Gemm & Musicstack

Has anyone ever shopped at either site? Was it a good experience? Seems a lot more reasonable than eBay.

 

I've shopped at both, good experiences each time.

Like Discogs you have to be careful, as there's little help from the site if something goes wrong, although if you buy via paypal then you'll have that company to back you up if there's a problem.

 

Both are worthwhile places to shop. I have found things in both places that I wasn't able to find anywhere else. Of course it's always important ask pointed questions before buying, especially when there are no photos. You can learn a lot about sellers just by the way they answer the questions. I'd say overall with both I've had a success rate that is about the same as other places (ebay, Amazon, eil, CDandLP, Craig Moerer, Vinyl Tap, Audiophile International, elsewhere).

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I've been very happy with GEMM and would gladly recommend them. The only problem I have encountered with GEMM is that some of the sellers don't bother to update their item listings very often. The good thing is that you won't be charged until the seller has confirmed availability.

 

My #1 place to buy used records is Musicstack. I have half a dozen sellers who I have learned to trust. I buy mostly but not exclusively from them. Once I find a seller I trust, if they have a record I want, I'll search their inventory to see if they have any other titles on my wish list. It saves on shipping.

Sometimes the only place I can find what I'm looking for is Musicstack. After buying one of his records, I want more titles from the late Canadian folk singer, Stan Rogers. Yesterday I found a seller who has a lot his records. I sat on the order overnight as about 40% of the price is shipping. (This store has low prices on their records but higher prices on their shipping. It all averages out.) I will place the order today. I'm still not sure if it will be for 3 or 4 records.

 

Thanks. I'm really trying to get away from eBay.

 

I have used GEMM numerous times - mostly good experiences. That and Discogs are my go-to places for used vinyl.

 

I have found some great deals on GEMM and also some very rare records as well. Selling on GEMM is another story. Very, very slow. I had a GEMM page for about 7 years. On average I sold one record a month. I sold on Musicstack for awhile around 1999-2000. Also, very little sales. I've never quite understood why those two sites didn't take off.

 

If you happen to be buying bootleg CDs from GEMM or Discogs, always ask the seller if it's a silver disc if it isn't already listed as one because many of them are selling cdrs with scanned artwork.

 

I've seen lots of good stuff on both sites

 

Yeah, I just had a very bad experience with Vintage Vinyl not having their online mail order list updated.

 

I've used Gemm often for many years and it's always been a good experience. They have some type of buyers protection, but I've never had to use it.

 

Anyone used Gemm recently ?
Just used it for the first time, i think. Not totally convinced it worked but there is one little field that says 'shipped' so I guess it is.

Not the easiest site to use and no email from seller or Gemm to indicate any action (shipping). Same seller and same release was found to be unavailable on Musicstack. Maybe they found another one ?

Coming from the UK to Australia so it could take weeks before I find out if it did work and another (one?) if it gets delayed.

Couldn't get the Gemm generated username to change either.

 

I used to order from both on a regular basis years ago. I think what happened is that a lot of the international sellers and specialist type sellers that listed on there have migrated to eBay and Amazon for better visibility. Like others said, shopping on there is like shopping on Discogs...you need to review each seller and see who is trustworthy and currently active. Usually I would shoot an email to the seller to see how response they are. If no response within a couple days and they don't have the item ready to ship out I move on to somewhere else. Avoid sellers that say they can special order a certain item or say something is on backorder. You could be waiting weeks or months or forever for what you want.

 

If it says shipped you should have no concern that the transaction occurred successfully. Many sellers list the same item on Musicstack and GEMM. Prices are normally more on GEMM, they must take more of a cut of the profit.

 

I've bought 5-6 LPs via Musicstack and have been pretty happy. As others have said research the seller.

 

I shop at both all the time. I also use Discogs. All three have been great, even from overseas sellers.

 

I find a lot of sellers often have their own website too. Sometimes doing a little homework can save you a few bucks. The same seller on Amazon, for example, might also be selling the same stock on eBay for a few bucks less.

I've only used musicstack twice, and both experience were good. Again, these were professional sellers, with a large inventory. I only buy if they provide full info.

 

No experience with Gemm yet, but I've purchased some records at Musicstack. No complaints so far.

 

I've used Musicstack before with positive experiences. But I always emailed the seller asking about the item to get more details as the amount of information listed tends to be sparse and there aren't many photos of the actual item.

 

I gotten tons of stuff through gemm. Great prices. good service. I have nothing but good things to say. In fact one of my very best sources.

 

I ordered a lot from Gemm ( more than 50 orders ) I Highly recommend on the site,
from Musicstack I ordered only once without any problem.
Discogs is also a great place to order cds and records.

 

Well that was less than totally satisfactory for a first time use of Gemm.

Not the easiest to navigate, no advice when purchase actioned or when item posted and then record seriously not NM. I marked some Feedback box but again couldn't navigate to where I wanted properly.

 

So ... yesterday I *think* I found a record I've been looking for for awhile on GEMM. I shoot an email to the seller, asking him a question about the item.

And today, I can't get the GEMM website to load - at all. Is this typical for those of you who've used that site more frequently than I have? I've only had a dozen or so orders there over the years but they've been mostly successful. I can't recall the website completely disappearing, however. It doesn't seem like a good omen...

 

Over on the Discogs forum I am reading that the GEMM site is gone and the owner filing for bankruptcy