record show experiences

Paraneer:
There is a 4th type. These are the guys who are looking for records to listen to, but aren't too particular about what condition that Pantera record is in. They suck my fitty-cent bin dry!

Czarivey:
At my last show in Cleveland, there was a guy making the rounds looking for Enoch Light and His Orchestra! Uhhhhhhh.....yeah.......right over here with my Ferrante & Teicher! Another guy wanted Al Martino. Funny thing is, I had a couple at the house. Haven't a clue where they came from!

TZ- I hear you on buying blind. But, the most you can do is visually inspect the record, unless you want it play tested on a Fisher Price! I try to have a dialogue with Internet sellers- it not only establishes their bona fides, but gives me a sense of how much they know, and how critical they are. I’ve gotten records that were very conservatively graded at VG+ that really are minty and some allegedly mint/unplayed which had off center spindle holes, scuffs from handling, etc.
I’m not going to bother returning a ’bin cheapy’ that I buy for 6 or 8 bucks and get by media mail from a seller in the States. But, I’d say my ’success rate’ for good players is probably in the neighborhood of 80% of what I buy. Some vendors, like EIL, sell absolutely impeccable product (unless they have noted otherwise in their description), but at a price. Others- well, I’ll tap into a vein- someone selling off a collection and I may find several juicy morsels from them before that well runs dry. Shipping costs between countries are now getting too high for ’average’ records- I wanted a Queen UK press of News of the World, a pretty common record in the UK- postage was more than the cost of the record.
Pre-Internet, I used to carry dog-eared lists with me on virtually all my travels, business and pleasure.
The one thing I’ve found to be true for shows and bin diving- sticking strictly to your "list" will often blind you to some really good records that are probably worth purchasing. But, that requires effort. And, I’m lazy- I just want to go in, see the booth marked-- "here’s the stuff you want", buy it and get out of there. I have friends that can spend days at these shows pouring over crates. Those are the guys who score at shows. (Oh, have you ever been to a record show with decent food?)

I know, cannot go by the list.  I always seem to come across records in am not looking for that I want, they are just not the ones I really want.  I rarely ever see classic records, mofi, analogue productions or anything like that at the shows.  I never see vertigo swirls.

Well, The Keystone Record Collector’s Pennsylvania Music Expo claims to be "the largest monthly show of its kind." I don’t know about that, but there IS a lot of stuff there. Typical stuff, LPs, CDs, 45s, even DVDs. Mostly the typical genres, old Rock, old Pop, but at least some of almost anything else, least of all classical. Their website has quite a bit of useful info if you look around, especially their "Unwanted Records" page.
recordcollectors.org/records2015/index.php

TZ:
Like any business, the vendors at the record shows concentrate on the stuff that sells the most. Rock, blues  and pop are the mainstays, along with a little jazz.

As for the audiophile stuff, Whart has a point about vendors preferring internet sales. I do bring some of the more esoteric stuff to the sales at times, but my heart is weak, and it nearly stops when I see the way people manhandle them.