How do you weed out bad sellers on Discogs?

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Hand Of Ike, Aug 1, 2018.

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  1. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    I never trust anything less than a playgrade from unknowns.
     
    Hand Of Ike likes this.
  2. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    I just look over what they have and see how they write in the description. It doesn't bother me if stuff is playgraded or not. Even if it was, I have no idea what their system is like or what kind of weight they're putting on the records. I'd rather not ask them to play it for me in fear they might ruin it in the process. Anyways, usually when I buy something I look at whatever else they have to see if a shipping deal may be worth it. If they're just throwing up gradings and not leaving descriptions, I'll rethink my order or send them a message. I sell on there and sometimes I get a collection where I absolutely cannot listen to all the albums. For the most part, I grade something that may look NM as just VG+ and let them know it's probably a little better than that. Obviously if they have an issue, I'm good for it. I try to be a good seller.
     
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  3. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I only buy from sellers with 100% positive feedback and who have at least 100+ ratings. I look at the feedback to see what buyers are saying, keeping an eye out for phrases like "condition better than described," etc.

    For LPs, I no longer buy anything graded lower than NM or M-. In my experience, far too many sellers have a very loose interpretation of what VG+ means. Lots of sellers on Discogs seem content to pass off noisy, crackly, and/or somewhat warped LPs as VG+. What's also good about sticking only with NM LPs is that it's easier to prove when a record isn't. If something's got a decent amount of surface noise and/or visible scuffs/scratches, it ain't NM. The definition of NM is less open to interpretation than VG+.

    In some cases, I'll ask the sellers questions about the condition of a record, and then decide whether to buy based on the answer I get. If the seller gives me a more detailed description, or even plays part of it and describes how it sounded quality-wise, that's good!

    Finally, I make sure the seller accepts returns.

    Even after doing all this, I've still wound up with a few bum LPs that I had to return. Some sellers, even with stellar feedback, still seem to flat out lie with the hope that the buyer won't bother complaining.
     
  4. Dante Fontana

    Dante Fontana Forum Resident

    Location:
    Melbourne
    The one big plus of using discogs is that records are listed as a particular pressing, whereas most ebay sellers give no such information and you would have to ask first.
    I've found little difference in grading accuracy between the two sites, although the problem with discogs is the next step down from NM is VG+ which many sellers are reluctant to make if there are a just a few clicks and pops. On the other hand if you have a conservatively grading seller you don't really know whether you're getting a VG or NM which of course are wholly different propositions. Unfortunately I have to assume there'll be a fair bit of noise on a VG+ despite the guidelines.
    Also, to be fair many sellers aren't pros and just don't have the time to play grade, especially if it's a $5 record.
     
    cwitt1980 likes this.
  5. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    A seller who knows what they are doing will communicate this in their writes ups. No, I don't mean by stating "I know what I'm doing". The vast majority of vinyl sellers visually grade. It's ridiculous to assume otherwise. I play grade what I sell most of the time and I am crystal clear about this [including cart/table used] AND when I visually grade but that's just me. I'm not in a rush to sell and I find I can get higher prices on play graded records.
     
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  6. PopularChuck

    PopularChuck Senior Member

    Location:
    Bay Area
    I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've been disappointed by a purchase, and I've never had a situation that warranted a return. Maybe I've been lucky.

    That said, I tend to assume everyone grades generously, so I keep that in mind. I ask questions and ask for photos. I scan other items they have for sale, just to see what the overall condition of their collection is. And I read as much feedback as I can stand.

    Ultimately, though, I trust my gut.
     
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  7. citizensmurf

    citizensmurf Ambient postpunk will never die

    Location:
    Calgary
    If a seller has any negative or neutral feedback, I'll read some of those to see why the buyers left them. Sometimes it's one bad review for someone who clearly did not understand their shipping policies or something else, and it will drop their overall rating by a few percentage points (depending on how many sales they do). I've had mostly good experiences with Discogs, and the worst was a record which arrived broken in half by a flimsy "Cardboard" mailer. They still refunded me, and I didn't leave any feedback, I just told them to pick a better mailer.

    If you are mostly buying older vinyl, it can be challenging to trust people's grading standards online, but there are some very good sellers on Discogs who take very good care of their records.
     
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  8. e.s.

    e.s. Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Buyers can request to have retaliatory feedback removed.

    Reading a seller's feedback from other buyers definitely helps, especially for sellers in the 99.5-99.9% range with a large number of sales. I've made over 900 purchases from Discogs sellers in the last five years and while majority have been great, the ones that haven't were generally from sub-100% sellers I didn't look into thoroughly enough because I was blinded by how badly I wanted the item.

    Sellers with 100% positive feedback do make grading errors (or simply overgrade), but they at least know enough about customer service to resolve the situation quickly and fairly.

    How are a photos "a no-no?" I have yet to deal with a Discogs sellers who won't send photos if requested. Also, many sellers list shipping with the items, those that don't generally ask for buyers to inquire about shipping costs prior to purchase, or list shipping costs in their seller profile. If they don't, the buyer can always ask before committing to a purchase.

    German and Japanese sellers are awesome, possibly the best. Shipping costs are higher, but always worth it given the quality (and often rarity) of the product and the care in packing.

    No complaints about French, Spanish, Dutch, Greek, Australian, or Swedish sellers.
     
  9. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Most sellers are great. I had a couple of bad experiences. One the seller didn't send a picture cover for a 45 which was i bought it. And said he would never have done that. I wrote back a few times, no budge, so, then sent it back. Another seller sent me a 45 of Be My Baby that looked like it got ran over by a truck. Not VG. It was handled much better than the first guy. I also ordered a 12" of Hawkwind which showed up 6 months later, so trippy.

    Still love browsing there.

    A few times i wasn't happy about shipping costs but still ordered. That bugged me enough to put on hold on Discogs for a while. I'm on a non buying of anything for a few months anyhow.
     
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  10. Somerset Scholar

    Somerset Scholar Ace of Spades

    Location:
    Bath
    I bought a Near Mint 1st UK press of Band on the Run and when it came it was VG-. Seller blamed his dad for sending the wrong one and they couldn't find the NM copy. Whatever, the truth, I was treated very poorly. I don't use Discogs anymore.
     
  11. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    I've never had an issue with "bad sellers" overgrading records on Discogs (more often than not I'm looking for the cheapest copy available in decent shape, so I'm not that picky) but what annoys me is when I buy an LP from a Discogs seller and they message back "Sorry, already sold that one, forgot to delete it from our catalogue" etc...three times that's happened to me now. At least they refund me immediately...
     
  12. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    I know that I buy from US sellers from in Europe, the postage will be sometimes twice the buying price, and there will be additional customs fees.
    Just a warning to other Europeans.
     
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  13. MaestroDavros

    MaestroDavros Forum Resident

    Location:
    D.C. Metro Area
    I've generally had good experiences on Discogs. I think the worst ones include the aforementioned import shipping blow ups ($5 record that has $40
    shipping, although I did choose the most secure shipping option fully aware once it was presented to me), and most of all in my early days getting a mono album even though I ordered in the stereo section... twice! Jokes on them though, since I recently got a still sealed mint stereo of that album for about $25 including shipping.

    My philosophy on Discogs is to (almost) never get mad at sellers, and communicate with them when needed. If I don't like a product I simply either give them a neutral review or just ignore reviewing them entirely; to me that's as good a consequence as you can give on Discogs as it stands currently. I would only give a negative feedback if during the order process they were truly unbearable, but I've snuffed enough out that hasn't happened yet.
     
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  14. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    I guess there's no easy way around this... personally, I only buy stuff on Discogs that I wanna have out of a mood and that isn't exactly too rare or expensive (e.g. Alan Parsons Project or something like that). Plus, in a rather low rating (VG or VG+) so I'll have an album that likely won't get played every day, wasn't expensive and thus doesn't make too much trouble when the condition is not the best.

    Up to now, I seem to have been lucky. That Alan Parsons LP was NM, as was the Falco CD (also a VG+ offer) and the Elton John album. For minor differences, one can use the 'neutral' feedback, like very long shipping time or if the booklet looks quite worn/warped already.
     
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  15. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    You can't really. Well.... obviously you can read feedback but I had one of my worst experiences with a seller who had only - and really many - positive feedbacks and a 100% profile. He send a 70€ record without removing the two discs from their sleeves, causing severe seamsplit.

    So I politely wrote to him, send pictures and asked him for either a return or a substantial refund. He offered 5€ and said a return was out of the question because he didn't know what to do with the record. It was useless to him. WTF?!

    He also denied all responsibility for the damage because he never had heard that vinyl should be removed from the sleeve. That was something I must have made up, otherwise he would have heard of it in his 20 years in business. What????

    End of story, I opened a case, finally got my money back through PayPal but had to pay postage for the return and even received nice negative feedback from the seller who accused me of being "clueless, greedy and rude".

    Any more questions? Discogs is a gamble. But in the end the positive experiences outweigh the negative ones.
     
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  16. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    That whole retaliatory rating thing happened to me too... it can get nasty, and the vendors hold all the cards; the sites want to continue taking their "cut" from the sales.

    I developed pretty good instincts about sellers on eBay and had 95% good experiences when I was active there. My handful of Discogs experiences have been OK, but I don't enjoy buying from that site.

    It will always be a crapshoot. Some sellers over-grade as a matter of policy... there are no real negative ramifications for doing so.
     
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  17. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    Same problem I have with E-bay sellers, they pull a move on you to see if they can get away with it and profit. You call them on it, get a refund and then you are not allowed to give feedback. So the seller is encouraged to try it on everybody they please. This pisses me off.
     
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  18. Solace

    Solace Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brussels, Belgium
    Excellent subject for a thread and lots of good ideas here. Here are a few of mine:

    1. If it's over-graded - SEND IT BACK! Out of every 4 orders I make, I have to send at least 1 back due to over-grading. I contact the seller and attach a digital rip of the offending track and/or photos to say "this is what I'm hearing". Postage from Belgium (where I live) is expensive and usually I have to shoulder the return costs myself unfortunately, so obviously I have to decide if it's worth it.

    2. Feedback - Check the negative feedback: How common is it? Is it justified? How did the seller react? I often go for relatively new sellers that only have a few instances of feedback (but all positive obviously). I figure that often these sellers are smaller and more motivated as they can't afford to get a negative. They're often more collectors than sellers and will play grade as well. When it's a seller with a lot of feedback, it's often because they're larger-scale and can afford a negative. Due to scale, they usually don't play-grade either.

    3. Check the sellers other stock and see how he grades. Is it varied or is everything advertised as NM?

    4. My experience with German and Japanese sellers has been uniformally excellent. British sellers are often large-scale and as a result unreliable for the reasons mentioned above (in my experience). If I'm buying from Russia I always insist on registered post.

    5. My experience with eBay has been more reliable than Discogs. One seller I particularly like is:
    hotstampersuk on eBay
    They generally deal in pricier items but the play grading is very reliable.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2018
  19. Giorgio

    Giorgio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Varese Italy
    If a seller does not answer to all my questions/requests, that seller is automatically out of my choices.
     
  20. Hand Of Ike

    Hand Of Ike Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Hi all,

    Just catching up with your replies - thank you so much for your input... I am getting a really good idea how to go on forwards....

    The most surprising thing for me is that some of these seller get 99-100% feedback from overgraded stock meaning there are many buyers out there who's idea of NM is a little off or who just don't mind - this site gives me more hope that people take their collections very seriously and expect to be dealt with accurately....

    Having just rekindled my love for vinyl and original pressings - I didn't want my recent experience on Discogs to scupper that.

    I will keep reading any replies or tips and I'm going to compile from this a sort of checklist to minimise potential problems. It's been good to hear from people using Discogs and having majority good experiences gives me hope as after listening to the Sergio Mendes LP I wanted to throw Discogs in the bin!

    I appreciate the time you all put in, warm regards
     
    Giorgio likes this.
  21. Hand Of Ike

    Hand Of Ike Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    I will give them a look, I don't mind paying more for correct grading and a good service.....
     
  22. Linto

    Linto Mayor of Simpleton

    I'd like to know how to weed out the bad buyers ! The ones that never receive it, or miraculously manage to change an EX+ into a G by just looking at it. The ones who moan and complain over something second hand and 30 years old not being absolutely perfect and like new.
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  23. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    I'm very happy with my discogs purchases.
    German sellers usually are the most eficient and reliable
     
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  24. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    I never leave negative feedback, first I try to contact with the seller to find a solution
     
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  25. Joy-of-radio

    Joy-of-radio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central ME
    Ratings can be deceptive in that if a buyers demand a refund and sellers agrees to that, orders are cancelled and there's no longer opportunities to rate them. Sure you get your money back, but are you satisfied? Did you enjoy your buying experience? Do you think these sellers deserve glowing reviews? Meanwhile these sellers try their deceptions on others. This problem is trending too! Discogs should absolutely do away with buyer ratings and if they would, I guarantee you'd see a significant rise in seller quality, ethics, and perhaps asking prices. Usually the latter though is controlled by stiff competition.
     
    patient_ot and Hand Of Ike like this.
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