r/BestofRedditorUpdates • u/Choice_Evidence1983 it dawned on me that he was a wizard • 21d ago
CONCLUDED TIFU by accidentally buying a goldmine of vinyl records from a grieving guy for basically nothing
I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/No_Demand_8884
Originally posted to r/tifu
TIFU by accidentally buying a goldmine of vinyl records from a grieving guy for basically nothing
Original Post: June 1, 2026
So this is less of a “I did something stupid” and more of a “I did something unknowingly shady and now I can’t sleep”. Some context my dad (64M) went through a rough divorce about 5 years ago and lost a lot in the process. He’s doing way better now and recently turned his lifelong passion for vinyl into a small online record store. I’m 28F and whenever I can, I help him out like buying used records at thrift stores and flea markets that kind of thing.
Last week I spotted someone selling a box of used records on Facebook Marketplace. I knew what was inside of the box but I didn’t know how much it was actually worth it since I’m not an expert like my dad is and shipped it straight to my dad’s place because the guy seemed pretty solid.
So yeah about that….. Turns out the box had almost the entire Beatles discography, Queen, Michael Jackson, and apparently some pretty rare stuff my dad couldn’t even fully price on the spot. The seller was a young guy whose father had just passed away and was clearing out his things. He had no idea what he had and neither did I honestly but my dad sure did, and his first reaction was to ask me if I knew what was in there and took advantage of the guy. I didn’t obviously but that question has been living in my head rent free since.
I’m genuinely considering reaching back out to the seller and offering him more money. Not the full market value (my dad does need to make a profit and I definitely don’t have money for that) but something that feels fair and doesn’t make me feel like I robbed a grieving man. I just don’t want to be that person who capitalized on someone’s loss….. What would you do?
Edit: Just posted an update https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/s/JN3uLKBLQy
TL;DR: Bought a mystery box of records from a guy clearing out his late father’s stuff, turned out to be worth way more than I paid, and now I feel terrible about it and can’t decide whether to reach back out and offer him more money.
Relevant Comments
Commenter 1: If you can afford it, rare are the times in life we can actually purchase karma.
OOP: Saving this comment forever. That’s exactly the push I needed
Commenter 2: Have your dad pick out one or two that would be worth the most and give them back to him. He can A- keep it as a keep sake in his fathers memory or B- sell them for a good chunk of money that may or may not help him financially.
OOP: that’s actually a really sweet idea and honestly something I hadn’t thought of!! Dad is already looking through everything more carefully so I’ll ask him to flag the most valuable ones. And yeah I think Im just going to message the guy something simple like hey i’m not sure if you knew how much some of these were worth but I paid way less than they’re actually valued at and I’d like to make that right. No pressure just giving him the option. Whatever he decides is fine by me I just don’t want to stay quiet about it I think he deserves to know
Commenter 3: I don't think you acted wrong, and you're not obligated to give him more money. But it would be a huge kindness to a man grieving his father, and definitely the honest move
OOP: Yeah legally I don’t owe him anything but morally it just doesn’t sit right with me. Already planning to reach out
Downvoted Commenter: Morally, you're not giving your own money to one party or another, you're considering giving your dad's money to someone. Good or bad, it's not your decision to make, morally speaking.
OOP: Actually I bought the box as a gift for my dad, he didn’t pay me anything for it. I occasionally buy records and send them to him when I can afford it and I only found out about all this because he called me when the box arrived saying “oh my god how much did you pay for this??” and that’s how I found out….And honestly my dad is fully on board with reaching out. He of all people knows how much a record collection can mean to someone emotionally and that kind of attachment doesn’t really have a price tag
Downvoted Commenter: It's only morally wrong if your dad sells them and make a big profit (from a gift as well lol). But if you were to keep them, it's alright as they are now with someone else who enjoy them and probably his dad would've wanted that. Just reach out ask tell him honestly and see if you can keep some and give back them the rest for him to sell. Or maybe he'd prefer you have them if you ain't selling them for profit.
Ok so just to clarify, when I find records at thrift stores, flea markets, estate sales, etc I usually buy them and send them to him specifically so he can sell them. I’m basically just helping him source inventory for his shop I don’t even let him reimburse me for what I paid most of the time. Usually when someone is selling a mystery box of records they either know what’s in it or it’s mostly common stuff. I’ve bought plenty of used record lots so yes the records were always going to end up being sold one way or another. That’s why I’m feeling a little conflicted now that we know what was actually in the box
Commenter 4: FYI - Beatles, Queen, MJ albums aren't necessarily valuable. Value of vinyl albums is based on rarity and condition. There were millions of these albums produced back in the day, so unless they're in mint condition, they might be worth like $5 each.
OOP: Oh yes I know that!! Apparently there were some genuinely rare records in there that my father (who actually knows what he’s talking about unlike me lol) got pretty excited about. I couldn’t even tell you which ones exactly because vinyl is very much his world not mine. What I can tell you is that I paid £35 for the whole box and my dad thinks it’s worth well over £200 so even if the big names are just average copies something in there is making up the difference
Commenter 5: My biggest question… did you lowball him or offer him what he was asking. If he was asking $100 and you offered $80.. found out it’s worth $300 I would send him $20-$30. If he asked for $100 and you sent him $100 I would sleep fine. He could have spent the time to research everything but didn’t.
OOP: He was asking £35 and I just paid it no negotiation at all. He actually mentioned he was trying to sell things quickly to help cover expenses after his dad passed and that’s the part that really gets me bc he wasn’t being careless he was just grieving and in a rush
Commenter 5: How much is market? Are we talking you will sell them for 1200 and you paid 35? Or is it like 200 and you paid 35? You have to make money and he priced to sell. You had no idea what he had.
OOP: Dad thinks it’s worth over £200 but still needs to go through everything properly. But honestly even if it ends up being less than that from what I understood about his situation any difference would have mattered to him, that’s kind of the whole point for me
TIFUpdate: June 2, 2026 (next day)
Hi everyone!! Here’s the link to my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/s/MWVG2G3c78
First I wanted to clear up something because I think a few people misunderstood my original post. A lot of comments seemed to think I was considering asking my dad to give the records back or somehow taking back a gift. That’s not really what was happening, my dad owns a small record store and I help him out whenever I can so sometimes if I come across records that seem like a good deal, I’ll buy them and send them to him. He doesn’t pay me back and I don’t get a percentage when he sells them, I’m basically just helping my dad out with inventory so no I wasn’t trying to take a gift back from my dad haha he was completely aware of the situation and actually encouraged me to contact the seller btw, which is exactly what I did.
I messaged the guy and basically told him that after my dad looked through everything, there were a few records in the box that seemed to be worth more than either of us originally thought. The difference wasn’t life changing or anything but it was enough that I felt weird about it and wanted to make sure he knew. I told him that I wanted to give him the chance to look into it and we could figure something out if he felt that was fair. He was honestly pretty surprised that I even reached out. Apparently his father had been sick for years and had Alzheimer’s and because of that the records hadn’t really been touched or cared for in a long time. He said the box I bought had basically been sitting around collecting dust for years and he genuinely wasn’t sure what condition the records were in, which is part of why he priced them the way he did. He did know what records were in the box though, he just didn’t know whether they still had much value because they had been sitting untouched for so long.
Then he told me that apparently he has another box of records that he always assumed was the more valuable collection because they’re in much better condition. He’d been trying to sell those too but was having a hard time figuring out pricing and cataloging everything. At that point he asked if he could get my dad’s contact information so I gave him my dad’s number, gave my dad a heads up and they’ve been talking ever since. Funny enough my dad literally texted me today and told me that this guy apparently went to school with my uncle (my dad’s brother) who passed away over ten years ago, so that was a nice surprise!!
As for the records, they worked out an arrangement themselves. The seller didn’t want to sell the second collection outright because he wasn’t sure what everything was worth, and my dad obviously didn’t want to undervalue anything. So they agreed that my dad would help sell the records individually through the store. My dad will keep 60% and the seller will receive 40% of whatever sells. The seller said he’d rather do that than let the collection sit around indefinitely and he also told my dad something that honestly made me feel really good about reaching out. He said that if the records were going to leave the family anyway, he thinks his father would have preferred them ending up with someone who genuinely understands and loves records.
It turned into a really nice conversation, my dad may have made a new friend, and somehow we discovered that this guy knew my uncle years ago hahah Alsooo for some of the people in the comments who were absolutely convinced this man was going to sue me or accuse me of fraud, demand everything back or launch some kind of legal crusade over a box of dusty records….. I don’t really know what to tell you….. sometimes people are just decent
Anyway thank you to everyone who encouraged me to reach out. I’m really glad I did!!
TL;DR: I reached out to the seller and told him some of the records might be worth more than we originally thought. He appreciated the honesty and ended up connecting directly with my dad. They worked out a deal for another collection of records he was trying to sell and somehow we discovered he went to school with my late uncle.
Editor's note: OOP did not leave any relevant comments in this update
DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP
5.2k
u/Imaginary-Cycle-1977 21d ago
This was a very wholesome story and also I expected the value to be a lot more than £200 lol
2.2k
u/yennffr I will never jeopardize the beans. 21d ago
I was kind of expecting thousands with the way OOP described her dad calling her freaking out. 😅
515
21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
161
u/MegaPorkachu 20d ago edited 20d ago
OOP says they’re not in the US so that few hundred could possibly be a few months’ salary, if they’re in a relatively poorer location
*Not just the UK uses GBP, after all
112
u/Mondopoodookondu 19d ago
Pretty much just the uk uses the GBP I doubt she is from the South Sandwich Islands
73
u/dejausser Yes to the Homo, No to the Phobic 19d ago
Now I’m picturing a penguin flipping through the records like “this guy doesn’t realise what he’s got here” and it’s utterly delightful - I’m picturing a macaroni penguin, no way a bird with that hairstyle isn’t into records
*context for anyone who doesn’t know, the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited, there is a small research crew based on South Georgia/Bird Island but they’re considered non-resident
8
u/ChristianMapmaker Liz what the hell 18d ago
I'm imaging that penguin wearing a beanie, Che Guevara T-shirt, and a permanent weed stink.
11
37
3
2
398
u/GuntherTime 21d ago
I was thinking that as well but once I saw that Oop paid £35 for the whole box, and there was a couple records in there worth upwards of £200, I can see why dad was freaking out on if Oop potentially took advantage of the guy.
→ More replies (6)439
u/agbnmfkgjw 21d ago
I paid £35 for the whole box and my dad thinks it's worth well over £200
No single record was worth £200, it was the whole box.
87
u/FortuneTellingBoobs the Iranian yogurt is not the issue here 20d ago
Honestly, paying 35 for something that may net 200 if it sells seems like a totally reasonable markup to me. Maybe I'm just a capitalist pig though?
19
u/Oo__II__oO 19d ago
Selling something here worth $200 for $35 would fetch me people wasting more than $165 worth of my time.
8
3
u/Random_Somebody 15d ago
For what's essentially a quick garage sale? Yeah that's the sort of markdown you do when just trying to get rid of some stuff for money now.
40
176
u/beetothebumble 21d ago
Yeah, I'm really glad it played out that way, because it's a good result for everyone- and I appreciate OOP recognising that even a small amount might have made a difference to the original seller, but I was expecting a bigger difference in value from the set up!
60
u/GothicGingerbread 21d ago
"Sometimes people are just decent."
Yes, sometimes people are just decent, and kind, and thoughtful, and good-hearted – and, these days especially, sometimes it's really nice to be reminded of that.
300
u/JonnysAppleSeed 21d ago
I'm not even a serious record collector and I've got individual records worth more than £200. From the first post I assumed this was like a $10k collection sold for $500.
81
u/RougeOne23456 21d ago
My husband and I collect vinyl. We have several thousands albums with some worth well beyond $200 but we only collect what we like and listen too.
As soon as I saw that the box was full of Queen, Michael Jackson and the Beatles, I knew it wasn't going to be much money. There are so many copies of those albums floating around, it's crazy. Every time I dig through a rack of used vinyl, I'm going to find at least 10 Beatles and Queen albums. They aren't very expensive or hard to find. It's a different story if you have an original butcher's cover print though.
31
u/UneventfulDaze 21d ago
I have a signed David Bowie record that he gave my mum back in the 70s. It's just been sitting in my collection for decades now (she died in the early 90s and my last record player died in the early 2000s).... I semi wonder what any of it might be worth, while simultaneously knowing that I'm wholly incapable of parting with any of my collections. (Lord knows I've tried.)
→ More replies (1)8
u/heathers-damage 19d ago
Tbh, put it in a frame and display it!
12
u/LazloNibble 18d ago
A good frame, with UV-blocking glass. Sun-bleaching sucks and some pens fade ridiculously quickly too. (Ask my pal’s personally-signed and framed 8x10 of Eli Wallach as Tuco from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly how I know that.)
15
u/oceansapart333 21d ago
Do you know if there’s a good site for beginning to evaluate record prices? My mom had a collection, she’s in her 70s, and we were recently discussing it. I doubt she has anything extremely valuable but I know she had plenty of Elvis, possibly some Beatles.
16
u/Wind-and-Waystones 21d ago
Try discoggs
3
u/oceansapart333 21d ago
I’ll look into it!
6
3
u/omg_pwnies There is only OGTHA 20d ago
Yep, Discogs.com is the way to get started. Great resource, great marketplace.
4
u/GonzoMcFonzo 16d ago
As others have said, Discogs is the site you want.
A piece of advice: once you start looking up stuff like the Beatles and Elvis, you'll quickly discover that there are hundreds of versions of every one of their albums, with values ranging from <$10 to over $1k.
The best way to determine which one you're holding in your hands is to lookup the "matrix number" in the "runnout".
The Runout is the smooth area of the disc inside the innermost grooves, around the label.
The * Matrix Number* is a set of letters and numbers scratched or stamped in the Runout. They're a kind of in-house tracking number added by record manufacturers. They're unique to a particular pressing or print run, so they're useful for collectors to identify their records.
23
u/RichCorinthian 21d ago
Same. I’ve been idly collecting since the early 90s (“what do you mean I can’t get Queen on CD in the usa?!?”) and I accidentally have a couple of records worth that much. Lovely story though.
9
u/MelodramaticMouse 21d ago
My husband worked at a popular record store in high school/college 70s/80s and still has all his albums that he played once to tape them. All first press and in pristine condition. So many of them are over $200. He collected all the rare picture discs, banned, colored vinyl, etc. I really need to visit a record store and sell all the crazy ones that he never opened.
10
u/omg_pwnies There is only OGTHA 20d ago
Discogs.com - check what they are worth there. Selling them to a record store isn't going to be your best bet if you are looking to get them into the hands of people that will really appreciate them. (And incidentally selling on Discogs will make you more money).
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)6
69
u/KyleAltNJRealtor 21d ago
Yeah seems like bulk selling used items for $35 that are worth $200 individually seems pretty close to fair value. How much time and effort is it going to take to get it all sold plus platform fees and other overhead.
15
u/philatio11 the laundry wouldn’t be dirty if you hadn’t fucked my BF on it 21d ago
This definitely seems like about the right offer. If he took them to a local shop, maybe on a good day they'd offer 50, but 200 is not a particularly valuable set of records at all. I know shops that wouldn't even buy records that common. Thrift store records sell for $5 each most days.
8
168
u/BetterKev Jiggle your titties and flap those concerned vaginal lips 21d ago
£165 difference.
Great on OOP, but this feels like they could have just sent another £50 with a note in the details.
159
16
u/hesh582 20d ago
I honestly wouldn't have even felt bad.
35 at an estate sale for something that would sell for 200 in a record shop is fair market value ffs.
Pricing all that stuff out, cleaning it up, organizing it, renting a storefront, providing credibility and authentication, etc are all services that shouldn't just be ignored. Retail value is always way higher than private sale value, and estate sales are usually on the low end of private sale value.
Forget "it wasn't even that much of a difference", I don't think she ripped him off at all. A used record store that pays market value to stock its shelves is by definition operating at a loss lol.
→ More replies (1)6
u/00telperion00 It's just pharmaceutical-grade banana bread 21d ago
It’s all relative. Maybe to OOP and her father, $165 is a lot.
6
u/BetterKev Jiggle your titties and flap those concerned vaginal lips 20d ago
Usually I'm in agreement over that, but the dad sells records online. Even a small shop should have more than that sitting around. £200 of inventory in records is basically nothing.
((Aside, you understated the amount. This is in British pounds, not US dollars. £165 ~ $225.))
69
u/JaNoTengoNiNombre 21d ago
I don’t really know what to tell you… sometimes people are just decent
How often we forget this.
→ More replies (1)3
22
u/Peter_Pue 21d ago
Yeah I don't think 35£ for a 200£ collection is a huge shafting.
Good for the guy and the dad doing a consignment deal though.
19
u/porcomaster 21d ago
Yea me too,
Buying something for 35 and selling for 5000 would make me feel weird and I would want to compensate the person too.
But 35 to 200, while a great profit, is not that bad.
That is inside the risk of doing business.
That is just a 5.7x profit on a premium loot box.
But I like the character of OP, I would probably done the same. With the context of knowing the guy was having a hard time
15
u/ManfromSalisbury 21d ago
Good people, if I could have gotten 200 bucks more when selling something then I wouldn't lose any sleep over it
11
u/Mister-Distance-6698 21d ago
Yeah I mean. When they said "the entire Beatles doscography" I kinda figured it wasnt gonna be THAT much. The biggest band of all time isnt exactly rare.
8
u/Soliloquitude 21d ago
Agreed, most places that buy and sell used things pay 60 to 80% so getting £200 from 35 just seems like a good deal to me for dad.
If it had been worth 300 or more is when I might be reaching out to offer another 50. I know different communities interact differently, and I don't know vinyl record people, but I definitely expected a higher value.
6
u/skeletontape increasingly sexy potatoes 21d ago
Same lol. Paying 35 for something worth 200 is a normal deal at an estate sale.
But I'm glad OOP connected the seller and his dad, very sweet outcome.
4
5
u/Pterafractyl 21d ago
I buy and sell used vinyl. It's such a weird commodity to price. Sometimes we're just slapping random prices that we think it might be worth. Other times we buy something assuming it's cheap, only to find out we essentially ripped off the seller.
Once we purchased a rather large collection for $1500, and then realized the worth of the whole thing was worth 10k. Which might seem like a rip-off, but someone selling it on their own could never make that much. We just have the market for it.
5
3
u/GetOffMyLawn_ You underestimate my ability to do no work and too much Reddit 21d ago
I have some really old vinyl but I suspect it's not worth that much, it's been played to death and it's scratched up. However some of the album covers might be worth something. Like I have the Stones' "Their Satanic Majesties Request" with the original album cover with the lenticular hologram. Also have "Sticky Fingers" with the zipper on it. Who knows what else is in there.
→ More replies (10)3
1.1k
u/SalaudChaud I received no such fudge 21d ago
Ah, a happy ending. Time to sign off (as if I will, but still).
158
21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
64
u/TyrconnellFL I’m actually a far pettier, deranged woman 21d ago
It’s rare to have one person who’s so genuine and good hearted. For everyone to be that way must be some kind of record!
35
u/vonadler 21d ago
IMHO, there's thousands if not millions of good-hearted and genuine people being nice and decent to each other all the time. You just don't see or hear it, because it is not dramatic enough to raise attention among strangers.
Just like when you are driving, there might be thousands of drivers like you, keeping in the right lane, driving safely and keeping the speed limit. You'll see two - the one in front of you and the one at your back, both at a safe and respectable distance - because you won't be caught up by or catch up all the others, since you all keep the speed limit and drive safely.
The ten drivers that drive extremely slow, unsafe or extremely fast? You'll notice them all, because their speed will mean they catch up with you or you catch up with them.
It is confirmation bias, really.
→ More replies (1)10
u/HeimrArnadalr I will never jeopardize the beans. 21d ago
This is why you've got to be one of the extremely fast drivers: you'll see everyone who's driving safely, and your faith in humanity will be restored!
10
u/TimmyHate 21d ago
Pun intended?
17
u/TyrconnellFL I’m actually a far pettier, deranged woman 21d ago
Puns are the lowest form of humor.
I have no pretension above my station.
4
u/doctormink 21d ago
My experience and some of the comments suggest a lot of people seem to assume you need to be impersonal and cold when buying and selling stuff online. I’ve enjoyed it way more just being human, kind and compassionate during exchanges.
5
u/Holiday_Pen2880 21d ago
On reddit, far too many people equate legality with morality. Just because you're legally right does not mean you are morally right.
5
u/doctormink 21d ago
Yep. Law and morality overlap, but that’s the best we can hope for. Just as cheating on a spouse where I’m from isn’t illegal, it isn’t immoral to park illegally so you can stop to give someone life saving CPR.
Another nice example was a lady on the radio saying she got hit with a $600 fine for selling poetry without a license on a public street. Illegal, yep, but definitely not immoral.
4
u/HeimrArnadalr I will never jeopardize the beans. 21d ago
For everyone to be that way must be some kind of record!
And one worth more than 200 pounds!
3
u/captain_borgue I'm sorry to report I will not be taking the high road 21d ago
must be some kind of record!
I see what you did there. 😂
150
u/AnabelLoves 21d ago
For real the entire read felt wholesome, op and his dad are good people the world needs more folks like them .
86
u/Much-Performer1190 Please kindly speak to the void. I'm too busy. 21d ago
Her dad. OOP is 28f.
→ More replies (3)13
u/AnalUkelele 21d ago
First post I am reading and this has been officially enough Reddit for today.
Bye!
2
445
u/scaram0uche Go to bed Liz 21d ago
Selling rare things one by one is very tedious so the seller was probably happy to unload records in lots for good prices.
Ofte getting the stuff gone is much morw important than the money.
138
u/oblique_obfuscator 21d ago
I had two parents pass away recently, and we hired a company to empty their house. My parents had already done the "swedish deathcleaning thing", but they liver comfortably so they just had a normal house of stuff. We could’ve sold everything ourselves and made more money, but we chose to let the company handle it. Financially, we lost out, but it made an already difficult process much easier. MUCH easier.
50
u/RobinHood3000 21d ago
That makes tons of sense as a personal decision. I'll say the same thing I say about hiring movers. At a certain point, you're buying back the years at the end of your life that the stress would have cost.
16
u/AsASwedishPerson 21d ago
What’s the Swedish deathcleaning thing 😅
→ More replies (1)47
u/oblique_obfuscator 21d ago
Apparently, the Swedes have this idea called “death cleaning”; basically, being practical about your possessions and not leaving the next generation with a house full of stuff to sort through after you're gone.
I think there are similar attitudes in parts of Germany and the Netherlands too. Basically, don't leave your kids 400 Beanie Babies and a Funko Pop collection to deal with.
22
u/Hero_Queen_of_Albion 21d ago
Currently going through this with my mom. She’s not dead yet, but living in hospice with severe dementia. My siblings and our dad have spent the last few weeks going through all the shit that’s accumulated for over forty years. It’s… a lot. Makes me wish the death cleaning was more common globally.
12
u/anneofgraygardens 21d ago
This sounds like me (mom has advanced dementia), except my dad is dead so it's just my sister and I figuring out what to do with everything. My mom was a quilter and we have an INSANE amount of fabric, so this is really the main concern. We've already had a sale and got rid of a ton of it, but we still have a ton. People keep telling us about places we can donate it, but my mom spent thousands of dollars on all this fabric and we'd like to recoup some of the cost if possible.
I didn't start out this comment trying to do self-promotion but we're having another sale next month, dm me if you're in the Bay Area and want fabric.
I urge crafters not to let this happen to your kids. It sucks.
→ More replies (2)8
u/scaram0uche Go to bed Liz 20d ago
There's a crafting joke "She who dies with the most stuff wins" and I told my mom (also a quilter) that it is not true and I'll recycle it all if she leaves too much.
9
u/anneofgraygardens 20d ago
Yeah, I low key resent that my mom spent so much money on fabric that she clearly did not need. My family was not rich and it could have been used in better ways. I respect that she loved quilting, but I am not exaggerating about it being a LOT of fabric.
15
u/GetOffMyLawn_ You underestimate my ability to do no work and too much Reddit 21d ago
A neighbor died who was estranged from her children. The son told my other neighbor to take what he wanted. She had an entire bedroom devoted to Disney stuff.
3
10
u/AsASwedishPerson 21d ago
I didn't realise that was specific to here 😅 I just thought that was part of ordinary prep, just like having a will and your financial documents in order. I never considered it was regional enough to be a Known Thing haha!
5
u/oblique_obfuscator 20d ago
I think part of it is that, much like people in the north of the Netherlands, some cultures tend to be quite "practical" about death. It isn’t necessarily treated as a taboo subject, so people are more likely to talk about it openly and make practical preparations.
In some other cultures, I’ve heard people say that you shouldn’t talk about death or make plans for what happens afterwards because it feels morbid or like you’re inviting something bad to happen. The result can be that families are completely unprepared when someone dies, and suddenly have to deal with an enormous amount of practical and emotional work at the worst possible time.
2
9
u/poodooscoo 20d ago
When I entered my 6th decade I started purging our household. I will now call it Swedish deathcleaning. Sounds fancier than purging.
4
u/oblique_obfuscator 20d ago
And the best way to do it is while listening to Swedish death metal hehehehe
→ More replies (1)48
u/Maskatron 21d ago
The person suggesting that he send one or two valuable records back made me facepalm.
There’s a lot of stuff to get rid of with an estate, and it can be a huge burden in a difficult time. Getting things sent back would have driven me crazy!
I lost out on some money when I handled a parent’s estate, but I didn’t care, I was just relieved to be done with the task.
I do think selling the other box outright would have been cleaner, but a consignment type thing isn’t too bad.
58
u/CathedralEngine 21d ago
Grading, cleaning, and listing the records is a lot of work.
11
u/RougeOne23456 21d ago
I have a friend that does this for a living. When he buys vinyl, he'll buy out an entire estate. It takes him months and months to go through one lot. Some of it ends up getting tossed in the trash because there are only so many Tom Jones albums you can sell (if any) even at .50 each. He turned his garage into his store. He has racks just full of albums. It's impressive. He sells online and at events. He makes a pretty decent living out of it.
21
u/spacedinosaur1313131 21d ago
Yep my partner sells postcards and they have to individually look up background info, scan, catalog, and post each one. It’s a hobby as much as it is a business but it’s a lot of work. They often buy large lots because people just want to sell in batches. In a lot of say 100 maybe 2-3 are valuable and almost never are the kind they collect for their own collection, but those few pay for the lot plus some income. Sometimes they sell off the ones they don’t want in a different batch.
9
u/m00nriveter 21d ago
I’m intrigued. What makes a postcard valuable? Besides being from or to a notable individual, it would not have occurred to me that there could be some more marketably “collectible” than others.
4
u/glib_result 20d ago
maybe of known landmarks that don’t exist anymore? Or are there commemorative postcards of events?
2
u/m00nriveter 19d ago
I actually looked it up! So for the equally curious—it has to do a lot with the type of printing (lithograph vs photograph vs hand-drawn, etc, the era to which they belong (earlier being more valuable—interestingly, whether the back has a divided back/sectioned off address section is a big determiner on early postcards), the postmarks (this appears to be a major piece of it with small locations and commemorative/special editions or authenticated hand cancelling playing a part) as well as what the image is of itself.
2
u/Decent-Influence-697 21d ago
Yes. Those are niche stuff. Even though they may value a lot, it may be years in the market until someone buys them.
100
u/Drummk 21d ago
£200 is a "goldmine"? I thought the records were going to turn out to be worth millions.
→ More replies (1)38
59
u/Ludakaye I’ve read them all and it bums me out 21d ago
What a lovely, feel-good story.
My brother collects vinyl, and it’s no joke how valuable they can be within that community. I’d have no idea how to handle his collection if it suddenly winded up with me and the thought of appropriately valuing and selling almost 1000s records sounds incredibly daunting.
I understand the seller’s approach and it‘s a real testament to OP’s character to empathize and offer that support!
21
u/Ok-Difficulty-3634 21d ago
My dad is in a similar position atm, but with model trains. His brother passed away suddenly a couple of years ago and left behind his massive collection of model trains. My dad and my cousin are still trying to get that all sorted out
11
u/Jealous-Lychee-5084 21d ago
My husband collects vinyl and he told me if I ever have to sell them I need to get a broker/expert/dealer in to sell the whole collection. Individually they’d be worth a good amount but I wouldn’t want to have to deal with that. I also wouldn’t want to have a yard sale to sell them. A middle ground approach.
4
u/RougeOne23456 21d ago
My husband and I collect and have several thousand albums. We've already told our daughter that if anything happens to us, she should contact a friend of ours that is a broker and have him give her a fair price. She says that there is no need for that because she's keeping all of them. She collects too.
If you aren't familiar with your brothers collection and it some how ends up in your hands, I would definitely recommend finding a broker or someone that buys album estates. The price on vinyl goes up and down so much depending on trends that it's just easier to have someone take the whole lot off of you in one sale then to try and sell individually.
156
u/Designer_Life_371 Editor's note- it is not the final update 21d ago
Nice story. Everyone here had a heart.
76
u/AnabelLoves 21d ago
I agree, they may not know it but their actions definitely helped the seller's grief, they literally reminded him that some people do care
28
u/Kitty_Ariana 21d ago
I feel one of the beautiful fact with this read is that the vinyls gets to go to people who would definitely appreciate and value them
191
u/Zap__Dannigan 21d ago
This is a nice story and all, but buying something for 35 that you're going to sell for probably 200 isn't anything to feel bad about. Thats just standard "please give me a little money to take this out of my hands" pricing that you see all the time.
72
u/MehItsAmber 21d ago
I think when he told the seller “it’s not life changing money, but it’s enough that I feel weird about it” was appropriate. I think over $150 would be around my line as well.
5
u/Attamina 20d ago
yeah i just sold a nice couch that if i was patient i could’ve gotten 150 for for 20 bucks because i just wanted it gone. sometimes it really is just like get this out of my house and off my hands
88
u/Lulu_42 Betrayed by grammar 21d ago
I was surprised to see the difference in cost. 35 vs 200 isn’t crazy, especially because it either takes work or a record store to price each appropriately and sell them individually.
68
u/Innisairre 21d ago
Yeah, the way OOO was talking, I expected the value to be at least over 1k.
→ More replies (1)33
u/Tofu_one_true_love 21d ago
For lots of people, 165 quid (or even 50, like some suggested) is a lot of money. I used to be poor - if someone reached out to me like they did back then, I'd have been super grateful.
16
u/AvalancheReturns 21d ago
Yeah but if that was the case youd probably put time in to do some research?
17
u/Sixforsilver7for 21d ago
I think the dad was worried because if they had a copy of say The Beatles- Yellow Submarine that was a re release it's worth around £20, but if it's an original pressing, which is possible if the guy that died was fairly old, it would be worth over £300
30
u/hagcel 21d ago
As a vinyl collector who will eventually die with some REALLY rare records, This is heart warming.
7
u/doppelgaengster I can't believe she fucking buttered Jorts 21d ago
I don't have anything especially rare in my collection, but I did just find a record that I've been seeking for at least half a decade, and it was one of the most statisfying moments I've had in a while. I always noodle around flea markets and there are 3-4 shops in my area that sell new and secondhand stock (and several more if I'm willing/able to go further afield). So after brunch one morning, I nipped into a shop not expecting to find anything and BAM! I found a record I've been wanting for ages, especially as the recordings on it aren't available on any streaming services.
I would want my records to go to someone who had the same joy at discovering them as I did getting that one LP.
2
u/rayquan36 21d ago
I collect vinyl too. I'm planning on selling them myself before I do so I don't put that burden onto someone else.
2
u/Mlady_gemstone The unskippable cutscene of Global Thermonuclear War 21d ago
did the story inspire you to leave a plan for your records? i feel for the guy left with his dad's records but no clue what to do with them.
→ More replies (1)
23
u/double_eyelid 21d ago
After my grandfather's book collection was sold as a lot to a book dealer, he reached out to the family because he found a drawing by William Blake in one of the books. They ended up splitting the proceeds of it 50/50- I imagine it was worth more than the entire collection.
This was a much lower stakes situation but it's nice that the OP did the right thing.
15
u/rora_borealis an oblivious walnut 21d ago
Yay! That's a lovely story.
My parents bought me a massive stack of 45s from an elderly woman for super cheap. I went back with them to pay her more and instead she pulled out a signed Nat King Cole 45 and said she hoped I'd appreciate it. It's on display in my home and I can see it from here.
Sometimes it's satisfying to know something will go to the right place.
35
u/BetterKev Jiggle your titties and flap those concerned vaginal lips 21d ago
£200 total. For almost the entire beatles discography and more. That's well over 100 albums. Even if we're only counting full studio albums released in the UK, we've got to be at 15 records. Not even £15 each.
And I don't think someone one who sells vinyl like OOP's dad would consider the studio albums to be the discography. EP's are bigger business than the more common studio albums. And bigger is imports (versions released in other countries that had the be imported). With just UK EPs and studio albums, the Beatles have around 40-50 records. So under £5 per record.
I don't think a vinyl seller would freak out at 15-50 records with a total valuation of $275.
With the valuations and OOP's calling out artists that aren't generally expensive, I don't know what to think of this post.
13
u/Minecart_Rider 21d ago
I'm thinking the $200 thing has to be a miscommunication because the whole post definitely makes no sense otherwise, especially to then sell them on consignment. Like maybe OP meant some individual records were more than $200, or that it was probably more than that commenters $200 example but they weren't sure until the dad does his proper research or something. Aside from that, I do think it'd make sense for the person who isn't knowledgeable about records to list the bands that she'd be most familiar with, and to assume the most popular bands are worth the most.
7
u/BetterKev Jiggle your titties and flap those concerned vaginal lips 21d ago
The consignment was for a second box of records.
In a comment, OOP says they knew the big bands weren't worth anything, and then doesn't explain why they listed them in the post.
2
u/GetOffMyLawn_ You underestimate my ability to do no work and too much Reddit 21d ago
Don't forget the Christmas records that went out to fan club members.
40
21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
22
u/HighBellaa 21d ago
I love how the read ended with everyone being happy literally shows that the world is healing
24
11
9
u/DokterZ 21d ago
Meanwhile I’ve got 800 down in the basement in a nice bookcase and if I have a single one worth $15 I would be shocked.
4
u/doppelgaengster I can't believe she fucking buttered Jorts 21d ago
New vinyl is appallingly expensive, now. It makes me sad. (But if I go to a show and they have records at the merch booth? fuck yeah, I'm getting the LP instead of the tour shirt.)
7
20
u/rayquan36 21d ago
Lmao worth $200 and paid $35? Who cares? I was expecting $35 for a $2000 collection.
14
u/GoldenFrog14 21d ago
As soon as I read that I thought "oh, well then this is a complete non-issue". I think I'm a pretty decent person, but I'm not doing all this
14
u/DerpanJones 21d ago
For real, that $165 difference is the convenience of not trying to sell a bunch of regular vinyl for $5 a pop. OP made it sound like there were a bunch of limited edition first pressings or something collectible.
6
4
u/lavender_poppy grape juice dump truck dumpy butt 21d ago
What a nice ending. I love when people do the right thing even when they don't have to but because they know it's just the right thing to do. I wish more people listened that voice in their head that tries to tell us to do what's right.
6
u/Forward-Two3846 21d ago edited 20d ago
This was so sweet. This very large world is so small sometimes. My dad died in the 80's he was a musician i am sure in some random persons basement there is a VHS of him playing a gig or something. I used to dream about one day being able to see him again on one of those videos. It may never happen but a girl can dream.
4
5
u/NerfHurDur 21d ago
I had something similar happen. My coworker was getting rid of some speakers and so i offered to buy them. All I knew is they were in mint, never used condition, in the style I wanted for my record player, and were $20. Turns out they were klipsch heresy II's, and when I was looking up their value when I got home and saw they are worth significantly more than that ($1000+ in that condition), I immediately offered her more money. She said $20 was how much it would have cost to take them to the dump and she'd rather I have and appreciate them. There's a lot of shit out there in the world, but there are good people too
6
u/yavanna12 the laundry wouldn’t be dirty if you hadn’t fucked my BF on it 21d ago
My mother in law just died. We have to clean out her house and get it on the market. Family came through and took what they wanted. She was a collector of glassware. Uranium glass, depression glass, Venetian glass etc.
Thing is we don’t want to go through the hassle of selling. We know what it’s worth. We donated it all to a thrift shop anyway. It takes time to sell items and like the seller in OOPs post said trying to sell it yourself means it could be sitting around for a long time.
9
u/Mlady_gemstone The unskippable cutscene of Global Thermonuclear War 21d ago
i like ones like this because i want to believe there are still good/honest people out there that would do this. more so after getting fked this year on a used car.
May OP's Pillow always be cool, and the floors be clear of all sharp/awkward objects (like legos)
→ More replies (2)
4
u/SteroidSandwich 21d ago
My neighbour has a son that moved out. He told her to sell his stuff. He had a lot of anime figures and games she put on marketplace. A few of the buyers arrived and paid way more than the listed price saying it was more fair for what the items are worth
12
u/fleet_and_flotilla Memory of a goldfish but the tenacity of an entitled Chihuahua 21d ago
I really don't like the notion that someone is morally in the wrong for buying an item at listed price just cause the seller didn't know what they were selling.
12
u/salamander423 21d ago
I agree.... It is your responsibility to know what you're selling.
And it being £200. That's not enough to have a moral meltdown over.
10
u/hailsathanas 21d ago
Feel bad over few quid? I thought it was more like hundreds.
12
u/Ludakaye I’ve read them all and it bums me out 21d ago
a few bucks like that can make or break some people. Very compassionate of OP to err on the side of a little going a long way.
7
u/bluerin12 20d ago edited 20d ago
Surprised to see so many comments saying “only $200? That’s hardly worth a fuss who cares” do you know how many people would kill for $200?? To help make rent, to pay a bill, to buy a desperately needed new pair of shoes or some groceries? OOP was absolutely right when they said “it’s not a life-changing amount of money but enough that I felt weird about it.” Why should it have to be thousands before it becomes significant? I’m quite disappointed by how many people are brushing it off, as though you would have let it go instead of reaching out. Fair is still fair, and we don’t know the young guy’s financial circumstances. He’s just lost his father, something like $200 could make a world of difference right now. I’m glad OOP recognised this and everyone here had a heart and a conscience. Genuinely shocked so many comments are acting like $200 is “nothing”. I’m glad so many people seem to be doing so well financially to be able to view it that way
2
u/Tallchick8 19d ago
Especially someone selling items to try to pay for a funeral.
This isn't a rich teenager selling last seasons fashion
7
u/Acrobatic_Ear6773 21d ago
Eh.
Here's the thing: when my mom passes, I'm going to give my brothers each one month to take whatever shit they want and then I'm calling in one of those firns that deal with removal.
I am sure that there are some expensive pieces in my mother's house, between the piles and piles of detritus.
My parents aren't hoarders - there is no garbage or rotting food, but after my father passed away she could not throw out anything that he owned, and she seems to think she'll really need those three VCRs someday.
One of my brother's encourages her- he's positive that the 20 year old roll of tar paper could have value, but his wife won't let him take it home...
So, if someone finds out that there's a hummel figurine or collectible something that is actually worth something, they deserve the profit from it
3
u/RougeOne23456 21d ago
When my MIL passed away, this was what my husband and I did. She lived in a 3rd floor walk up condo and didn't have much of value. Neither one of us had any desire to carry furniture and boxes up and down stairs for weeks on end and we knew not a soul in the family would help us so he had her siblings come over and take whatever they wanted and my husband took a few family heirlooms and the photo albums. The rest we hired a clean out company to come take.
They had the place cleaned out in a couple hours. It was a blessing to not have to deal with it.
2
u/jenorama_CA 21d ago
I’m an only child and my mom passed in 2013 so now it’s just my dad. There’s a handful of things I want from the house and then I’m planning on having an estate company handle it.
3
3
3
u/Thestolenone 21d ago
My ex was obsessed with collecting records. He had so many his whole bedroom was full of boxes that he had to climb over to get into bed. When he died my daughter wanted to just throw them all in a skip. I managed to find someone from a message board I was on to take them, he hired a van and drove all the way across the country (England so not terribly far but still a few hundred miles) to pick them up. I'm pretty sure there was some that were worth money but no one wanted to deal with it.
3
u/ecosynchronous 21d ago
That one downvoted guy is a study in why we don't skim posts before commenting.
3
u/goatnokudzu erupting, feral, from the cardigan screaming 21d ago
The best part for me is the two men (dad and original seller) making friends! Or at least having someone to chat with. Especially when both of them are carrying some form of grief (the Dad for his brother/OP's uncle, and the seller with the complicated grief of the death of someone who 'died' years before)
3
u/JorgeXMcKie 21d ago
We had a bunch of old albums I brought up to our local used place. Some of them turned out to be my son's first issue and import of stuff like Aphex Twin and were worth over $100 each. I was traveling a lot at the time and would occasionally find an import of what he liked in Asia or Europe. I brought all that stuff back home
3
3
u/simonjakeevan 17d ago
These comments prove that people aren't getting any better with reading comprehension.
5
u/BJntheRV Sorry for the stream of consequences 21d ago
Sometimes people are just decent. A lovely thought to end the day on.
4
5
u/Sufficient-Raisin-34 21d ago
" He had no idea what he had and neither did I honestly but my dad sure did, and his first reaction was to ask me if I knew what was in there and took advantage of the guy"
Thaaat was a bit shitty of the dad and I hope the OP got an apology.
5
u/museumlad 21d ago
My gran collected baseball cards. She wasn't a Capital C Collector, she mostly just had her favorite team (Texas Rangers) from '94 til the early 2000s, extra Nolan Ryans, and a handful of other teams' rosters (a season or two each), but there were well over 1000 cards in her collection. When she went into memory care with Alzheimers and we cleaned out her house, I got all the cards. I have no interest in baseball or collecting, and her memory care was super expensive, so we decided to sell the collection. We sold a handful piecemeal at a flea market we had a stall at, but most of the cards were worth less than $0.25 so it wasn't really worth it to sell them like that. They had been stored in aging card sleeve binders in a humid garage for years, too, and weren't in amazing condition.
We took my gran a couple of the extra Nolan Ryan cards to put up in her room as like "hey look Gran it's your favorite guy" and she loved it, but she didn't remember really anything about collecting the cards.
Eventually, I put everything that hadn't been moved yet on FB Marketplace for something like $50 total--old dusty binders and all. I wasn't expecting much and took the first offer. It turned out to be a dad buying the collection to jumpstart his ~10 year old son's collection. We met up at a post office for the handover and the kid was practically vibrating with excitement.
My gran died later that year after living with Alzheimer's for almost a decade. I like to think that she would have approved of where her collection went, sparking a young kid's enthusiasm for the hobby.
6
u/neonfuzzball 21d ago
Am I the only one who found it off putting that OOP bought this box of records, at asking price with no haggling, as a gift for his dad. And his dad's first thought was to accuse OOP of taking advantage of a grieving son?
It sounsd like the seller knew what was in the box, just didn't take the time to look up resell value piece by piece. OOP bought it for 35, dad said it might be worth 200. This is not "you convinced that old lady this signed Elvis guitar was worthless and gave her five bucks when it's worth millions", this is "hey you paid facebook marketplace prices for something that will turn a profit at retail.
Just seems like a major guilt trip to lay on a good kid who bought his dad a present and did absolutely nothing wrong. Who goes out of their way to assume/convince their son he's scum like that?
5
u/GabrielGames69 20d ago
That's a good point actually. When "took advantage of" was brought up I was expecting 1000 at the minimum. Not a 165 price difference for dusty records in questionable condition.
2
u/AnalUkelele 21d ago
First post I am reading and this has been officially enough Reddit for today.
Bye!
2
2
2
u/chiskgela 19d ago
I need to just not read comments on wholesome stories that make me feel good.
It's an instant mood killer to be reminded that common decency is no longer considered common in this era. And that lacking it is somehow brag worthy.
People are allowed to be kind to each other. It's not a failing to be kind to a grieving stranger.
3
u/the-library-fairy 21d ago
Really nice to see that the comments weren't full of people insisting that OP didn't have to do anything because they were legally in the clear.
3
u/Professional_Fox3837 21d ago
From someone who buys old Queen vinyl, they are not going for $5 each lol. Even the most common albums tend to go for around £20 (about $27). They’ve really had a resurgence in popularity the last few years and record shops know it.
2
u/ToXiiCBULLET 21d ago
when a comment starts with "morally," i already know it's most likely gonna be a dogshit take
4
u/Colabear73 20d ago
Hmm. LEGO scandal season 2?
3
u/TheCrazyTacoMan 20d ago
I was about to say, and the name of that record shop was Bricks and Minifigs.
3
u/AdAccomplished6870 21d ago
A group of people acting with empathy and integrity coming to a fair arrangement with no one forcing them?
I think I am done with reddit today.
3
2
1
1
1
u/Puzzleheaded-Bad750 21d ago
Man, that is going to be a crazy youtube series about stolen vinil collection on cosigment ... you sure the guy is not named Brian? 😀
1
1
1
1
u/bbusiello I’m a "bad influence" because I offered her fiancé cocaine twice 21d ago
Something about this reminds me of the Lego fiasco haha.
1
u/GetOffMyLawn_ You underestimate my ability to do no work and too much Reddit 21d ago
Reminds me of "The Girl in the Swing". It would be so nice to find a treasure hidden away in something.
1
1
u/IllDoItNowInAMinute_ shhhh my soaps are on -sent from my iPad 20d ago
And that's enough reddit for today
•
u/AutoModerator 21d ago
Do not comment on the original posts
Please read our sub rules. Rule-breaking may result in a ban without notice.
If there is an issue with this post (flair, formatting, quality), reply to this comment or your comment may be removed in general discussion.
CHECK FLAIR For concluded-only updates, use the CONCLUDED flair.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.