron-red?_aid=pla&pla=1&gclid=CjwKEAjwqqmsBRDGy_3h_eS80jYSJACS95Cvl1DRecFDEt9yhwIovuQQuEo2JoDyuQRxnTg-HLMGjhoC16Xw_wcB

tone attorneys!

sour grapes record store guy reminds me of this. they called us and asked if we wanted to be a part of this article and after i saw it i was sooooooo glad that i didn't have anything to do with it. not a good look, as the kids like to say:

http://www.bdcwire.com/how-to-survive-record-store-day-without-looking-like-a-poser/

blah...

the author's last name

ahahaha

that whole article is really snobby and pointless boundary-drawing, proud of scott for not participating

on the other hand, it's nice to know that weirdo records is still in business

weirdo is closing actually...

or has closed actually.

vynl update: they are definitely "pivoting" the latest batch has been all sealed band of horses, black keys and ben harper records.

the three B's

weirdo is closing actually...

― scott seward, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 1:15 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or has closed actually.

― scott seward, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 1:19 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:(

:(

:(

fuck the world

“When you attempt to engage them in basic conversation about the item they are buying and even the most basic literal reference to said record goes over their head; they’ll typically nod with a blank stare or repeat what you say enthusiastically like a parrot but have no idea what you’re talking about,” says UGHH owner Aaron Wetjen-Barry. “Trying to sound cool because they read about it somewhere easy like Pitchfork.”

UGHH indeed. OK, I'm a weirdo but fuck you, bcz when strangers talk to me my brain blows a fuse; you could say something about my favourite most nerded-out-on band and I would still nod and go "yeah... yeah" and then run away and not be, like, throwing out the hot record nerd banter "oh I prefer the 4-track demos the bassist's previous band did before they were signed and split up after one backwards-rotating 10" EP that was only ever reviewed in that one obscure paper 'zine, but I'll buy this anyway because it's on 200g vinyl" or w/e

Look, there are hundreds of records participating in Record Store Day this year, and there’s not a single sentient human being who’s going to know about all of them. Don’t be afraid of asking a music-savvy friend or a record store owner about a group or album in particular – just be damn sure you’re listening to the answer.

hey I (used to) love buying records I don't know anything about but RSD is a very poor day to do this because everything is way overpriced, but have fun buying a £35 LP by a band you've never heard of. also there is a queue a mile long and nobody wants to hold your hand and answer questions

plus I have rarely received a more helpful answer to "do you know anything about this record I've never heard of with a weird title in the £1 bin" than "I dunno man, it had a weird title and none of us had heard of it so we put it in the £1 bin"

cosigning the "congrats on not being mentioned in that article"

Yeah, well played, Scott.

cory tell me a funny story about this ddude

looks like VNYL has some competition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQNcKlWasA

"do you have that Noel Redding album where it looks like he's fucking a cow?" lmao

Cory how much was the Wham! record?

I used to have some Voodoo Glow Skulls on vinyl. Can't remember how I got it or how I managed to get rid of it.

did I donate it to a library or something?

http://graphics.crucialattack.nl/covers/Voodoo_Glow_Skulls_-_Who_Is_This_Is-CD.jpg

i think the wham was $12-18

Vine-Al's got friends who are into Suffocation and Master's Hammer. WKI in his store but not buy anything.

loll

Is 28 bucks too much for a link wray's self titled record? I fucking love that album but don't want to get ripped off

thats a good deal

Averages $45 on discogs, so yeah, even deflating for Internet ridiculousness that's a pretty good price. Wish I had bought it the last time I saw it for $9...

co-sign on that, great record

would snag that record for $30

k will do asap. thanks yall

Link Wray's never a bad buy.

Advice please!

I bought some records on Discogs from a guy who used to run a very hip record label. I live in the UK and had the records shipped to my friend's house in America. When my friend visited a month later, she brought the package, and I discovered that one of the records he sent me - the most expensive one, in fact (though only $25) - was the wrong record. He just sent me another album by the same band.

So I emailed him and explained what happened and that I would return the wrong album when I was back in the States in a month, but would still like the one I ordered. He wrote back saying "Weird. Don't know how that happened. The one you wanted is long gone. I'll refund the cash." That's all he said and that's all I have ever heard from him.

It's been a month and I've emailed him four times saying "tell me where to send the wrong record back to" and giving him my PayPal details and he hasn't replied again. According to his Twitter he's on tour, though I think he's constantly on tour and this is just a PayPal refund thing so that shouldn't matter I don't think.

I've never given bad Discogs feedback. I've had shitty transactions, but they've mostly been dealt with before having to give feedback - like, the person has refunded the money or apologized profusely and said "please don't leave me bad feedback."

The guy I made the deal with seems to have an iffy reputation, and all the feedback stuff on his page involves him getting into a fight with the person who left him negative feedback.

What should I do? Thanks!

Can you initiate an "item not as described" dispute on PayPal? It's kind of tough because you got something and he obviously wants you to be stuck with the wrong record and disappear; this type of personality (ignore-ignore-ignore and then get toxic when you leave them negative feedback) are super fucking annoying.

I'd say look into PayPal, maybe leave a simple, unemotional negative feedback explaining the situation in detail and in the future carefully check feedback before ordering. Maybe try one last email first and tell him that you're going to do that if he doesn't give you a refund and reiterate that you're happy to return the album to him.

Yeah I think if you raise a dispute on Paypal you won't even need to return the record to get a refund.

I think you have 45 days to file a dispute though so I'd get on that if it's been over a month already.

Thanks, yeah, I've passed my statute of limitations, as it were, with PayPal.

I suppose I'll do one more email and float the idea of negative Discogs feedback; we'll see. I hate the idea of having to "threaten" negative feedback - it just all seems to petty and lame - but the whole transaction has been irritating. I really suspect he sent the wrong record on purpose and hoped I would not make a big deal about it because it's a similarly rare one (but that I already have!!!)

Thanks