Your shelf is your free website.
Scan a record at the counter. It is on your page and on VinylAI Market in seconds, and in Google and AI answers as they index it: the exact pressing, your grade, your price.
US 1977 · VG+/VG
What is VinylAI Business?
VinylAI Business is free software for independent record stores. At the counter you scan a record or type its catalogue number, pick the exact pressing, set the grade and the price, and print a label with a barcode. The record goes onto the store’s own page, yourstore.vinylai.me, which search engines can index. Buyers ask to hold a record and pay in the shop. We take no commission, and the shelf, the customers and the sales are yours to export at any time.
One record, the usual way: 14 minutes.
With VinylAI Business: 23 seconds.
Bars drawn to scale. 14 minutes is our estimate for one used LP listed by hand on a self-built shop; 23 seconds is one example copy at the counter.
Three taps at the counter
The same three things you already do for every record. The software does the rest.
Scan
Scan the barcode, type the catalogue number from the label, or search by artist and title. VinylAI lists the pressings it could be and what sets each one apart. You tap the right one. If the catalogue cannot settle it, save the album and choose the pressing later.
Grade
Media and sleeve, two taps, on the Goldmine scale. Add photos of the copy in your hand if you want buyers to see it.
Price
Type the price. The label prints and the record is online. Nothing else to write: pressing details, page and search markup are made for you.
yourstore.vinylai.me — the link for your Instagram bio
Your cover photo, your opening hours, your shelf. It fills itself from the counter: new arrivals on top, your own collections, everything searchable. Only your store is on it: no ads, no other shops.
See it working: we filled an example shop ourselves, the way a shop fills its own. Records with photos and grades, collections, events, opening hours, a map and a few lines about the shop. Search the shelf, open a record, try Hold it.
Open the example shopCall and Directions buttons use the address and phone number you give when you set up.
Priced at the counter. Found where people look.
Your store page
For regulars and everyone who follows you on Instagram.
Google Search
Every record gets its own page and its own title, such as “Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue, Vinyl LP (US 1959) · VG+ | Your Shop”, with price, condition and “in store” in the markup search engines read. Your page keeps a sitemap and tells search engines when a record is added, held or sold.
Google Maps
Your address, opening hours, holiday hours and events are published the way Google reads them. A checklist in the cabinet links your page to your free Google Business Profile, so people looking for a record shop nearby find your shelf.
Google Shopping and “in stock nearby”
Your page publishes two product feeds that keep themselves up to date. Add them to your free Merchant Center, and your records can show in Google Shopping and as in stock nearby on Search and Maps.
VinylAI Market
Collectors looking at that record on VinylAI Market see that it is in stock at your shop, and can ask you to hold it.
AI assistants
Copy pages are plain public pages with price, condition and availability, so an assistant that is asked where to buy a record nearby can find yours. We cannot promise any particular answer.
They find it online. They buy it in your shop.
Pick up in your shop is always on. Local delivery and post are optional, with your own zones, prices and time windows. We charge no fees and never touch the payment.
- 1Wed 10:40They tap “Hold it”On your page or on VinylAI Market. No account needed.
- 2Wed 10:44You confirm in a tapYou choose 24, 48 or 72 hours. The hold ends at closing time, so a 48-hour hold on Wednesday morning runs to Friday 18:00.
- 3Fri 16:20They come in and payAt your till, the way they always have. People who come in browse the rest of your racks.
- 4Fri 16:21You mark it soldThe copy leaves your page, Google and Market. A wrong tap can be undone straight away.
Times above are an example, not a customer.
From the counter to the books, in one place.
Start with scanning. The rest is there when you need it: on the phone at the counter, and in the cabinet at business.vinylai.app on a computer.
Intake
Scan, grade, price, print. Photos of the copy, drafts that work offline, sealed stock by quantity.
Shelf and stock
Every copy with its grade, price and days on the shelf. Change a price in the table, mark down, make a copy private, print labels for a whole selection.
Holds and messages
Requests, confirmations and replies in one place. Buyers can ask a question about a record and get your answer by email, and ask to be told when a held copy is free again.
Your page
Cover, logo, hours, collections, events, “we buy records”, and your own address on vinylai.me.
Customers and sales
Customers appear from holds and messages. Sales list how each record was paid for: card, cash or other. Both export as CSV.
Team
Owner, Manager, Counter, Stock keeper and Buyer roles, with no limit on seats. Staff without an email sign in with a PIN on the counter device.
Moving over
Drop in a CSV or TSV file, such as a spreadsheet or your online shop’s export. It is matched in the background while you keep working, and everything arrives private until you put it online.
Delivery
Optional. Zones by postcode area or radius, prices, free-over amounts, days and time windows, and a pause for holidays.
Search and statistics
Add your Google, Bing or other verification codes, and a GA4 or Meta Pixel ID if you advertise. Our own visit counts use no cookies.
Record store tech in 2026: what 3,718 shop websites show
of independent record stores have no online shop of their own: no website, a social page only, or a site without a shop. 31% have one.
of the stores that do have an online shop run it on Shopify. 20% use WooCommerce and 23% something custom.
of the 2,100 stores whose website or social page opened say that they buy records from the public.
of those 2,100 show an email newsletter tool on their site. Facebook (61%) and Instagram (57%) are how most shops reach buyers.
Shop platforms among the 1,155 stores (31%) with an online shop
Method: on 27 October 2026 we visited the websites of the 3,718 independent record stores in the vinylai.app directory: one visit to the home page plus up to two shop pages, looking for shop platforms, a checkout, newsletter tools and “we buy records” wording. 1,359 stores have no website at all; 259 websites did not open and are left out of the shares of sites. Platform shares are of the 1,155 stores with an online shop. Sites built on heavy JavaScript or behind a bot check can hide their platform, so “custom” means a cart was found and no platform was recognised.
A platform that does not compete with you for your buyers.
You and thousands of other sellers
You are one of thousands of sellers. The buyer is the marketplace’s customer, you pay a cut of every sale, and next time they shop there, not with you.
Only your store
Your page shows only your shop. Anyone who holds a record is your customer, and you can export them whenever you like. We do not message them about other shops, and we take nothing from the sale.
Your options for selling a record shop’s stock online
| Your options for selling a record shop’s stock online | Your own website | A marketplace | VinylAI Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Hosting, apps and your time | A cut of every sale | Free, 0% commission |
| A page with only your store | Yes | A profile inside theirs | yourstore.vinylai.me |
| Finds the exact pressing | You look it up | You search a catalogue | From barcode or catalogue number |
| Price labels with barcodes | No | No | Yes, on your printer |
| Search markup on every copy | If you set it up | Under their name | Under yours, automatic |
| Google Shopping and Maps | Apps, feeds and setup | Their listing, not yours | Feeds and checklist ready |
| Customers stay yours | Yes | No | Yes, and exportable |
Questions record stores ask
Is it really free?
Yes. VinylAI Business is free today, and we take no commission on your sales. If we ever add paid features, we will tell you at least 30 days ahead, and cataloguing, your store page and the export of your own data will stay free. You can scan, publish and take holds without paying anything, and your data is yours to export if you ever leave.
We do not have a website. Do we need one?
No, that is the point. yourstore.vinylai.me is your website, and it fills itself from what you scan: your records, your opening hours, your cover photo and your contact buttons. Your opening hours and address come from the details you enter once when you set up. You can still link it from your Instagram bio or put it on a poster.
How does it find the exact pressing?
You scan the barcode, type the catalogue number from the label or spine, or search by artist and title. VinylAI shows the pressings the catalogue holds for that record and what sets them apart, such as country, year and label, and you confirm one with a tap. When the catalogue cannot decide, you can save the album and pick the pressing later.
How do we show up on Google Maps and Google Shopping?
Your page is made for it. Every record has its own page with price, condition and “in store” marked up, your address, hours and events are published the way Google reads them, and a sitemap tells search engines what changed. In the cabinet, Search and analytics walks you through the rest: put your page in your free Google Business Profile, keep the name, address and hours the same in both places, and add your two product feeds to your free Merchant Center. Those accounts are yours, and we never sign in to them. Nobody can promise a place in Google’s results, and we do not.
Do buyers pay online?
No. Online they ask you to hold a record. They pay in your shop, at your till, or for a delivery the way you agree with them. Buyers leave a name and a way to reach them, and you decide whether to confirm the hold. VinylAI is not a till and never takes a payment or holds money.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. It runs in the phone’s browser, the camera reads barcodes there, and you can add it to your home screen. There is no separate Business app to download. The cabinet is built for a computer as well, with tables and a side panel, and staff can sign in on a shared counter device with a PIN.
Can we keep our Shopify or WooCommerce shop?
Yes. Link your shop from your page, and export your shelf as a CSV file to load into it. That suits a shop that sells online and in person: the counter stays quick, and your online shop keeps doing what it already does. Nothing on your current site has to change. Connecting to Shopify or WooCommerce directly is not available yet.
We already use another system. How do we move?
Upload a CSV or TSV file, for example a spreadsheet or the export from your online shop. VinylAI matches the rows to pressings in the background while you keep working, and everything arrives private until you put it online. We never ask for your passwords and never touch your old shop.
Who owns our customers and data?
You do. Export your stock, your sales and your customers as CSV files, and your photos as a ZIP, whenever you like. Buyers’ names and contact details from holds are your data and we handle them only for you. Exporting is not a paid extra. If you close your account, your page goes with it.
Your page can be live in a minute.
Type your shop’s name and start. There are no checks and no waiting. Scan the first record today.
The film and the example shop use example records. Prices and times are examples.