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

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

  1. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I got a nightmare buyer at Discogs. And he returned again 8 months later under a new screen name. It starts often with a request for additional packing materials. They never ask about what you use to ship, just start making requests that are borderline demands. Then you look at their feedback see all the red Negs. This one I googled him and found info in other forums calling him a seller's horror story. And they mentioned he was kicked off of ebay. He was called a total lunitic. I won't go into it exactly. But every 6 or 7 years you get one of these. You know it's pretty bad when their reputation is all over the internet. And the feedback has previous sellers outraged, stating his threats and demands were reported. All you can do is laugh really, and try not to let it get to you.
     
  2. AirJordanFan93

    AirJordanFan93 Forum Resident

    This one is a big one for me. People just seemingly list their items on any listing that shares the catalog number and leave it at that. This is a pain if you are looking for early CD pressings from West Germany or Japan. The lack of item specific photos is a pain and I don't know why Discogs doesn't seem to want to implement them onto the site when eBay has always had that ability.
     
    Gus Tomato likes this.
  3. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I guess it would result in much higher it costs.

    And not having to provide photos is a big plus for sellers with a big inventory and little manpower.
     
    LivingForever and NumberEight like this.
  4. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    It used to be a real chore to get good pictures or scans of the front, band, and labels for LP/CD selling listings. Now with cellphone cameras improved so much in the last 5-6 years, and the ability to do square pics, it's nothing to sit for an hour and get 50 LPs all done. Multiple pictures so you can choose the best. It is worth that extra hour once a week to get good shots of the real details. If you have the stock worth showing off, then show it off I say. If you have a large stock and little manpower, then list slower, and few items per day.

    I've contributed hundreds of pictures for Discogs LPs that were either missing pics or the ones provided were awful. I felt it was time well spent, and many of the LPs sold. Out of 2,000 listings I created of my inventory, I did maybe 450-500 pictures which is about 200 listings needing additional pix. 70 to 80 LPs I added to the database that was previously missing.

    The nice part is I can leave my stock up for sale and it will bring in money for years, I am expecting. Even if sales go very slow something will move and drop $20 into my pocket. So it's time well invested.
     
  5. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Discogs did remove the awful nasty and untrue feedback he left me. So I'm back to 100% Positive!
     
  6. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    Just an example: I you sell 20 items daily for 10 dollars each you need to list 40 items. Because some will sell very slowly and others will never sell. If you want your business to grow you need to list 50 or 60 item for 10 dollars. If you sell 4 items for 50 dollars each making pictures makes more sense.
     
  7. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I sell on discogs. I had an order prior to Xmas. I shipped a day after payment and provided a tracking number.

    The seller has just message me to inform me he is yet to receive the item. Tracking says it has been delivered on 24th December and signed for by his name. The signature looks a bit different though.

    How should I approach this as a seller?
     
  8. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I would ask the courier service to start an investigation. And I would keep the buyer posted.
     
  9. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    He’s got back to me. Apparently his son signed for it and didn’t tell him :rolleyes:
     
    Strat-Mangler likes this.
  10. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    That was the thing that came to my mind later: Tell the buyer to ask family members and neighbours! LOL
     
    richbdd01 likes this.
  11. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Seriously…pretty annoying! Just glad it got there in the end :shake:
     
  12. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    Do you sell lots of things online? It happens from time to time.
     
  13. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Yes I do, this is a reason I’ll always insist on tracked…even if I have to pay a little extra myself!
     
  14. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I actually send the majority of items I sell (CDs, DVDs) untracked and haven't experienced too many lost letters/packages.
     
    NumberEight and richbdd01 like this.
  15. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    Untracked from the U.S. yer dead on a Paypal reversal unless you pay registered out of your pocket. You charge $18 to mail a CD overseas and add the registered fee on top you won't sell anything cept rare billing to customers...they'll go to the people who send it untracked.
     
  16. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I think you’re okay taking a risk on most DVDs or Cds when you send them unregistered. Sending expensive vinyl has to be tracked for me.
     
  17. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I usually ship CDs or DVDs up to 30 dollars untracked inside of Germany, up to 10 dollars untracked to "safe" European countries.

    All else I ship tracked.

    There are bad buyers, but so far I didn't meet to many of them. So my experiences overall are good.
     
    NumberEight and richbdd01 like this.
  18. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I always ship tracked to the USA at the moment. But for lower value items it is more because of the very long time shipping sometimes needs (between 2 and 8 weeks). If I knew that shipping wouldn't need more than 3 weeks I would send all items up to 15-20 dollars untracked.
     
  19. brockgaw

    brockgaw Forum Resident

    I ordered the HDCD version of Heartbeat City and it arrived as a standard redbook edition. When I complained about the wrong format I was asked what HDCD was. I told the vendor that if you don't know the difference between CD, HDCD, SACD, DVD-A, HRX, XRCD etc. then don't post them as such until you find out. I wanted the HDCD specifically for a reason.
    I have received records from eBay graded NM that had so much surface noise that the vocals were unintelligible. Found out that they were graded visually as NM and I responded that to visually grade an audible medium makes as much sense as grading art by the frame.
    Since vinyl took off every pin-head who fancies themselves an entrepreneur thinks they can sell anything to collectors just because it is a record. They don't get it and they don't care. This also goes for the majors who don't understand that a poorly pressed record is of no use to the consumer. Try selling a pixel-challenged Blu-ray.
     
    Rattlin' Bones, Dave and Timjosephuk like this.
  20. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    +1000 Brockgaw.

    To visually grade an audible medium makes as much sense as grading art by the frame. Absolutely.

    Hey sellers: if you don't have time to actually spend an hour listening to each album you sell and thus grade accurately, then just quit selling. Or sell less. Or clearly state "I have never listened to this album but I looked at it and it looks clean." Tell me that and I can stay away from buying anything from you. You are, as Brockgaw said, a pin-head who fancies themselves an entrepreneur thinking you can sell anything to collectors just because it is a record. You don't get it and you don't care.

    Hey the used car lot down the street is selling a Porsche 911 for $50,000. Never drove it. Heck have not even started it or turned engine over. They just did a visual inspection and the interior is very clean.

     
  21. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    Just go to a record store and tell this to the people working there. (Nowadays most record stores sell online as well)
     
    cwitt1980 likes this.
  22. brockgaw

    brockgaw Forum Resident

    I have done that when I went through 3 copies of The Golden Hour until I gave up and got my money back. They played the records on the inhouse system to prove that there was no background noise. I told them that their system also didn't reveal what type of instruments were being used or what the gender of the backup singer was because their "system" was so poor and belonged in a flea market not a music store. I will never go back.
     
  23. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    If all sellers did this, online and otherwise, there'd be a lot less sellers. Stores don't even do this. Visual grading is the main way people grade.

    It's unrealistic to expect sellers to play grade every record they own. I can do it as a sell so little online but if I had hundreds to sell, there's no way I could play grade every record.

    This doesn't really have to be stated as it visual grading is the norm. It's an unspoken assumption that will be correct 99.999% of the time. If in doubt, ask. I'm surprised you assumed the opposite.
     
    Manalishi, cwitt1980 and no.nine like this.
  24. SoNineties

    SoNineties Forum Resident

    Location:
    Split (HR)
    I Think it's realistic to expect they play every record worth 40€/$/£ and more.
    I demand it!
    How long does it take to listen to a record? 40 mins? Ok , add cleaning if you are really meticulous.
    That's 40€/$/£ + an hour.
    Work 8 hours and it's 320 €/$/£ + a day.
    How many of the people on this board do earn more?
    And those who do I bet don't just by selling some plastic in a fancy cover for which they have no care.

    Then again, I have learned my lessons in the past and I always ask.
    No play grade no purchase.

    I just think that their laziness is most of the time delusional.
    They well know that if they listened to their records most of the time they'd have to down grade and ask for less money.
    Instead they chose the easy and unluckily common route: Over grade, blame it on visual in case of complain and offer partial refund.

    In fairness, I maintain that sellers are 50% of the problem.
     
  25. Jiginada

    Jiginada Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I don't buy off Discogs anymore, that place is an absolute money pit. I can pretty much get any CD I want off Ebay for half the price that Discog sells......and half the effort. As for you Vinyl guys? Yeah I feel bad you have to deal with the bottom feeders of Discogs.
     

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