CVINYL.COM Vinyl Price Guide

There are many vinyl price guides out there - books or online - and most of them give you values like "this record has a Mint Value of £ 50" or even "this record is worth € 32.90." This is nonsense! Plain and simple.

There is no such thing as an exact value for a specific record, even assumed a standardized, comparable condition and a specific snapshot in time. The value of a record - defined as in what you could sell it for, or what you would have to pay if you wanted to buy one - depends on a variety of criteria which I will detail below.

First, let us determine what exactly we are talking about. This price guide lists values for original first pressings in Near Mint condition (both record and cover), including all inserts that originally came with the first release, just as custom inner sleeve, posters, lyric sheets, and more. If you have a copy that doesn't match all these critera it will we worth less, often significantly less than what is listed here or in any other price guide you will find.

Near Mint condition (see grading) means a record that is virtually flawless, which we consider the best possible condition for a used record. It does not mean a clean Mint, pristine and unplayed record, nor does it mean a sealed copy. Values for pure Mint unplayed archive copies of very rare albums are usually worth (much) more than what is listed in this guide, whereas the value for a sealed copy depends on that specific item and isn't automatically higer than for a Near Mint copy as the condition of the vinyl is unproven and if you wanted to listen to the record it obviously won't be sealed anymore anyway.

The value of the record depends on a variety of important criteria which you should always consider carefully before buying/ordering an expensive item: Who is the seller? What's the seller's reputation, what are his terms, service, return policy? What platform is the record sold on? Online, via mail order or catalog, in person, on a record fair or in a record store? Does the buyer get to see the exact item before buying, maybe even listen to the record? What market is the record sold on? Some items will achieve a much higher price in Europe than in the U.S., maybe an even higher price in Japan or Russia!

These are just a few of the points to consider, but they should make it obvious why we use value symbols and value ranges in this price guide. Another point would be that supply and demand, and with that value, isn't static. It fluctuates, sometimes it can change dramatically within just a few months or one year. A good example would be Rock or Beat 7"-singles where demand has dropped significantly in recent years, whereas top quality Progressive Rock albums have risen in value more and more.

Each value symbol in our price guide stands for a value range, and you probably shouldn't sell your item below the bottom of its value range while you should not pay more than the top end. Again, the value for extremely rare records in top condition can be (much) higher than what is listed in this guide, especially if that album hasn't been on the market in a good while. If several collectors see the offer as a maybe one-time chance to get their hands on a near perfect copy of a long wanted record they might drive the price up to new heights. But that doesn't mean the value of that record is equal to its last achieved price in an auction.

There are two good websites tracking online auction results which we recommend to check for determining supply and demand for a specific rare record: Popsike and CollectorsFrenzy. Again, what you find there are auction results which do not equal value. Always look for confirmation if the achieved prices seem out of bounds. And - important! - keep in mind that there are many 'bad guys' out there who are trying to "create value" by inflating auction results with records that actually never ran at the prices you find listed on eBay or similar. This happens a lot with private pressings or "newly discovered gems."

Record Value Symbols

This record usually sells for less than what you had to pay for a brand new record in a store, which means it has lost value over time. The assigned value tag of 10 € means that any buyer who really wants a near mint copy of this discontinued vinyl release should be always willing to spend 10 bucks on this item, but it might be sitting on the shelves for years if no such buyer shows up. The reasons for its low value could be just that this is a very common item with plenty of supply on the market, or that this particular release or the artist/label/music in general is just not in demand, low quality, not considered collectible.

This value grade indicates that the record has at least preserved its value over time. The assigned value tag of 25 € implies that this item should sell for at least the same price it had while it was still available in record stores, if not more.
Prices for Near Mint copies range between 20 € and 50 €, depending on the usual criteria mentioned in the introduction of this page.

Records with this grade are scarce and can be hard to find in good condition. The assigned value tag of 50 € means that the value of this record has risen over time but it is still affordable for every serious collector.
Prices for Near Mint copies range between 30 € and 80 €.

Original pressings of this grade are rare and collectible. The assigned value tag of 75 € indicates a price range for Near Mint copies between 50 € and 100 €.

Original pressings of this grade are rare and collectible. The assigned value tag indicates the mid point of the price range for Near Mint copies, plus/minus 25 €, depending on market and platform the item is offered on.
Values range between 75 € and 150 €.

Original pressings of this grade are rare and collectible. The assigned value tag indicates the mid point of the price range for Near Mint copies, plus/minus 25 €, depending on market and platform the item is offered on.
Values range between 125 € and 200 €.

Original pressings of this grade are rare and collectible. The assigned value tag indicates the mid point of the price range for Near Mint copies, plus/minus 50 €, depending on market and platform the item is offered on.
Values range between 175 € and 300 €.

Original pressings of this grade are rare and collectible. The assigned value tag indicates the mid point of the price range for Near Mint copies, plus/minus 50 €, depending on market and platform the item is offered on.
Values range between 250 € and 400 €.

This is the highest value grade in the CVinyl.com Price Guide. Records with three gold stars represent the rarest and most difficult to find items in vinyl history, often referred to as Holy Grail items. Remember that we are talking about complete and authentic original first pressings including all inserts and features that indicate the earliest pressings of this particular release. The assigned value tag indicates the mid point of the price range for Near Mint copies, plus/minus about 25 percent, depending on market and platform the item is offered on.
Values range from 400 € to open end.

The highest value number we use in the catalog is 5000 €, which means that this record is almost impossible to find in top condition or at all; only very few items might even exist. The special situation with Holy Grail records is that perfect, pristine copies might achieve a price that is significantly higher than what is listed in this guide - at the right time and place. Vice versa, the market value of below average copies of these items will only be a fraction of the value assigned to them.