If you are looking to sell vinyl records in London this article is for you. I will outline some of the key places that may be interested in buying your vinyl collection. I will provide links directly to places you can call and visit in London to sell your vinyl records. So keep reading if you have vinyl records to sell in London.
At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Some of these options may be harder to follow than others. For example, many record shops will currently be closed. Hopefully, this will all change soon and we can get back to the glory pre-Covid days of selling vinyl records.
Before we start I should point out that I am a vinyl record dealer and will also be interested in purchasing all good quality record collections in London. Although I am based in Reading in Berkshire I’m only 40 miles outside the Capital and seem to end up driving to different parts of London each week to buy Vinyl records. If you are looking to sell Vinyl records in London take a look here at what I buy. And don’t hesitate to get in touch in touch here. Even if it’s just for a bit of advice.
Anyway, that’s enough of the self-promotion lets take a look at some of the key places in London where you can sell vinyl records.
Be prepared to answer a few questions before you start.
I know I know the title of this article is selling vinyl records in London and I’m rambling on. This next paragraph though is so so important for you to read to ensure you are prepared to contact any of the potential record buyers. These are the 5 key pieces of information you need at hand before you contact anyone. They will ask you these questions. You will save a lot of time if you are prepared.
- How many records are in your collection? Doesn’t have to be exact just a rough idea? Maybe 100, maybe 1000, maybe 500.
- Are they Lp’s singles or a mixture of both? If both just roughly how many of each type.
- A quick list of 10 -20 artists and bands that in the collection. Possibly more focus on LPs here.
- A general idea of the condition of the sleeves and vinyl. Could be things like “hardly played” / “Carefully Played” / bit tatty / wear around the edges etc.
- Whereabouts in London are you located?
If you have this information to hand when you make contact you should be able to answer all the questions that a potential buyer might ask you. The better prepared you are the more likely you are to get interested in your vinyl collection.
The only other advice I would offer before you start is to get a feel for what your vinyl may be worth. I have a whole article about this here. A quick read of this article will put you in a good position before you start talking to record potential record buyers.
Vinyl Record Shops London
Living in London you really are spoilt for choice with so many great record shops. Not only does London have an amazing array of second-hand vinyl shops. It also has many specialist shops focussed on specific genres like Reggae, Soul, Heavy Metal, and Dance music. Any second-hand record seller will tell you that at the moment the market is great for selling vinyl records. The hard part of any second-hand vinyl shop is being able to secure great new stock. If you have a great collection you will have no problem securing interest in your vinyl records.
I could just start listing probably 100+ record shops in London here. Instead, I have attached two links that will be very useful for you trying to locate a suitable record shop for your type of collection in London.
The article directly below from londonist.com has reviewed the best record shops in London and has even been kind enough to put them all onto a map.
Just click here to see some of the best record shops in London.
The article above is very useful, but there are many more shops scattered across London another great directory of vinyl record shops is the site called www.allgoodrecordshops.co.uk. This site will let you search by different locations across the whole of the UK (including London) to find a local shop near to you. You may also find record dealers on here that don’t have bricks and mortar shops but are located in London.
Just click here to an amazing directory of UK record shops.
It’s worth noting here that before you call or email the shop have the answers to the questions above ready. Also, have a quick scan through the shop’s site they will usually have a “what we buy page” Just check that the shop you are contacting will buy the type of music that you are selling. Here’s a link to what I buy. Most shops will be pretty similar to this.
Vinyl Record Fairs – London
As with record shops in London, there are an amazing variety of regular record fairs across London. Record fairs can be used in two ways to sell your vinyl collection. If you want to sell your entire collection in one go I would suggest heading to the record fairs and asking around the dealers that have stalls there. They will all be on the lookout for new stock. You might have exactly what they are looking for. Try and find stalls that seem similar to the types of music that you are selling.
If you have more time to sell your vinyl you may want to hold a stall at a record fair. Quite a few organisations will offer discounts or even free stalls if it is a one-off to sell your private collection. Be prepared though to put in a lot of work. You will need to price records, clean records. You might get more money in your pocket for the more expensive records, but may end up taking the less desirable ones home with you!
The most regular vinyl record fair in London is held at Spitalfields market every two weeks. I have provided a link here.
Some of the biggest fairs in the Capital are run by VIP events. Look out for their once-a-year two-day music mania event. It’s the biggest in the UK!
This site is also great at keeping up to date with all the record fairs around the UK as well of course in London.
Music / Memorabilia / Vinyl Records Auctions – London
Across London and even the country there are plenty of auction houses that will have specialist auctions selling vinyl records and music memorabilia. Although some of the auctions houses will take whole vinyl record collections most will want to sell some of the prize items in the collection.
You can reap some great rewards by selling at auction, but for some, it may be a bit more work and drawn out over a longer period to suit their needs. I personally think auctions might be a better route for very unusual items. Perhaps things like autographs, memorabilia Having looked I can’t find many central London auction houses with vinyl auctions. However, the list of three below have very good reputations and although they are further afield they will certainly be interested in any “special” items that you may have.
Sell Vinyl Records online – London
These days there are a number of different online avenues which you could use to sell your vinyl record collection. You can use all of the sites below to sell your collection as a whole or as individual items. Online selling isn’t for everyone though, Don’t get me wrong you can get amazing prices for individual pieces, but online selling can also have a few drawbacks. The best advice I can give if you are selling online is to be as honest and provide as much information as you can about what you have to sell.
The two big sites for selling vinyl records are eBay, Discogs. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but that really is another article in itself. These sites will offer you a worldwide audience to sell your vinyl records. But be prepared to do quite a bit of work to get your collection sold.
A link here to ebay itself and some advice on how to sell vinyl records on its platform.
A link here to Discogs and some advice on how to sell vinyl records on its platform.
After the big two selling sites there are a number of other options available to you to sell vinyl records more locally in London. Sites like Facebook Market Place, Gumtree, and Preloved are all good buying and selling sites that can help you sell your vinyl records. Generally, you will get more local buyers this way. Or even just putting in vinyl records and your local area will present adverts from local dealers that want to buy vinyl records.
Charity Shops – London
Not everyone has an amazing record collection. Perhaps you have contacted a number of different sources and no one is interested. Most charity shops are still interested in receiving vinyl records.
Perhaps selling for money isn’t your motivation. Your record collection can be given away to help a cause close to your heart. A quick google search of “charity shops near me” will give you numerous local options throughout London. Or try the link below which is a great directory of charity shops across London and can be searched by the nearest tube station.
Charity Shops Directory across London
Car Boot Sales – London
I’m looking out of my window here in the middle of December. The last place I’d want to be is at a car boot sale. Once the weather gets better though it really can be a great place to sell vinyl records. Most boot sales especially the big ones will be riddled with vinyl collectors and dealers searching for a bargain. Car boot sales might not be the best place to sell for the best price. But certainly a fun morning out and a certain way to make something out of those dusty old records.
London has a lot of Car Boot sales. I found the article below from timeout magazine about the best boot sales in London. It is from 2019 so double check these are still running before just turning up.
What’s the Best Option?
So there we have a number of different options for you to sell your vinyl across London. It’s hard to tell which option will be best for you as it’s down to individual requirements.
Perhaps think about how quickly you want to sell your vinyl record collection? How much effort are you prepared to put in to sell them? Are you after the best price for every record? Or a fair price for an entire collection? Whichever way you go I think you should try and get a fair price for your vinyl records and you should have some fun doing it!
As mentioned above I am keen to buy vinyl collections across London so feel free to get in touch via my contact us page.
Great article Steve. Wish you were in San Diego!