Rupert Jones in today’s Guardian has a note about Music Magpie, a site where you can sell old CDs, games, and now DVDs. The site calls itself an “online CD recycling service.” I like CDs, so I took a look.
The service is a commercial operation and as far as I can tell isn’t any different in principle from any other online secondhand retailer – I guess they all ought to get some green cred by calling themselves recycling services.
So how does Music Magpie compare to others like, say, Amazon or eBay? Let’s look at it first as a buyer. I love the Cowboy Junkies, so I did a search. I can get their great CD The Trinity Session for £3.99. Amazon has this new from £5.98, or used from £3.91. What about postage costs? At Amazon it is currently £1.21. I can’t so far discover what Music Magpie charges, or whether it is included. The terms and conditions say:
9.2. These prices include VAT but exclude delivery costs, which are detailed on the website.
However I can’t find them detailed anywhere. Maybe it is included after all, but you would have thought this would be flagged as a selling point. So it could be more than Amazon, or less, depending on this point; it appears to be in the same ball park. However, Amazon has a vastly greater stock available and nice features like customer reviews.
OK, how about as the seller? If I decide to sell my Cowboy Junkies CD, Music Magpie will currently offer me 98p (the price varies according to the CD, and can be as low as 25p). There’s no postage cost to the seller; the company sends out a freepost envelope.
There are some alarming terms and conditions. If Music Magpie decides one of your CDs needs refurbishment (polishing), it deducts up to 50p. If it decides it is unacceptable, it neither buys nor returns it. There is no appeal.
Now Amazon. If I sell Trinity Session for the current lowest price of £3.91, Amazon will grab £1.82 in fees (including VAT) but contribute £1.21 for postage. That means I get £3.30. If the postage actually costs that much (it could well work out less), I still get £2.09 net, more than double what Music Magpie offers.
Listing an item on Amazon is not much more difficult than selling to Music Magpie – just type in the barcode and go. The big difference is that with Amazon you have to sit back and wait for a buyer. With Music Magpie I get the money instantly. Another difference is that with Music Magpie I can parcel a bunch of CDs once and send them off. With Amazon, you have to deal with each customer individually.
My immediate impression is that Music Magpie scores well on convenience, but if you need the money and have a little patience you would be much better off with Amazon.
Now, here’s an interesting remark on the Music Magpie site:
We originally launched musicmagpie as an easy way for everyone to turn their old CDs into cash so that they did not have to be thrown away if they had decided to go digital. This proved to be a massive success with thousands of people using musicmagpie as a fast and efficient way to turn CDs into money.
Well, CDs are digital; but I’m guessing that Music Magpie is referring to people who have ripped their CDs to a computer for streaming, or for an iPod, or another MP3 player. Here’s a can of worms though. I’ve heard it argued that even ripping your own CDs is illegal, though it seems a reasonable thing to do. Ripping your CDs and then selling them though – intuitively that seems wrong. Arguably, Music Magpie by its own admission is dealing in stolen music.
Still, I do see the other side of this too. You’ve ripped all your CDs, you no longer need them, you are short of space: isn’t it better to move them on?
When people moved from vinyl to CD they had no choice but to purchase again. In the case of CD to music files though, you can migrate without re-buying. That’s a headache for the music industry.
Personally I hang on to them anyway, as a kind of license and physical backup, and just in case I might want to read the sleeve notes again one day.
Note: Comments to this post are now closed.
just got upto speed with neils comments and i also will be waiting with interest to see what happens next.But again just like my comments above(125) £152.46 for 275 cd’s does seem very low thats less then a pound a cd! so again not the best standard of pay out
Oh how I wish I had read these comments before sending my stuff to Music Magpie. I sent off bundles of CD’s which according to them I was going to get over £120 for, the cheques finally arrived and they had cut the prices quoted in half, didn’t tell me what for or why and theres no chance of getting my CD’s back, I ended up with about £56 for well over 100 CD’s, complete rip off !!!!!!
Aaron – come on pal – I think we need to do something about our mutual paranoia! I will tell you what – I won’t think that everyone posting negatively since I got involved works for CEX and you don’t think that everyone who posts positively is a Magpie spy – how does that sound? And just to show there is no hard feelings – Tim – please don’t ban Aaron – he might be giving me a hard ride but he is being constructive unlike that Toby 2 lunatic! JOKE! Toby’s comments have been removed by the moderator for his own independent reasons (it wasn’t the one you knew – this one was an upper case shouter with very little grip of the English language) And if I knew Trudy or she worked for Magpie Aaron – do you think she would have said that “CDs are fast declining”?! I bloomin well hope not, in fact I know they are not, as it wouldn’t be great for our business!
One further note on prices offered – each valuation is derived individually based on the perceived commercial value of the product. Some of you may be disappointed by some of them but at least a) you know we buy the title, unlike a high street model where you may lump them all the way there to be turned around as they don’t buy that title b) you know what you are going to get for each title so you have certainty on valuation (similar to point a) and c) there are no added or hidden costs – the price you get offered is what you end up with, subject to following the very simple three or four guidelines that I have outlined already.
On that point – sorry Mr Allen, I am not accepting we offered you £120 for 100 CDs and then sent you £56 – there HAS to be a good reason for it and we would certainly have told you what that problem was in your account details. I am hoping you did the trade in your name so we can look into it in the morning but if not would you post your order number?
As i said blueboy i’m not saying it’s true just what was commented on and then the comment was deleted! BUT i in no way think it’s true without hard facts and without said facts i agree to your propsal.As i have always said i have no problem with you just the copmany and just as you will be for the plus side i will be for the negitive side,BUT i do respect you and will always back my points up with fact
Oh and also seems like there is more then just martin (comment 128) saying that magpie have told him one price and then sent another,there seems to be quite a few(check older comments) not just on here but also other forums,And also the price of £120 for 100 cd does seem high for magpie (see comments 125 and 127) basied on what other people have got £56 for 100 cd’s does sound more likley so what went wrong?
I also would like to add to my comment 124 that music magpie offered me £96 for my cd’s and dvd’s and i only got £44 i did call about it but was told by customer services that the error was with my packing when i know my wife and i packed them all perfectly,so i know for a fact martin allen is not the only one to suffer from this
Martin Allen hasn’t come back to me with an order number but the only Martin Allen that I found today has completed 5 transactions for a total of about £219 over the last two months and has had cheques for them all for the full value less £1.11 for a couple of failed items at the QA stage. So baffled by that one.
Similar invitation to ‘Colin’ above – please give me the order number on this and I will come back and tell you in more detail why there was a deduction, if there was one.
can you tell us blueboy how martin got back to you when there is no post on here from him? and also martin says i quote (comment 128) “oh how i wish i’d read comments on here before using magpie” so from that we can take it he has not used magpie before (and wont again from what i can see) JOKE.so he cannot be the guy who used magpie 5 times something has to be wrong maybe your paper work got mixed up or something?
Sorry blueboy but i dont see the point i’ve called the music magpie number and spoke to someone i know works there unlike you no offence,and to be honest we we’re stiched up pretty,we used the site as my wife saw the add and it said quick money upto 14 days well it took about 24 days which again is not a big issue as we’re lucky that we both have well paid jobs but still not what the adds say and then to be done out of £56 for no good reason,is too much to take.If all went well we was goning to trade in our sons old console games as he is getting a playstation 3 for his birthday but after this we’ll take them down the high street to game who may not give the best prices but least they do give what they say they will and they reward their customers with points not take away their money.
Just like to say colin very good point and well made there have been alot of people on here say the same thing,Dont know if your aware but gamestation will give you a good price as well as they do price match so say game offer you £13 for a game they will give you £14 so well worth alook,they give a good trade in price but cash price as you can expect will be lower,but if there’s a game your son wants for his new ps3 (i want one) then your find trade in price will be best,also it makes you think if magpie was to just do as blueboy said take £1.10 off every order for “QA” then those pounds would soon add up NOT saying that is whats happening but makes you think
Hi think i’ll add a comment or two to this here forum! I used to work for magpie in customer services i left for a better job so not sour grapes or anything and i have sat though a couple of team talks and team meetings,so i can offer a objective BUT FAIR point of view,mapies prices are low but then people dont have to use them will post more when i have time as i’m on a lunch break at mo
Thanks for the idea Aaron did’t know gamestation did a price match,am i right in thinking their part of blockbusters? and also you would’t know the name of a good cd/dvd trading shop would you? as i will never trust music magpie again
Update 3 – Just had an email from Magpie saying that my CD’s have arrived at their warehouse.
“Our Quality Inspection and Goods In processing teams will now commence work on your items, and within 7 days your cheque should be ready to be dispatched.”
following on from post 112 and blue boys response.. as you can see below… both the barcode numbers supplied DO WORK.. i have cut & pasted direct from the M.M website..
[Your Trade]
TOTAL OFFER PRICE £2.57
TITLES DISCS OFFER QTY BARCODE
Cry of Love – Brother 1 £ 2.07 1 5099747376726
Every Mother’s Nightmare – Same (1990) 1 £ 0.50 1 4007192609215
TOTAL DISCS 2
TOTAL OFFER PRICE £2.57
And below I have cut & pasted the details from amazon.
Added to your
Shopping Basket:
Brother – Cry of Love Audio CD
Condition: Collectible – Like New
Seller’s Price:£19.99
– Quantity: 1
Sold by maxrocker
Other items in your
Shopping Basket:
Every Mother’s Nightmare – Every Mother’s Nightmare Audio CD
Condition: Used – Very Good
Seller’s Price:£29.78
– Quantity: 1
Sold by Pranga Book…
Subtotal: £49.77
So just to clear things up again and to avoid confission… Amazon DO NOT BUY from you…you have to spend time & effort to sell your items… if you want a quick sale… then maybe M.M is for you after all..
and secondly… just to correct blue boy who claimed that 1 of the barcodes did not exist..and the second which was valued by M.M at £2.09 was only selling for £6 on Amazon…. yes there are some available for less…but it depends again on condition and how fast you want to shift your items.
Thats it…Im done with this site now..
couple of points 1st yes colin there is a good cd/dvd store and not wanting to open a can of worms again it’s called cex google them they have stores and online sells but thats all i will say no more on the matter (check early comments).This neil thing that started on the 27th april is not really fooling anybody,And also will be very good to hear from this ex magpie employee adam hope you will add value to the forum and not just scream and shout that magpie are a rip off and a scam without being able to prove it as we have all heard those comments a thousand times before and though people do say there is no smoke without fire we try to prove our points on here now
Thankyou Aaron very useful i will give cex a go i looked on google and they seem very good also checked on back comments and can see where you are coming from mate so like you i’ll stop there.I also look forward to hearing what adam has to say as this forum is getting quite interesting.Also Aaron i see where you are coming from with the neil thing as i have only just come out of the nightmare that is music magpie it does seem a “little too good” but hey thats just mine,my wifes and our friends view on the matter
I’ve just been looking back at comments over the time and there are a few i think we should look at,these are comments 19 and 21 which are intresting and then there is comment 31 from a music magpie employee asking people to i quote “send us your old rubbish” then there is also comment 3 where cex is metioned long before blueboy said cex employees used this forum there are a great many more but time for my dinner so post more later
Aaron thats some damn fine comments! gotta laugh at the magpie wanting to buy rubbish,That was a stroke of genius! and best bit it’s a true comment from a magpie employee.Anyway fella you seem to have things under control at the mo so i’ll just keep an eye out and when you need help i’ll jump in
I got to agree with adam that was very good Aaron and you say there is more! well i cannot wait to read it,But to be honest i cannot see magpie being around too much longer because lets face facts there are alot of people who ( taking a leaf out Aarons book) comment 1 wont touch them with a barge pole!
Gents – I am going to bid goodnight to this discussion as honestly we have nowhere left to go without me now repeating myself endlessly.
I have tried really hard to keep making constructive responses to points being made but every time anyone says anything positive it is construed as an ‘insider’ job – that’s a shame as they no doubt represent accurately the vast majority of our satisfied customers – we now have nearly 1,000 people per day completing sales with us and the smattering of negative comment on here is a tiny, tiny percentage of our trade.
Aaron I thought we had agreed to drop this paranoia but now I read that you are doubting ‘Neil’ – well what can I say? ‘Damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ I think it is called and I will let him decide whether he defends his own integrity as I’m not sure he can convince you whatever he says. Oh and by the way mate – please read what I say before jumping down my throat – in post 133 I clearly say “Martin Allen hasn’t come back to me” and yet you then start questioning me about how I knew about his transactions when all I then did is publish the facts of the only transactions I could find that were from a Martin Allen – who obviously may or may not be the same person.
Colin – with the greatest respect Sir, you obviously havent gathered that I have always professed to work for Magpie. I genuinely was (and still am) interested in helping you further as I am senior to whoever you say you spoke to on the phone and I am disappointed you were left feeling so let down. Please feel free to mail me through the enquiries e-mail address with your customer order number and you have my word I will give you a full explanation of the problem and / or an apology if one is needed. I am disappointed that you choose to make flippant ‘they won’t be around for too long’ comments before allowing me / us any right to reply but that is your perrogative and I would still invite you to let me help you if you wish.
Paul Martin – thanks for taking that trouble and you may not see or be interested in my reply. But just to say that you have quoted the dearest sellers of your two products from traders and not the cheapest and indeed in the case of the first one have cited a ‘collectable’ one which is hardly comparing apples to apples. I invite you to list your products at these prices and see if you sell them – you won’t Sir as they are being sold at a cheapest price of the region of what I quoted you.
And finally to ‘Adam’ who has appeared of late. Well what can I say? In Magpie’s whole life we have had just two Customer Service representatives and they both still work with us now. No doubt Aaron will be quick to doubt my word on this but our new poster is very simply making up the fact that he is anything to do with us for reasons only presently known to himself.
It is for this reason that I am retiring from posting on the board. As I said at the top, I haven’t got anything further to add and sorry but I refuse to have my integrity questioned by anyone and I certainly refuse to start spending time offering responses to a character who is saying that he has worked for our Customer Services. Maybe his intentions will transpire over time…I don’t know.
Tim – the editor – an open invitation remains to call me any time if you wish to pen a new article on MM if you ever have enough interest to do so. Some folk on here think I have some sort of private line to you anyway even though your mail address isnt published anywhere but I would welcome the opportunity to talk to you more about our company.
Aaron – if you want to take this discussion any further please call our Customer Services number in the morning and talk to me in person man to man. I would welcome the opportunity.
To all – make your own mind up. As I have said before and I will say one last time – like any other company we arent perfect and we do have occassional issues to deal with in the thousands of transactions per week that we handle but I hope we deal with almost all of them satisfactorily. I hope we are improving still further as time goes on and I hope nearly everyone who uses us has a positive experience. If you think you will get a better experience in CEX – go for it (but make sure you pack your ear plugs in the same rucksack your items are in as it can be bloomin noisy in there!). If you think Game or GS will offer you a better experience on Games than us – go for it.
What we try to do is offer a very credible, simple and convenient on line service to turn your old CDs, DVDs and Games into cash in a timescale that is as quick as practically possible given the process involved. That is all.
I wish you all goodnight and good luck.
Very good speech and maybe if magpie vastly improve then you might get more happy customers on forums as there is still alot of bad.As for colin saying magpie wont be around long,well to be honest i hope you are as your a british company and it’s good to see a british company grow,and if you can stop getting so many bad reviews then who knows what might happen good bye and goodluck
Just a thought from a humble student going though his 5 year course but if like in comment 70 where you say you have 150 people working for you and like you say in your latest comment only two of these work in customer services and like you also say in said comment you get thousands of customers a day maybe you quality and standards of service my rise if you add to the number of said customer service employees because as anyone can see those numbers really dont add up, but hey as i say just my thoughts
I’d just like to say i did’t say i hope their not around much long,just i dont think they will be as to be honest they did us out of £56 they and lied to us,some of those cd’s and dvd’s they did’t pay for was our little sons so what does that make them? And as for thousands of happy users where? where are they? i’ve never seen or spoke to one!
Just popped back on this blog, and saw how many comments this particular article was garnering.
Irrespective of “right and wrong”, can I just say that poster “aaron” is dictionary definition passive-aggressive. It really is something to behold!
Actually, perhaps I should have said “some people would say that aaron is passive-aggressive but I wouldn’t know about that but then everyone is entitled to their opinion and there is no smoke without fire LOL”…
You get the picture.
Well put “blueboy” sorry i mean “craig” but i dont see where that fits into what we’re talking about! as i said before this is not a music magpie fan club,it’s a forum where alot of people who have had horrible dealings with magpie can tell people what has happened to them so that “joe public” can make a choice based on facts as to if they should trust a site with such a bad rep to treat them fairly,and alot of people not just me if you check though the reviews feel that it’s a big mistake to trust them