The first time I heard about Polar Bear Club was on the Silent Majority Myspace page. I'm pretty sure they had them in their top 8 or something. I went to their page, and I thought they were ok, but I wasn't completely captivated by them. That was a long time ago though. Now I think they're incredible. Especially the albums you see below.
So you might be all wondering how I acquired these test presses. Well about a month ago I was searching "Test" on eBay, and I came across all 4 of these auctions up from one dude. Now like I said, I've started to really love this band over the last year or two, so I thought it would be really nice to have them in my collection. My only issues were total price, and the chance that I could win them all. Now everyone knows that when you sell things separately, they can cost a lot more than if you sold them as a bundle. But it's even more so with test presses, because people have their favorite album, and this is usually the rarest version of that album. Which, needless to say, makes people go a little bonkers. So I decided to do something, that lately, I've been doing more and more of. I contacted the seller and asked if I could make him an offer to take them all down for one price. We haggled a little, and finally we agreed on $200 shipped. Normally I don't like to talk about price, but this time I will. I might even start talking more about price. I think it helps make the story more interesting. If you don't know how much I paid, then you really don't know the ending of the story. Am I afraid that people will think I got ripped off? Eh, I don't know if I care too much about that. Anyway, I think I paid a decent price for these 4 tests. $50 each, and I got them all at once. Getting all 4 at once is worth a bunch of cash to me, because I have a limited amount of time that I can spend searching, now a days. As you can see, I have updated this blog in 2 freaking months! But that's about to change cause I finally got my service Limited Run out of beta and launched. It's a great weight off my shoulders and it's time to pay more attention to this blog.
You've done a pretty good deal man! Especially for some recent Bridge 9 testpresses people would pay (much) more I'm sure...
ReplyDeleteSeems a decent deal to me. I think with collecting anything the price is really defined by what you're happy with...if you think it was a good price then it was a good price..simple.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely right J, I totally agree with that. I've paid way too much for stuff, but I've always been happy I got the record.
DeleteI've never heard this band in my life. Like the different stamps on the labels though. I agree with both comments above. The price is good as long as the buyer is happy. But also, $200 for 4 B9 tests sounds like a good score. Good move dude!
ReplyDeleteAlso, how come you've started making sellers offers rather than sitting out the auction? Is it to guarantee getting the item, or do you think it works out cheaper? I'd consider doing it for things that I knew 100% for sure would go for big money, to try to get a bargain, but then again the seller probably wouldn't go for it. Other items I prefer to leave to eBay cos I figure that there's a good chance I'll get a bargain.
ReplyDeleteFor real? This is a good band. I thought you owned "Sometimes Things Just Disappear". Weird. I would check them out. And yeah I think it's partly that I'm looking to save a bit of money. But also I think I'm just looking for more of a challenge. Trying to spice things up a little!
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