Spatula City Records

Spatula City Records now runs online-only from Arizona, but Matt's answers still sound like a shopkeeper talking across the counter: practical, funny, and very clear about how record value actually works. The interview gets into overhead, shipping, pressing details, seller myths, and why a good reputation matters more than squeezing one collection.

Interview with Spatula City Records

Spatula City is now online-only, which is a real bet — a lot of shops would consider closing before dropping the physical space entirely. What made the switch make sense, and how has running it that way changed what you actually do day to day?

I was very reluctant to sell online because I had sold on eBay since the 90s and didn’t really want the headaches that go with selling records online. I had a friend basically pressure me into building a website, I was working on it when COVID hit and rushed to finish it. I had a pretty good following on Instagram that were now able to buy from me and I did free delivery during COVID if you lived in the area. I knew that we were going to be moving back to AZ within the next year or two and wasn’t sure if going online would be viable, It was. The first month was more profitable than our brick and mortar and it continues to grow. During COVID was a real nightmare. I had an employee that I didn’t want to kick to the curb, so I had him come in in the mornings for and hour or two and take pictures of records for the site and then when he left I would go in, clean records, fill orders and load the website. Once we moved to AZ, My wife and I feel into a groove pretty quickly. It worked well because she’s much more detail oriented than me and she catches my mistakes, which are many.

We work a few hours in the morning cleaning and shipping records and then loading new records on the site.

Being based near Prescott / in Mayer means you're in a very specific corner of Arizona — high desert, small town, a long way from the Phoenix orbit. Does the physical location still matter at all when you're shipping everywhere, and what does the area itself bring to how you run the business?

We are pretty lucky that our local post office orders go straight to Phoenix which is one of the mail hubs for USPS so our orders go out quickly. This area just lost the only true brick and mortar record store to a death. I believe the children are reopening it as a book and record store. I say that because I would love to have a physical store, again and this town is ripe for the picking, but it won’t be me. It’s a great location for locals and those that come up from phoenix to beat the heat or flagstaff to get out of the snow. It really is a goldmine that hasn’t been mined very well.

Your FAQ has some of the sharpest writing I've read on how records actually get valued — the Led Zeppelin pressing that's $200-400 versus the same album at $20, only the matrix numbers tell you which. Walk us through the mental checklist you actually run when someone sends you a collection to look at.

Every collection is different. And so is every seller, I try to walk people through the records and which ones are valuable and which aren’t and why. I am as honest as I can be and usually tell people to shop around. My offer will stand for 7 days. I built our brick and mortar and website on reputation. So many record store will buy that $400 Led Zeppelin from you for $5 and not think twice about it. My mantra is “I’m not going to retire off this one collection, but it will keep me from having to get a 9–5 job.” I have no desire to screw people over, because I know that will only come back 10 fold.

Almost all collections are classic rock out here and I’ve seen so many of them, I mostly shoot from the hip. I recently bought a used reissue collection and that was tough because the offer was low, It had to be because the download cards were used and the titles are still being repressed, So I can’t pay $15 for record that you can buy new with a download card for $22. It’s just bad business, I can't even sell them for $15.

And directly related — what's the biggest single myth you have to correct with sellers most often?

The thing people are just wrong about with what they think their records are worth?

That they saw a copy of thriller on eBay that was asking $1,000 so their copy must be worth that too. Or that jackets don’t factor in to the value. I have a neighbor that won’t talk to me now because he wanted to sell his hard rock collection but all the jackets were water damaged and stuck together. He looked them up online and assumed his Ozzy records should be $50 a piece. I tried to give him the analogy of a corvette engine on blocks is not worth them same as a corvette in mint condition. I didn’t make an offer but told him they weren’t worth much. We haven’t spoken since.

This is for buyers and collectors - I'm going to get beat up for this, but records do not warp in the mail if left in the hot sun. I have tested this over and over on my YouTube. Our shop was in Palm Springs and I would wrap a record in a mailer and leave it in my truck, in the sun, with temps getting over 135 in my cab. Nothing. I also did the same with a record just in the jacket, and on the concrete. Nothing. What did damage it was direct sunlight and if you left it on something metal inside the cab just in the jacket. (None of this is true with 45s) I do have a believe but have not been able to prove it that humidity has more to do with shipped records getting warped. Again, no proof.

On the flip side, what quietly turns out to be worth more than sellers expect at Spatula City — a record or genre they'd almost leave off the list?

Funk and soul. I can’t remember the last time I bought funk and soul collection that didn’t have at least 1 $100 record in it. 45s are usually even better.

Some WLP or white label promos, I’m not going to get into their history here, but big name WLPs can be worth a small fortune.

You'll take a look at anything except classical, and you're not a fan of 45s but you'll look at them. What's the honest reason for those specifically, and does anything else quietly join that list?

I try to help people and if they have 78s, it can be a real chore to sift through them if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I can do it pretty quickly so I will. 45’s are just a pain in the butt. Most sell for next to nothing, they don’t clean well in our ultrasonic machines, they take up space, are hard to flip through, just everything about them. Having said that, it’s much easier to find a valuable record in a 45 lot that it is in 33 lot.

Classical I know nothing about and you have to go through each title because the same concert pressed by one label can be worth a fortune compared to all the rest. It's very tedious and not worth the effort IMO.

Paying 50-75% of current value is genuinely more than most shops offer. How is that sustainable — what does your online-only structure let you do that a brick-and-mortar can't?

Our overhead is a website and google advertising. That’s it. Any other bills (except shipping expenses) are a write off for a home-based business. I used to build our own shipping boxes and they were the strongest in the business (ask our customers) but my well for cardboard dried up and I had to go back to whiplash type mailers.

No rent, no insurance, no employees, no utilities. If we sell zero records for a month, I’m not out anything.

The downside to that is I cannot sell new releases. I don’t know how the sellers on eBay are able to sell records cheaper than I can get them from a distributor, but they do and that is a dead market for me.

When someone's trying to decide whether to sell to Spatula City or list on Discogs themselves, what do you think they underestimate on each side?

What's the honest case for each?

It’s all time and what you value your time at. People think selling records on eBay is like anything else on eBay, but it’s not. If you don’t know how to grade, you will get destroyed on eBay. Saying a record looks clean and playable, will get a return every time. Not to mention you have to have the right boxes. And records are a tangible thing. We suffer from that being online. It's so much easier to sell a John Denver record to a customer in a brick and mortar who’s feeling nostalgic or hears it on the overhead than trying to find a buyer online when you’re competing with a million other copies of his greatest hits.

You will always make more money selling yourself, but it’s a steep learning curve and not every records will sell on eBay. At least not right away, How long do you want to wait for that $5 paycheck minus eBay fees, box fees, etc. I also have a customer base that I have built over years of doing this, so it’s going to be easier for me.

FAQ

Does Spatula City Records buy collections?

Yes. Matt looks at collections and is especially focused on pressing, condition, demand, and whether the records can realistically sell online.

Why is Spatula City online-only?

The online model proved viable during COVID and keeps overhead low, which helps the shop pay stronger percentages on records it wants.

What records can surprise sellers?

Matt points to funk, soul, 45s, and some white-label promos as areas that can be worth more than sellers expect.

Last updated: 2026-08-21

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