I just started using Discogs a couple of months ago. Done maybe a dozen transactions and all of them have been great! As with anything you have to shop around.
And ask questions. Some sellers block messages; PASS! Some sellers ignore requests for matrix info or play-grade; PASS! Some sellers respond indicating you can return the LP if its grading doesn't match; PASS! All of these are time-wasters. The hassle of performing returns and spending for return shipping isn't my idea of shopping smart. If a seller doesn't confirm the pressing and condition of a record, I just go onto another listing regardless of price. I'm a seller and play-grade everything I sell so there are no surprises to either party.
There are some really good, honest, professional sellers on there. You just have to filter out all the ones who have prices, and terms that you don't like the look of, and/or ones that don't reply to questions. EG.
That's really the same as other marketplaces. I think it has been said before, but German and Japanese sellers are mostly always good. US are generally considered better than UK sellers, but there are good UK sellers.
I had a potential buyer last month ask for pictures for 13 LPs. So I took fresh pics of the front and back covers and some of the labels as well, beautiful pictures. Quite a lot of work, then ran around town seeking shipping cost for this big box of LPs. It was high. I sent shipping quotes and never heard from that UK guy again. LOLOLOLOL He had very few feedbacks but they were all glowing. I was willing to play ball there because they were classical LPs and those sell much slower than my rock records. It is just too expensive and a hassle for large boxes of records internationally unless they have a US address to ship to and they take it from there. I really did not mind that he decided not to complete the order, but that he went "no contact" after my work did piss me off.
I can imagine. I would keep those pictures handy just in case someone else inquires. If you 100s or 1000s of items, then taking pictures becomes a drag, which is why most sellers on Amazon and ebay don't provide images of the actual object.
Discogs is great! But half the time you get sent a pressing different than the one it's listed under. I always want to ask the seller after............"Why do you think there are 15 different listings for this one cd???" Because they are all different! Is it so hard to match to the right one? Man oh man. Sometimes it doesn't help to ask before either, because often sellers don't bother to answer messages unless it's a sale, or they answer back "Looks right to me." In those cases, I often end up keeping incorrect pressings with a refund for their ineptitude.
I have a fairly good size stack of LPs (set aside) that I was not able to add to my for sale list because they are not exact matches for any of the entries already listed. I have these separated and am going to do pictures of front / back covers and labels of all of them and then enter them and list for sale. At least for these LPs I am mentioning, there is an exact recording listed (diff, pressing, label, country, etc.) so I can duplicate as a draft - and edit it to match mine, then add my pictures and have them ready to go, and list for sale. I did a bunch of these additions already and it's getting easier now. And some of these records I have, I think they are nicer or better than the ones up with entries. As an example I have a stereo copy of a classical LP, and all other entries are monos. Then sometimes all of prices being asked and sold for are high, and yet all everyone has is VG+ tops, and I have NM-/NM-. I can ask a higher price than other sellers and likely get it, if and when it sells. So what I considered tedious work at first with these added entries - actually will pay off in cash sales, some quickly and others eventually. And it's getting easier to do them. 250 items sold in 8 months selling on Discogs. Still doing 8 items per week as of this week. It's been really great.
I used to do all scans with a large format scanner. Cover and label scans were incredible quality. But now with cell phone pictures having improved so much in the last few years I just do good clean square pictures. I have a front room with a table that gets perfect lighting from around 1:45pm to 5:00pm, and if I position the LP cover set at the right angle, and have camera on a type of tripod stand, I can bang out pictures fairly quick and they look sharp and nice. Sometimes colors are a bit off (richer than normal) but at least text is sharp and clean and covers are perfectly square, and framed well. I figure that Discogs is lucky to get these pictures when they had nothing on display before, especially the labels I add. I still use the scanner for my own covers and labels top add to my FLAC files on music server.
This is one bad thing about Discogs' grading system. There should be an Excellent like there is here (Goldmine). At Discogs, VG+ means a shiny disc with just a couple light marks. At SHTV, VG+ means a disc with up to 10 light marks.
I thought Goldmine does not use EX, and that is why we don't use it here for vinyl (it can be used for CD and SACDs)?
Yeah, it's not used at all in Goldmine if I recall. EX I remember started out as a European grade. Meant to be really super great, but so many of us got burned from UK sellers with VG product called EX that it stopped being used for vinyl. It just was another way to say, "played a lot, I've seen worse" and for sure NOT NM-. Yes, that's pretty much what happened. I had to just simply stop buying from the UK all together. And just look for UK pressing from US or Aust sellers. I still feel the heartbreak over a few expensive LPs.
i like to buy on discogs because i appreciate the uncomplicated handling. you don't buy a cat in a poke here either,because there is a lot of background information about the albums. but selling is a lot more complicated, as the european bureaucracy stands in the way. since I do not have the necessary documents from the tax office and do not plan to get them, I dodged on ebay. but you shouldn't expect a big blessing on ebay. but i also don't intend to sell my rarities but only bad purchases that i bought myself on ebay for 1 or 2 euros before the spotify age.
Anyone know of a decent guide or have advice for setting shipping policies on Discogs? I can't make head nor tail of it. The editor is very confusing and when I try to list an item there doesn't seem to be any option to apply a specific shipping policy to an item (like "vinyl small" for a 45).
Yes it is very confusing. But you can add a shipping policy to just a particular item, and another item to a particular country. There are check boxes for each item and the price (click-down menu). The confusing part is that the box at top "all items" is confusing to me. And for a given country I think the cheapest items sent needs to be placed first. Like a CD 3.99, 7" 45 4.99, and LP at $6.99 and so on. I had a DVD sent o Aust come up as $30 shipping. That is way wrong and needs to be fixed. I simply refunded the buyer some of the shipping cost. I still need to fix some of the shipping prices. I am also confused on exactly how to set it up by the items. The video tutorial Disocgs put together looks easy, but the girl speaks (broken English) too fast and sets it by weight, where I ship everything and charge by the item(s). There needs to be a new tutorial made on setting up shipping. I would do it if I knew it better, and was not so busy selling and other things. I think I am going to start a YouTube channel on record collecting, and the various types of things I collect. Several of my friends have told me I could really do well with it because I like to talk and tell story or two behind the things I like, and I have enough goodies to show off. I would do a Discogs shipping set-up video early on. Believe it or not, there is not a good one on YouTube at this time. Or wasn't at least the last time I checked a month ago.
That would explain why a lot of times I find a good deal but it will show outrages shipping prices. Guess I need to send the buyer a note?
Yes. I do it all the time since the new Shipping Policies were introduced. Half the sellers don’t even know what shipping is displayed when buyers are browsing their items.
My understanding of Discogs' VG+ was that it *starts* at the high end with one visible scratch, but at the back end could potentially have considerably more than 10, provided that they are light and not very long. There is a not a clear line separating a low VG+ and a high VG. But, the definition of NM is clear and unambiguous. It means NOTHING visible, with no room for interpretation. That VG+ has perhaps a broader-than-ideal definition does not give sellers the license to disrupt the very clear definition of NM. Yes, agree that an "excellent" is something that could be added.
I have always wished that for a seller to begin on any of these platforms they Must first watch a professional tutorial on packing records!!!
For all practical purposes, the only difference is that mint is sealed. However, getting more granular, something that is mint could be unsealed and has no visual blemish even inspected with a magnifying glass and under intense light. NM may have something small that is only visible under high light + magnifier, but not to the naked eye.