So, if any of you have been reading this particular blog for any length of time, then you are probably aware of my penchant with shopping at NPS (Market Square) for odds and ends, but especially music. It is always amusing to me, to watch the professional eBayers and Half.com'ers, as they scour the CD selection, right when the store opens. They dash in, Palm Pilot in hand (or any other number of PDAs available out there), most with an attached scanner, complete with wireless internet. The goal is to find marketable discs, scan the UPC code with their clever little gadgets, and see how much they are worth, when it comes to online marketing.
Scanners in hand, they still don't always have what it takes to really get the money. What would that be, you ask? Just a little love for music, not just for the money that it can make.
CASE IN POINT: Half of the time, I can go to NPS, and won't find anything worthwhile. I have occasionally found items that I wanted to hear (for example, my brother had introduced me to Pure Reason Revolution, and after ordering a USED copy from a local music store, I found a NEW copy for $2.00), and have found titles that have proven to be lucrative. For example, I have found 3 or 4 copies of JULIE BROWN's, "Trapped in the Body of a White Girl", featuring her old hit, "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun". Out of print, and those closet fans still wanting to get their hands on a copy. Actually, to be honest, her fans have probably been out of the closet for a long time! Kidding, Julie Brown fans...
Anyhow, a week and a half I go in, and find a stack of copies of an extremely rare disc. One, that in a past experience, made me $200.00, just for the one copy I owned. What could possibly draw that much cash, you ask? BLANK PLANET RECURRING, by PORCUPINE TREE. What this disc is, is a promotional compilation that features 3 edits of tracks from their latest CD, "Fear of a Blank Planet", as well as the four tracks featured on a subsequent EP release, called "NIL RECURRING". That collection features 4 outtakes from the "Fear..." recording sessions.
I was blown away! Not only did I find another copy of this extremely coveted disc, but I found OVER TWENTY OF THEM!! Now, my very first music experience at NPS, was purchasing a copy of a CD by THE BE GOOD TANYAS. I purchased the discs for a dollar, and sold them for $10.00 a piece, on the average. So, an initial investment of ten bucks, reared $90.00 profit. Not bad.
These 20 copies of "BLANK PLANET RECURRING"? .50 Cents, a piece. The first four copies I sold were each for over $40.00. The latest attempt, starting yesterday, during the Memorial Day weekend, was a much bigger disappointment. I attempted to list it just after noon, so that the European fans would have a chance to bid on it, before midnight. Little did I know, that it is apparently a federal holiday in more places than just the USA. That disc went for a meager $11.00. Now, typically a $10.50 profit on a fifty cent item, would be a great deal... but not when I have been getting over $40.00 EACH! Not to sound greedy, but this is just simple economics, people.
Technically, my first copy was pulled from eBay, but I had several people fighting for the item. The top bidder offered me $200.00. An offer I couldn't refuse. So, regardless, if I am to make $40.00 profit on most of these discs, that would be hundreds of dollars made off of $10.00. Not too bad, for a simple hobby, eh?
Oh, how I would love to go to all these professional sellers, Palm Pilot/scanners in hand, and tell them how they passed up the opportunity to make over a thousand dollars on something, because it didn't have a barcode on the back, and because it wasn't a mainstream artist. The look of horror on their faces would be absolutely priceless.
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Now playing: The Alan Parsons Project - Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
via FoxyTunes
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