Any dealers thoroughly inspect LPs before shipping?

That was partially what I was thinking as well. Pretty silly, if you ask me. My standards are not unreasonable. I just don't want brand new LPs to look as if a cat attacked them! And no sombreros, if possible. Failure for 10 out of 10 albums from that pressing plant is unacceptable, IMHO. That's why I'd rather at this point have somebody inspect them thoroughly and give me a thumbs-up before shipping them so I don't have to waste my time returning these products constantly.

In the last 2 months, I bought 40 albums and only 3 of them have been problematic, the other being the Best of Guess Who done by Kevin Grey. And out of the 5 copies I returned, all of them have had the exact same issues. For the Beatles albums, warped and scratched like crazy. For the Guess Who one, extremely warped! Very strange and incredibly frustrating.

 

My thought exactly. Why sell to someone who will cause you to lose all profits, when there are other customers who will happily buy them.
Not saying it's right, but I could see it happening. Makes perfect sense.

 

Scratches and warps don't get fixed with a RCM, which I own.

In this case, I'd need to. Maybe that batch is bad but I can't believe it's a coincidence that I seem to be the only one experiencing this issue with these albums specifically. As I said in another post, meanwhile, all 37 other LPs I bought have been flawless. So it's definitely uncommon to go through this but it sure is frustrating and in this specific case, I'd need to open as many as need be to find one that is worth its price.

 

I'd try a different store if I continuously had to return a specific LP.

 

When I visited The Colonies for The SXSW Festival in Austin last year me & my mates went shopping at Waterloo Records. Those guys at the cash register had no concept of vinyl. The looks I got when I checked the LPs I purchased** from them and then when I placed them on a turntable to check for warps. I explained to them why I had done this and just got blank bemused looks. It`s the same in the U.K. at some larger stores.

Regarding the original question `Any dealers thoroughly inspect LPs before shipping?`, I reckon some do, packaging the vinyl out of the sleeve etc but those who don`t and then have to pay for return shipping and sending out replacements, serves`em right.

**The LPs weren`t cheaper than the UK either same for CDs. I was surprised at this, I always thought the pricing in the U.S.A. would be cheaper. Why did I buy them? The money had to be spent I was in a record shop, damn it!

 

You've got that wrong. I'm not opening 4 or 5 and then picking the best one. I am telling you I have opened 4 or 5 until I got one that was not defective, in fact I have opened all of a certain title and ALL were defective. And I'm not talking about being super picky either. I accept more than I should....I will overlook a slight wave when I should not. This past year I have encountered severe warping (about 20% of all ) scratches, dust and trash IN the vinyl. I will not tolerate that! And any retailer that wants to cut me off is free to do so. I would be happy to spend my money elsewhere.

 

In case people are thinking my standards are too high, these are some pics I took of the remaining copies I have here.

Keep in mind some of this stuff is tough to photograph but I did the best I could.

Scratches on the first track. Common with every copy I've gotten.



What I call the cat-attack scratches. No idea how that is even possible but almost all my copies have had one instance of this. This is a deep scratch! Why???



Lastly, what I now refer to as vinyl acne. Again, no idea how that happened but it's a weird bump.

 

Recently I bought two Bowie reissues -pressed by Optimal Germany- at the Amsterdam record fair and I checked them to look for non-fill or stitching. They were not sealed by the way. The lady told me: 'they are new.'
Most sellers are clueless.

 

that's unacceptable. They're the ones who will kill the new vinyl market selling sh/t like that.

 

Isn't that the same thing?


You've opened an entire stock of an album and didn't buy any?
Don't take this the wrong way, but I would not allow you to shop in my store any longer after something like that.

 

Well then you would be a dishonest merchant who sold defective goods and refused to make it good. How long do you suppose you would remain in business? Evidently you don't expect to get what you paid for but I do. If you'd like text me your # and I will sell you all my defective vinyl for 10% off......LOL

 

I've only come across a zit once, on a MOV press. The only thing I could think of was a pebble or hard and heat resistant enough object was pressed into the other side during pressing creating the indent. rare I think. Your example I think is the second, besides mine I've seen

 

I've seen quite a few with the pimples. Some are audible, others not - it must be how severe they are. Worst I came across was an IQ album 'Subterranea' which they actually had repressed because the initial press was so messed up.

 

This is on my mind too. I have found a couple of places who will inspect the records for me when i order,
one is a brick and mortar, the other is on-line. The only reason they do this is they have high tech cleaning
and flattening machines, so they can actually 'fix' most of the problems and sell the copy.

If inspecting the records opens the seller up to the potential of having to eat the loss, there isn't any incentive
for them to do it. On the other side, they benefit from not getting returns if they can head off a warped record
before it goes out. The biggest upside is they get the majority of my business, and i've virtually stopped
ordering from Amazon. Yes, i can send it back, but why get a dud in the first place? My biggest
issue is warps, followed by dirt. If my seller can sort this out, it's a huge win for me.

I buy a lot of reissues, the last couple of years has seen a lot of rare and hard to find titles being released,
and it's been a frustrating process to get quiet and flat copy of many of them. Cleaning and flattening does
resolve most of the problems, and i'm extremely grateful to some of my sources for sorting this out. If you
have a hi-fi shop in your area with an electronic flattner like the ORB or Furutech DF-2, and an ultrasonic
cleaner like the AudioDesk, buy them a nice bottle of wine, and send birthday cards to their kids.

Ultimately, i know i'm higher maintence as a customer to a couple of my sources, but i am reasonable
and easy to deal with, and they get a steady flow of my business, so it works out. I keep in mind
that if everyone asked for the service i get, it probably wouldn't be viable as a business.

I don't envy the shops and sellers who are trying to sell modern vinyl. It would be a nightmare
if every single customer actually demanded a non-defective copy. I think the only way it
works for retailers right now is that probably 80% of their customers have no idea the issues
that exist with the records they buy, and accept it.

 

Exactly what I used to do back in the 70s except I would take the LP outside open it then take it back in if it was warped or scratched, fewer bad looks from employees that way.
If this happened several times I'd go shopping and come back an hour later hoping there was someone different at the checkout. It was kinda embarrassing.

 

What would this entail?

 

Opening it, ensuring it's not a sombrero and doesn't have scratches like the pics I posted. If it's a problematic LP, skip to another and repeat the process until one is good enough to be sent out.

Otherwise, it just creates tons more problems for everybody. It's more work for them to have to accept a return, then have to ship another one out. If it's done right on the outset, everybody is happier.

 

I bought Kevin-Gray-remastered "Something Cool" by June Christy that is very warped. The seller could easily have caught that if they had done what you suggest.

 

I don't care who likes it or what anyone thinks. I've been inconvenienced enough with time and gas money that I do it at point of purchase now. I had one lady get snippy at a Barnes & Noble once so I asked her "what would you do in my shoes"?.....matter closed. It's only right, selling defective merchandise and not offering a replacement or refund is dishonest. If they can't make new vinyl correctly I'd rather none be made at all as it's useless to me.

 

Dishonest merchant? Last I checked, you are not supposed to open merchandise until it had been purchased. Isn't that dishonest?
I wasn't trying to argue with anyone, I'm done on this matter.

 

Also, someone's idea of "defective" might be different than others.

I know I'm a little more lenient towards warps than some posters here....that 4th copy that person dismissed after opening I may have been perfectly happy with.

 

If you had more clearly read my original post you would see that I paid for the record first. Then I open and inspect it and if it's defective I ask for an exchange or refund.

 

I'm not a stickler either. I'm not talking about minor waving/warpage I'm talking about severe warps that would effect playback and would render the LP valueless. as in no one would be interested in buying it from you second hand if you decided to sell. And that's the thing; the same store I've gotten most of the defective new vinyl at would gig you severely for defects if you sell your used to them......or tell you it's worthless.

 

Kinda like General Motors in the 70's, 80's and 90's. They had to up their game because of the evil foreign car companies making better vehicles. I don't know if they did up their game...I've never gone back.

As other members of the forum would say... Do you have proof? Do you have numbers to back up your claim?

Major labels LOVE vinyl because vinyl is one-way. If there is a systematic problem on a certain title, the labels might replace the disc. So, if you're an indie that buys direct from a major, you lose. If you're a store that buys from a middle man, you may be able to send the defective product back to the distributor, but I don't know for sure.

Oddly enough, I picked up new pressings of both the red and blue albums and they we're pretty much flawless. Which made me happy. They replaced my original copies I bought when they first were released.

Agreed. It's not a perfect medium. When I managed a record store back in the late 80's through the mid-90's, there were a few customers who were high maintenance. It's that Type-A personality that I always wished that I could use a cattle prod on them! Luckily, I worked in a chain store (not my own store) so more than anything it was just a pain in the **** to have to deal with them. The only time we ever opened tons of albums for everybody was when sales of 'Thriller' went into the stratosphere. There were so many warped copies printed that we would check every copy before selling them to customers. Every week we would send defective boxes back to the warehouse which helped to inflate the sales figures of 'Thriller'.

The funny thing was that by around -maybe- '84, the 'audiophiles' started buying CDs and stopped buying vinyl. So that was a good thing. All I had to hear about was how expensive CDs were!

 

I've just read through this thread. When I've found a title with serial defects, I'll back away after the second copy. It's most likely a bad pressing. I'll wait six months to a year to try again.

Right now I'm at that point with Bob Weir's new LP, Blue Mountain. I've actually tried three copies of that title because there are two pressings, one in clear vinyl and another in black. The two black copies had the same defect which reinforced it's a pressing problem and most likely won't be solved by another copy.

I have to say the folks at Bullmoose were phenomenal about this. They ate all three copies and did it with an apology, like it was their fault. And be assured they did eat those records. Heck, as an old retailer myself, I felt like I should be the one apologizing. There are no returns for defective records any more. That went out twenty-five years ago.

My other take-away from this thread is some of you would have been apoplectic in the 1970s when a third to half of the records I bought were defective. The about 10% overall defect rate I'm currently experiencing is a blessing compared to back then.