This sale ended September 1st, and this page is now maintained for archival purposes only. It was somewhat of a success, bringing in money which helps defray the hosting, development and maintenance costs of the ANUS.com site and its many projects. Many things were learned however:
1. The current metal community is of a lesser caliber than the previous metal community.
2. Many people in the metal community are literally unable to get along with others even under
rational circumstances, which makes them part of the problem, not the solution.
3. Most people are buying randomly with the exception of a few very focused traders who are essentially eBay robber barons.
Mistakes made with this sale:
1. We tried to do reservers; over two-thirds of the metalheads and punkers who reserved items flaked out on them. We did not have this problem with jazz, rock or electronic CD orders.
2. Updating the list was a massive pain in the ass; next time I'm bar-coding everything.
If you are seeking something from this list, here is where the remaining merchandise has gone:
Shop White
We chose ShopWhite (named for founder Bill White) because it is an ethical eBay clone that does not mind selling underground music of any belief system. I have seen Bill White build his online empire from the early days and in my view he is an ethical human being.
One detail: Here is a list of people whose behavior was scummy enough that I never want to deal with them, and recommend you also avoid them:
Scumbags/Flakes/Bad Traders
A big thank you to all who ethically participated. We sold a ton of metal CDs for far less than you can find them anywhere else, including rarities which have all but vanished from this earth. It is rewarding to pass these on to metalheads across the world knowing they will be appreciated as they were while in my collection.
To those who asked, "Why are you selling so much stuff?" the simple answer is: I outgrew it. The metal community degenerated, and now it is not important to me to have a breadth of collection beyond those bands I consider genius and of epic import. Once, black metal was this important, and this important to me. But now it's a dime-a-dozen and it's time to focus on that those that did something noteworthy both inside and outside of metal. My life is not dedicated to metal for metal's sake, but to art and life itself, and I find this goal is not served by owning a whole lot of CDs tangential to what I appreciate. Thus I moved these on to those who will appreciate them and am now writing for a new ezine about broader matters of culture, art, life, philosophy and ethics. Prost!