Ridiculous Vinyl Return Policy - ZIA Records

Yeah I don't know any distributors that accept returns on vinyl or ever have. In dire circumstances our distributor will accept em, but that's super few and far between. It's too fragile to ship vinyl back and forth. I'm sure the industry as a whole would/could change that policy if buyers were willing to pay quite a bit more for records. The profit margin on vinyl is so incredibly thin, for stores and for distributed labels. Not much money at all is made from it, if places started accepting returns it would be a trade off, they'd have to mark up prices for sure. And some people like one poster above said, the super OCD collectors would return over and over again. That was awesome of em to give you a gift card for the return. That's more than 99% of stores I know of would have done. The "vinyl boom" is a blessing and (moreso) a curse for both labels, distributors, and stores. The profit margin from cd sales used to allow a ton more flexibility with other formats. It's hard to sustain a store or label from vinyl sales. Especially as a label.

 

Just in case you haven't been to either of them, I'd recommend both The Record Room and Record High:

http://www.recordhighinphoenix.com

https://www.facebook.com/TheRecordRoom

Record High is easily my favorite place to buy records in the Valley. Dan, the owner, is great and you'll never have a problem with returns. It's the exact opposite of Zia in terms of the cleanliness and quality of the stock.

 

And fix your turntable. The odds of that, have got to be astronomical. Especially to go from having never had an issue before, to having 5 issues in a single purchase.

 

Sounds like you got a fair deal. I don't know of many places that issue "refunds" in the situation that you describe. Most just offer credit and that is what you were given. I also agree that if you have an issue with tracking like that on a batch of that size with no obvious visual signs of defects that it may be time to look at your set up.

 

I agree with the numerous other assessments: evaluate your turntable setup. 5 out of 5 records skip? It's gotta be either totally trashed vinyl (which you should be able to see before buying) a turntable setup issue, or crazy bad luck. I can count the number of skips I've had in the past 5 years on one hand. Check your setup! BTW, it's common for record stores to refuse to refund defective used vinyl. It is used after all.

 

Oh, in the era when vinyl was king, you could return vinyl. You were limited to a fraction of what you bought, typically 20-25%. That return rate included both defects and overstock.

As soon as CDs started to take off, the labels changed that so that vinyl was sold one way, no returns. They haven't changed that policy since. But there was a time, long ago, when vinyl was returnable by the retailer.

As you noted, margins on vinyl aren't huge. One return that the seller has to eat basically makes the sale a loss. As a result, retailers don't want returns. I can understand a retailer selling one way. And assuredly if you're an OCD type who's going to return a record for anything but an egregious defect (huge warp, obvious and serious physical damage; not a few tics and pops or a slightly dented corner), then even if the seller takes back your purchase, they assuredly don't want to sell anything else to you.

 

If I buy used vinyl in need of cleaning, I would consider it a favor if the retailer agreed to a refund/credit. Probably wouldn't even try. If the vinyl was new, I'd expect a courteous return if the store can duplicate the issue or if it's an obvious warp.

 

Still bewildered by the complaints about the cleanliness of Zia's used vinyl stock. What I see at the TBird and Camelback stores is absolutely average in that regard; I've seen better and I've seen far, far worse. Revolver in downtown Phx has much dirtier stock. Zia also puts everything above 99 cents into a plastic outer sleeve ... something they don't have to do, and which costs them money.

 

New vinyl is 1 way, I would think most mom and pop type shops would be reluctant at best to accept a return as they are almost certainly going to eat the cost.

 

If you are returning because you "didn't like" or "already had", Amazon will charge you a $5 return shipping cost (deducted from your refund). You can say that it is defective, but Amazon will close your customer account if you exceed their internal limit for returns.

 

I guess all we can do is speak from our own experience. And my experience of Zia is that they have little knowledge of vinyl grading, are over priced and their stock has really declined. Revolver, for me, has always been exceptional. Both stores, Tempe and Phoenix.

 

It might be my turntable? Do you have any suggestions on how to set this up? https://www.crosleyradio.com/ProductDetail?Cat=2&pk=CR8005A-OD&colorID=0

 

As far as TBird's stock goes, they were pummeled over Xmas and sold something like 50% of their used vinyl. Yes, really. It's taken ages to build stock back up because used LPs are turning over so fast that the bins continually look half full. I can tell you for a fact that they're putting out hundreds of used LPs weekly.

Regarding Camelback, their opening stock was breathtaking because it had been stockpiled in storage for years. Once it was sold down, there was no way for it to possibly come back to what it was when they opened three years ago. My God, they had four bins of Beatles and three bins of Bowie. I haven't seen used store stock like that since the late '80s.

Look, I know they have flaky pricing sometimes. You can tell when the "B-Team" is doing it. They only have one designated vinyl expert at TBird and very often they have him working on bullcrap tasks instead of being in the thick of their wax where he should be 100% of the time. But vinyl is flying out of their doors like crazy, so obviously for the majority of their customers, they're doing something right.

 

Oh jeez. It's a Crosley? The best advice that can be offered is to get a real turntable. Pop into the technical board here on this forum and search for Crosley to get more information on them. That's not a turntable ... it's a toy. And it's why your stuff is skipping.

 

It's very simple. All you need is a hammer

 

Here's a thread....

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-love-mostly-hate-here-for-crosley.382215/

If you have a Crosley you're doing your vinyl no favors. You are likely damaging it, in fact. If you're willing to drop money ("thousands of dollars," you said) on vinyl, then spend at least $250 or more on a real turntable.

Otherwise you seriously should just stick to CDs, because a cheap Crosley is NOT delivering any of the benefits of vinyl to you.

 

It's unreasonable to expect any store to take returns on USED records. And you say that most of their records are usually dirty?! So you're aware you're buying dirty used records, and when they skip you want a refund... sorry, can't sympathize. The policy of Zia Records is par for the course.

As for new records... if you're really picky about things like surface noise, warps, or what have you, buy from a place with a no hassle return policy like Amazon, DDD, importcds, etc. Once I bought a new record from my local record store (a small business, not a chain) that wasn't 'defective' per se, but it was warped very badly... I kept it. I couldn't bring myself to return it, knowing he would take a small loss on it.

 

Buy some CDs with your gift card there so you won't get burned again. And then don't patronize them.

 

Try reading the rest of the thread. They didn't burn him.

 

I thought the Crosley bit was winking sarcasm...

 

Well then he won't get burned in the future, because they said this refund was a one time deal. If he spent his gift card on vinyl -- unreturnable -- he could very well get burned.

Also just did read the whole thread and when I found the OP was using a Crosley, I thought, "What is the point of buying vinyl at all if you're playing it on one of those?" That's not playing records. That's abuse! For the love of Hoffman, at least use a reasonably-priced Technics or something.

 

Do I see a winky emote? Nope. And going by the ridiculous statements verging on slander against a store where I shop 2-3 times a week and have purchased a good 800 or so albums, I opted to take it seriously, because it made about as much sense as anything else in this thread.

 

I hope so, but one never knows...

 

Slightly off topic, but when Runt/Plain record released the Paul Westerbergs on vinyl I bought all 3. One had a very noticeable skip on a very quiet passage. I emailed them and they immediately shipped me a new copy (just the liner and vinyl, the cover was fine) that was perfect.

 

If it turns out to be a Pro-Ject or something, then there really is likely something wrong with it ... so why bother with sarcasm by posting a Crosley link? Smdh on this one.