Discogs...

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by averica, Jul 15, 2020.

  1. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    Sounds like the CD truly *is* VG, and not VG+ . Grading at VG+ means even a single light scratch. Lots of light scratches = VG.

    Per Discogs, a VG is: "Quite a few light scuffs/scratches, or several more-pronounced scratches. This has obviously been played, but not handled as carefully as a VG+."

    It's not just about how deep or pronounced the scratches are that reduce the grading to VG, but the amount of light scratches. Sounds like you need to re-edit your listings to downgrade a few things to VG, not tell people that it's not NM. NM means no visible scratches whatsoever. NM means perfect other than it has been opened. VG+ means something slightly less than perfect. VG means lots of very light scratches, or a just a few larger/deeper scratches (that don't affect play) or scuffing.
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  2. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    You did not fully describe VG+, you fail to mention exactly what Discogs says about grading a VG+ disc. I'll copy it below for you.

    This disc has a few faint and light scuffs / scratches, but nothing more-pronounced.

    This buyer wanted perfection or just a fast rip 'n burn.
    ----
    Very Good Plus (VG+)
    A few minor scuffs/scratches. This has been played, but handled with good care - and certainly not abused.
    Insert/Inlay/Booklet: Slight wear, marks, indentations, it may possibly have a cut-out hole (or similar).

    Very Good (VG)
    Quite a few light scuffs/scratches, or several more-pronounced scratches. This has obviously been played, but not handled as carefully as a VG+.
     
  3. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city

    Right. If a disc as a number of light scratches, it's VG. You implicitly agree with this by pricing it at VG levels; you just want to create the perception of value by grading it at VG+

    If I bought a VG+ disc and it had a bunch of scratches on it - even if very light - I'd return it for misrepresented grading as well.
     
  4. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I dropped prices on some of my Classical items after 3 months, and then the remainder of it after another month. The Rock stuff I did not drop any prices, but after 3 or 4 months I am slowly clinking the "Offer" check box so buyers can at least offer a lower price. The only offers I have accepted are the ones where buyers are grabbing a couple or a few items at the same time. Many of the offers I get are asking for a $10 or $20 discount. I've declined most of those types of offers. Got a $25 offer for a Badfinger LP I have priced at $40. I declined and then they bought it a day later. Had they asked for $8 or $9 break on it I would have accepted.
     
  5. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I know that I wrote: "The other is a CD buyer who said that the VG+ graded CD has scratches all over both sides of the disc." But it did not. He's a liar on that account. But since I back up everything with a money-back if not satisfied, it's not about if I agree or not.

    The buyer claimed that the label side was pretty scratched up as well, and it was not. That was the big ??? for me - I simply mentioned their comment, I never said it was true.

    And all of my CDs are much lower prices than other offers. I don't charge $60 for a VG+ disc I don't care how rare it is. That is how I am selling CDs continually, I have them all priced $2, $5, $10, and $20 less than the competing offers. That's what the other sellers are asking for this one.

    I see you took the buyer at their word.
     
  6. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    I'm not really talking about this particular buyer. If a CD has more than "a few" (discogs' words) light scratches, then it's a VG. I understand that nobody wants to grade their stuff VG because it's much harder to sell. But something with more than "a few" (meaning, IMO, 4-5) light scratches puts it solidly in VG territory. Most CDs that have been played are going to be VG, unless the owner took exceptionally good care of them.
     
  7. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I got a returned package from Germany last week 3 months after sending. Looks like it never got claimed.

    This is sad because the buyer paid $35 for shipping of a 3LP box set (Classical).

    Subtotal for 1 item $29.99
    Shipping via Airmail $35.00
    Total $64.99

    I wonder if they got covid after making the purchase, and have not yet recovered?
     
  8. DON'T USE IT.
    NO recourse if item doesn't match description.
    I bought there recently for the first time in ages and regret it immensely.
    Only go there if something is nowhere else and you want to take a chance on damaged items.
    I will NEVER buy there again.
     
  9. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    This isn't true at all. If you pay via Paypal, you're protected the same as on any other online marketplace.

    There are tons of dicey sellers on Discogs (just like Ebay) but there are also reliable sellers with reasonable prices.
     
  10. JustGotPaid

    JustGotPaid Forum Resident

    I just received some lp's from Europe. The seller wrapped the cardboard mailer in 2 layers of bubble wrap and taped water tight. Not a bad idea at all! Great way of protecting the corners more. All the mail/tracking sticker were stuck to it fine. No issues.

    In all honestly, the mailers should be larger and stiffened around the edges so they can't bend so easily. Too many times the jacket corner gets bent or dinged as the package gets thrown around. Corners are such a week spot....
     
    All Down The Line likes this.
  11. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    I was on a Jeff Buckley kick a while ago and managed to find one seller who had almost everything I was looking for and at incredibly cheap prices. I had no issues with condition or anything else. I like that you can see what else sellers have from your wantlist so you can 'one stop shop' a bit.
     
  12. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    That's why the "whiplash"-style mailers are good. The packaging extends out beyond the corners of the album, so if the corner of the mailer gets bent, the album jacket should still be OK.
     
    GentleSenator likes this.
  13. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    That is why as a seller I can price items fairly but I need not price the lowest to get lots of sales. A buyer will save nearly $5 on every additional item bought with the first item. Big savings for multiple purchases shipped together.

    I have a buyer with 13 LPs invoiced currently. He has no feedback yet but is sending a check as payment. Fine with me, if it’s really on the way. This buyer is paying $4.95 shipping for this package. Saving nearly $60 in shipping costs.

    So I know it pays to have as many items up for sale as you can and in similar styles and genres. Have lots of items that can be bought together.
     
  14. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

    I come to the conculsion that discogs has more rules to abide by than ebay..
    Hence , the lack of selection I'm seeing and mostly international sellers which okay..
    When you factor in shipping it's best to pay a little more from american seller.
     
  15. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I've found more flexibility with the rules on Discogs than ebay. An example is that I can accept cash or checks on Discogs, which just out of principle I like. Another is I get much more contact information about my buyer on Discogs than I do on ebay. I found ebay treats you like a child always ruling you with fear of suspension and changing rules that will "IMPACT" you as a seller. The word impact I have always considered is what happens to you when you are in a head-on collision and are likely to sustain severe damage. I don't appreciate ebay's constant use of that word (as a threat). In fact, I think they laid off using it in recent years.

    Lots of international sellers is to be expected as Discogs did not originate in the US.

    As far as selection, ebay has changed in recent years and also lacks the selection that we would prefer to see. Ebay chased off a lot of sellers. First, it was the difficulty of listing there, it's just tedious work and takes too much time if you have hundreds or thousands of unique items to list. Then it was too many fee raises or rules that resulted in them taking a bigger cut. Then finally other places opened up for sellers that could play the long game with their merch. See if you wanted to move your items quickly with the biggest market, you had to go to ebay. But if you were able to play the long game, charge what you wanted, and wait for a buyer to come in at your asking price, Amazon actually works out ok. Gemm, and now Discogs came along. This is good for sellers to have op0tions but it diluted the audience at ebay. The selection was white-hot at ebay for at least a decade. Now a buyer has to visit at least two places to potentially see what they are looking for.

    So Discogs is music only, but the rules are not as strict. And yes, it is better to pay a little more for the items and a lot less shipping and use a US seller if you are in the US.

    Ebay is still a good place to unload a rare collectible record, as those bidding wars can drive up the price more than Discogs will fetch.

    But the ebay of old will never come back. From 2000 to 2011 or so it was a goldmine of bargains and high-end rarities.
     
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  16. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA

    Amazon was great for about a decade. It was the absolutely best place to sell valuable long-tail merchandise. Then they made the shipped-by-Amazon completely unappealing for long tail merchandise (storage fees even if you only send 1 of an item), then they closed out most sellers entirely from a lot of music listings (made the record companies happy in the wake of the Hastings collapse).

    Now Amazon is a waste of time.

    eBay is still fine. Yes, fees have increased. But if your margins are decent and you're not fussing with low-end junk, that's not a big deal.

    Discogs is nice because you just find the item in the catalog and list. But I generally find I'll get more on eBay for most items.
     
  17. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    They only closed out CD sellers on Amazon. And many of those sellers deserved to be closed out. Driving prices down with the .02 CDs.

    I left a bunch of LPs up at Amazon after it cooled off for me. It cooled off because I got rid of my 1,3000 stock of Classical CDs (just before they kicked off CD sellers), and my LPs listed there are not exactly SH Forum favorites. Anyway, these LPs that remain sell consistently with about 2-3 a month tops, with $25 to $45 the average ticket price. Add that to my Discogs sales, and I'm doing pretty good for a side hustle. My Amazon stock is a lot of soundtracks that are still sealed, and some of those are reissues. MOR Easy Listening vocalists still sealed, most originals but some Nice-Price stickered, etc. For me to get those sales and then turn around and buy SACDs with quad and 5.1 tracks on them with the revenues, and then sell the SACDs later (once they go well out of print) for triple their original cost. The whole thing is a money generator that keeps my music purchases bringing in cash profits.

    I'm sending out 10 - 11 items a week on about 8 orders/packages from Discogs with the rare Amason sale.

    Sales should continue to be good with another stimulus round in the works here shortly.
     
    zongo likes this.
  18. Eric_Generic

    Eric_Generic Enigma

    Location:
    Berkshire
    So they should have simply closed out those ones, not thrown the baby out with the bathwater. They knew what they were doing, making it a cartel for a certain kind of seller. Cut out the hobby sellers, the ones with stuff they'd collected down the years. Maybe force them to offload what they had to a megaseller, who could profit instead.

    Yes I'm still sore about what they did.

    EG.
     
    Dave likes this.
  19. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I think that they did it for a number of reasons. I can think of 5 good (for them) reasons. Should I bother to list them, no.

    In the long run, they've simply handed over a big chunk of business to other seller venues. The used CD business will continue to grow over the next 8 - 10 years as the market for new CDs continues to fall.
     
    Eric_Generic likes this.
  20. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    False, false, false. Stop spreading misinformation.
     
    Lost In The Flood, Dave and Dave S like this.
  21. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    There are plenty of sellers on discogs selling under the wrong listing.
     
    Dave likes this.
  22. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    That doesn't mean there is no recourse if you don't get what you paid for, which was stated as if it were a fact above.
     
  23. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Please follow the flow of conversation as that has nothing to do with what I stated. The member I replied to stated there is no recourse which is factually incorrect.
     
  24. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    Selling the wrong item under listing brings two problems

    1) I have to checked always that the correct item is being sold.
    2) If the wrong item is being shipped (and remember differences can be subtle even to experienced members on this forum), then will discogs always correct the issue. I remember once buying a CD on ebay and it not being the correct version. The seller couldn't care less. Fortunately, it was in such bad condition, it wouldn't play and so I got a full refund.

    Personally I prefer listings that have pictures of the actual object being sold, something Amazon adopted (although it has been so long since I listed anything on Amazon, that option may no longer exist).
     
  25. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Paypal will, under "Significantly Not As Described".

    Then you will have to shop someplace other than Discogs (or in 99.99% of cases, Amazon).
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.

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