Discogs experiences-postive and negative*

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by ROFLnaked, Oct 17, 2015.

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  1. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    And boom... took no time at all to have an example of what I described.

    No contact, no chance, let's just screw the seller because something didn't go 100% perfectly. Just disgusting...

    Nobody needs customers like that.
     
  2. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    Leaving factual bad feedback isn't "screwing the seller" in any way.
     
  3. Equine Guest

    Equine Guest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wild Wild West
    I have found the largest problem seems to be my having the audacity to ask a seller for confirmation of the pressing and also for clarification on their grading. VG+ is a crapshoot at best. So, I always ask.
    Lately, this garners angry responses from sellers. Patience is running thin, maybe longtime sellers dealing with too many newbies? I don't know, but the anger response is a great way for me to filter my purchases down. It is one of the reasons I ask, to find out if I am dealing with a reasonable individual or no. That seems lost on some. I just move along, there will be a sane seller with a solid copy out there.
     
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  4. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Nothing factual about a mistake, intent, or context when cowardly behavior such as "leave a negative feedback without ever contacting the seller to rectify the situation" is used.
     
  5. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    There are plenty of clueless sellers so I do that too. Dealt with sellers who didn't know what matrix info was, what an off-center record meant, how to process an order, how to leave feedback, post a tracking number, etc.

    And yes, plenty use regular lighting for visual grading which is about the very worst thing one can possibly do. Leads to frustrating on both sides with sellers thinking buyers are unreasonable and buyers thinking sellers don't know what they're doing.
     
  6. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    By "cowardly behavior", I assume you mean "not wanting to waste any more of one's time, after already wasting one's money."
     
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  7. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Nope. I mean "if, as a seller, you shy from perfection, you get your reputation tarnished by a lazy and/or cowardly unforgiving buyer who'd hate to be treated the same way were the shoe on the other foot".

    You also seem to have difficulty in grasping the concept of getting a refund which makes your money-wasting argument moot anyway.
     
  8. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    We're not talking about "shying from perfection". Nobody expects "perfection" from a used record dealer. The fact that you keep framing this as "Whiny buyers whose records aren't 1000% perfect" shows that you're not taking a realistic view of the discussion. Grading of records for online sales is not actually very difficult. If you're not sure, you go to the lower grade so the buyer is not disappointed. Rocket science it ain't. We're talking about sellers who consistently overgrade because there is virtually no penalty for doing so, and Discogs' enabling of same.

    You seem to have difficulty grasping the concept that it may not be worth it for someone to find packaging, package the record for return and make a trip to the post office to return a $5 record, but such people should still have the right to notify other potential buyers of the seller's business practices.
     
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  9. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    No one is really stopping you from leaving factual feedback if you wish so your point is moot. You just need to follow the process which is hardly onerous.
     
  10. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Christ all this for a $5 record? The seller would've likely just refunded you outright if that's the sort of money that was at stake. lol
     
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  11. Brian Hoffman

    Brian Hoffman Obsessive fanatic extraordinaire

    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    To be completely fair, the example I gave was one out of hundreds that I've had that were either good or non-eventful. Almost all the buyers and sellers I deal with are reasonable people, but when it did go off the rails in this case I didn't get much support from Discogs, but we'll see how the followup goes.
     
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  12. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    That's inaccurate. Nowhere did I say buyers don't have a good reason to complain if they bought a record that didn't hold up to what was advertised. The entire concept of leaving a negative feedback entry the moment something like that occurs regardless of reason is cowardly and frankly pretty shortsighted at best.

    A couple of months ago, I had a big sale on the forum. Out of the 30 or so albums I sold, I made one mistake while writing the huge ad about the grading for a jacket. The buyer confirmed everything was good minus the jacket which should've been a grade lower than was advertised. After rechecking my ad, I noticed my mistake, offered him either a partial refund if he kept it or a full refund if he wants to return it. He replied that it's no big deal but just wanted to let me know and left me positive feedback.

    In my case, it was merely human error. There was no agenda nor malicious intention. The buyer communicated to me his concerns like any reasonable adult would, I admitted my mistake like a a mature person would, offered 2 solutions, and the buyer was gracious in respectfully declining both fully realizing it wasn't the end of the world. Regardless of whether he would have chose either of the 2 options I presented, it nevertheless represents accountability on my part in wanting to ensure he's happy in the end. That's how it's supposed to go.

    That's how mature adults resolve any issue that comes our way. Not by leaving a negative feedback entry and dashing off without even providing the opportunity for the other party to acknowledge the problem, take ownership of the issue, and to make it right.

    OTOH, I bought a record from a seller on the forum. A 2-Box Beatles record advertised as NM. Well, the first side is (dare I say it?) mint! Utterly perfect, really. Side 2 has noisy crackling throughout. VG at best. I communicated my concerns to the seller who never responded. Not with an apology, not with the offer of a partial refund, not with a suggestion to return the record... nothing. In such an instance, I gladly left my first and only negative feedback entry here. No idea why a seller with over 400 positive transactions and a perfect record was willing to forfeit his perfect reputation for (I think) $40 but oh well...

    THAT deserved a negative feedback entry.

    No difficulty here. I simply find it hard to believe most people who buy records don't actually keep the packaging around for either when they sell records themselves or for returns. And in the case of cheap records such as the $5 type you mentioned, I've had a few sellers simply refund me the whole purchase including shipping and asking me to keep the record... therefore (once again) rendering your argument as moot.

    But of course, you'd never know that if you favor dropping a negative feedback entry as opposed to writing a couple of lines which you seem to have no problem doing here.
     
  13. SoNineties

    SoNineties Forum Resident

    Location:
    Split (HR)
    Who knows how many times this seller did solve problem created with mis graded items thus retaining a 100% feedback.
    Maybe was it really was his first time, maybe it wasn't.
    Problems is that you can't really tell by the feedback systems such as discogs.

    Example:
    I receive an over graded item (let alone a different version), I am offered full refund (If I am lucky enough) but I have to eat the cost of shipping back the item.

    Should this be a positive experience for me?
    Should it be neutral?

    For me it is definitely negative and warrants a neg. If nothing else to warn other potential buyers.

    In a system that works this way, I would be probably also more forgiving.
    You would think that a 100% feedback is really deserved and the odd error can occur.
    While as things stand I will be always inclined to think that people over grade, refund (partially or completely) and move on onto the next sale granted by their "perfect" score.

    No thanks.

    Having said that, I do understand that discogs interest is to allow as much sales as they can.

    Nothing wrong with that. Not with my money though.
     
  14. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    About what? Human error? And I already mentioned PayPal will refund the cost of shipping to buyers, now. So that argument is moot. I've mentioned this maybe 3-4 times already.

    According to your way of operating, 100% feedback would be impossible unless the seller is perfect every time which is impossible as we're all human. The odd error would immediately result in a negative feedback entry. That sound fair to you?
     
    Dave likes this.
  15. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    That's nice, but the classified ads here are specifically set up to be a venue for members to sell items from their personal collections to other members who want them. The atmosphere is much closer to a neighborhood swap meet or flea market than a commercial retail business. Discogs, by contrast, is a commercial entity that provides e-commerce services for other commercial entities (professional record dealers). Different context, different expectations.

    Ebay was able to transform from a neighborhood-yard-sale-styled website to a commercial juggernaut in part by holding their sellers to higher standards and expecting them to behave like real businesses. If Discogs wants to remain a viable commercial endeavor, they might need to consider doing the same.
     
  16. SoNineties

    SoNineties Forum Resident

    Location:
    Split (HR)
    In a system where you can leave negative feedback without 'accommodating' for negative experiences I (personally) would have the feeling that is indeed a human error.
    While as things stand I am not so sure anymore. Sure there are genuine errors, but it is impossible to tell when that's the case.

    It sounds more than fair.
    It would just change the point reference. In that system a 98% would still be a super great score keeping into account and odd error.
    2 Genuine errors in 100 ? Instant buy for me.

    Unluckily, as things stands even a 99.8% cannot be trustable as you would have to guess if it is really true or not.
    Most of the times there are experiences buried in the 'accommodated ones'.
    If they do not emerge though, what's the point of a feedback system in the first place?
    In other words, it is useless.
    For me.
    For Discogs, that's another matter.

    With regards to Paypal you are right. I just lost contact with their policies since I haven't bought anything on discogs for quite some time now and did not have the need to return anything ever since (maybe luck, huh!). Karma will punish me after this statement :D
     
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  17. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    You're factually wrong. I'm not a business and am a Discogs seller. In fact, most sellers I've encountered are like me and not businesses. Perhaps that is part of your strange bias. Up to you to continue to entertain it and continue to stubbornly resist with all your might but you're just wrong, period.

    Sure hope not. There is no incentive to sell on eBay. Sellers have no power whatsoever and can't warn other sellers about fraudulent practices of specific buyers since negative feedback cannot be given to buyers under any circumstance.

    There is no higher standard. eBay just wanted to eliminate the possibility of a buyer getting ripped off. Their solution was to provide power only to buyers so the sellers have none whatsoever. Only in a fictional world where you'd believe only sellers can be nefarious scheming malicious jerks could this be a good thing.
     
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  18. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    All of this. A hundred times this.
     
  19. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    I didn't say that Discogs offered services exclusively to commercial entities.
     
  20. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Only the seller would know for sure.

    I can assure you that most don't think that way. In fact, there would be little incentive to sell in volume.

    With your lovely system, there's the massive pitfall that if I somehow made a mistake within my first 5 transactions, my rating would immediately be 80%. Oh boy, imagine if it were within my first 3 transactions. I'd be at 66%. Now, I'd have next to no chance of climbing back unless I went through a string of reasonable people who wouldn't leave me a negative for any perceived issue from delivery times to unrealistic expectations. And no one would buy from me due to my feedback percentage.

    No thanks.
     
  21. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Seems like you're just arguing for arguing's sake. Either way, you've clearly lost the argument and are just grasping at straws.

    I invite you to sell on Discogs and then you can come back with some perspective. Until then, you're not offering much beyond illogical tidbits and an inability to see beyond giving merit to whatever would benefit you.
     
  22. SoNineties

    SoNineties Forum Resident

    Location:
    Split (HR)
    My point exactly. I would want to know that because I sure wouldn't want to be buying from you.
    Let other people give you a try.
    You behave/learn, gain some reputation and maybe one day I will be your best customer.

    Wait. I am referring purely to overgrading or sending in the wrong items etc.
    I would definitely approve contact and removal neg if it's due to circumstances not depending to the seller (damaged item in transit, delays etc).

    *Blatant misgrade or different version?
    Well, I am intolerant to this I am sorry.


    I'll head out to party (friday night here in EU)
    Nice talkin' to you!

    *If it's debatable, I am inclined to trust. In my systems. In yours, no mercy. Sorry
     
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  23. JustGotPaid

    JustGotPaid Forum Resident

    So many listings on eBay don't even include a grade. Not at the top or even in the description. The description says helpful info like "from pet, smoke free home." I'm not kidding, this is the entire add for a $30 record.

    Or graded as "EX" Okay... what is the grade scale? Is EX=NM? or is between VG+ and NM? Some sellers are very lazy or just plain stupid these days. Its Friday, time for a beer!
     
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  24. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    My favorite is a plain "Condition is used". Yeah, that says a lot! :laugh:
     
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  25. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    How do you block sellers on discogs? I don’t see a button for it.
     
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