A venue comparison
Where to sell
vinyl records.
Six venues handle most vinyl resale traffic, and the right one depends on what you're selling. A common 70s rock LP belongs in different hands than a first-press Beatles mono. Some venues clear 90% of retail to patient sellers; some pay 30% but clear the whole box in an afternoon. The honest comparison: which venue pays what, for which kind of record, and what each one costs you in time and effort.
01
The six venues, side by side
| Venue | Typical payout | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Discogs marketplace | 75–90% of retail | Collectors who know what they want |
| eBay | 70–90% of retail | Auction-format sales, rare items, broad reach |
| Local record shop | 30–50% of retail | Bulk sales, fast, common records |
| Specialist auction house | Variable; best on rare pieces | Records over $500, sealed or authenticated |
| Facebook Marketplace | 50–75% of retail | Local pickup, bulk lots, no shipping |
| Estate-sale buyer | 20–40% of retail | Whole-collection sale in one day |
Payout ranges based on Discogs sold listings, eBay completed-sales data (90-day window), and US Bureau of Labor Statistics retail-markup data for used goods.
02
Discogs vs eBay for individual records
For records worth $20+ individually, this is the primary decision. The two venues serve different buyers and reward different listings.
Discogs strengths. Buyers are already collectors and know what they want. Listings are tied directly to the specific pressing variant (catalog number + matrix runout combination), so a first-press Decca Beggars Banquet won't accidentally sell as a 1980s reissue. Settles closer to documented sold-listing prices with less price variance. The fee is 8% plus PayPal/Stripe processing (~3.5%) — about 11.5% total.
eBay strengths. The auction format can lift prices on competitive listings — multiple bidders compete and the final number sometimes exceeds documented Discogs prices. Reach is broader; non-collectors find rare records by accident here in ways they don't on Discogs. International bidding tends to be more active. The fee is 13–15% including final-value and PayPal processing.
Rule of thumb. Records with a well-established sold-listing history on Discogs settle predictably on Discogs. Rarely-traded items with no clear price history do better on eBay's auction format because the auction lets the market discover the price.
03
When the local record shop is the right answer
Shops pay 30–50% of retail because they have to mark up to resell. For valuable records you can sell individually, this is a bad deal. For two specific situations, it's the right deal.
The bulk-common pile. A few hundred common 70s/80s LPs at $5–15 retail each are not worth individual listings. Eight hours of your time at $25/hour costs more than the $200 difference between bulk-rate and individual prices. The shop takes the lot, you walk out with cash, the time cost is zero.
Records you want gone today. Estate-deadline situations, downsizing for a move, bereavement house-clearing. Speed beats price.
Don't bring the valuable records. Sort the box first. The shop will give you a flat offer; once accepted, they will not negotiate individual records out of the offer at retail prices. The five-or-ten valuable items get listed separately on Discogs or eBay before the rest goes to the shop.
04
When to use a specialist auction house
Heritage Auctions, Goldin, RR Auction, and a small number of specialist Beatles/Floyd/Zeppelin dealers handle the top tier of vinyl sales — sealed authenticated copies, rarities over $500, items that need third-party authentication.
The auction fees run 20–25% (seller commission plus buyer's premium), but the audience is the highest-paying-collector tier in the world. For a sealed first-state Butcher cover, an RL Zeppelin II in NM, an authenticated banned-track Freewheelin', or a sealed Dark Side first-press, the auction house clears prices the open marketplaces can't.
Below about $500 per record, the auction fees eat into the payout enough that Discogs or eBay returns the seller more in absolute dollars. Above $500, the auction's audience and authentication services are worth the higher fee.
05
Before any listing goes up
Three things to settle before posting on any venue.
Identify the pressing. Original first-press copies trade for multiples of reissue prices. Listing a 1980s reissue as a “1973 original” produces returns and seller-feedback damage. Crown Vinyl reads the label, catalog number, and matrix runout from a single photograph and returns the exact pressing.
Grade conservatively. Goldmine scale, both sleeve and vinyl, listed separately. A VG+ copy that arrives as VG generates a return; a VG copy that arrives as VG+ generates a positive review. Over time the reviews compound — high-feedback sellers settle at higher prices for the same listing.
Photograph in good light. Phone photo of the front cover, back cover, label, and dead wax with the matrix runout visible. Buyers who ask “what's the matrix?” are serious collectors paying serious prices.
A few questions
The ones that come up.
For individual records worth $20+, eBay's auction format or Discogs' marketplace clear 70–90% of retail to patient sellers. For bulk-common records you want gone quickly, a local record shop pays 30–50% of retail but takes the whole lot in one transaction. For rare items over $500, specialist auction houses like Heritage Auctions clear the highest prices because their audience is the highest-paying collector tier.
Discogs has lower fees (~11.5% total) and a focused collector audience; listings settle close to documented sold-listing prices. eBay has higher fees (13–15%) but the auction format can lift prices on competitive listings and the audience is much broader. Records with established Discogs price history settle predictably on Discogs; rare items without a clear price history often do better on eBay's auction model.
Only the common records. A shop pays 30–50% of retail and won't negotiate on a flat offer once accepted. Identify the valuable records first (Crown Vinyl scans each from a photograph in about 30 seconds), pull them out of the lot, and price them individually on eBay or Discogs. Then take the remainder to the shop for fast bulk-rate cash.
Use an authenticated third-party service before listing. Heritage Auctions and Goldin authenticate sealed copies for a fee and handle the listing through their auction format, which reaches the buyers who pay top dollar for authenticated sealed copies. Unauthenticated sealed listings on eBay or Discogs settle at 30–50% of the authenticated price because buyers can't verify the seal is original.
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