---
title: ToolRouter — Workflow
description: A multi-tool workflow showing how to combine ToolRouter tools for a complex task.
url: https://toolrouter.com/workflows/record-buying-decision
---
# Record Buying Decision

Verify a record purchase by matching the pressing, checking current market depth, and widening the search across broader resale listings.

Collectors often have to make a decision from incomplete seller information. The safest move is to treat title and artist as the starting point, not the answer. You need to narrow the actual release, confirm the pressing, understand current supply, and then check whether the same record is available elsewhere under better terms.

This workflow turns that into a repeatable decision process. Narrow the release catalog, identify the pressing from hard clues, review the market picture, and then widen the search beyond specialist record sources so you can decide whether the current listing deserves your money.

**Tools:** record-collector, marketplace-search
**Category:** search

## Steps

### 1. Find the likely releases

Search the release catalogs to narrow the candidate editions before you trust the seller description.

- **Tool:** record-collector
- **Skill:** search_releases
- **Input:** Artist, title, format, year, label, catalog number, or other release clues
- **Output:** Likely matching releases with core edition fields and market indicators

### 2. Match the pressing

Use barcode, catalog number, or matrix clues to identify the most plausible pressing and separate original issues from later reissues.

- **Tool:** record-collector
- **Skill:** identify_pressing
- **Input:** Catalog number, barcode, matrix or runout text, and partial listing clues
- **Output:** Best-fit pressing candidates with matching evidence and confidence signals

### 3. Check market depth and price

Review current market stats so you can see supply, demand, and whether the asking price sits inside a sensible range.

- **Tool:** record-collector
- **Skill:** price_guide
- **Input:** Confirmed release identifiers or the best-fit candidate edition
- **Output:** Market statistics including current price signals and copies-for-sale context

### 4. Search broader second-hand listings

Widen the search into general resale marketplaces and classifieds in case the best local or underpriced copy is sitting outside the specialist record marketplaces.

- **Tool:** marketplace-search
- **Skill:** search_listings
- **Input:** Release title or artist-title query with region, condition, and pickup filters
- **Output:** Broader listing discovery across general marketplaces that can supplement record-specific sources

## Benefits

- Reduces the chance of overpaying for the wrong edition
- Uses hard pressing clues instead of trusting seller copy alone
- Adds current market depth before a buy or pass decision
- Surfaces broader second-hand options that specialist searches can miss
