Your Opinion on Discogs transaction, Please...

Thieves are everywhere.

 

I don't buy anything listed as M/NM from Discogs unless it's brand new/sealed. I don't trust anyone. I have bought a lot of stuff listed VG+, most of the time that grading is correct or better, a few times though that VG+ is closer to VG or G+. One time a sleeve listed as VG+ was fair at best.

 

I have done 229 transactions on Discogs. In general I have been satisfied. I have had a couple of instances where I objected to the condition description. However the one thing I notice is a fairly high, roughly 5% occurrence of orders cancelled mainly due to the item not being available.

 

First off 50 bucks is too much period. Should be able to find that album cheaper.

 

Discogs can be hit or miss, I once ordered a nice condition mono album only to get a poor condition stereo album.

 

I’ve done a few transactions and except for one was satisfied. On the one I didn’t fully read the description so that was my fault.

 

I had negative feedback lodged against me for "non-payment" - I was out of pocket with no access, yadda yadda, the seller cancelled the transaction on me. It's a drag but i haven't had any subsequent seller refuse to take my hard earned over a single article of negative feedback. As we've discussed here, those negative ratings impact the sell side more than the buy side.

 

discogs is whistling past the graveyard

 

I don't follow?

 

Completely unacceptable. I'd be really pissed.

 

Did you contest the negative feedback? I did and they took it off.

 

Maybe but in Near Mint? Depends...
Near mint records, near mint sleeves, near mint outer sleeve with heart-shaped heart sticker. Very good is good for some people but I've seen those VG copies for $34.99. So paying for the TRUE near mint, which is #1 for me for a 33 year old double record, seems right...

 

I bought a cd off a guy in Germany without the plastic case and wrapped in heavy card. Prewarned about his posting methods I remarked about the OTT protection and posting in the case in bubble wrap envelope would have sufficed.
Next thing I'm threatened by him with a blacklisting/negative feedback against him. I emailed him to chill, the cd is fine, just OTT.
He refused to lift his negative comment unless I lifted mine. Too much brain space used.
I got on to Discogs themselves and explained and said I can buy easier from Ebay or Amazon and I've been buying lps,singles,cassettes and cds for nearly 50 years from all kinds of Richards but this guy takes the biscuit. They got on to him and put him back in his box.

 

That's total bull. The reason he got that much was because it was supposedly NM. If you wanted a crappy copy, you could have bought one much cheaper. What a jerk! People like that should be banned from selling.

 

I had to ask Discogs to remove feedback for me. I sold a sealed record with a 'Made In the...' sticker still on it. The guy accused me of resealing it because it had a mark. It was only a 10 - 15 dollar sealed record. Why would I waste my time resealing some cheap reissue? Anyways, Discogs took it down.

 

No, because honestly I couldn’t give a fig. I have loads of transactions. If someone doesn’t want to sell to me because of one negative review, I’ll take my business elsewhere.

 

Well, I kind of felt that way too. Perfectly understandable. And honestly Im not usually one to follow up on such things. But turned out it was very easy and my opinion of discogs was high after they did right and saw I was being treated unfairly. Maybe give if some thought and reconsider. Just a suggestion.

 

Speaking of thieves, has anyone noticed that their max value of their highest items have skyrocketed during the pandemic? I had a boo at my values in my collection the other day and was astonished at how much they jumped since March. Could it be that the closure of brick and mortar stores has forced sales online and every person with extra cash is bored and buying records? The nagging conspiracy theorist and analyst in me also found a lot of similar prices for the 'last sold values'. For example $114.30 , $101.60 $95.25, $74.34 come up a few times. I am not saying it is happening but some shady folks could be buying their own records with another account just to jack up the prices because there is high demand during the pandemic. I also see a trend that when an album that has a big jump in the 'last sold for' price everyone lists their prices higher. I am finding these $60 - $200 records priced extremely high especially when Acoustic Sounds, Ama$on and Music Direct still have them in stock for regular retail priced. Is there a big boom in buying collectable audiophile lp reissues? Is there a racket going on? Am I mad?

 

I'm confused why a thread was started on a topic such as this.
The return of item is a no brainer!

 

No kidding. But there are some good cautionary tales that have come of it, so I’m thinking of it as public service!

 

The seller tried everything "How about a 10% discount and then we save the hassle of shipping things again".

I felt like it was worthy of a discussion and made more relevant with COVID and people seeking out records online... Not because shops aren't all open but some are not receiving the used records they used to...

Maybe the thread inspired someone to ask before they pay "Are there seam splits on the jacket? Is there writing on the jacket/label?" It's crazy how varied the definition of NEAR MINT is. something could be glossy with sharp corners... if you wrote "Billy" on it in Sharpie or there is a seam split, it ain't near mint...

 

I recently bought an early rare textured sleeve copy of Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley listed as Mint- Mint- for £145, the cover had a hole in the spine, looked like it was made by the point of a dart, also the album title was partially unreadable. It had a two inch seam split, onetime repaired with scotch tape, the yellowing remnants were on the inside cover more were on the outside top edge of the sleeve. There was a mark on the inside gatefold that looked as though the inside had been stuck together then pulled apart. The LP had hairline scratches, looked as though it had been lifted off a still revolving turntable. There was a name written on both sides of the label (seller did mention this). The LP had a few light crackles, a pop/tick on one track. I classed the condition as VG VG at best. The seller was having none of it, If I wasn't happy I could return it for a refund, which I did. The seller has now relisted for the same £145 still as Mint- Mint-. This LP maybe rare but £145 for the condition was too high, maybe £80 would have been fairer.

 

My experience with buying on DISCOGS has been hit or miss with no real consistency. As long I expect an item to be one grade lower than advertised, I usually end up satisfied. If I am looking for a specific pressing, mastering or cover, that's an entirely different matter.

For example, I was looking for a copy of Three Dog Night's Hard Labor with the uncensored birth scene on the cover (Three Dog Night - Hard Labor ). If you look at the DISCOGS entry, you will see that there are over 100 of them for sale. However, I sent emails to over 20 different sellers and NOT ONE of them had the accurate cover for this listing.

My experience with situations like that is the majority of sellers on DISCOGS do seem to be lazy and not very accurate in their listings.
This story does have a happy ending, as I actually found an uncensored cover in the wild!

 

I had the same experience looking for the Gasoline Alley textured sleeve (UK Pressing), fifteen were listed only one, the £145 had the textured sleeve. I bought one that had the wrong sleeve that I ended up keeping, another I paid for but ended up getting a refund after photos from the seller showed the listing to be wrong. I contacted six other sellers for assurance they had the sleeve I wanted, they didn't, assumed that would be the case for the other seven (too cheap anyway). I've given up now, at least I had the sought after sleeve for a few days, sadly not in the condition listed.

 

That's also one of the reasons I prefer eBay. At least those listings I get to see photos of what I am purchasing. That is something that DISCOGS severely lacks in their marketplace.