Near Mint on Discogs

Have seriously ever received a truly Near Mint record from a Discogs seller? I've been in the game since an year and I always bought vinyl which is pretty pricy (70$ average is pretty expensive to me, being resonable), and I never found a seller who sold me a record without hairlines, while it was liste Near Mint! Now my question is, is Near Mint just a way of saying "this record had never been taken out of its paper sleeve" ? Am I just stupid or totally unlucky?

 

Has nothing to do with Discogs. Each seller is an individual and some are more thorough than others.

Setting that aside, can you hear the hairlines when playing the record? If not, it's a non-issue. If so, that's a problem for sure.

Due diligence is needed (unfortunately) as people are in my experience nonchalant and not too thorough in regards to grading and even matrix info. Don't be afraid to ask questions and walk away from any would-be transaction which feels unsure.

 

Exactly. The second I saw the subject line I thought " here we go again," let's blame ALL of them, they all look alike.

 

A record gets hairlines when it goes in the sleeve at the factory.

 

Yeah, right now my procedure with seller is: "can you play it once, so you know exactly how it sounds?", "what's the matrix runouts?", and at last, photos... If I'm not wrong, the majority of those hairlines are fine

 

I said "Discogs" to generalize, I'm sorry, but my general experience has been bad... Don't get me wrong: mostly they were polite and everything, but the records have never ever been as perfect as described... As a seller I would describe every little defect and put matrix runouts in the description...

 

I have definitely had some records that I would truly consider Near Mint from Discogs sellers.

These records will have no more than a couple of very light hairlines per side and very little spindle wear on the labels.

Unfortunately the majority of “Near Mint” records I buy from Discogs are actually VG+ , in that they are riddled with hairlines on both sides.

When I find a seller who genuinely knows what NM means, I will buy everything they have that I’m looking for. Unfortunately I have only found a handful of sellers that this seems to apply to...

 

Now, I might deduce you are a Genesis fan, so we might have similar interests, may I know the names of those sellers? It would be interesting to know some which honor their word

 

This is also the way I go about it. When dealing with a seller for the 1st time, I will ask them questions on a few of their items I have in my want list.
This is to establish good communication. No reply...No sale.
All of my regular sellers I have established good relationship with.

Darryl

 

Yep, it has nothing to do with unrealistic buyers with OCD and lack of experience. It just takes looking at the OPs threads and short history here that I'd never sell them any records, new, old, sealed or open.

 

Above I talk about the use of "Mint" in any grading in another thread and you fit the bill as to why it should not exist.

 

I don't believe it exists too

 

Yeah, I tend to avoid it because it pushes expectations of a buyer up, and really they will start looking for something anything that disproves it's not mint. I might say a record is mint as can be in my collection but that's just for my reference.

I can open brand new records and if looking for a flaw I'm sure one can be found, it's just what it is. So a seller can't really say something is mint even when new, as delivered from the factory in excellent shape is better.

Most people selling records are not listening to the records they are selling, they bought them to sell. Playing a record on my system can sound different than you playing them on yours. Yours might amplify surface noise and it can sound black as black on mine, equipment does mater in playing records.

Handling and playing records for some is a art to get them to sound their best. Not everyone does the same thing in prep, and sometimes their prep can make a record sound noisy that never was. You can't buy and play records and have OCD it just will not work. You can't buy and play records and expect any perfection, and if it's not perfect blame a seller.

Now if a record is sold as mint, but has banged up corners, used price stickers or marks from them. The record is wrapped, has scratches that you can feel and see in normal light well it's not mint and the seller is not grading right.

But if your looking at vinyl under a LED light and can faintly see a supper fine line reflect in that lighting, and that tells you it's not mint or excellent, that's a unrealistic grading. I do use both a LED and incandescent turned on at a table to look at records and for my grading. LEDs will always show a faint line that is not really visible under normal conditions or even heard. These faint lines under LED lighting are really not part of any normal grading parameter. You can use a LED for yourself but it's not what grading is doing or centered around.

 

I think that, if they hear crackles, probably I'd hear them too, playgrading is a thing sometimea, I would also pay a little extra for a playgrade copy, you never know...

About the led, the main reason why I ask for playgrade, is to know exactly if I will hear those little fine lines you talk about, or not, I don't care if a vinyl is scratched if it sounds ok

 

When it comes to discogs this unfortunately is true

 

I've basically come to the conclusion that if a record is graded a NM, I'm hoping for a very nice VG+/EX (especially older albums).

 

Same here

 

in my experience its usually best to accept any grading of a record sold online will likely be at least 1 grade lower than advertised and usually 2 grades.

 

That's right, a record can. I have records that I have only played once, to make sure they play alright. Does that mean it is not a Near Mint record?

If you don't put it on a turntable at least once, how do you know it's not warped? I never believed Near Mint meant never played. I've been dealing

with used record shops for over forty years. They never said that never played was what Near Mint meant.


Will add, this shopping by mail we all do now is difficult. It is all a matter of trust.

 

Exactly

 

Near Mint is not supposed to be never played. Who told you this? Mint condition means likely never played. Near Mint is super close to Mint, but just under in my book. If Mint means unplayed / un touched, then what does Near Mint mean? It means possibly played, very close to Mint, but not quite. A perfect record with no wear, but a spindle mark on the label is NM to me.

If NM and M were the same thing then why have two different grades at all?

 

You seem to want a MINT record, never taken out of its sleeve, but you are buying Near Mint records I take it?

I think buying and selling records is a sport that takes some getting used to. One needs to look at the description and grade, and it there is any discrepancies, then you need to know what they mean.

Like:

NM media
VG+ cover

Then in the descriptions, it says:

Plays side one with a bit of noise at the start of side, but it clears up after a minute or so. The cover has a name written on top, a bottom split, and normal shelf wear.

So LP is clearly a VG+, and cover a VG (trashed)

So then one must look at the feedback and their other records. If you see another seller with the same record and grade, look at their description.

See if it says:

LP was played once and recorded to R2R tape, so it looks about brand new. The cover still has shrink wrap on it but has a cut corner and the very earliest signs of a break at the bottom edge.

You know which one to go with right?

 

To me it's unnecessary to have two of those, no one uses mint ever, if he does he is overgrading... Possibly archive copies can be mint, but in a real words you are likely to get some wear, especially with age

 

Obviously the second one, sellers aren't always putting descriptions anyway, they always should to me, those matter more than a grading system whichh is different for everyone

 

I'm sorry to disagree. I just loaded up another 20 LPs into my Discogs store tonight. This was quite a chore because they were Russian Melodiya label classical LPs. And the text is sometimes and sometimes not translated into English on the back cover. So I had to look them up in a book called the Canfield Guide to Classical Records. In this book is all labels and all records by catalog number. So I look up the LP get the English translation and see if Discogs has the composer and the given LP. And then load my copy in. Lots of work. Anyway, none of these 20 LP were offered by any sellers in North American, and none offered outside of Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. Anyway, I know I am rambling here. But some of my copies of these records I took out of the plastic inner sleeves and they were untouched by a human since their original pressings. 60s, 70s, and 80s pressings stone mint untouched. And the rounded plastic liners were the kind that does not fog the LP like so many polycloride poison stuff we have seen in the US and UK.

There are stone Mint LPs out there. There are mint copies that have been played once and handled so well that you would not be able to tell anyone touched them. In fact I know how to get an LP out of the sleeve without letting it touch the inside of the inner so that it gets no handling wear at all. I knw that there are rock albums just like my classical stuff that has been kept in perfect condition all these years.

Anyway, I am using MINT for those perfect mirror looking platters that are simply perfect (I saw 7 or 8 of them tonight). If I see one spindle mark on any of the labels, then it is Near Mint.

The biggest problem with buyers are that they don't want to hold out for the nicer LP, or they want to pay $15 when they really should pay $25 to $35 and get a better copy. If one does not see the right condition with great feedback, then hold the trigger and wait another week or two until that perfect one shows up. And if when it arrived and it's not what was expected, then politely email sellers and tell them we have a return coming and send it back. Real simple. I can't give away all of the tricks in my book of collecting, because it is a sport you learn, and you use those tips you pick up to spot the deals.