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

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

  1. no.nine

    no.nine (not his real name)

    Location:
    NYC
    You might still be able to use Paypal's return shipping reimbursement program. It's still active until November 27th. I know you have to sign up to use that service; just having a Paypal account isn't enough. What I don't know is if they'll let you sign up this close to the program being discontinued. But it's worth looking into.
     
  2. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    This is what PayPal will ask you to do. If you are registered for their return shipping refund program, you can get some or all (depending on the cost) it covered. The program is ending in November at some point. Not sure if they are allowing people to join it still but I'd check. I believe for the US they cover up to $30.

    You can ignore that. Once you file a PayPal claim and the item is returned and received by the seller, they process your refund whether the seller agrees or not.
     
    Dave likes this.
  3. cyngus

    cyngus Forum Resident

    Location:
    NOLA
    I thought PayPal covering the return shipping was included in the protection coverage. Didn’t realize I had to sign up for that. Thanks.
     
  4. paulybauls

    paulybauls Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Yorkshire
    Feedback has been removed for abusing the feedback guidelines :cool:
     
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  5. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    That program is coming to an end on November 27th so I'd make sure you get any claims in before then.
     
  6. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    The most annoying part of the whole "experience" above was that the seller left negative feedback on my negative feedback, saying I had lied, despite not asking for a refund (because it was my fault for tossing the bad product into the bin as I was so furious). I asked for a review of his negative feedback and they denied removal of his feedback. Mostly Discogs has been a good experience, however.
     
  7. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    or you ran into the same person selling under different names.
     
  8. GimiSomeTruth

    GimiSomeTruth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Why on earth would you throw something away without first messaging the seller to see what they offer? Human beings make mistakes, and most people will make good on a mistake they made.

    also, jewel boxes are not graded as per industry standard (unless it’s a special jewel box that’s unique for that release)
     
  9. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    Mea culpa - I was angry. Won't do that again.
    The CD was scratched all over, the booklet was well used as was the case and it was an incorrect version than the mint US Capitol one it was supposed to be. Then he tried to say I expected too much when I did contact him, LOL.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2022
  10. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    Ugh - just had a new one.

    I've started asking questions up front for purchases of NM vinyl over a certain price point (I usually ask if spending more than $25 or so, because I don't want to deal with the hassle, especially for something that's costing me some money).

    Anyway, was looking for an original mid-70s first US press of a major label album by a fairly well-known 70s band (in other words, nothing particularly rare or collectible, just more expensive now due to supply/demand and inflation).

    Since I started doing this - really no issues. Some sellers don't respond; others come back with information that leads me to believe that the album isn't actually NM and so I pass - and others confirm and so I buy. I specifically asked about the playing surface being free of markings, as implied by the NM rating, and the seller just said "yes - that's why it's NM." So I bought it and - lo and behold, the record has light scratching and scuffing throughout, a small amount of dirt/gunk, as well as a good-sized scuff that crunches once per rotation throughout the first 5-6 minutes of the side that it's on.

    Obviously I'm going to ask for a refund, but since this is so egregious, given that I asked specifically about all of this beforehand, I'm just wondering what kind of tone to use. I had something written (but didn't send) immediately after visually inspecting and playing the record and that I guess was more just to get some anger off my chest. :). I'm thinking about how to phrase it now. Is it out of line to ask if he happened to send the wrong copy? I mean, that *could* have happened, right? This thing is VG, not NM; I know this happens on Discogs, but jeez... I asked first!

    Also, I feel like this warrants the seller picking up my return shipping too, considering my follow-up questions before pulling the trigger.

    Thoughts?
     
  11. Tom B

    Tom B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ojai
    Pretty standard discogs horror story from me - just took delivery of Willie's Red Headed Stranger, sold as Near Mint with an added comment about how good it looked.

    Well, it was covered in what looks like cat hair - ok, that can be cleaned... but underneath is a scratch that looks someone decided they didn't like 'Time of the Preacher' and took a knife to the record.

    Sigh.
     
  12. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    One thing that happens on Amazon all the time, and I imagine Discogs as well, is that there will be one copy of something being sold at a certain price. You have a bunch of piggyback sellers who list that same item at a higher price. If you buy it from the higher priced sellers, they'll just drop-ship the lowest priced item. But it makes it seem like there are many copies for sale when, in fact, there is just one.

    When that copy is sold, the piggy-back (drop ship) sellers often take a while to reflect that fact, and if you order from one of them, they'll just give you the "sorry, can't find it" "sorry, out of stock" or "sorry, when packing it I noticed a defect and I won't send that to you" email.

    They suck. But sometimes, a rare item where only one is available can look as if its easily available.
     
  13. SpinIt

    SpinIt Musicphile

    Location:
    Paris, France
    I just had a seller who asked me to remove my positive feedback, because it was’t positive enough and it could damage his sales? :doh: Uh….nope?
     
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  14. raphph

    raphph Taking a trip on an ocean liner…

    Location:
    London
    I’ve had an unresponsive seller for three weeks who had 99.9% positive feedback and was very active two days before I made my order. Doing some digging further it appears that he actually died! :(
     
  15. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    On this one, the seller did immediately offer a full refund plus return shipping. So I'm not going to leave him negative feedback (even though I feel like it was very much deserved).
     
  16. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Pretty lucky as 99.99% of sellers do not cover return shipping. I've had a few nice ones cover it since they made the mistake but it is rare. Glad that you sorted your issue out.
     
    NettleBed likes this.
  17. SpinIt

    SpinIt Musicphile

    Location:
    Paris, France
    I also leave positive feedback when a seller compensates without much discussion. But here is the problem with bad grading on Discogs, the feedback system is such that the seller can get away with it easily, because we are pressured into giving positive feedback when a « solution » is found.

    This is what Discogs could do: Anonymous grading statistics. For each record you purchase you tell Discogs how you would grade it. Once the seller has feedback on 10+ (20+?) records statistics are revealed: Is it a conservative, correct, or optimistic grader? The algorythm could quite easily apply statistics corrections to buyers who systematically grade wongly.

    But I doubt Discogs will be interested to do it: grading would gradually become more conservative, records would be sold less expensively, and Discogs will loose part of their share of over graded records…
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2022
    astro70 and headtheory like this.
  18. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    eBay has this. They have an overall feedback score you give the seller, but there are four other categories that you can grade them on, one of which is description. Not sure if they require sellers to maintain an average across the categories in addition to their main feedback score.

    But has it changed seller behavior on eBay? Not sure it has.
     
  19. no.nine

    no.nine (not his real name)

    Location:
    NYC
    I suspect that sellers who overgrade are unlikely to change, even if they received a 0% rating for bad grading. They tend to believe they know what they're doing and everyone else is just too picky or unrealistic.
     
  20. SpinIt

    SpinIt Musicphile

    Location:
    Paris, France
    But as a buyer I’d have a choice to ignore sellers that get flagged as optimistic graders.
     
    no.nine likes this.
  21. stillrockin

    stillrockin Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Another round of sending interested in buying if you can confirm your copy is the same as the edition listed under and getting no response. I have no trust in Discogs sellers at all.
     
  22. headtheory

    headtheory Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    YMMV, but I've mostly just accepted that sometimes you gotta be okay returning things. To their credit, pretty much all Discogs sellers I've returned to have been great with accepting returns. Plus, with PayPal paying for return shipping, it's no cost loss. BUT now that PayPal is getting rid of that, might be spending more time on eBay since return shipping is free (for the buyer) there.

    Vinyl is a crapshoot. Recently bought one thing that is one of the worst looking records I've seen and it plays almost perfectly. Another very clean record plays with more crackle and pops than a bowl of rice krispies.
     
  23. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    70% of the time, I don't get a response. 25% of the time, I get a "It's in the wrong listing, oops!" response. 5% of the time, I get a reply to my question.
     
  24. stillrockin

    stillrockin Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Pretty much accords with my own experience. Lousy isn't it.
     
    Strat-Mangler likes this.
  25. Peter_R

    Peter_R Maple Syrple Gort Staff

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    Lately, my Discogs feed has been clogged by clods who keep reposting their stuff so it appears first.
    I get it. You wanna sell your stuff.

    Helpful hint: if, after weeks and weeks of posting at the same damm price, maybe no one is buying it because you're asking too much. LOWER THE DAMN PRICE and stop clogging the feed, ya greedy nimrods.

    Rant over.
     
    Daring, astro70, nedison and 9 others like this.

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