Jump to content

Affordable Canadian Vinyl Thread / Amazon.ca Deals


Recommended Posts

A brief conversation in the Hayden thread got me thinking about the fact that with the Canadian dollar gone to shit, there aren't a lot of opportunities for Canadians to get reasonably priced vinyl from the US or abroad, so it may be time to look domestically. I know for some people, going to record stores is usually the best bet, but I don't always have time for that. So I thought I'd post a thread for labels/distros that have reasonable prices and non-exorbitant shipping. Please add some yourself.

 

 

Distro:

Chisel Records - http://www.youvechangedrecords.com 

 - all records are $10 except for co-releases (e.g.,Constantines reissue)

 - highly recommend the Weather Station albums, Shotgun Jimmie, Marine Dreams, and Daniel Romano (of Attack in Black)

 

Arbutus Records - http://www.arbutusrecords.com

 - label for Grimes, Sean Nicolas Savage, etc. and all albums are $20 including shipping

 

Deranged Records - http://www.derangedrecords.com

 - punk/HC (Tranzmitors self titled LP on this is my fave of theirs); most LPs are $9-11, shipping is appropriately calculated

 

 

 

....more posted soon. Please add more!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

YES PLEASE!

 

Amazon.ca with prime sometimes has really good deals:

 

Mogwai - Music Industry 3: Fitness Industry 1 - $11.82

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00OCKNIRG

 

Whirr - Part Time Punks Sessions (RSD) - $8.55

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00BTT4CX2/

 

Gallows - Chains/Wristslitter 7" - $8.86

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00KI5G65K/

 

Stray From The Path - Rising Sun - $14.76

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B007WFR1O4/

 

Deafheaven - Roads to Judah - $14.94

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B004Q3RCL2/

 

Chelsea Wolfe - Unknown Rooms - $15.65

http://www.amazon.ca/Rooms-Collection-Vinyl-Chelsea-Wolfe/dp/B009229FOO/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even with the dollar as bad as it is, sometimes buying is the US is still worth it in the long run due to price differences and shipping. Even when buying in Canada, shipping rates can be terrible. If you're close enough to the border it is well worth the few bucks to get a U.S. shipping address and then make the trip over after a few deliveries have arrived. even if you're paying 25% more in exchange, lower prices and often free shipping (or $5 media mail) still beats domestic prices & shipping rates. plus you can buy from most places that won't ship to Canada (except bullmoose. fuck those guys).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A brief conversation in the Hayden thread got me thinking about the fact that with the Canadian dollar gone to shit, there aren't a lot of opportunities for Canadians to get reasonably priced vinyl from the US or abroad, so it may be time to look domestically. I know for some people, going to record stores is usually the best bet, but I don't always have time for that. So I thought I'd post a thread for labels/distros that have reasonable prices and non-exorbitant shipping. Please add some yourself.

 

 

Distro:

Chisel Records - http://www.youvechangedrecords.com 

 - all records are $10 except for co-releases (e.g.,Constantines reissue)

 - highly recommend the Weather Station albums, Shotgun Jimmie, Marine Dreams, and Daniel Romano (of Attack in Black)

 

Arbutus Records - http://www.arbutusrecords.com

 - label for Grimes, Sean Nicolas Savage, etc. and all albums are $20 including shipping

 

Deranged Records - http://www.derangedrecords.com

 - punk/HC (Tranzmitors self titled LP on this is my fave of theirs); most LPs are $9-11, shipping is appropriately calculated

 

 

 

....more posted soon. Please add more!

Arbutus is tops! I've been in contact with them since last year and Grimes's first 2 albums are being repressed on vinyl this yeeeeeear! :)

 

Also, Blue Hawaii are on that label and they own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even with the dollar as bad as it is, sometimes buying is the US is still worth it in the long run due to price differences and shipping. Even when buying in Canada, shipping rates can be terrible. If you're close enough to the border it is well worth the few bucks to get a U.S. shipping address and then make the trip over after a few deliveries have arrived. even if you're paying 25% more in exchange, lower prices and often free shipping (or $5 media mail) still beats domestic prices & shipping rates. plus you can buy from most places that won't ship to Canada (except bullmoose. fuck those guys).

I wish I could start to do this, but I live 2 hours or so from the border. By the time you factor in gas money and time, it stops being as worth it. But otherwise, you're totally right - half of the money on records is usually spent on shipping. Only Germany sometimes has cheap shipping rates (one LP under 500g can usually be sent to Canada for 3.45 Euros unregistered, which works out to about $5 or $6, which is about a third of the cost for me to send one LP from Toronto to Newfoundland...).

 

 

 

If there are any Toronto area folks who are looking for a cheap way to ship out (unfortunately not receive packages), I use a place called Chit Chat's Express, who are based in Markham, Mississauga and Pickering, and basically fill a truck with stuff to send USPS and drive it across the border. Means I can send media mail to anyone who buys from me on Discogs/Ebay. They also have some decent rates for international and Canada (but not really that good...).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found MapleMusic pretty good to deal with. Their prices are decent ($15-$20) and there's a local pick-up option for Toronto people.

http://maplemusic.com/

 

Never ordered from them but I check Northern Volume from time to time. Prices are so-so but they have a lot of stuff.

http://www.northernvolume.com/

 

 

But, wherever possible, I'm basically sticking to local shops/labels and Amazon.ca these days. Shipping costs from the US have always sucked but now everything is like 25% more expensive with the exchange. I swear it's cheaper to order from the UK than the US.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm like 20 minutes away, so if I can go on a good crossing day (10 minute wait vs 1hr), I can be across, pick up, and back in canada in maybe 60-80 minutes round trip. every time though, the dumb look on their faces at the border when I have to explain to the again that yes, records still exist, and yes, I and many other people buy them, and no, they are not for business (really? picking up 1-4 records a month is somehow a great business plan)?

 

there's some stuff I want to buy from http://www.loeildutigre.org/, but it's $10 to ship a single LP. even they say straight up that it's really expensive to buy from them due to shipping, and if you can find a distro (of course there are none in BC). canada post is terrible.

 

Is Amazon Prime actually worth it in canada? you basically get the "maybe free 2 day shipping if we can get it there, otherwise it's regular free shipping" and nothing else that you would in the US (would shipping from the US to canada be free? do prime accounts cross from amazon.ca to amazon.com?). seems a bit steep.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup, currently at $0.78 (lowest it's been against the US dollar in six years). Definitely gonna curb my US purchases for a while. 

 

Same here... holding off purchasing US items maybe until the Canadian dollar rebound for a bit.

 

...on the side note, the owner of the US address that I am using does not like also the current US - Canadian dollar exchange rate... says its bad for their business since the number of packages sent to them is declining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a heads up that we (Chisel Records) have a lot our inventory super cheap right now! 

 

You can search "buy and/or die sale" to see those titles! ALSO, I just added some super rare (some are pricey) records that are listed on the top of this page. http://chiselrecords.com/in/

 

Flat rate shipping too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I

Is Amazon Prime actually worth it in canada? you basically get the "maybe free 2 day shipping if we can get it there, otherwise it's regular free shipping" and nothing else that you would in the US (would shipping from the US to canada be free? do prime accounts cross from amazon.ca to amazon.com?). seems a bit steep.

 

 

I have Prime right now, technically Amazon Student, which comes with six months of Prime. I haven't been in school for 8 years, but my University of Toronto email account still works (and forwards to my current account), and that was all they needed for six months of prime for free. Otherwise, not really worth it. It only works for Canada - for US, you still have to pay exchange prices.

 

Prime is totally not worth it in Canada otherwise - nothing is as cheap as what you can sometimes find on Amazon US, and you don't get all of the extra perks like in the US - TV shows, storage, streaming, etc. In some ways, it's kind of a shock that the price is the same as the US (or, at least in current US-CAD conversions, slightly cheaper in Canada).

 

What I found before Prime though, was that I would occasionally put more than $25 in my cart by ordering something that I knew was out of print, and then after purchasing, cancel the order on the out of print record (or let it just sit there and not get fulfilled). They still seemed to send the other in print/in stock records.

 

Also consider that on Amazon, third-party sellers can only charge $3.49 for shipping of an LP, which means sometimes you can get good deals outside of Prime. I don't know if this is still true, but some sellers located outside of Canada wouldn't charge tax, meaning that if your record was $30 or so, the shipping price is actually cheaper than the tax you would have paid. I know that last year I got the Clash boxset via a third party seller on Amazon for $135+3.49, no tax, and sent via Royal Mail from UK, so no additional UPS/Fedex brokerage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you haven't bought the Edmonton LP from Chisel, go get it. It's seriously so good.

 

I have a small amount on purple (/100) left too!  That record is so damn good.  I saw them play twice over the Fest weekend and they killed it both times.  We'll see about bringing them north of the border hopefully soon. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Tiny Record Shop, which is an aptly titled record store in east Toronto, has just opened up an online shop. Their in-store sometimes is a bit overpriced (okay, more than sometimes), but if you sign up for their newsletter, you can get 15% off your purchase: http://www.tinyrecordshop.comand I'd imagine they'd let you do in-store pickups? 

 

Edit: no in-store pickups. Online-only prices...dang...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tiny Record Shop, which is an aptly titled record store in east Toronto, has just opened up an online shop. Their in-store sometimes is a bit overpriced (okay, more than sometimes), but if you sign up for their newsletter, you can get 15% off your purchase: http://www.tinyrecordshop.comand I'd imagine they'd let you do in-store pickups? 

 

Edit: no in-store pickups. Online-only prices...dang...

 

 

Yeah, I was there earlier today talking to Trevor about it. The higher than normal in-store prices are primarily due to the fact that he doesn't sell by volume like Sonic Boom/Kops/Rotate This/etc. He relies more on people seeking out rarities and niche stuff to cover his overhead costs. He isn't looking to expand either, so he's kind of limited in terms of sell/display space. Admittedly I've probably over-paid a bit for a couple rare things there, but the convenience factor alone makes up for it.

He also runs Paper Bag Records, so he's got experience with e-commerce and thus why he launched the online shop.

Personally, I'll stick with Rotate for new stuff as they usually have the lowest prices in town (I'd also give them the edge in terms of general used stuff too), but TRS isn't a bad alternative; especially for east-enders like me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I was there earlier today talking to Trevor about it. The higher than normal in-store prices are primarily due to the fact that he doesn't sell by volume like Sonic Boom/Kops/Rotate This/etc. He relies more on people seeking out rarities and niche stuff to cover his overhead costs. He isn't looking to expand either, so he's kind of limited in terms of sell/display space. Admittedly I've probably over-paid a bit for a couple rare things there, but the convenience factor alone makes up for it.

He also runs Paper Bag Records, so he's got experience with e-commerce and thus why he launched the online shop.

Personally, I'll stick with Rotate for new stuff as they usually have the lowest prices in town (I'd also give them the edge in terms of general used stuff too), but TRS isn't a bad alternative; especially for east-enders like me.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I'm an east-ender too, and I suppose that the price you pay for having a shop East of Yonge is that it won't get as many people through the door. I feel like I need to call in advance to know whether what I want is in stock and/or find out prices first. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

 

Never ordered from them but I check Northern Volume from time to time. Prices are so-so but they have a lot of stuff.

http://www.northernvolume.com/

 

 

I just placed an order with Northern Volume - I'll report back with details once my stuff arrives in Toronto. Seems good so far - I inquired about an out of stock album and the owner quickly responded with an arrival estimate and then emailed me today when it was available online. That was nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist