Your Opinion on Discogs transaction, Please...

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by StevenC, Sep 12, 2018.

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  1. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    "Item not as described" is the crux of the problem, it sounds like that to me. I have found the best way of resolving issues is respectful communication with the seller to work out an acceptable solution. As someone mentions upthread, perhaps the seller still has the other disc, having been mis-filed or something. Always best to try and avoid an adversarial stance in communication, and assume it is not an intentional deception on the part of the seller. Allow room for all parties to save face. I always reserve negative feedback for only worst offenders who refuse to play nice, keeping in mind those individuals are likely to retaliate with negative feedback against me as well, even undeservedly.

    Good luck and remember, often a little bit of faith and patience can go a long way.
    One can express dissatisfaction and expect remedy without taking an adversarial position.
     
  2. StevenC

    StevenC SUEDE > Both Oasis AND Blur. Thread Starter

    It took a while but I finally got a refund. The issue initially was that when I told the seller that it was far away from Near Mint, he replied "It's about the tunes! Not the sleeve. You're being too picky. The sleeve has a hole in it, big deal. I'll give you $5.00 back of your $40". He fought me... but I finally got a refund after 4-5 weeks..
     
  3. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Good advice on many issues - e.g., CD and CD case different - but some of the grading can be infuriating. Sure sellers often say “keep the records” and issue a refund, but I don’t care about the money as much as really looking forward to having a mint copy of a particular record and being disappointed by a dirty, scratched record (no exaggeration in a few instances).
     
    Crimson Witch likes this.
  4. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Never got that kind of response! If I did I’d be Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction (you know, “a mushroom cloud layin’ . . . Superfly TNT).
     
  5. JamesD1957

    JamesD1957 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cypress, Texas
    Glad you got your refund. I've had mostly good luck with Discogs, but if I had experienced the kind of transaction that you described, I would fight it tooth and nail to get a refund. I still think it's a better place to shop for used records than eBay, but it is far from perfect.
     
    chickendinna likes this.
  6. Phil Tate

    Phil Tate Miss you Indy x

    Location:
    South Shields
    He tried to argue that it's "about the tunes" when you only had half of them? Absolutely incredible.
     
  7. WhoTapes1

    WhoTapes1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greensboro, NC
    ALWAYS ask for pictures from the seller before you purchase anything from Discogs, unless you’re only talking about a very inexpensive purchase. It’s a hassle to always have to ask and it holds up the purchase process, but is usually worth it in the end:
     
    Zongadude likes this.
  8. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    The fact that a seller sent a 2LP set missing one of the records reflects the fact that as the value of vinyl has gone up, all the s**theads that used to scour Goodwill for CDs and books (and know little about either) are now in the vinyl business.

    They aren't music fans. They are just fans of making a buck.
     
    The Trinity, Tullman and c-eling like this.
  9. First open a dispute with the merchant card who provided payment. Then work your way back. This will immediately put the seller on notice that it’s in their best interest to refund/resolve, then advise seller you’ve done just that (they’ll get an email from merchant services too so that’ll know) and if refund is received within the day, you’ll consider the matter resolved, otherwise negative feedback and await your refund which is all but a forgone conclusion. Advise you’ll require a prepaid UPS label and call tag for pickup with all arrangements handled by seller if they request a return of the incomplete order - partial merchandise. I prefer American Express because they tend to stand behind the card member without fail. I’ve only had three of four failed transactions (all resolved in my favor) with Discogs out of about 100 plus purchases.
     
  10. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    That's a good one! :cheers:
    I've had responses like that numerous times. And also these 5 buck refund offerings. I mean... excuse me? They overgraded or send me damaged goods - thanks to unprofessional packaging - and suddenly I'm the "greedy" one because I won't accept their oh so generous 5 $/£/€? Because even if I knocked that off, the record in that condition still would be overpriced?

    I ruined my Discogs profile thanks to an encounter of the dumb kind. Because after he lost the PayPal case the guy gave me a bad rating as revenge.... :hurl:

    Lesson One: Always buy from sellers that have many transactions under their belt and a 100% rating!
     
  11. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    What did he have to say about the fact that he only sent you one LP in a 2-LP set? That's what really stood out to me in this incident. Insane!
     
  12. sound chaser

    sound chaser Senior Member

    Location:
    North East UK.
    I'm glad you got sorted, seller sounds like a complete ****, I sell too but I would never act like that.
     
  13. Zongadude

    Zongadude Music is the best

    Location:
    France
    This.
     
    WhoTapes1 likes this.
  14. Ctiger2

    Ctiger2 Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Discogs can be a crap shoot. I've ordered a TON of (NM or M-) UK/German first pressings the past couple years and I'd wager 60% were "satisfactory" while the other 40% were (wrong pressings or over-graded). It took ordering 4 copies of one album to actually get the right pressing. Many times since these are coming from Europe the sellers will just issue a full or partial refund to avoid shipping things back.
     
  15. fast'n'bulbous

    fast'n'bulbous tight also

    Location:
    New York, NY
    OP: I'm curious, what was the seller's rating? Early in my discogs life I had a similar experience to yours. I took it to the community boards and said I was surprised cuz the guy had a 94% rating and people said "Are you CRAZY buying from somebody like that???" I filed a PayPal dispute and got a refund just days before discogs banned him. I wasn't the only one, obviously.
     
    lazydawg58 likes this.
  16. MattyDC

    MattyDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    The DMV
    I use Discogs quite a bit, but I buy only from brick and mortar sellers that have 99%+ good ratings and more than 100 reviewers. There are also a number of countries that I do not buy from, no matter how good a deal the seller appears to be offering. I'm willing to pay a premium for security and an ability to easily address any issues that might arise.
     
    lazydawg58 and Crimson Witch like this.
  17. plentyofjamjars67

    plentyofjamjars67 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan
    :)Great to hear. That sounded like exactly the type of discogs seller/transaction everyone buying on there needs to avoid. Important. glad you got your money back.

    I've spent a lot of $$ on discogs the last couple years but not much recently. I've finally gotten tired of the crap shoot. And some sellers love to take your money and send you some crap. some of them even have no idea they're doing so. it looks glossy. Generally, I've bought obscure 60s 7" singles, and as I started buying more, I found a lot of things I was looking up were available from one of many sellers I had already bought from and liked/trusted. That is the key. also, the ones who take the time to additional comment on condition without using words like minty etc are also nice. You can tell a lot from the way someone displays themselves on there whether to bother with them or not.

    The things I look for, in order: after finding the pressing and the condition (I'm a VG+/VG+ guy when NM is impossible), I find the right price (cheapest). if that seller has no shipping deals and wants additional money for each item, I keep looking. They are always a last resort. Also, if their shipping terms are in all caps or antagonizing, not easy to determine, I move on. The best sellers have up to however many items for a reasonable, fixed amount and very easy shipping instructions. Anybody domestic wanting more than $5 for one item shipped is out of the question on principle. No exceptions.

    Seller's feedback. Read their negative feedback (usually written by people that have no self control and few ratings). rarely, if ever, have I purchased from somebody with under 99.5%, but there have been a couple times where I have bought from 98% sellers if the context looked ok and I wanted the record bad enough. Sometimes the bad feedback is back in the past far enough. they've made up since with many new positive transactions.

    The more popular the artist, the more room there is for error, I've determined. That is true in every transaction I've dealt with on discogs. I've never been mean or angry to a seller though, Angelo73 up thread is absolutely correct in when dealing with a problem, it's best for all to control yourself (it's warped!) and be affable. Best results.

    Very similar to my experiences. I've bought way more singles than LPs however, but still from many international sellers. Thinking back, several of the LPs I bought were indeed problematic (condition, listed wrong), but most were as described. I'd say I probably had 70% success overall, but the other 30% included some truly annoying stuff, real incompetence along with the usual honest mistake.. It does pay to ask ahead as I've rescued many a title from being listed wrong and usually a thankful seller.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2020
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  18. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    The problem is that these are usually volume sellers that grade the records visually. Grading visually is basically an educated guess. I always figure NM is VG+ and VG+ is VG. But as you note, sometimes it is two grades lower. Of course sometimes a VG ends up being VG+ and VG+ is NM, because hairline scratches and scuffs that cause a visual grader to grade down really don't affect play.
     
  19. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    For that matter VG+ is "suppose" to mean that the record plays without flaw and the only difference with it from NM is appearance. But in practice they aren't listen grading so they don't know one way or the other. What someone has visually graded as VG+ often contains crackles, pops and / or surface noise that make them truly VG or sometimes G+. But how do you complain when you look at the record you purchased and visually that's what it looks like? Of course the same is turn at a brick and mortar store. Unless you ask the store owner or clerk to put the album on the TT you are buying based on visual appearance.
     
  20. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    I am a member of Discogs, and have put up pics of variants of various 45's, LP's and some 78's, neither as a buyer nor seller, but as a roadmap to those that are doing either or both.

    But I did buy exactly one record off a Discogs seller to date. An Italian production music library album, two tracks of which were used in different sketches on The Benny Hill Show. Paid for it (about $15 - $20), came in due time, and was satisfied. May have to get a few other such LP's once all this hubbub passes, especially in cases where there are tracks used on TBHS that, in their original state, are not available for checking out on YouTube. (Especially much of De Wolfe that they haven't digitized, or Chappell, Berry Music and Josef Weinberger.)

    In short, a more "just the facts, ma'am" transaction info.
     
  21. lazydawg58

    lazydawg58 Know enough to know how much I don't know

    Location:
    Lillington NC
    I try to only buy from US sellers and lots and lots of transactions. I'll go as low as 98% if their transaction number is extremely high and never go below 100% if their number of transactions are only a couple hundred or so. I don't limit to brick and mortar as I've found some sellers that are selling off their father's collection or something like that and have really good prices for hard to find but not high demand albums like bluegrass.
     
  22. plentyofjamjars67

    plentyofjamjars67 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan
    Great point that didn't occur to me when rattling away in my post. Though I have taken a couple chances with the latter if it looks they may have just had some trouble getting started and have since improved.
     
  23. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    It's sucks what happened with OP's transaction, but it is possibly an honest mistake.
    I'd be respectful and friendly in asking for a return, until your not treated in kind.
    I haven't bought many records off Discogs, but been lucky with those purchases.
    I've bought a lot of CD's off the site and have had good experiences. I buy new vinyl when I know the CD version is bad and generally go Amazon, for the return policy. I've returned a bunch of records there and even been given a record for free when they sent me the wrong one twice. In that case the wrong one was a Hendrix album I wanted. I called Amazon about it and lo and behold. I've had some poorly graded records sent to me from E-bay and even had a seller get a little crappy with me after selling me a terribly damaged copy of Deep Purples Fireball. I got refunded and didn't have to send back the bad merchandise, but I had to endure the azzhole commenting, "I hope you enjoy your free record"....Unfortunately since he lived up to his obligations I couldn't leave bad feedback, and I would have.. In other cases, sellers have sent replacements and taken their time about it. While not really happy, I still leave good feedback, but give them a small piece of my mind via private message.
     
  24. optoman

    optoman Forum Resident

    Location:
    London. UK
    I ruined my Discogs profile thanks to an encounter of the dumb kind. Because after he lost the PayPal case the guy gave me a bad rating as revenge.... :hurl:
    You can actually get Discogs to cancel a feedback against you if you complain to them and show that the feedback was not justified. It happened to me once about 3-4 years ago where I was the seller and the buyer gave me a bad feedback without even telling me that there was a problem.
     
    Neonbeam likes this.
  25. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Haha, this just reminded me of yet another encounter I had only this February. Ordered the MFSL "Idlewild South" vinyl - at least that's what the seller listed it under for $40 on the Amazon marketplace - and after almost three weeks I received a late 70's Dutch reissue. When I politely asked the seller what that was about he started to get funny with me, informing me that I "should learn" to read the fine print. Because apparently after listening it under "MFSL", giving condition and price he mentioned something like "Made in Holland 1976" even further down below in the description. If he knew what he had why did he offer it for a premium as MFSL in the first place? Things like that are not "honest mistakes" but attempts at scamming unsuspecting customers.

    After I raised the pressure he generously took it back. Thank you very much! :hurl:
     
    Chemguy likes this.
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