Yesterday, I was looking for information on the Hinsons and their projects. For several years, Larry Hinson has a been selling most, if not all, of the original Hinsons’ projects in CD format on his website. Larry has also set up an official website for the Original Hinsons. The page includes a little bit of the group’s history and several photographs.
Now, the second part of this post is concerning Ebay. I’m sure a lot of you have looked on Ebay for southern gospel music. I’m not currently buying as much as I have in the past, but I still occasionally pick up a project or two from the auction site. Yesterday, I searched the site for CDs by the Hinsons. I found several listed with “buy it now” prices much lower than what Larry Hinson is selling them for. I have to wonder if these projects are the official releases or bootlegs.
The Hinsons are not the only groups’ whose projects I question when I see them on Ebay. Several old Gold City CDs that were very rare and sold for $50 or more when they showed up on Ebay (which wasn’t often) several years ago now show up regularly and can be purchased for about $10. In the last few months, I’ve also noticed increased appearances of a few out of print Kingsmen CDs.
This has lead me to a few questions I’d like to ask:
- Has the rise of bootleg CDs made you hesitate before buying out of print CDs on Ebay?
- How do you decide if a CD is legit or bootleg?
- Have you unknowingly bought bootleg CDs before? If so, did you contact the seller and how did they react?
- Do you know of any Ebay sellers that you would recommend to avoid?
Coomer Cove 
[…] Brandon at Coomer Cove asked a question that was really good. I started to post a reply in his comments section, but my response was getting way too long, so I’ll do it here. […]
By: SOUTHERN GOSPEL CRITIQUE… » Blog Archive » Bootleg CDs: A question from Brandon Coomer on July 15, 2008
at 9:27 am
I recently bought a bootleg copy of the Bishops Front Porch Collection Vol. 2 from gullionsbooks on Ebay.
When I contacted the seller he immediately refunded but I wonder how many other people he/she has duped. The CD was obviously a burned copy with a stick on label that did not matchup with the CD inserts which were printed on the perforated kind of inserts you buy at Office Depot.
By: Baritone77 on July 15, 2008
at 9:47 am
I’ve seen several CD’s come from the vendor in CD-R format, so it’s hard to tell for sure….
By: Kyle on July 15, 2008
at 11:22 am
I have had the same experience from gullionbooks about 12 months ago. It was a Biships Live CD (Homeland 97). He refunded the money quickly. So it’s not the first time. Have not bought from since. There are several others I avoid just because they are “new” rare cd’s and to cheap. A lot of the same cd’s carried by gullionbooks. They are all over some used cd stores in nashville.
By: narogers on July 25, 2008
at 5:00 pm