Tiberius

Soundcloud seems to be the prefered option.

I bought one last year off ebay purely visually as it had the New York address mentioned in JM's guide. It was the "good one" when it arrived. Not my copy but you can see the address on the label scan in this vid -

Not soul related but, seeing as this discog already includes other non soul 45's, for info you can add to the list - Al Serafini Orch - Chippewa Klak / Lee Rand - The Klak-Stik Kick (KLKSTK ?) 45 From the title I'm guessing deffo NOT soul Al Serafini - Who Can I Turn To /Blues In The Night(Rozan) 45 The Anthony Newley tune backed with the Arlen/Mercer composition. Al Serafini Orch - Requestfully For You (Pama) LP listed as big band jazz Al Serafini His Electronic Sax & Orchestra - Sir Albert (Audio Fidelity) LP........A mixture of styles, big band jazz/easy listening & soul-"ish" instrumentals, the 2 on the Audio Fidelity 45 are the standouts. Possibly the title track "Sir Albert" and "For Your Love" might also suit some tastes.

If you like Jnr Walker check out "Al Serafini Orchestra - Hey, Soul Man / Lil Rosey" on Audio Fidelity (AF-174). Nb. Stock copies credited to Al Serafini's Sir Alberts. 2 great sax instrumentals imho. Both co written by Lou Ragland and apparently destined to be used as backing tracks for Lou. Some info can be found in the Soulful Detroit archives - https://faac.us/adf/m...html?1239074117 and also in this Lou Ragland interview - https://www.soulfulki....net/inter3.htm Currently you can find the odd copy easily as it seems to be a sleeper.....you can pick it up pretty cheap.

No, I wasn't suggesting they've been "stamped" in more recent times or are in any way suss, and fully agree that it was done around the original time of release to indicate the record was not for sale/given away, but you're suggesting we call these "original 1st issue demos" in your original post. It would be normal for the record company to send out their "official" Promo/D.J.Copy 45's (be it white label or whatever,) to the radio stations etc, to gauge response and hopefully promote prior to issuing the stock 45, so surely the possiblity remains they were stamped after the inital release of the companies "official" promos ie. at the time of distribution/issue of the stock items. This ink stamping would be done "at source", maybe on an ad hoc basis, but after the initial run of promos had been distributed, so not that many would need to be stamped (hence scarcity). They might not even be given as an actual promotional items in every case, just a freebie......pure speculation on my part.

Surely these ink stamps could've been added at any time after the record company issued their normal Promotional 45's. To my mind, they're essentially stock copies. How can we be sure when/where the ink stamp was added? Bobby Paris demo is the typical red/black label but has 2 lines of text - "D.J.COPY""NOT FOR SALE" on the R/H side of both the labels. Several other Cameo promos I have are the same and there are also others, again with red/black labels, with "PROMOTIONAL" "NOT FOR" "SALE". Of course then there are other titles on the label which were on the white/black promo design. Clearly on smaller regional labels it was easier/cheaper to stamp the stock copies than to have different ones printed up for promotional purposes. Having said that I'm happy to be corrected regarding ink stamping of "DJ COPY" etc on these Cameo, or other, 45's.

The boot is exactly as you say......styrene + stuck on labels.....just like so many more from that era. I remember Tim Ashebende finding a small quantity of the original 45 approx late 80's I think.

Not sure if this still applies but it was possible to change "Domestic postage" from "Flat:same cost to all buyers" to "Courier:Heavy and bulky items". This means you can specify postage options in the actual body of the listing and the winning bidder can't pay without an invoice (unless you've allowed them to enter your specified postal charges when they come to pay for the item.) I know you can make the change but I'm not sure if eBay picks it up and blocks you from listing the items such as records which aren't bulky......been a while since I used this method.

Try Sounds Wholesale either from eBay or their website. They've always been pretty competitive and reliable for me. Whoever you buy from it usually pays to buy in bulk. Best, Martin

That's the minimum amount. Sent 1st, 2nd, or Signed For you could still have got upto £46. The key is to submit enough evidence to prove the items value. According to their website - "For stamped and metered items a postage refund plus compensation on the basis of actual loss, where evidence of posting and evidence of value can be provided. This compensation is subject to the maximum payable being the lower of the market value of the item and statutory maximum of 100 x 1st Class stamps ....." = £46 "Postage refund (a minimum payment of 6 x 1st Class letter stamps at the first weight step) shall be payable where only basic evidence is provided or the item is of no intrinsic value." Proof of postage isn't enough on it's own. You have to send as much evidence as poss eg.copies of the paypal transaction or ebay completed listing etc etc. I sent all this for the couple of claims I've made in the past and had no problems....apart from 1 of the records was worth more than the £46 I got back. But that was my own fault for not buying insurance.

Numerous on ebay.com @ $10 - $16.

It shouldn't be like that and hopefully the service is better in reality. Re. "insurance", don't forget that's extra not standard. It's an additional £2.50 for insurance up to £500. Airsure and International Signed For aren't insured as such. You are paying the extra cost over and above std Airmail for priority handling and tracking, not insurance. Airsure only offers £46 max compo as standard which is the same as normal Airmail. It's also interesting to note the list of destinations both these trackable services apply to.....quite a few suprising omissions so no point in paying the extra in some cases. Just noticed Italy isn't listed but the recent couple I've sent were traceable so I don't know what's going on there????

Agreed but as I said my reply was "not definitive". In fairness it could well be that RM will pay compensation without any arguement,as in the case of the 2 std Airmail ones I lost. What I quoted was a statement from the RM website. I don't know if it's a hard and fast rule. To illustrate the point,here's another quote under "Exclusion" - "where an item that may be damaged by bending is not packed in a strong container that will prevent the item from being bent , and marked with the words "DO NOT BEND" on the cover or envelope above the address" I'm pretty sure not many will have had a claim refused for the packet not having "Do Not Bend" above the address! Personally I've never had to claim since using Airsure/International Signed For so I can't comment on that score.

I used to delete any of my youtube vids which were flagged as being in breach of copyright (very few as it happened). Usually they'd had the sound blocked so weren't much use. However, I'd posted a video of Leroy Hutsons - All Because Of You on 45 and at that time it wasn't already on there. It got loads of hits,far outstripping anything else on my channel. Eventually the sound got blocked but despite this seemingly major drawback I left it up for a while as it still continued getting literally hundreds of views. Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed,but I thought surely it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see a previously untapped market for "people who enjoy watching the Curtom label spin round.....in complete silence". At the current rate of bootlegging expect to see Curtom "blank groove" boots appearing on a well known auction site soon........

Not definitive but Royal Mail quotes on their site - "Unfortunately we can't accept claims where the problems were caused by another postal operator or other third party". How they prove exactly where something got damaged en route I don't know. For loss, if the parcel is sent tracked then it should be clear to see if/when it left UK shores and Royal Mails responsibility ends. That said,I lost 2 sent regular Airmail and was quickly compensated both times. In one case I could only claim upto the £46 maximum tho this record was worth more.

At the risk of jinxing myself, International Signed For to Italy does seem to work on the occasions I've used it. I've been able to track my parcel on the Royal Mail site which even shows a signature from the recipient on delivery. Last one I sent seemed to take a while so it gave me a bit of confidence to check & contact the buyer that their record was in Milan (according to the tracking info) so they should get their record shortly.....it did arrive.

Just a thought, but if it was a sale on here then the buyer usually pays "paypal as a gift". In such a case maybe he won't find it straight forward to claim through paypal from you. I think there was some mention of the risks involved in the "gift" payment method in another thread. If this is the case, and I'm not sure myself, then any refund could in fact be at your discretion. If you end up refunding the guy then you should still get the max £46 back from Royal Mail I imagine.

I tried an appeal against the Orchard Group over one of my vids........never got a reply from youtube. The add is still next to my vid. The annoying thing is it links to nothing, just says "available on....." It's a dead link.

Go for it, it can be a lot of fun. It's not legal but it is widely tolerated as stated elsewhere on this thread. There was a time when lot's of "music" channels got shut down for copyright but this doesn't seem to be the case currently. Just so long as you keep an eye on your account "standing" you should be alright.....until such time as youtube has a change of policy, or their relationship with the music industry changes for the worse.

Lost 2, one Paris,France and the other Italy. Now I've found, in my admittedly very limited experience, you just have to make them pay Airsure/International Signed For. That sorts the chancers. Sold one recently on ebay to an Italian bidder and the buyer was happy to pay approx £10 for International Signed For.....even left me 5 stars! I should add I quoted a tenner but was actually able to refund the guy a portion of that as it was a bit cheaper.

In the worst case scenario, ie that you have to claim, claim from Royal Mail then tell the buyer that you can only refund them once Royal Mail have refunded you. I'd only refund the actual amount you get back from Royal Mail. They have a couple of tables on their website giving details. Sadly,if the buyer is unreasonable,and claims through paypal,you will most likely get stung. Best, Martin