What is it with Discogs sellers? Post your horror stories here...

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by glamorbowie1, May 10, 2021.

  1. glamorbowie1

    glamorbowie1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Well, as the title suggests i have had numerous bad experiences with Discogs over the last Month and i just don't get it...

    I am after a copy of New Musik A To B , so bought one off a fairly new seller who had a bout 60 positive feedbacks and the record was graded NM/NM. It arrived with a damaged cover (VG at best) and the record was covered in green looking powder and riddled with hairlines so again more VG. I contacted the seller and he/she got really annoyed with me. I was able to sell the record at a bit of a loss to a friend who didn't mind the condition.

    I then went about buying another copy, so i contacted a few sellers and said that i was after a copy that not only looked NM but also played NM. A nice guy replied with an adequate answer and so i bought the record. It turned up Saturday and the cover was bent and the inner printed sleeve was torn. Again this was advertised as Media Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
    Sleeve Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
    sleeve close to nm-

    I shall be returning the record. I have since bought a copy from Japan so maybe in the next 6 months i might have a copy of this that is acceptable. So lets hope 3rd time lucky.

    I also bought a copy of Yazoo - Up Stairs At Eric's. Got it from a guy i had bought from before. Again it was advertised as NM/NM. It arrived at it was VG+/VG+ at best. Contacted the guy and he said he had sent me the wrong copy (he had 2 copies) but he had sold the other copy over the weekend. I got a full refund on that purchase so i went about getting another. I contacted several sellers again to make sure i was going to end up with the right copy. Bought a UK Musitech copy. It arrived and the seller has sent me a German Mute copy.

    I could go on... about another 4/5 purchases i have made where the vinyl has been way over graded.

    What is it with Discogs sellers. Everyone thinks they are suddenly vinyl know-alls!! Surely Discogs should insist on higher standards. I have even tried contacting sellers with really high feedback, say 1000+ and asked if the item has been play tested and in 99.9% of the time i get a snotty answer like - we don't have time to play test our records they are sold on visual grading only. The buyers i have bought from have had 100% feedback so i just can only think that there are people buying vinyl out there that don't really care what they buy!!

    I could SCREAM!!!!!!!!!! Rant over but anyone else feel my pain or have any other tips when it comes to Discogs?

    please feel free to tell your horror stories...

    PS... on a side note i took a risk on a copy of Heaven 17 - Luxury Gap from eBay for £5 as the seller said it was immaculate and it arrived and i can say I don't think the record has ever been out of the thicker card stock printed inner.
     
  2. inaptitude

    inaptitude Forum Resident

    I’ve been buying a ton of vinyl off discogs during the pandemic. 97% have been great experiences. The only bad one was when I decided to buy a dub record off a seller in Jamaica with a 75% rating. He put it between two thin pieces of cardboard and that’s it. Record was cracked in two, but it was also scratched beyond belief and the label had stains on it. And he had described it as vg+/vg+! He blamed the whole thing on the post office and refused to refund me.

    Moral of this story: only ever buy from sellers with a 95% or better rating.
     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    I stopped buying records.... but even prior to that, I would only buy records I could look at.
    I had one come that was supposed to be mint, and it was rubbish. The seller said he had too many discs, and had just missed the faults.... I'm not really sure about that.... who guesses about the condition of a product they are selling.

    Often folks rate items up, because I think they know the majority these days will let it slide. They get their product sold, and move into defense mode if you rate them down as a seller.... but I reckon most people don't bother... or so it would seem.
     
  4. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    Discogs sellers who undergrade their records ensure that the buyer will never be disappointed. :)
     
  5. minglewood

    minglewood Life is A Carnival

    Location:
    In A Space
    It's like the wild west over there. Ordered what was supposed to be a Winchester pressing, instead got a Jacksonville. Nothing listed correctly as it should be. Have better luck with cd purchases than vinyl. Ask questions, if no answer I move on. Good luck and buyer beware.
     
  6. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    Take a look from the other side too...there are lots of obnoxious and trouble makers costumers as well
     
  7. The Elephant Man

    The Elephant Man Forum Resident

    I haven’t bought many LPs from Discogs sellers but the ones I have purchased have been accurately graded.
    Thankfully.
     
    spindly and BluesOvertookMe like this.
  8. Manalishi

    Manalishi With the 2-pronged crown

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    One thing I don't like about buying on Discogs is there isn't a picture of the actual lp you're buying. Seeing a few photos would cut down on the number of duds a buyer (like the OP) receives.

    Ebay has its issues too but with cases like what @inaptitude describes, Ebay would force the seller to refund their money for "item not as described."
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2021
  9. Stencil

    Stencil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lockport, IL
    Ive gotten burned a couple times on there. Red vinyl LP that wasn't. Nm white vinyl that was at best Good+. To be fair its hard to judge defects in colored vinyl. Now I stick with sellers that have 500+ good responses. There are a bunch of new sellers on discos that are there just to pass off their thrift store finds because of the big interest in vinyl. Its better to stick with a seller that has more feedback than less.
     
    Mister Biscuits likes this.
  10. JR63

    JR63 Forum Resident

    My only really "bad" experience buying digital media via Discogs involved the Kinks compilation, "Come Dancing". I already owned the CD of that release, but I ordered the SACD version from a seller who had a good, but not a perfect 100% rating. When it arrived, it turned out to be the standard-issue CD version I already owned. I contacted the seller who had misidentified the item as a SACD and he reluctantly agreed to refund my money, but he didn't want to pay for the return shipping. He also wanted me to wait for a refund until he had enough money in his PayPal account to cover the amount of the refund (about $25). I ended up filing a claim for a refund with PayPal and they found in my favor. I left the seller an unfavorable review and he then left me an unfavorable review accusing me of ordering the disc to burn my own copy before returning it to him. After I contacted Discogs and explained the situation, they removed his unfavorable (and false) review of our transaction.
     
  11. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    I've bought over 200 hundred albums on Discogs and had an issue with exactly one!

    I find the that the "problems" individuals have on this forum with Discogs is grossly over exaggerated, it's as if every single seller is only there to rip off buyers.
     
  12. elaterium

    elaterium Forum Resident

    Have only had 1 bad experience and all of my buyers have been happy.
     
    danielbravo and Jimmy Disco D like this.
  13. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    For most of your issues, asking for photos would have resolved things before you made the purchase. While photos might not adequately get the condition of the LP, getting photos of the matrix, the jacket and inserts lets you know right away that you're getting the pressing you want - with the sleeves and inserts you want, and that these other hings are in the proper condition.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2021
    Detroit Rock Citizen likes this.
  14. dubious title

    dubious title Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario
    I really don't understand the pricing on Discogs. I have never, and I mean never seen a record that I would consider priced reasonably, or slightly below "market" value. It's like every seller has a staff, high overhead and needs top dollar for their record. Seems to me if I wanted/needed to sell my records I would price them somewhere around 50-60% of what I think they might sell for new. I've bought a mere two records from Discogs and don't think I'll be buying many more with shipping costs, over grading and crazy prices. I really don't get the model....
     
  15. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    That's a completely separate issue. There is no amount of customer trouble-making that excuses falsely grading records on part of sellers. One has nothing to do with the other.
     
    Robobob, mikmcmee, brockgaw and 6 others like this.
  16. melodic chaos

    melodic chaos Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I’ve only had one experience that I would say something negative about and that was due to shipping improperly packaged. Other than that, I’ve had better luck on Discogs than with eBay sellers, just stay with sellers 98% and above ratings.
     
  17. Gene Parmesan

    Gene Parmesan Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA, USA
    What is it with people that create threads in the wrong subforum?
     
    4-2-7 and Strat-Mangler like this.
  18. bobcat

    bobcat Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    I can't speak about vinyl purchases on Discogs as I only buy CDs there but I do have an issue with the postage costs charged by many sellers.

    I have the distinct impression that they are making a profit on that rather than the discs themselves.

    Doesn't Discogs have a policy on what sellers can charge for shipping?
     
  19. Timjosephuk

    Timjosephuk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hull, UK
    For me, it's not been the condition of the records (although that too, sometimes) as much as records listed on the wrong version of the entry.

    I ordered a 3.25 edit of a Temptations single. I got the 4.35 edit twice before getting the right one. I ordered the UK mono promo of American Pie. Got a French stereo copy, again at a different length. Ordered the UK single of Mary Mason's Angel Of The Morning with the rare picture sleeve. Both copies that came were the common Dutch one. The list goes on ...
     
    TheRunoutMatrix and brockgaw like this.
  20. Scott Davies

    Scott Davies Forum Resident

    I've had loads of bad experiences on Discogs, and always contact the seller if it's really blatantly misgraded, at least based on the price I paid. The most recent was buying an Oingo Boingo 12" EP being graded at VG+/VG+. At best, both sleeve and record barely squeak in at VG. But it was a lot lower price than others listed so I dealt with it, but it was still false advertising.

    eBay can be just as bad. I bought an LP last week that was 'Still in shrink' and graded NM all around. I got it Saturday and three of the corners were very bent and creased. Shrink does not always mean NM but sellers love to advertise as that. In this case, the LP with shipping was under $10 so I left it alone. It will suffice.

    On Discogs, if I'm willing to settle for VG+ I check the seller feedback and if they have even one neutral or negative about misgrading, I assume the item isn't VG+ and I keep looking. There have been very few occasions where I happily receive an item that is undergraded but that is definitely the exception.
     
    Grootna likes this.
  21. Jimmy Disco D

    Jimmy Disco D Forum Resident

    Location:
    Shropshire, UK

    I must be lucky, over a hundred purchases and only once have had to contact the seller due to receiving over graded crap, he was a right tool as well, getting shirty with me for no reason. I expect he had a lot of unhappy customers.

    I have a couple of orders that weren’t quite as good as described, but not significantly enough for me to be unhappy, I’ve also had plenty that have exceeded my expectations, so overall I’m ok with discogs.

    I’ve also been a seller... and I’ve bent over backwards to be accurate and helpful, as my feedback shows, so don’t tar us all with the same brush.
     
  22. thnkgreen

    thnkgreen Sprezzatura!

    Location:
    NC, USA
    I bought a Elis Regina CD/DVD set from Brazil off of Discogs, still sealed. When I finally received the package, the DVD was damaged. I used some Brasso and a soft cloth to get the DVD to play (it lookes scratched now but works) and do not hold the seller responsible for the damage, as the item was sealed but what upsets me is that I couldn't look at the item before purchase and paid $75 for it. I wish the quality control was higher with the manufacturers.... that's what I am getting at.
     
    mikmcmee likes this.
  23. glamorbowie1

    glamorbowie1 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Hi, thanks for the replies but just to clarify - i have been buying from sellers with 99.9% / 100% feedback. My experiences listed above have been terrible but because these sellers have got such good feedback leads me to believe that buyers who don't really know what they are buying are ruining the experience for people like me/you that do know what gradings mean and what we should expect when an item arrives - hope that makes sense? So i a way it is diluting the whole system for buyers who care about the product?
     
    slipkid and minglewood like this.
  24. BSU

    BSU Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis
    I never expect any used album purchased online to actually be in near mint condition. Overall I think most sellers are fair about their grading.
     
  25. Phil D

    Phil D Forum Resident

    I always add a note - please ensure your grading complies with the Discogs definition of that grade. I've had a few orders cancelled as a result of the sellers over grading. Better this than having to return.
     
    SpinIt, slipkid, thewonders and 2 others like this.

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