Hi, Welcome to my eBay listings! Offered here is a lot of 20 secondhand Compact Disc (CD) albums. The black Atlantic CD rack and other props in my pictures such as the backdrop and hat are not included and not for sale. Your bid is for the 20 CD albums only. One is a Dual Disc with a DVD side and two are two-disc sets. There are great artists represented in the 20 CD albums I'm offering here. They include: Kurupt, Underground Kings, Bun B, Hell Rell, Outlawz, Dead Prez, Lil Wayne, The Game, B.G. & Chopper City Boyz, G Unit, Spice 1, Twista, 8Ball & MJG, Jim Jones, G.I. Troy and Gucci Mane.
Usually, I get CDs from estate cleanouts, but I also keep my eyes peeled for CDs when I'm out and about at yard sales or what have you. I don't know why, but hip hop / rap CDs are at least 90% more rare than rock CDs (in real life and on eBay). I see more classical CDs than hip hop / rap, and that surprises me. Of the CDs that I buy, say 2,000 CDs over the course of a year, only around 200 will be hip hop / rap. Maybe I could've gotten more, but I didn't. A lot of the CDs out there are either in completely trashed condition and/or they're in CD wallets with no cases and the paper parts are missing or badly creased. I'm not a perfectionist, but it's a pass for me on totally beat-up CDs or CDs without their cases. I could have such CDs resurfaced (my friend at the farmers market does this on his $7,000 ELM ECO-Auto Smart disc repair machine for $2 each if you give him 50 discs to do) and replace every case for 55 cents each. I don't, though, because profits would be too slim to bother with. And, missing paper parts are kind of a dealbreaker.
When I'm buying CDs, I don't care too much about the condition of jewel cases in regards to cracks. In the Goldmine standard CD grading system (used on Discogs; not eBay's grading / condition-type system), 'standard jewel cases' aren't graded because they're replaceable. There are variations of the 3 removeable parts making up a standard jewel case, such as having a clear or black tray part (this shows on the front, on the left side). I think it's good to know what the original part looks like so that you can match it up and replace it (if you want). People can buy quantities of perfect, new jewel cases of any type for around 55 cents each, in bulk quantities, from (other) eBay sellers.
This job lot of 20 CDs isn't a junk lot. You'll need replacement parts, though, if you have to have each CD item looking better with no cracked case parts. I've examined these 20 CD items and I've counted approximately 4 with cracks in the front part of the case and one with back part case cracks. I'd estimate around 5 replacement jewel cases would be needed for this job. There were other issues I noticed, with one jewel cases having a strange texture, most or all cases having scratches, and all needing cleaning. I recommend using WD-40 for sticker residue removal and Windex is fine for regular cleaning. All of the cases on the items here are functional, with no broken hinges -- they open and close as they should.
Other common imperfections with used CD items are malformed (wavy, indented, etc,) and/or (more) damaged paper parts. Sometimes, it's just paper changing with humidity, as it does. All I can say is that if things were perfect, there would be no grading systems. I see so many CD items with completely missing paper parts that I tend to appreciate it when these parts are even there, so I don't nitpick it much. Some buyers do because they expected 'used' to be like 'new' (?). Used CD items typically have scratched discs. Usually, these are just cosmetic but sometimes they're a problem. I haven't cleaned these discs, and they probably all need that. Collectors often do that 'dry', go 'wet' with isopropyl if needed, try the 'paste wax' technique if that doesn't do the trick (a CD is playing with glitches after proper cleaning), or as a last resort, have the disc resurfaced. If unfamiliar with any of this, see pictures posted for the purpose of my trying to help people needing instructions, how to clean CDs, CD player lens cleaning, understanding of eBay's 'grading' system, etc.
Many CDs hold their value very well compared to vinyl records. Record stores have tons of $1 LPs. Many of the stores have an 'annual purge' where they're blowing out 20,000 record albums for $1 each. I'm sure there are $1 CDs, too, but they're usually priced $5 and up. A typical price might be $7.99. The price depends on what it is. Strong sellers like Metallica and Pink Floyd will probably be priced higher. The stores need used CDs and they need more than what people are bringing to them. People tend to not bring them any at all. This is because the stores have a lot of expenses and don't want to pay much, although one famous store advertises that, on the average, you could expect to get up to $4 in store credit for each CD. They say that some will be worth more to them, like if it's a special edition or what have you.
Even though retail sales on brand new 'physical media' items like CDs and records aren't what they used to be, the 'vinyl revival' is changing things. It's happening everywhere from Walmart to indie record shops. The prices are high. This has brought more people into the market for actual albums, not just on vinyl, but also on CD and cassette tape. When new vinyl LPs are like $35 each, people seek lower cost alternatives. There's a tactile and visual thing with physical media that you just don't get with downloads and streaming, not to mention the collectible factor. This lot of 96 CDs represents around half of all the hip hop / rap CDs I have. Check my eBay listings for a couple other (smaller) lots of hip hop / rap CD I'm putting together. ~Chris in NJ