I recently made the decision to dive head first into collecting AFI vinyl and am extremely curious about where some of you have found a bulk of your collections. Did you primarily purchase from other people using online markets like Ebay & Discogs? Or have you been lucky enough to find most of your collection brand new?
I’ve seen some incredible collections on here so I figured some insight from some of you collectors would be super interesting!
Before COVID-19 I found a new copy of the Burials vinyl at a used cd store (if there are any of those left).
I found most of my collection through online sites and social media trades. I swear though, I’ve been considering selling it every single day. Collecting lost its fun with the vinyl resurgence in the last few years. Everything is so expensive now.
In 2008 or so I found someone who would send me virtually whatever vinyl I wanted for my bootleg shows on DVD. That was when the FITO variants were around $120 each, and Behind The Times was $300. I ended up selling that collection for $3,000. Crazy.
My vinyl collection pre 2008 came from one seller who was having a full clear out. Since then it’s been through the official channels on release.l (except STS, got lucky with that one. Interpunk found a box of them in there warehouse some years back so got one at retail price)
My Cd collection has largely come from eBay and the odd bit from discogs or other collectors.
Main thing with all of it is time though. I’ve been collecting for roughly 17 years now. I rarely overpay on something just get hold of it. I’ve often waited years for something to pop up at the right price. I also made a conscious decision early on to focus on CD’s rather than vinyl, largely due to the cost of building a vinyl collection and the main pieces I really want being way out of my price range (back then Dork was about $3-400, couldn’t afford it then, definitely can’t afford it now 
)