Starting a mail order, what are do’s and don’ts?

[Cranial Blast]

The Do's: If you sincerely enjoy and get enthusiastic about other likeminded individuals picking up physical media. I think this is imperative when doing mail order/distro, because without that natural enthusiasm, you probably will not enjoy it and find it to be like tedious "work".

The Don'ts: If you're setting up distro/mail order with the intent to turn a profit you might be disappointed and most likely will find out real quick that in order for mail order to stay in existence, is that it absolutely has to coming from a place of pure passion and in my opinion this is how mail order should be established under those types of terms and conditions. Those seeking to turn mail order into some type of extra income or side hustle of sorts, should view it more so as a hobby. The reward is being able to contribute back to what you enjoy most.

[NocturnalLibrary]

The Do's: If you sincerely enjoy and get enthusiastic about other likeminded individuals picking up physical media. I think this is imperative when doing mail order/distro, because without that natural enthusiasm, you probably will not enjoy it and find it to be like tedious "work".

The Don'ts: If you're setting up distro/mail order with the intent to turn a profit you might be disappointed and most likely will find out real quick that in order for mail order to stay in existence, is that it absolutely has to coming from a place of pure passion and in my opinion this is how mail order should be established under those types of terms and conditions. Those seeking to turn mail order into some type of extra income or side hustle of sorts, should view it more so as a hobby. The reward is being able to contribute back to what you enjoy most.

Exactly, I'm gonna set it up because I really love to spread these releases to interested listeners as well as make people discover new different material amongst known names.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

There are many kinds of distros and I would say thinking and planning a bit what it is one wants can be good. There are different advices to be given to different kind of distros.

There are guys who have small label and take only small number of carefully curated, often stylistically related releases. Benefits are that even if you have merely handful of customers, one may get rid of distro stock while selling your own things. Stocking things one can honestly recommend is absolutely the best. And doing exactly that - actively writing descriptions / reviews is entirely different thing than anonymous hyperbole sale pitch. It is not usually generating much money, but means of getting your own stuff out there, plus things you like.

If deciding to go all the way, and start big distro, aimed to have wide selection of releases, it will require way more time, money and cumulating inventory. I am not even sure if anyone can really advice someone who wants to give a try to such thing in 2026. Situation is so different compared to the past. Other international dealers may have cumulated their inventory for 20-30 years, plus may have contract with couriers for better shipping prices, but in other hand, whoever will start distro, generally sees that inventory never becomes smaller. It just grows and grows.

Ability to sell at gigs can be big plus. Even small gigs.

[AKTI Records]

There are many kinds of distros and I would say thinking and planning a bit what it is one wants can be good. There are different advices to be given to different kind of distros.

There are guys who have small label and take only small number of carefully curated, often stylistically related releases. Benefits are that even if you have merely handful of customers, one may get rid of distro stock while selling your own things. Stocking things one can honestly recommend is absolutely the best. And doing exactly that - actively writing descriptions / reviews is entirely different thing than anonymous hyperbole sale pitch. It is not usually generating much money, but means of getting your own stuff out there, plus things you like.

If deciding to go all the way, and start big distro, aimed to have wide selection of releases, it will require way more time, money and cumulating inventory. I am not even sure if anyone can really advice someone who wants to give a try to such thing in 2026. Situation is so different compared to the past. Other international dealers may have cumulated their inventory for 20-30 years, plus may have contract with couriers for better shipping prices, but in other hand, whoever will start distro, generally sees that inventory never becomes smaller. It just grows and grows.

Ability to sell at gigs can be big plus. Even small gigs.

I would also say that its good to know the selection of the respected distros of your country... like for example there was no need for me to stock one thing that satatuhatta + fa have as they have fixed customers and certain things they enjoy.

My first and foremost motivation for the couple of years that I did it was to stock records I liked to have in my shelf and to share them with others too. Especially experimental music that was not that much usually covered by the other distros in finland. For example you could get Discreet Music LPs from Satatuhatta, but what about Art Into Life? Kashual Plastik? Lasse Marhaugs stuff? Well perhaps that. Do you enjoy Vainio? Well this one by Marja Ahti is amazing... I should email her...  Dead C adjecents? New Zealand in general?

I would advice you to just stock releases you are fucking excited about as they tend to be easier (and very rewarding) to recommend to people, heh. And yes as said before, forget about the money as what you will get you will most likely spend times X. Its a very honorable thing to do but unfortunately (at least for me) some people do it better than others.


100% agree on the shows with Mikko, although its bit a personality question of what kind of salesman you are.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

My strong assumption is that one should not put too much emphasis on what other guys have and avoid that. There are a lot of people, who are not die hard fanatics in a sense, that they would buy item wherever it is available. There are number of people who would never buy from Freak Animal, but also people who would buy Marja Ahti from me if I had it, but don't bother to buy one thing from Akti (as example) if there are no other items they want. A lot of people have tons of artists they could buy if it just happens to be there when they make the decision. I am just like that myself. If I see seller with one item I want, I rarely buy it. If there are couple items that makes shipping and task of ordering kind of.. worth it.. then yes.  It can be almost anything. Even listing your own 2nd hand items on distro may be better idea than to use discogs.

[NocturnalLibrary]

All good points again. Personally at times I would even order a single release I was looking for regardless of shipping but of course people ordering from my mail order would rather want to order several items rather than just one. For me the type of distro would not be a very big one but indeed one featuring releases I love myself with a well varied selection of projects for people to choose from. I can combine my own writings with the collection of releases to make it distinct.

[NocturnalLibrary]

Reached out to John Wiese for some first mail order stock of Helicopter releases. Black Horizons is a next label that seems to have interesting releases for my mail order.