Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide (Record Collector Magazine) [Paperback]

The RRPG should not be treated like a "bible" of prices - the 4th word in the title is "Guide", just as RRP means "recommended" on a product - be reasonable, flexible and cautious of printing errors. It is easy to use, it's in alphabetical order by artist, then format/size, then chronological by release. Can't go wrong, really.

Even though it's a guide, it doesn't give you much advice beyond pricing. As part of my review I'm adding some tips.

Always bear in mind:
a) If it's not listed, it's probably worth less than £5 or is worthless at this time. Depending on its title it may be obvious rubbish that will never have value, or simply a weak title from a popular artist which currently has low market value.
b) Don't expect people to pay the prices the book states unless its Mint. See the Grading Reckoner for an idea - it's on the last page.
c) The book can be, and often is, wrong - go to any record fair and you'll hear plenty of "no chance" for some prices stated.
d) Just because it isn't listed doesn't mean it won't be one day - if you're a collector, don't hesitate to keep/get an item.
e) Sets often have greater value if complete, even if some of the individual vinyls that set aren't in the book and some are.
f) If you are using this book to sell an old batch found in the attic use the Grading System in conjunction with the Reckoner, it's fairly well thought of as long as you play fair - check ALL inner/outer sleeves, vinyls, labels and inserts.
g) Never trust a prospective buyer, they may be a dealer who have a copy of their own - anyone who says "I don't think it's worth that much" must have a price source to make such a claim, right?
h) Be aware that anyone buying records as a collector/fan may get values from fan sites - fans usually pay more than dealers!
i) eBay is a hard place to sell vinyls - fees and capped postal charges make it difficult to get a good Net profit.
j) When listing on places like eBay, grade under bright light - feel all scratches to see how deep they are, and if possible test to see if any scratches skip or pop. Unless it is actually mint you can benefit by playing down the quality a little. For example saying it's Good+ rather than Very Good won't earn you negative feedback, whereas inaccurate or overstated quality usually will - collectors and dealers are very picky. But also, collectors/fans are more likely to buy something that might only be listed as Good+ (really V.Good) at a higher price than a dealer who might avoid lower gradings to resell.

Whenever you send records in the post:
a) Use Recorded Signed For as insurance for yourself.
b) Use thick mailers and cardboard both sides of the record.
c) Remove the record from the inner sleeve to prevent ring wear en route (12"/LPs not singles).
d) If you accept returns take photos of the records before they go. If they come back damaged, you have proof.
e) Some sellers won't sell outside the UK. Personally I don't see the trouble - overseas buyers are often happy to pay more, and in the end you still have to go to the Post Office counter to weight it. The buyer pays postage. You could earn more if you get lucky for the sake of writing a foreign address on the envelope. Keep proof of postage if you do, however.

If you are buying this book simply to see what your own records in the attic are worth, my best advice is that you grade them also and use the reckoner to get a better estimate. No point claiming to have a ton of records worth £1000 when half of them have been scratched and battered since the 60's and really now worth only about £200. Be realistic when you use this book. The sad truth is vinyl is fragile, and the sleeves are prone to wear and tear, bent corners, yellowing, laminate peel, and all manner of damage if not stored and handled carefully.

Hope this helps someone who has not had chance to pay their attic a visit in recent years!

Having bought this book direct from the publishers (albeit at a price higher than Amazon's), I have had it for about a month now, and have had plenty of opportunity to formulate my thoughts.

This is the eleventh edition of the Price Guide, now issued every two years. As usual, the publishers are at pains to point out that it is the largest, most comprehensive guide to rare UK releases, and this is difficult to argue with - at 1440 pages it is 32 pages longer than the last edition. (However, a little research would suggest that this edition may not be any more comprehensive than the last - many items issued in mono and stereo now have their entry extended over two lines rather than one, thus taking up more space. I'm quite sure the cumulative effect of this would at least add up to the extra 32 pages.)

Thankfully, this edition seems to be materially better than earlier editions - I have not yet come across any pages with obscured print, as occurred with the Kinks entry in the last edition; there don't seem to be any pages in the wrong order, as occurred with Slim Whitman's entry in an earlier edition; and the index captions at the top of each page do at least appear to coincide with the entries on that page, which is a welcome improvement on earlier editions.

However, there are still a number of instances where text has been indented for no apparent reason, rather breaking the flow and making some pages look untidy.

Finally, as far as editing goes anyway (as far as I have yet noticed), it is unforgivable, in a work such as this, that one of the most important entries, in this case Elvis Presley's entry, should contain such a fundamental error as transposing the headings for "RCA EPs: Triangular Centres" and "RCA EPs: Round Centre Re-Pressings". Thanks to that simple, stupid error, buying Elvis Presley EPs will be purely a matter of "Pot Luck" for the next two years, until the next issue comes out, hopefully complete with correction.

The editors are (or should be) aware that this book sets the starting prices for the market, and mistakes like this simply should not happen.

From a user's point of view, it is disappointing to note (again) that many artists continue to have their product grossly over-valued (Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Gene Pitney etc.), or over-represented (Sex Pistols, Muse, Gary Numan, Pet Shop Boys), while others seem either under-valued, under-represented or poorly researched (Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Beach Boys, even the Beatles). Readers with interests differing from mine will no doubt be able to add further examples to the above.

...And that's the problem with this book. For some time now (probably the last ten years at least), it's been obvious that each successive edition has been less comprehensive, less representative, less relevant, less consistent, and less realistic than its predecessor, and things have now drifted too far. What we are presented with now is a rather poor, discredited piece of work requiring major surgery.

It's not enough to simply implement small incremental changes to the last edition to reflect what the editors or publishers consider may have been changed over the past two years. This approach ignores other changes which may have taken place over a longer period of time, maybe five, or even ten years. It is now time to take radical action.

Every entry in the whole book requires reappraisal. Does it deserve to be in the book? What is a realistic current value? Are the details (b-side, catalogue no. etc) correct? Are there other items from this artist/label/genre which should be added? If the editors were to begin this task now, the next edition could easily be a real return to form. It may involve a little more resources than are currently devoted to the guide, but it really needs to be done. It is only the lack of a viable alternative which keep this guide in its position as the buyers'/sellers' "bible".

I still give it two stars because, deeply flawed though it is, it is still the best available option.

But come on, Record Collector, give your customers what they deserve!!

As a record collector of 29 years, following the growth & decline of Record Collector has been a part of my life, initially an enjoyable part, ah, but that was long ago... Buying the magazine stopped about 10 years ago, but as a collector or dealer, you HAVE to buy this book to at least keep up with Record Collector's diminishing relevance in the real world of Record Dealing just to see why a common record is suddenly £20.

You get a record, you look it up & say a salty comment to yourself & then up or, sadly more often, down the price as the narrow clique of self-serving out-of-touch dealers suggest it really sells at. Much is underpriced too, he who knows which is the winner. My interest is in the entire pre Punk era, after 1982 I lost interest in new music. Some of their "experts" you can see selling online and bragging they are experts. You can judge for yourself how expert they really are & the amount of stock they trade in is surprisingly small to be quoting prices.

But where are they getting these out of date too-high prices? The majority of sales today are on the internet & not just that site either. A lot of trading & private sales go on, but record fairs are generally long finished as are shops. Thinking everything goes up with inflation is wrong. Much of records & other collectables is GOING DOWN in value except the small percentage of hotly sought items. There are more items surfacing making a once rare record a common one, yet RC says the value has gone up!

A big problem in this guide is REGGAE pricing. Due to some unsavoury souls causing problems on a Reggae forum, it has resulted in prices on one site being "faked" deliberately by these malcontents artificially boosting the prices into the megabucks territory that is just not the truth. Reggae as a market is not very strong, only the UK Studio 1 & Coxsone 45s especially are making big real prices. For RC to not do their research & publish the fake prices is extremely careless, but sadly what we've come to expect.

Quoting auction prices as standard prices in any category is dangerous, the reggae market has the fake bids & the soul market is priced by one individual dealer, who in his own guides has the cheek to publish extra-high auction prices as the current value. To see the real-world value in auctions, look at the bidding list, eg see bids up to £40 steadily & then 2 mad bids of double that, as bidders may be desperate & bid crazy prices to be sure, but then if 2 or more do that it boosts the price falsely. Don't quote £80 as the price, £40 is the real price.

Today's Record Buyer is not the man in the street secondhand buyer of 20 years ago, he (very rarely a she) is a Collector & has no interest in a lot of what used to sell before. These USED TO SELL prices are still being quoted as CURRENT 10-20 years after the demand peaked.

My advice is to read these lukewarm comments, but still begrudgingly buy this book as "we have to", though now it's a nuisance to have to buy the thing & I wish it was done properly & be worth buying again. I put off buying the last one for many months & watch the price drop & my 2010 copy is still in high grade! Having bought RC price guides since 1987, they've never been realistic & anyone taking it as Gospel will just have overpriced records no-one will buy & yes, another 2 years on they'll have GONE UP 10% as RC foolishly thinks inflation increases prices & still unselling. You can see lots of non music "dealers with a book" offering wildly OTT prices on that other site.

Thankfully, many are now aware of the pointless money-making exercise this wrist cracking book has become & just ignore what is stated, people are the ones to decide if a price is too high or too low.

'Book Price' as it's now called should merely be a guide, but look online & these prices are quoted verbatim & for low grade items.

As it stands, this poorly researched book published by an out-of-touch magazine that was at it's peak 15-20 years ago is spoiling the record market more than it is helping it.