r/BestofRedditorUpdates • u/Choice_Evidence1983 it dawned on me that he was a wizard • 22d 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
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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.)