Where can I find vinyl records?

Back in the heyday of vinyl records, the question “Where can I find vinyl records?” would not have been on everyone’s lips. Records stores (or shops) were ubiquitous. Turn around any street corner and you would likely have found one.

So let’s start there in our quest for the answer to the question “Where can I find vinyl records?”  

Local Record Store

Nowadays your local record store is a little harder to find, but they are still out there. Music recorded and pressed onto vinyl is perhaps unusual nowadays in that it is a physical way of consuming it.

It seems, therefore, to be a good idea to take yourself to your local record store so you can physically handle the product; inspect the product; and perhaps even listen to the product before you buy it.

Thrift Stores / Charity Shops

There are some great finds potentially to be had lurking in these places. Recently, however, with the rise of vinyl sales generally, these types of establishments have become wise to those potential hidden gems and have begun to take their selling of records a great deal more seriously.

Many of the charity shop chains in the UK now have dedicated individuals whose job it is to make sure that records donated are (pardon the pun) up to scratch. Some will ensure that discs are inspected and cleaned before their playability is assessed. A certain amount of research is gone through too, to ensure that they can be priced fairly, but also that their respective charities receive a decent return for their donators’ largesse.

Yard Sales / Car Boot Sales

Traditionally, and similarly to thrift stores, these are events at which sellers are aiming to clear stuff for whatever reason.

They have a particular difference in that buyers are more likely to find a nugget of gold. This type of seller is more like the people who donate to thrift stores or charity shops rather than those establishments themselves. Really, they just want rid. Making a few pennies is a bonus for them.

Discogs

Discogs is a fabulous resource for looking up records. The likelihood is that if you can’t find it here, it doesn’t exist.

That said, at the time of writing, on Trustpilot, Discogs (marketplace) has a rating of only 2.2 out of 5. People report that their experience, both of buying and selling, does not make par.

Common issues include the purchase of relatively expensive vinyl which has not arrived and the converse, of people who had sold relatively expensive vinyl which disappeared, but the buyer had recovered his money.

People are generally unhappy with the level of customer support offered by Discogs.

eBay / Amazon

You would be entitled to think that buying from established global websites such as these two is sensible. Overall, I would suggest that this is the case.

eBay is a good place to buy rare vinyl records. Protection for you as a buyer is usually top notch but you should be wary and make sure that you ensure you are buying from a reputable seller, i.e., one with as high a rating as possible.

Obviously with eBay, you cannot properly assess an item’s quality until it arrives with you. However, make sure that there are plenty of pictures on the listing and that the listing is filled out completely. Asking questions and not receiving a reply is not a good sign. Buying from a seller in your own country is a good idea.

In the case of Amazon, you are likely not going to be looking for rare or collectable records. New releases and re-releases in shiny cellophane are what you are going to find here.

Buyers report that you should make sure to check the ‘send in Amazon box’ option to ensure that your new record arrives in packaging and not just with a delivery label stuck on the cellophane.

As per, Amazon customer service is pretty good, and any issues are sorted out pretty quickly.

Both Amazon and eBay, whether they be .com, co.uk or whatever seem to get kicked a great deal on Trustpilot, scoring less than 1.5 out of 5. In my experience, this is possibly unfair because, with anything I have bought through them, any issues have been sorted out to my satisfaction.

US-based stores

Hi-Voltage Records

This is quite the cornucopia of modern culture. First things first, they offer a range of new and used vinyl. They also offer books, CD, T-shirts and their own range of branded merchandise.

Based in Tacoma, WA they are a walk-in store, but they also offer shipping to all corners of the globe.

SupervinylUSA

A physical store based in Los Angeles, CA, SupervinylUSA quotes and ships in GBP, EUR, JPY and AUD as well as USD. They offer vinyl and their own branded range of clothing, plus turntables, amplifiers, speakers and a range of accessories for sale.

UK-based stores

EIL.com and RareVinyl.com

It is true that the EIL website is so dated that you would expect it to have been created using a Commodore 64 or other eighties relic. But then people find that all part of the charm.  It’s as if the design of the website is in some kind of homage to vinyl.

The website is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from a total of nearly fourteen thousand reviews. Any negative reviews are addressed with prompt and satisfactory replies which leads me to believe that the same is true of complaints on the site when things go wrong.

Based in Gravesend, UK, EIL ships worldwide.

Presto Music

Based in the UK (Royal Leamington Spa), Presto Music is perhaps the place to go for all your classical and jazz records. The site offers over a million products across their physical and digital range. They also offer sheet music, books and instruments.

For those in the UK, there is a walk-in store, but they also ship worldwide. Trustpilot reviews are generally positive, rating the company at 4.7 out of 5.  

Norman Records

Another UK (Leeds) based seller of vinyl, Norman Records has been trading since 1995 and selling online since 1996. They are a warehouse-based establishment, and although you cannot visit them and browse, you can buy online and collect in person.

For customers from further afield, Norman Records offers a worldwide shipping service.

On Trustpilot, they have a rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 48 reviews, whilst on feefo.com their rating is 4.9 out of 5 based on a larger sample of 1,537 customer reviews in a rolling 12-month period.

Mail Order Disclaimer

I would always recommend that if you can, you buy your vinyl in person. Whilst vinyl is pretty robust when handled correctly, handlers in the various postal services the world over, not to mention airport baggage staff, cannot possibly be expected to exercise the same care and attention.

Obviously, particular items may not be available in your local record store so, from time to time, you may have to use a delivery service. This is just a flavour of all the places around the world where records and vinyl paraphernalia can be obtained. If you have somewhere that you use and that you trust, then that is fabulous. If not, before buying, check out a seller’s feedback, whether that be on eBay or Amazon, or through sites like Trustpilot, Yelp, Google Reviews etc.

If you have enjoyed this article or have anything you would like to add to the debate, please leave me a comment below.