Amazon’s warped/damaged records. To return or not to return?..

I’ve been buying a ton of vinyl from Amazon over the last few years and I’ve noticed that I’ve been receiving albums that either have noticeable damage to the jacket, or are somewhat warped.

What I love about Amazon, especially as a Prine member, is their return policy. That being said, I’ve returned a number of damaged/warped albums, probably 40% or more over the last 6 months. I almost always end up with acceptable vinyl however just this week I received a notice from the company related to the number of returns I’ve had since being a member. It wasn’t a threat, but most certainly sounded like a warning as I’ve heard of a number of people being banned from buying on Amazon if they accumulate a high return ratio. This especially applies to vinyl because it is handled and shipped by employees who don’t handle wax as cautiously as most vinyl sellers do when buying online.

Because I rely on Amazon as a seller (due to being disabled and unable to visit local record shops as much as I’d like to), I’ve been holding back on returning new vinyl that is damaged or warped because I don’t want the boot. I suppose I’m posting this because I’d like to hear opinions related to this issue, particularly when it comes to buying from Amazon. As well, I welcome any advice as to how I should proceed as a vinyl buyer when it comes to receiving damaged/warped wax.

 

If you have already received a notice from them regarding the number of returns you've had, you are almost certainly on thin ice. You need to find other vinyl vendors besides Amazon to give your business to, because the issues causing you to return albums aren't going to suddenly go away, and your Amazon account is going to get shut down permanently if you keep returning orders. It may not be fair, but it's the reality of buying from Amazon now.

There are other threads here which discuss Amazon's return policy and people getting banned for excessive returns in great detail - the search function should turn them up easily.

 

This.

I used to return to Amazon like crazy but have learned to be more cautious now with defects or issues. My spouse and I use my 19-year-old account with Prime for too many things so I don't want to risk losing it.

Unless it's a high-end release I generally let a little warping or minor bends on the sleeves go. I've invested in a Vinyl Flat to help me with these less extreme cases. When they ship me vinyl that has no protection or say not even in a box, I'll usually not just request a return but also chat with a customer service person to express my dissatisfaction. Thankfully it's pretty rare now!

 

I would Echo what those above have said , i have kept Vinyl that is warped a bit but still plays okay ...... it seems 2 out of 3 Albums i get from them now are usually warped .......... you may want to Try Bullmoose.com , i have been buying a lot more from them , pretty fast service . shipped in nice mailers & free shipping over $30 and you're supporting an Independent smaller chain store .....
I have returned quite a bit from Amazon in 2018 , but no warning yet ...... I will say their shipping has been awful past 2 months with new release showing up 2 -5 days after the release date & i have Prime .....

 

Amazon sucks. I bought a 3cd digipak from them and they stuck it in a bubble mailer. Of course it showed up all dinged and dented everywhere and Corner crush. I made them eat it. They can cancel my account if they want. I won't be paying for prime again anyway.

 

Return it!

 

I’m doing that today. My new album was so warped it was hitting the stylus while the stylus was queued over the first track. I was scratching my head at first wondering what was going on.

Guess the title?








What’s going on.

 

I returned a bunch of things and noticed all affected titles were from Universal Music. I still order from Amazon occasionally but not any UMe titles.

 

Just received this from Amazon to replace a previously returned warped version of the same album. I figured the replacement would also be warped as it stands to reason they are all stored together. Admittedly, this one isn’t as bad as the one it replaced. Is this acceptable? Thoughts.

 

I unfortunately had to return 4 copies of Priest Live, until I got one that was squashed on the sides. Always the same damage, so I think it was some sort of lifting device.

 

does it play fine?

i've learned to just accept minor warps like that as long as there's no audible defect. especially now that i've got the vinylflat. it'll fix that sorta thing in a jif.

 

Hey everyone, I just couldn’t live with a new record in this condition - so back it went to Amazon.

 

That looks like it would probably play through without any problem and without any extra noise, at least on my system; not ideal but I probably would live with it if there is no playback problem. It also looks like you are not using a record clamp which might make that warp mostly disappear (maybe).