a lot of the wax I’ve been buying or wanting recently has only been available from very small outlets — independent labels with no distribution or direct from artists via Bandcamp. unfortunately for my wallet, most are based in far-off, distant lands. similar to what BlakStaar said, a lot of it comes out of Europe and the shipping is no joke, often costing as much as the record itself. I’ve got a wishlist on Discogs and even a lot of that is from sellers in various parts of the EU. I’ve held off on a lot of purchases because of it.

I occasionally check Turntable Lab or FatBeats just to see what’s new and coming soon, but it's been a while since I ordered from either; most vinyl from bigger artists I get in a local shop.