Neptune, NJ – Bruce Springsteen’s new release and upcoming tour aren’t the only things garnering attention from the musician’s fans. A vintage 1973 copies of his single Spirit In The Night sold on eBay in February for just over $1,900 to a buyer in Sweden.
The owner of the record, a resident of Monmouth County and not too far from Springsteen’s hometown, decided it was time to sell off his 5,000 piece record collection. He contacted Packrat Auctions, an eBay Trading Assistant based in Neptune, NJ to sell the collection on consignment. The collection owner, who is in his 60’s, had lost track of what it contained over the 40 plus years he’s been buying records. That left it up to Packrat Auctions owner Mark Cunningham and his assistant to find out.
When his assistant uncovered the Bruce Springsteen single, Cunningham, a former music industry insider and avid Springsteen fan, knew he had something special, but he did some research on the single to determine its value. He utilizes a subscription based database service that records vinyl sales data from eBay and auction houses and helps sellers determine value for vinyl records. He discovered that according to the database, only three copies of this single had been sold, in the past ten years. He listed the single on eBay in September 2011 in the Buy It Now/Best Offer format to gain attention and exposure, switching over to the auction format in mid-February once he felt there was enough interest. Less than two weeks after the switch, the single sold for just over $1,900 to a buyer in Sweden. Cunningham is still working on selling the rest of the collection, which dates back to the 1960’s, and he’s certain there are other great finds in the trove.
Cunningham started Packrat Auctions in 1998 selling sports card and memorabilia on eBay as a Trading Assistant. The business took off, and Mark eventually opened a storefront location in Leonardo in 2004. In 2009, he moved his operation to an office in Neptune. Packrat Auctions have completed over 20,000 customer transactions and have eBay’s Gold Power Seller status. Although they have sold just about anything imaginable (including a human skull), one of Packrat’s specialities is records, having sold 250,000 of them since 2003.
According to Cunningham, the benefit of placing items with his company on consignment, versus going to a dealer, is the opportunity for much higher profit, with their strong Trusted Seller reputation, international reach and his years of experience. For example, Packrat has been selling a 12,000 piece soul record collection for about a year now. They’ve sold 700 pieces from the collection to date, generating just over $24,000, and they still have more than 11,000 pieces left to sell. A dealer would have given the owner $1,000 – $2,000 outright for the collection.
Cunningham is still looking for record collections on consignment and will travel around the country to see and evaluate them. He’s just returned from Dallas, where a potential consigner has a collection of more than 10,000 records. Jazz, R&B, soul, rock, Doo Wop, punk and heavy metal are all genres he is interested in. For more information about Packrat Auctions, call 732-922-2500, or visit their website at www.packratauctions.com</a..
