Buying nothern soul records on ebay

Details

Category: Northern Soul Site news

Published on Sunday, 02 December 2012 13:40

Written by Super User

Hits: 751

Buying nothern soul records on ebay

How do you do it?

There's always a pretty amazing range of northern soul records available on eBay, day or night, 24 hours, 365 days a year you can bet there are some of your most wanted tunes for sale from someone somewhere. The only issue then is how do you try to get them?

Buying northern soul on eBay isn't a straightforward affair. There are a couple of important issues to clear first - is the record original? Unfortunately, many ebay sellers flogging bootlegs don't declare when they are selling boots or reissues either because they genuinely don't understand the difference because they bought the record back in 1976 at the Wigan Casino and therefore assume there's nothing to question or because they know damn well it's not an original and they play the "I'll let the buyer decide" card in the hope that some poor hapless buyer armed with a price guide will bid £200 for their £5 bootleg.  And it does happen, try searching through some completed auctions for well known pressings and be prepared to weep.

Secondly, if the record appears to be super rare - is the seller legit? Does he/she have good feedback? Do they have a track record of selling very rare northern soul records - if not, have they given a credible explanation as to why they have come across this super rare clutch of sought after 45s? Beware, there are scammers about - often based in Belgium (there are, of course, very excellent sellers in Belgium as well, lest I be accused of trashing all Belgium record dealers). Do your research before you even think about bidding.

OK so you've decided to bid. This is where it gets interesting. Will you use a sniper service to place your maximum bid in the dying seconds in the hope that you won't alert other would be buyers to the existence of the record on ebay (some buyers only search for records over a certain value, so if a record is kept at a low price for a long period of the auction, a lot of potential bidder might simply not see it on their searching radar).  Some people think sniping is immoral or unfair. However, snipers simply do all their bidding "in one hit" so personally I don't see a problem with it. You place your bid, you either win or you don't. On the other hand, some people love the thrill of the late night staying up to manually bid in the last seconds. There's certainly a bigger adrenaline rush there. Others prefer to bid early to their max and let fate run its course. All approached have their pros and cons I guess though I have to admit, I prefer to snipe these days (more due to time than anything else), though it also helps me to exercise self-control when bidding for a record I really want. It takes away that temptation where you think "I've already bid £150, so a little £20 increase won't make much difference if I win"...... and before you know it, the price is at £300 and you're in a bit of a conundrum.....

So, what do you prefer to do? If you snipe, what's the best website and why? Share your thoughts on our discussion forum

And here's a tiny fraction of what's on there right now to tempt you....