How to Store and Ship Records

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By BernardyJones
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As with most collectibles, proper storage can mean a great difference in value down the road, because the better the condition a piece is in, the more money it will bring back to you when you decide to sell it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Acid-free record sleeves
Plastic sleeves for covers and picture sleeves
Shelving
Cardboard mailers an appropriate size for the record to be shipped

Step 1

Sort the records by size and type. Different types and sizes of records will need different sizes of sleeves for protection, and you’ll need enough sleeves of various sizes to accommodate each size of records. Maybe you’ll want to protect only the best in your collection and not everything, especially if it’s in rough condition to begin with.
Step 2

Get the records out of their jackets. Storing a LP record in its jacket or a 45 in its picture sleeve is just asking for ring wear, which is a worn-in circular mark on the cover. Records and jackets for the most part need to be in “near-mint” condition (like new) in order to sell for the best price on the secondary market. Common records in beat-up condition won’t bring in any good money and are just garage-sale or flea-market fodder. Store the vinyl records in acid-free white-paper sleeves and the jackets in plastic sleeves. The record and jacket can be stored in the same plastic sleeve to keep them together,but for the protection of the album inner sleeve and the cover, store the record outside of them. Old 78 rpm records came in “books” that were often not meant for long-term storage. Get them into something sturdy.
Step 3

Store records on a shelf, upright like a book, in a room with a moderate climate. A hot attic can warp vinyl, and a musty basement can spread mildew to covers and sleeves. Putting them in a pile can damage them, especially fragile 78s, which are often made of shellac.
Step 4

After you’ve found a buyer, ship records only in sturdy mailers with plenty of cardboard padding around them. Companies such as Bags Unlimited have cardboard boxes made for the specific sizes that records come in (even 16-inch transcription discs) that can take the abuse of shipping. Bubble envelopes just won’t cut it for shipping records and keeping damage at bay (or even CDs in jewel cases). If you want a happy customer and positive feedback, you’ll need to get the record to the customer in the condition it was promised to be in. Remember, in collecting records, condition is everything.

Comments

BernardyJones said

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on 7/16/2008 I asked the Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records editor, Tim Neely, for his advice, and he thought that maybe even driving them in a U-Haul cross-country might be cheaper than shipping them UPS or USPS. Regardless, cardboard between sections - or even each LP - is recommended. Or bubble wrap to make sure that the records don't bounce around inside the cartons. Wooden crates came to my mind, but I know that Bags Unlimited.com has a lot of good boxes for this type of thing.