Old Jazz Collector Habits Die Hard

Al — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:30:20 +0000

Now that I’m sort of settled in from my month of moving, I’m resorting back to some old habits, browsing eBay page by page by page and even occasionally throwing in a bid, even though I really don’t want to be buying records and would much prefer to be selling records. But some habits are hard to break and, when I see what may be a bargain on eBay, it is hard to resist swinging over to the sniping software and placing a bid. There is a mindlessness to it and, as they say, idle hands are the Jazz Collector’s tools. In any case, I didn’t win last night’s snipe, thank goodness, which was this: Jazz By Matthew Gee, Riverside 221, which looked to be an original white label pressing with what may have been original plastic wrap. The record was M- and the cover was VG+ and with two hours to go on the auction there was only one bidder and $9. I figured I could possibly get the record cheaply, so I put in a snipe at about $45, but I didn’t come close. It wound up selling for $126.17.

I was also considering a bid on this one because it wasn’t getting much action:

Julius Watkins Sextet, Blue Note 5053. This was an original 10-inch pressing and it was probably in VG+ or VG++ condition for the record and probably VG+ for the cover, although the seller uses a grading system unlike mine and, seemingly, unlike that of anyone else. But he does have more than 11,000 feedbacks and a 100 percent rating, so it must work on some level. Anyway, this was hovering in the $50 range for a while and wound up selling for $130.50. I wouldn’t have gone that high, which is a good thing, since my 10-inch LPs are now sitting in storage and, frankly, I still don’t have a plan or a place for them to permanently settle.

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An Opportune Time For eBay Bargains?

Al — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:34:03 +0000

Today may be a time to find bargains on eBay. When I bid on records, which is not too often these days, I use a sniping software called BidNip. Earlier today I tried to snipe two records, but the software wouldn’t allow it. These were records closing within a few hours, yet the BidNip software showed them both closing sometime in 1999. Indeed. Anyway, I’ll share my secrets: One of the records was this: Randy Weston, Trio and Solo, Riverside 227. This was an original pressing with the white label. I love those white label Riversides and I don’t own an original copy of this. It was listed in M- condition for the record and the cover. I was going to put a snipe bid of about $71, since it was only at $30 with about an hour to go. I would have lost: The record sold for $83.20. The other record is still coming up, but I’ll have no chance to win it, snipe or not: Stanley Turrentine, Look Out, Blue Note 4039. In the Jazz Collector Price Guide our top price for this is nearly $400 and this one is sitting at about $125 in VG+ condition. I might have gone close to $200 for it, but not with confidence and not expecting to win it. The point of all this is that

buyers like me, who rely on sniping software and don’t sit at the computer waiting for auctions to close — probably the majority of major bidders, wouldn’t you expect ?– are kind of off the competitive landscape if they use BidNip. I filed a report with customer service at BidNip and they said they are working on the problem, which seems to be systemwide, but there was no indication of when it might be fixed. So many of the top buyers may be out of luck for awhile. Then again the Turrentine closes in about two and a half hours, ’round about midnight here in New York. Normally past my bedtime, but hmmm…..

By the way, I’ll check out BidNip again either later today or tomorrow morning and post an update in the comments on this post.

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Sniping Software | jazzcollector.com

Old Jazz Collector Habits Die Hard

An Opportune Time For eBay Bargains?