I set up an online record store over the weekend on a whim. You could call this a soft launch, as I think there are still some tweaks that I need to make. Nonetheless, any feedback (or purchases) would be greatly appreciated.
- THE NAME. A few friends expressed concern about this, and I kinda agree. Eels are slippery customers, although I am not. I might change it.
- I’M NOT A RECORD DEALER. Full respect to all the dealers who came before the digital age. I cut my teeth with people like Chris Pure Pleasure, Nick the Record & Mark Seven, pioneering diggers to a man. There are also a lot of amazing new online dealers/stores. I frequently buy music from Gripbuster, The Growing Bin, Diskfrisk, Perfect Lives and Picnic 1987. What you see on The Eel are records I bought to DJ with but no longer really need.
- EXPENSIVE RECORDS. Yes, some of the records are expensive, but I think they’re fairly priced. I am now in a place where I can occasionally spend £100 on a 12" and recognise that it’s an inherently ridiculous thing to do.
- BARGAINS. No, you aren’t going to find any. If you get out there, maybe you can buy some of these records cheaper. Real-world record shopping is more fun, IMO. Luckily, I live in London, where there are many fantastic record shops: Eldica, Atlantis, Jelly, The Little Record Shop, Hidden Sounds, Tome, etc.
- STOCK. There are about 50 records here. I don’t want to go backwards and forwards to the post office all the time for cheap tunes. I’d rather have a small, high quality amount of stock.
- BE NICE. I’m a human being and have plenty of responsibilities outside of selling records. I got sick of Discogs, both as a buyer and seller and I’d like this retail experience to be a bit like this forum—a nice place where people are friendly to one another.
- DO IT YOURSELF. I decided to do this on my dog walk in the morning and had this set up about 6 hours later. Big Cartel is incredibly easy to use and the cost is $9.99 a month.
Thanks for reading. Any questions please shout!
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