I live in an area with very few record sellers, so buying online for me is a must if I want the good stuff. There is a few local record stores in my town but they focus mostly on Rock music...
The following stores I recommend because my experiences buying from them has been top notch in terms of service, processing speed, quantity of music and quality of stock...
My recommended online record sellers...
(alphabetically listed)
www.dustygroove.com
Like jaybrown, Dusty Groove America out of Chicago would have to be on the top of my list. They have an amazing constantly rotating selection of new and used music, every single day there are new listings. Usually their prices are unbeatable. Unless buying late at night they always ship the same day. They don't spam you, and they have great customer service if you have questions or issues. I must have purchased thousands of records from them since I started collecting, and maybe 2 times I had an issue. No sound samples are available on their site, but they review most of their records which are so well written that it almost makes up for that. The site is easy to use but extremely plain.
Rating 8/10.
www.fatbeats.com
These kings of NYC record stores have really stepped up their game in the past few years. For a while I thought they were working with a bunch of crackheads particularly their web people, but now their site is solid, their service is on point, and their prices are reasonable. When you buy wax from Fatbeats, you can expect your record to get shipped within 3-5 days, maybe if you are lucky they will ship it the next day. They always throw in free promos, sometimes it's posters or stickers or CDs. If they screw up, they throw in all kinds of free stuff to win you back. They sell strictly new records, never have I received used wax from them. It goes without saying that most of their stock is Fatbeats distribution, but they also have a few indies too. 80% of it is Hip Hop, they cater to the Hip Hop buyers. The site is easy on the eyes, clean, simple to use, and they drop sound samples. Besides that they have a great blog, and a radio station with archived shows from top notch DJs. I could play their "radio" all day long at work and not hear a repeat. Service level has improved, but still could be faster to respond to inquiries.
Rating 7/10
www.metrowax.com
Occasionally, although very seldom, I still do work for metrowax.com. Wade, the owner, is my friend, so I'll be upfront with that before reviewing his store. He knows I tell it like it is so I'm not going to write a biased review, don't worry. Initially I helped Wade design the original site and his Computer Stock System, but since that time the site has changed little by little with no intervention from me, into something that works very well for him. It's a clean simple site, with little clutter and straight forward information. I'm not in love with the bricks around the border of the site but other then that I like the look and usability of the site, it's easy to dig there. Metrowax's service is exemplary, I can tell you honestly, it doesn't matter who you are or where you live, Metrowax goes out of it's way to give great customer service. Wade prides himself in being able to make all of his customers extremely satisfied. He sells on www.gemm.com, discogs.com, musicstack, ebay, and about 3 other online seller networks. On each of them he has a 100% rating, and for the amount of records he deals with that is exceptional. Metrowax strives to be the cheapest seller of the record you are looking for, and he states that on his site, that if you find it cheaper elsewhere, he will beat that price. His record grading is always in the favor of the buyer, so when you buy a VG record, you will probably be getting a record in better condition then that. Metrowax has a huge stock of records online right now, it was much bigger earlier in the year, but he had a few aggressive sales that cleaned out his best Hip Hop. Which brings me to the only problem I have with metrowax, which is the stock has been thoroughly picked through by Hip Hop buyers. If you are a house music head, metrowax is your heaven, but as a Hip Hop collector I can't find anything I have to have there right now. Wade is looking to buy a large Hip Hop collection from one of his record dealers, but until that time I'll steer clear of digging through his Hip Hop. There are no sound samples on the site, new releases happen sporadically, infrequently, and don't have enough "unpicked" records in each update. Right now, due to lack of good Hip Hop, I'd rate Metrowax a 7/10 as an online seller. He'd be a six out of ten if his prices and customer service wasn't as good as it is. If he gets this giant stock of Hip Hop soon, I'd give him an 8/10, but for now...
Rating 7/10.
www.recordsbymail.com
Rich DJ elitists, this one is for you. Most wax in their collection are crazy hard to find and fairly rare, but on top of that they are all in mint condition or NM condition and therefore extremely expensive. They have been around for a long time, I have had a few transactions with them and every time it takes about a week before the record is shipped and then it arrives in the condition they said it was in. I almost never go there because I can’t afford most of their wax, but there are plenty of big-time collectors that will gladly pay top dollar for those records. I’m not one of those guys, I’d settle for a VG copy before dropping that much just to have a mint condition copy. If you have to have that rare record and you can’t find it anywhere else, check out this site but be prepared to pay a lot.
Rating 7/10.
www.turntablelab.com
These guys recently dropped a huge chunk of change on revamping their previously uncluttered and simple to use website. Now everything is “retro” but bad. Their stock is all new, all genres, and they have a great deal more electronic music then any other American sellers I buy from. They have great customer service, are quick to ship, and their prices are average. I like how they have their own player to listen to snippets of various songs from each record, but other then that I only go there when the other stores don’t have the one I am looking for first. I think they are good people with a great NYC store, but they are usually last on my list of places I check daily.
Rating 7/10.
I will maintain the updated master list at the top of this thread for any recommendations you guys can make in the future.
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