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. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    D'oh! Isn't! I meant ISN'T
     
  2. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    Oh you had it right. :shh: I just removed "Neither party on" from the beginning.
     
    GentleSenator likes this.
  3. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Now that I think about it, there are quite a few online sellers that I wish had not written back!!
     
    eddiel and GentleSenator like this.
  4. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    Just sent the same general questions to 6 more sellers. I give them about a week to respond.
    Time will tell if & when they'll respond. Also their attitude speaks loads too.

    Darryl
     
  5. rockindownthehighway

    rockindownthehighway Not interested

    Location:
    Gone
    Hi,

    It's fairly easy to do- read the actual feedbacks, especially the neutral or negative ones. I have complained about this to discogs staff- they often show a 99.something or even 100% rating for guys with obvious bad trade practices and much negative feedback! The feedback percentage shown is totally unreliable. You have to go read what people wrote.

    I failed to do this at first too, based on 100% feedback. The guy took a week to tell me he couldn't find the SACD I ordered and then took a long time to cancel the order. When I actually read what the negative posters wrote (and there were a fair number) they all mentioned the guy often does not have the items he claims to have and then doesn't cancel or notify them. I complained to discogs and they claim to have opened an investigation about this guy. But there is the issue their feedback percent is not reliable...
     
  6. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    good point! you definitely should read what people write in the comments. and then see how the seller responds. if a seller can't help themselves and throw fits they're probably not worth buying from.
     
    hvbias likes this.
  7. rockindownthehighway

    rockindownthehighway Not interested

    Location:
    Gone
    All in all I think it's a really good site. I have met some great people on there, many or most of the sellers are music lovers like us and you can get into nice discussions on recordings etc. and make friends in far away places. Just read the feedback and it is unlikely you will have any problems on that site. And PayPal dispute handling is really good. Their customer service is offensive, but if you file a claim it goes to actual humans who seem to deal with it fairly.

    Good luck, buy music! :)
     
    hvbias likes this.
  8. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    It's a pain but I've also learned to even read the positive ones briefly. A lot of them are like "overgraded but he was nice about partial refund" etc.
     
  9. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Gotta love those. Exactly the people I don't want to buy from.
     
    SoNineties likes this.
  10. SixOClockBoos

    SixOClockBoos The Man On The Flaming Pie

    Ok, this is a little off topic, but I know the sellers on discogs can't really upload pictures of what records they're selling on discogs unless they get lucky and the record they are listing doesn't have a picture up on the database, so they can add theirs in or if their record they're selling isn't in the database at all, but it's really bugging me how some eBay sellers are now becoming too lazy to put up a picture of the record they are selling for the picture option. I've seen one seller put his logo on every record he sells, and another one just has a message written in black sharpie on a piece of printer paper saying that the picture of the record is not available. How lazy can you get? :sigh: Just something that bugged me that I wanted to get off my mind

    And to relate this back to the topic there have been times I've asked for a picture of the label of an item and the seller responded but not with what I asked for. One seller thought that a $5 record wasn't worth their time to take a picture of the labels for me, but they hoped to see me as a customer (long story short, they didn't see me) and one seller could not take a picture of the record because their records were stored in a storage facility away from their offices, but were able to confirm that the record I was looking for was in fact the record they had in hand. I asked for a picture to confirm the edited version of "Susan" by the Buckinghams was in fact on the flip of the regular long version, but getting confirmation from the seller without a picture was fine by me and I ordered it from them. Happy with that purchase since I was able to track down that record after 5 years of looking.
     
  11. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    How could he confirm this with no visual access? Seems like he confidence zapped you. As long as returns are accepted who cares- let er rip!
     
  12. SixOClockBoos

    SixOClockBoos The Man On The Flaming Pie

    I forgot exactly how they was able to confirm it without sending a picture, but at least they were honest. Surely they would've let me know to when they go check their warehouse if its the one I was looking for.
     
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  13. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    This is the way that I do it. Also send questions to the seller.
    You can tell by the way they respond & if they respond how the transaction will go should you pull the trigger.,
    I like to know the lines of communication are open before I buy.
    Also you can tell when you receive your items if the seller was honest with the grading.
    I usually start with small purchases when I'm using a seller for the first time (1-2 items).
    If the items arrive and they look better condition than expected, that seller goes to my favorite sellers.
    I do a lot of testing of the water (so to speak) before I buy.
    Finally the questions I have been sending...

    Any scratches or scuffs on the vinyl?
    Any writing or stickers on the labels?


    Do seem to have a positive effect.
    If the seller says 'looks good' than I think that could be a general answer without having to actually look at the record.

    Darryl
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2018
  14. bmh5879

    bmh5879 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    I give up. I am so tired of buying from sellers with 100% positive feedback over hundreds or thousands of reviews and receiving poorly graded records. If I had to estimate, I feel that more than 50% of the stuff I've picked up over the last few years ha been over-graded. And then you have the deal with poorly packaged records arriving with damaged jackets. I have really cut back my Discogs purchases for these reasons.
     
    GentleSenator likes this.
  15. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    would anyone like a good laugh? Look at this quote I just read From a discogs seller's shipping info:

    "Photos: I will provide photos on items priced over $20 with a $5 deposit, paid via paypal. If you choose to buy the record or someone else gets it in the meantime, the deposit will be refunded."

    Wow
    o_Oo_O
     
  16. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    :crazy: Is it really such a big hassle to provide a picture via email to an interested buyer in our modern day and age? I don't get it.
     
  17. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    I couldn't believe my own eyes. People man....
     
  18. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialistâ„¢

    Location:
    B.C.
    :agree: Some peoples children.
     
  19. rockindownthehighway

    rockindownthehighway Not interested

    Location:
    Gone
    In general I agree with this. But I have seen some really good record shops that were total chaos, run by one or two guys and having tens of thousands of records all packed into a trailer or small store. It's easy to forgot not every shop is like amazon with a million copies of every item all stacked together. Sometimes the guy has to spend significant time looking for something and if he does that enough for people who aren't serious buyers he's going to lose actual customers.

    But I do think the deposit idea is dumb and unworkable and I guess it turns out nobody gets a photo and the guy looks for easy sales. Not sure what the answer is, but I do know the best shops do not know where every single item is. Although they should be able to find it, it can take a while.
     
    cwitt1980 likes this.
  20. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I've seen a few sellers comment about taking the time to take a photo and then never hearing anything back from the buyer. I expect some, like you mention, would have to go through extra effort and if they aren't sure it'll result in a sale decide to wait it out. It's likely that sooner rather than later it'll see to someone who doesn't want a photo.

    I expect that the seller asking for a $5 was probably frustrated at buyers never going through with the transaction and decided to put them off with a charge :)

    If all I want is extra information that a photo can provide, like a label design, then I ask for a photo or if that's not possible to confirm details. Usually they respond a bit better to a request like that in my experience. But lately I find myself not even bothering to ask anymore for a photo.
     
  21. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    that's a good one. i've read plenty seller "terms" in this vein. many don't seem to realize that the wild terms they set, no matter how insane, are not going to be acceptable with discogs and especially not paypal and end up learning a hard lesson from disgruntled buyers.
     
  22. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    I gaurentee your reasons are exactly why he has this policy. And while I agree w him that life is sometimes hard, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen!
    You can't expect everyone to buy vintage items from a stranger online without wanting to see some of them!
     
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  23. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Totally. But like w getting the cold shoulder, this "policy" is a very informative communication. It tells me all I need to know!
     
    GentleSenator likes this.
  24. SixOClockBoos

    SixOClockBoos The Man On The Flaming Pie

    Yeah especially on a website like discogs, you need to be honest or be able to have the item on hand for pictures, because when a buyer messages you about the item, that's a potential sale you have going. This last year I've bought records that have labels different from their marketplace release picture. One was stated to be clean with no writing, and it came with the wrong labels and writing on the label. Another I thought was the first LA press of Hey Jude without production credits, matcies on the labels and no "recorded in England", but it came with at least 1 or 2 of those credits, was a Winchester press and was severely undergraded. Returned that record. Now those two sellers I bought from I am very cautious about making purchases with them. Especially the Hey Jude one because I matched what I got to the discogs marketplace for that release and I saw the seller I bought from selling a version of that release that fit the bill on what I ordered and essentially tried to get $6 out of me or so thinking I wouldn't notice.
     
  25. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    2 replies I recently got from the same seller were...

    Order away and we'll check if anything we'll let you know and cancel no problems.

    Clean label. Order away. Ditto on your other questions.

    Seller always answers my questions. He has 1000+ with only one negative fb & two neutral fb.

    Darryl
     
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