Recommendations of online vendors?
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Medimops also sells via Amazon marketplace, but in my experience their grading is often inaccurate, and the packaging not so sturdy.
Thanks for the tip! I found SOME of the titles on my want list there, but they were all sadly priced too high. Business as usual. But if one were just browsing randomly for titles on that site, there are deals to be found. Shipping to Norway would be 8 Euros per order, and then 2.50 per article.
Alas, the shipping prices on Discogs are ludicrous. I know you can sometimes click “more details” to see if the seller has put in any “custom” shipping costs in the product info that differ from the one given, but I’ve rarely found they are much cheaper.
Many of the sellers have expensive shipping, but not all. As I wrote on the previous page, I’ve made many orders where the final price per item (including shipping and VAT) landed somewhere between 50 and 100 NOK, for items in very good to mint condition.
You say that as if Discogs’ Shipping rates are “ludicrous”, though I don’t know what you mean… they just list what it costs to ship from one country to another. (As far as I can tell, just sampled.) I don’t see how they can ship any cheaper? I mean, how’d you ship? What does it cost to ship a CD from Norway to the EU or the US? Is that so much cheaper? The cheapest I could send a trackable CD to Norway (DHL) would be €16.-
Some are probably correct, because shipping today is insane to begin with. But I often see 30, 40, 50 bucks listed as shipping price, which just sounds wrong on so many levels.
I just want something sent, without jewel case, with regular air mail. Not a lot of people offer that on Discogs. If I were to send a CD like that from Norway to the USA, for example, it would be about $6, to Germany $5. Rates differ from country to country, sure, but it would need to be in that region, max.
By the way, there was an eBay seller called “onecentCDs” that I used a lot back in the 90s and 2000s. A lot of my collection was built up based on them. Usually managed to snag a CD for $3-4, max, after the bidding, and then they had the option to send without jewel case, which made the total about $6-7 (and at a time when the exchange rate was much better than it is now). I wonder what happened to them? Well, I googled a bit, and found this thread, which tells how they made a fortune and probably retired from e-commerce altogether in the 2000s:
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/whatever-happened-to-jay-and-maries-one-cent-cds-ebay.576457/
It’s a new entity like ‘onecentCDs’ that I need to step forward. 🙂
Because shipping a CD without jewel case without being tracked… I don’t know. I guess most buyers would not want their CDs sent way (the danger that the CD becomes scratched or just gets lost is enormous). Often times, when CDs are in a jewel case, the jewel case arrives cracked; you know of people are irked just because of scratched jewel cases. I imagine it would be worse if the CD gets scratched.
So usually, people want their packages tracked and their CDs in jewel cases and securely wrapped.It’s a new entity like ‘onecentCDs’ that I need to step forward
Interesting story, never heard of them… but the story suggests that they eventually discarded the business because there was no longer money to be made in used CDs and were likely being even stuck on surplus inventory. I don’t think those times are comin’ back. 🙂
I was always very casual and loose about the state of items. I was and is fine with people sending just the CD and inserts in a padded envelope, via regular air mail. I had plenty of spare jewel cases (still have a couple of dozen). And as for items getting lost, sure, there’s a risk. But well worth taking, IMO. In the 20 years between 1995-2015, when I did most of my international online transactions, maybe 5 were lost out of several hundreds. Not bad.
But yes, I know I’m living in the past. It’s where I find comfort when things are as they are. I doubt we’ll get a vendor like “OnecentCDs” again, or any other similar vendor.
I have replaced jewel cases, no problem, though I do not tolerate scratches on CDs. I suppose most people would go up the wall if their CDs arrived just flimsily put into an envelope. (I think I would too.)
When I started to buy music, there was a large record store here in Cologne, the Cologne Saturn Music Dome. It claimed to be the store with the largest record collection in the world. I don’t know if that was true, but I have never seen a larger one. At their height in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the classical music selection alone was on two department store floors, floor one was opera, choir, vocal, solo recitals, floor two was orchestral, chamber, modern/avant-garde etc. Their soundtrack section was huge too. If something was out on CD, they had it. Even in their later days, when they started to “size down” on CDs, they still had a large soundtrack selection where you could even find Intrada and La-La Land special releases (like the 3CD CONAN or the John Williams Harry Potter Box from LLL) next to “regular” soundtrack releases. Over the years, though, I saw the store shrinking… some floors were diverted to other business or rented out, and in the final years, all of the CDs were on one double sized floor, … and even that floor space was shared with a (considerable) selection of DVDs and Blurays and Vinyls and Posters/Memorabilia. But a few years ago, that all stopped. Nowadays, the former record store is a gamer location, “Xperion”, the rest of the floors are office floors. They don’t sell any CDs anymore in that store (they do still sell some CDs in their regular electronic chain stores).
CDs are like vinyl now… there are a few dedicated collectors who still buy (and sell) stuff, there are labels who still print LPs and CDs and cater to that niche, but it is no longer a mass market with mass market overflow (that then ends up on the used market). This will never going to change back. Quite the contrary, I’m actually quite amazed how resilient CDs are and how persistent the niche is. But it’s a niche, and even when it is a persistent niche, it is nevertheless a niche that is still shrinking. So you are right, I don’t see how you will ever get a vendor like OneCentCDs, I guess they had their time and then it was over.Yes, I remember hearing about that store. There were obviously some other great ones around the world, like Amoeba in LA, Footlights in NY, a couple in the UK and a few in Japan. Japan is still holding strong, by the way, as far as physical media is concerned, but they’re somewhat unique, and the prices are hefty. In Norway, we had Akers Mic. in Oslo, which is probably the greatest record store in Norwegian history, which closed shop permanently in 2004. We had a mail order vendor too, called Compacthuset, based out of Haugesund in the west and with a telephone book-sized catalogue (at their height, the largest selection in the Nordic countries), that I used a lot in high school. They closed in 1998 already.
I realize those times won’t come back, but I have this faint and naïve hope that somewhere out there – on the large internet – a vendor exists that is less concerned about making tons of money, and more concerned about moving product. There is only one chain left in Norway, Platekompaniet, and that is extremely expensive. There are some used record stores left, but they’re expensive too. The only way to get properly cheap CDs is if you bump into some thrift store or flea market, but then you have to wade through millions of crappy “Absolute Music 35”-type CDs to find a gem or two. Rarely good sountracks, and CERTAINLY not any titles on my want list.
Yes, I can see that… flea markets, garage sales, etc. are probably your best bet to find a bargain. Lukas of course is currently selling of lots of used film scores for good prices (as far as I can see… I haven’t bought anything there… because I bought most of the stuff I wanted back when it came out… few CDs nowadays that I missed), but of course these are still regular “collector’s prices”, not “garage sale prices” from people who don’t know what they’ve got.
I lucked out recently and found the “missing pieces” in my Ligeti collection… I did have already all the Teldec recordings, but only some of the “Ligeti Edition” from Sony… now it’s complete.
Not sure, but I almost think that was the last major “gap” in my collection that “needed” closing. (It was irking me… as I bought the first of these 20 years ago, and by now this was “almost complete” but not quite, so there were a couple of CDs missing… and now I finally got them.)I have not bought and sold anything via Facebook groups, but I know that there is some trading of film scores going on.
Another deep search on the interwebz has failed me once again. I can’t seem to find ANY online CD store that offers a) worldwide shipping to begin with, b) preferably FREE, or at least cheap worldwide shipping, c) cheap CDs, and d) a decent selection that actually includes the things I’m looking for. Possibly also e) includes the customs, although if I get them cheap enough, I can cope with the calculations when it hits Norwegian shores. All of this per the “four threats” thread.
Sounds demanding, perhaps, but there were TONS of stores like that some 10 years ago. Gone now….POOF!
My parameters are simple – I refuse to pay more than what a full-price CD cost in physical Norwegian stores some 5-6 years ago (some 160-180 NOK), before it skyrocketed to almost twice that in recent years. And even that I do begrudgingly; I’d like to pay less than 100 NOK like I did 20 years ago.
So….has anyone found any CD vendor gems since the last time this thread was active on April 27 of this year?
(Amazon’s “$49 on total order gets free worldwide shipping” offer on certain items seems to be best at the moment, although that still requires me to find cheap CDs on Amazon — discounted items are never part of the $49 deal — so that the total for each CD doesn’t rise above the previously mentioned full-price limit).
The best bet for good deals on used or out of print film score CD is currently actually Lukas Kendall, who is selling off a lot of collections.
Most offline CD stores have vanished, so I guess that’s not much different from online CD stores. I used to live near what was once and for a long time the store with the by its own account “The largest record collection in the world”, Cologne’s Saturn Music Dome, and that store is gone. It had been a shadow of its former self for years, and now it’s a gamer venue.
In any case, I’d love to pay for lots of things the same prices today that I did 20 years ago. I would save a lot of money if I’d pay for electricity, gasoline, food, etc. the same prices I paid 20 years ago and no more. 🙂
In fact, I’d happily pay today’s prices for CDs if I could have the other things for the same prices they cost 20 years ago.Unfortunately, I can only afford to live on prices of some 20-30 years ago, including groceries (only sales items for me!) and other things. Obviously, I have no choice in the matter when it comes to rent and such things, but other than those fixed costs, that’s my reality.
But beyond that, prices on CDs have risen far, far more than sheer inflation accounts for. As has shipping and other things.
It’s true that Lukas has some good deals on certain items, but the shipping totally kills it, of course. $13 for first CD, and $3 additional. So if I find, let’s say, 10 CDs for $5 each, that’s $50. Acceptable price for 10 CDs. But with shipping it amounts to $90! That’s DOUBLING the price of each CD, and the bargain is gone. To say nothing of customs. So alas, I’m unable to make use of Lukas’ store. (Plus, of course, the items that I REALLY want, that are on my want list, are either too expensive or not there).
But I wish there were a Lukas-type store closer to home. In the absence of regular stores, it’s an initiative I truly support.
But beyond that, prices on CDs have risen far, far more than sheer inflation accounts for. As has shipping and other things.
It’s interesting that you say that, that is not my experience at all. Perhaps it’s different in Norway. The way I see it, CDs have been remarkably resilient to price increases, thereby becoming actually cheaper.
My first ever CD order from Amazon was in 2000, two Varèse Sarabande CDs, they cost €15,33 back then. (The McNeely recordings of MARNIE and CITIZEN KANE). I ordered them from Amazon at that time because a) I could not find them at my local store and b) the price was pretty good. When FSM first released CDs like Stagecoach and The Poseidon Adventure, they cost $19,95… that was in 1998! That was a normal price back then for a new premium release. The tomorrow released MOI QUI T’AIMAIS by Philippe Sarde from Music Box Records costs €16,80! The “regular” price for a new “major” CD in Europe and the US has been around $20 for a quarter of a century. Intrada now releases sometimes CDs for $21,99 something like that, but that’s a relatively small increase. There are STILL many new CD releases for around 20 (Euros or Dollars).
If you look at actual inflation rates in Europe and the US, considered for the last 25 years (from 2000 to 2025), a CD that cost 20€/$20 in 2000 should cost now about 32€ or even $37 in 2025 (the inflation rate over the last 25 years was higher for the Dollar than for the Euro). So in fact, CD prices have decreased by a considerable margin (by staying the same.)
It’s interesting that you say that, that is not my experience at all. Perhaps it’s different in Norway. The way I see it, CDs have been remarkably resilient to price increases, thereby becoming actually cheaper.
That is not my experience at all.
Going back a few years, right before the pandemic, a full-price CD in Norway was about 150-180 NOK. That had been a resilient price, as you call it, more or less since the 90s. Today, it’s in the 250-300 NOK range. At least for the titles on my want list, which is what I search for. This is going by Platekompaniet, the sole CD store survivor in Norway.
Internationally, the rise hasn’t been as extreme (maybe some $5), but you can see it by the relative absence of deals and campaigns, where the campaign price (if there is one) is much, much higher. In other words, the “bottom range” is much higher. It’s almost impossible to find deals anymore, and that’s really the parameter I use for saying how expensive CDs have become. And that’s obviously BEFORE taking shipping and customs into account, which raises the price into astronomical heights. Of course, it also makes a difference that the Norwegian krone is much, much weaker compared to other currencies (twice as weak, basically).
Damn, we’re already discussing things more relevant in the ‘four threats’ thread….my bad! But still looking, as always, for those hidden online CD stores. I feel like it’s like mushroom hunting. People find a good spot, but never tell anyone else about it!
150-180 NOK is around 13-16 Euros today if I see right. That’s a price I had not for soundtrack releases or any release in years. Around 20 is the standard for years even before the pandemic unless you maybe had a really mainstream movie release.
CD prices like releases from European labels like Musicbox, Quartet or Caldera are still in that reasonable normal prices (if shipping is ignored…). But US release prices really increased.
I could imagine that a lot of these 2nd online vendors might have even trashed lots of soundtrack CDs they had. If they even sell even less than they ever did before being a niche, just free the space…
150-180 NOK is around 13-16 Euros today if I see right. That’s a price I had not for soundtrack releases or any release in years. Around 20 is the standard for years even before the pandemic unless you maybe had a really mainstream movie release.
Yes, but the exchange rate screws things up a lot. As I said, the Norwegian krone has plummeted in just the last few years, and is not really representative of “normal circumstances” or “normal inflation”. It’s currently the weakest currency in the western world(!). So if you use the more normal 2018 rates, for example, it’s more like 18-19 Euro.
US CDs are not more expensive than EU CDs, it’s the shipping back and forth that costs, if you look at the actual prices, they are roughly the same.
I have some actual prices that are comparable:
I bought a Deutsche Grammophon release of Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique and Dutilleux in 1997 for 34,95DM, which is 17,90€. That was a normal price then for a new “premium” CD. I bought a Mahler recording via Amazon in 2020 for 8,99€:
That was a steal (which is why I bough it), but there were many “steals” like that. And it’s very comparable because they belong to the same “line” and label.
I have found that especially classical recordings have become remarkably cheap within the last ten years, with many labels and outlets obviously reducing prices or offering ridiculously stuffed boxed set that sell for a lot less than they would have 20 years ago.That’s probably as a result of streaming. And that’s for new CDs.
The used market has obviously shrunk as well, but differently. The used market went berserk 10-15 years ago or so. That’s when streaming, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, etc, all became mainstream and people were dumping their CD collections right and left. So that’s when you got an avalanche of used CDs cheap. Stores had to be careful to even take on more inventory, because everybody was selling their collections, far more than were buying it. It was a buyers market for sure, if you were in the market for used CDs. Now that market has incredibly shrunk since then, and far, far fewer CDs end up on the used market. Makes sense. CDs used to be mass products and mainstream, people bought maybe lots of CDs (including soundtracks), listened to it a few times, found they don’t care for it (anymore), and it was sold again. That’s happening a lot less these times. The few people who buy the CDs usually know what they buy and why and they keep them. Everyone can listen to anything streaming anyway, so far fewer people buy CDs to later sell them again. Fewer “new” CDs end up on the used market. (And far fewer CDs get produced to begin with.)
Yes, that last point makes sense. People who now sell their used CDs on Discogs “know what they’re worth” and keep the price high. Similarly, there is very little bidding on eBay anymore, and certainly no more major sellers like “OneCentCDs”, where you could get CDs not necessarily for a cent, but a couple of dollars after bidding. POOF….gone.
I don’t traverse the classical music world very often, so I can’t comment on the situation there, but I feel like we live in different worlds in terms of our experience with this. Probably has to do with those ‘four threats’ issues, and that we don’t go hunting for the same things etc. All I know is that I constantly bang my head against the wall these days, since I can’t get ANY of the CDs I’m looking for — and those are NORMAL, mainstream CDs, not limited editions — for less than $20, all included.
Yeah, could be. I basically have all of the film music I ever wanted, and I even have basically all of the classical music I ever wanted.*1 That doesn’t mean that I don’t buy anything anymore, but just about all music I really longed to have when I was a teen years ago is now in my collection. So for the most part, I’m just an opportunistic buyer, and I still find opportunities.
*1: I said “just about all music”, and there are some titles — but very few — that remain elusive. There are Maurice Jarre’s 5 CARD STUD and William Lava’s THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS that remain elusive simply because they have not been released yet. Then there are a very few (it’s really very few) titles that I have not yet been able to get. Fred Karlin’s FUTUREWORLD, for example. It just showed up at Lukas Kendall’s sale for a reasonable price ($25, but it was sealed, so okay), but was snatched by someone else. Oh well, one day maybe. But for the most part, I have all I ever wanted, and all I am getting now is “goodies on top” or new discoveries.
Yes, but the exchange rate screws things up a lot. As I said, the Norwegian krone has plummeted in just the last few years, and is not really representative of “normal circumstances” or “normal inflation”. It’s currently the weakest currency in the western world(!). So if you use the more normal 2018 rates, for example, it’s more like 18-19 Euro.
Yes, you are right, my fault! That’s more matching our price over here.
US CDs are not more expensive than EU CDs, it’s the shipping back and forth that costs, if you look at the actual prices, they are roughly the same.
Yes, true. The CD prices itself indeed didn’t raise that much. In the US that is. In the end it does not matter why because over here their end prices in fact raised significantly.
I also didn’t buy anything from Kendall although there are a lot of things of interest. Other than you I have not everything I ever wanted because I have to be picky what I buy. Maybe not as much as Thor has to. I really have to want things to throw out 40+ Euros for something. In fact I haven’t bought any CDs this year so far! I did buy a very few downloads.
[Nevermind, this was a post about mail forwarding services, but after some googling, I see that they’re all silly expensive].
[Nevermind, this was a post about mail forwarding services, but after some googling, I see that they’re all silly expensive].
You know that you as admin can delete posts, too 😉
I also didn’t buy anything from Kendall although there are a lot of things of interest. Other than you I have not everything I ever wanted because I have to be picky what I buy.
Oh, I have always been picky about what I buy too, that’s why I mean I have everything I ever longed for, not that I have actually everything. (Obviously not.) However, when there were releases I really wanted, I picked them up when they were released. So I bought stuff like STAGECOACH and THE TOWERING INFERNO and THE LORD OF THE RINGS complete sets when they were initially released, I didn’t have to pay “collector’s prices” later on.
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