paultp

Some guy put a whole batch of records up about a week ago starting at 0.99c, one of them got caught in a search I had set up. I put snipes on them all and checked today. A couple had gone above what I'd bid and I won a couple for not much but about 5 snipes failed. I don't know if anyone else gets a feeling at the back of their neck that for no reason I can explain I am sure this seller's VG will turn out to be Ex. Can't tell you how annoyed I am. Auctionsniper cannot explain but have said I can have some free snipes (big deal!) Here's a couple I had bid more for that failed: This was to replace my battered copy: https://www.ebay.com/itm/15A-VG-northern-soul-Soul-Blenders-Vanessa-103-/261565880267 This was to replace the ones I keep selling: https://www.ebay.com/itm/261565880187 I just know they will be in decent nick, so frustrating.

I haven't put a mix together for nearly a year as I've had such a sh*t one, so I thought I'd put one together to cheer myself up. https://www.mixcloud.com/paultp/20-personal-detroit-soul-favourites/ There's 21 actually but who's counting (not me apparently!) Hope someone enjoys it

Anything that becomes popular/successful in today's world will be faked because today everybody wants everything now. Quality isn't an issue for most any more as they just want today's stuff today and throw yesterday's stuff away without a thought. it what sets people apart from the everyday consumer scum - wearing certain shoes, clothes that are a bit special, a different sort of book, not voting lib dem, buying original records, looking for something different. Sorry, i don't have a night to promote.

The sheer quality of music in these podcasts is just mind blowing. Thanks

At the time it was for me, but I wasn't partaking or dealing, never have. I could say it was brilliant if I wanted to go along with what people like to think is the norm, but for me it wasn't. Not judging, just saying - as a16 year old it really freaked me out.

What a dull post, it wasn't made for me and it wasn't made for you either, it was made for people who watch telly and want a packaged view of things. "Repeated mantra" - it's not a mantra, it's the truth, sorry for repeating it but it was shit: the journey was appalling (both ways), the venue was shit, everyone was off their face, the only saving grace was I liked the music. But I never wanted to go again. I could pretend otherwise but what would be the point of that? You're having a tad of a problem with the continuity of your rant as well; "people like you who were never on the scene until their later years" and "the scene of your days was full of Divs" - make up your mind FFS, mind you Divs are a constant in some ways. As I said before, I've never claimed to be "on the scene" at any time and I'm happy to admit I was a Div in the 70's - never claimed anything else. Most people were divs if ttruth be told but that is conveniently forgotten these days where time on the scene has turned divs into stalwarts. I like the music but I like the scene less and less as time goes on, I really enjoyed my time in London but there were a lot of open minded people about at the time. I don't pretend to have any other affiliations or background, unfortunately that seems to preclude me having an opinion in your opinion. Again, I thought it was a good program considering who it was made for, somewhat better than Paul O'Grady et al anyway. Perhaps someone should make a documentary about how nobody on the Northern Soul scene can agree about anything and spend most of their time slagging each other off, f*cking each other's sets up and attempting to f*ck each other's events up to the point where the actual music is secondary. Riveting telly, I'm sure someone will pick it up.

I didn't say it was THE youth culture of the seventies i said it wasn't the youth culture of the 80's. Peter Skellern fans?

I do mean you, and I know nothing about you either. You replied with my post quoted, how could you not have meant me? Disingenuous or what? If it wasn't what you meant it was certainly how it read, I don't know what collective your the spokesman for but it is an oft trotted out view that nobody who hasn't stayed "on the scene" through thick and thin is entitled to an opinion. I couldn't care less to be honest, I understood some time ago that what I like is the music not the scene. The scene is someone's personal view of what is going on, it's an abstract view, it's their little bubble. Apparently 150,000 people had Wigan Casino membership cards, I was one of them, but many people wouldn't consider that more than 1% of them were on the scene. But they were part of that youth culture of the 70's that wasn't a youth culture after the 70's. My wife has just asked me why I'm engaging in this thread and I haven't got any decent answer, it doesn't matter a jot to me.

I've been batting this around for a couple of years now and wonder why I keep my records and wonder why I continue to buy. I doubt I'm ever going to DJ again and so perhaps I should just record them and sell them on to someone who is going to make better use of them. Some of them are like old friends though and some I've bought recently I've wanted for ages. Tough, tough decision.

It was a deliberately flawed analysis and I agree that dying on its arse was a bit strong. I have no idea what happened as I spent the 80s in Germany and Cyprus, I only have anecdotes to go on. I think I was trying to illustrate the view anyone outside the scene would take of the scene after Wigan. If someone is going to pigeonhole me as someone who spent a few years on the scene (which I didn't) and then came back (which I didn't) I think I'm entitled to be just as patronising. But it wasn't the youth culture of the 80's in the same way that it was of the 70's, the documentary touched on that as it showed that in the 80's the rave scene was the dominant youth culture and even commented on the parallels with Northern Soul. After the 70's Northern Soul was just like any other scene; some stayed, most didn't, some joined. As Pete said; Punk was the same, it didn't die but it wasn't mainstream after a few years, people moved on.

Well it wasn't much of a youth culture after the 70's was it? I was 19 in 1976 and joined the army, going to Wigan was one of the worst experiences of my youth and I don't pretend otherwise. I was never on the Northern Soul scene and never claim to have been. I suppose they could have made a program about how the scene died on its arse after 1981 apart from a couple of 100 die hards, then documented a number of clubs where only Stafford seems to have made any real lasting impact, they could follow that with the 90's where there seemed so little going on that even a div like me started up a club just to hear some music I like. Followed by the 2000's with the rise of the fancy dress weekender, then today with a fractured scene split between nostalgia and the new new thing. But it would be of no interest to the general public who tend to watch TV so why would they make it? You giving the documentary a 2 will not even register as far as the BBC are concerned they won't give a flying f*ck what you think because the program was not aimed at people who have spent the best part of 50 years on the Northern Soul scene - it was made for the general public. I thought that compared with the usual rubbish that gets aired on the subject of Northern Soul it was actually quite good - even if it did miss out the essential discussion of matrix numbers.

Watched it this evening, thought it was quite good and well balanced, everyone seemed to come over really well. IMHO it didn't really cover much after Wigan as it was made from the point of view that Northern Soul was a youth culture of the 70's and is about to have (another) revival. It wasn't trying to document Northern Soul from the year dot to the present. It wasn't aimed at people who have ever been on the NS scene either. Disagreed with whoever said you could get anywhere from Wigan and seemed to portray it as some sort of transport hub though, I only went once mainly because it took forever to get there and back. That Marc Almond walked past the back door of TOS once when afew of us were getting some air, I offered him a flyer and said "Northern Soul mate?" And he told me to f*ck off. He used to go to Leeds Poly so there's no need for him to get hoity toity!

No it's not, the more times something like this happens, the less chance there is of anyone taking it seriously. Then only thos people who do take it seriously will still be involved.

The price guides are appalling for the simple reason that prices for records are a fiction supported by people with record collections or those that sell records. For many of the US record shops that never had a clue they are a lazy mans god send - why bother sorting your records when you can just wait for some punter to turn up to the counter with a bunch of unpriced records from your unsorted boxes then pull out a "guide" and price them up. For those people with no ears and loads of money, why bother listening to things and deciding on what you like when you can look in a price guide and just buy stuff to impress your mates. As a dealer, why should you compete with collectors to buy records from the US when you can just tell the US dealers what a supposed retail price is then negotiate a discount based on that price to take everything they have? Collecting used to be fun when you could buy something for what you thought it was worth, now you are told what it is worth and worse than that people believe that when a record dealer says what something is worth then that is the truth. Load of rubbish, record dealers are like estate agents, they make money by talking up the price. Apart from Pete obviously, it's his fault I buy records :-) Just my humble opinion.

Didn't see that, eBay aren't daft. I imagine paying for it would be interesting too!

The thing with eBay is that you are trying to find buyers in about 7 days. There might be only one buyer for your record in that time so if you start it off at 99p that's what they will buy it for, if you start it at £4.99 then that's what they will buy it for (unless it is only worth 99p!). You really need at least 2 or 3 people who want your record to get a record up to a decent price unless you put a decent price on it first. But if you put a decent starting price on a record on eBay (i.e. what you want to sell it for) it may not get any bids at all in the 7 days. eBay is really only for records that are massively in demand/rare when you know there will be a good few buyers who will bid them up or for unloading records cheap. I've found with only a limited number of records on discogs I've sold things that have sat for a year on my web site (sometimes for more than they are listed on my web site for) and you can just leave the listing there for months at no cost until they sell.

Went for 14k which seemed reasonable given the logistics of moving/storing it all. Finished 13th July then got re-listed, the withdrawn 15th July - which is a bit odd.

I think if you want your records to go to someone who won't sell them on you will reduce your market considerably! :-) People buy and sell records all the time and for various reasons. If I didn't buy the odd record to sell on at a profit I wouldn't be able to buy the records I want. My record collecting is pretty much self funded so buying and selling is part of the fun. Once you put your records up for sale, what happens to them after the sale is pretty much out of your hands, you got what you wanted for them presumably? Let them go .......

2.30 - 2.40 recorded depending on mailer/stiffeners, 3.90 is way out

I think that is already happening, there are some good records appearing for sale on private sellers lists at the moment. and you're right; £700+ is a stupid amount to pay for Jeanette :-) i long for for the day when records I want are cheap but I still get great prices for those that I'm selling.

But the 90's were almost 20 years ago now (sorry everyone). I've heard it said many times that there were loads about at a tenner or less and nobody liked it, but if that's the case why doesn't it come up for sale more often? It's the same with a lot of records that were once cheap and in everyone's sales box, once they are not cheap they don't come up for sale. Marva Lee is a good example; 90's = £10 to £15 quid and 1 in every box, 2013 = £100 - £125 and none to be found. Also, why is it a bad thing that more people are collecting? I thought that was the idea; buy OV. Unfortunately more people after the same number of records means prices go up. i paid Shifty £150 quid for my copy in the early 2000's and don't give a f*ck what someone paid 5 years before that or 10 years later.

Played mine today, absolutely fantastic, I really hope they keep producing these sets as I'll buy every one. However, I'm still p*ssed off about the 2000 limited edition that turned into an unlimited edition, and I'm somewhat cynical about the second box set turning up numbered and stating limited edition when there is no indication of what the limit of the edition is. But in terms of the quality of the music turning up on 45 they are exceptional.

I thought it was a really good article; understandable if you are a record collector and understandable if you're not. one of the very few articles that doesn't show record collecting and/ or Northern soul in a bad light. I hope someone eventually gets to verify the existence of this record, it's a great discovery. Cheers Paul

This is so true, ebay listings just do not get indexed quickly enough to show up in Google so if you get an ebay listing in a google search it just isn't worth clicking on. The other main difference between ebay and discogs is that with discogs you are not trying to find someone who will buy your record in the next 7 days. The only stuff that sells in 7 days is stuff that is in demand or under priced. Listing 15 quid records on ebay for 8 quid is not going to make them sell in 7 days as the chances of finding a buyer for a run of the mill record that is easily available in that time are tiny.

A few years ago I could buy records on ebay US and sell them for a profit on ebay UK. Then I started only selling from my web site to cut out ebay fees as the margins got thinner. Then I stopped buying records that would only sell on for £20 quid or less as I couldn't sell them. Then I stopped actively buying records to sell on. I used to regularly look on ebay UK and pick up records for myself, particularly those in the £10 - £20 price bracket that now cost too much in postage to buy from the states. Unfortunately anything listed at between £5 and £10 pounds now just disappears in amongst all the boots and other crap that are being listed. I can't be bothered to wade through pages of boots to find the odd record that I might want to pick up. These days I only ever bother looking on ebay UK now and again to try and search out a bargain, something that has been started low that is worth a lot more, something that isn't a popular item but I think I might be able to sell on, something that I want for my collection that is hidden in all the sh*t. Unfortunately this takes ages and I only hit on about one record a month, I rarely look at any of the listings below £15 now as that's where the dross generally starts. ebay US is a little bit different (less boots) but good records seem to usually go for good money and when you take into account the postage and customs charges there are not many bargains to be had. Anything rare, known and in good condition normally goes for more than I'm willing to pay. I occasionally pick up a good bargain to sell on but these are usually hidden in the wrong sections and I'm only alerted to them because the seller has listed a record that I have a search set up for. Most US sellers now start records at too high a price to be worth buying anyway, in the hope that someone with too much money just decides to buy them anyway. The majority of the records I've bought to keep over the last few months have been on here or the rare soul sales group on facebook, the majority of records I've bought and sold have been from eBay. The latter fund the former. So for me eBay UK is a chore that I only look at now and again, occasionally picking up stuff to sell on; ebay US is a source of good records but I don't buy many these days as they go for too much or the condition is too poor, to keep or to sell on. Lastly, I've found that trying to find a buyer in 7 days for records that are not really in demand is just a recipe for losing money. I list stuff on my web site to sell and some things stay there for months. Anything that I think is going to sell quickly I will list on here before putting it on my web site, ebay is a last resort for me. Just my tuppence worth.