Do UK dealers overrate their LP's?

By far and above the Japanese are the most honest with their grading. I buy from one Japanese dealer that grades NM > EX > VG+ >VG

I've bought several VG+ records from him and there is no hint whatsoever that these are VG+ when I receive them. They truly look and play NM. I have to wonder what he actually grades EX and NM. Likewise if he has a jacket with the tiniest bit of age wear it is relegated to VG. This would be a VG++ or NM on Ebay US/UK.

I've received many accurately graded records from the UK. Every single one of them are from well known dealers, and their prices usually command a decent premium over other dealers. A significant premium if you include the sellers selling their gran's old record collection. For the most part I have only a small handful of UK albums I am still looking for and I'm thankful I'm not just getting into vinyl now.

If I set up a Bags Unlimited type of business in the UK selling proper record boxes I could make a small fortune. They love the record envelopes

 

UK record sellers probably love the flimsy envelopes because they are light. Based on packages I've received recently, postage costs to send an LP from the UK to the US can be as low as £7.20. That's if the weight is kept to an absolute minimum.

With a 'proper' record box, the weight of the package soars and the shipping costs are up to £12-15.

 

I've said this before but in over a decade of purchasing records on e-bay the only time I have ever received something that was totally off in grading was a last summer from a UK seller.

 

I would agree from buying vinyl on ebay from 1999 till a few years ago that UK sellers, in general, overgrade their records. It goes well beyond the differences in grading systems. What amazed me sometimes was the length of description for a record that seemed to cover all aspects well, only to get a subpar copy. I had to buy and rebuy certain records to get a truly good copy. I've given up on any more UK original vinyl dreams...

 

See your experience also mirrors mine but with respect to US sellers. As I've said previously I buy from US sellers 70% these days and I constantly deal with bad grading. I had to return a NM lp due to several deep scratches and the seller told me he listened to the lp before grading. Really? Then how did they miss all those clicks and pops due to the deep scratches?

Now that I buy less from UK sellers I seem to be getting vinyl that's been graded properly and have yet, in the past two years had the need to return an lp to a UK seller.

I can;t really say that UK sellers are worse at grading these days. At one point that was definitely my opinion but as my buying habits changed so did my experience with sellers in other countries.

 

One of the U.S. eBay sellers I used to buy from is no longer selling. He would playgrade his vinyl and offer an accurate description of the LPs, surface noise and all. He also cleaned the vinyl and put it in very decent poly-lined sleeves before shipping. I'm sure he discovered that there's not much money in putting that kind of time and effort into selling LPs for around $10-15 each. I kinda felt odd buying such nice LPs from him at such moderate prices.

I bought a UK copy of All Things Must Pass from an eBay dealer a few years ago that was described as being "NM-" for both LPs and the box. When I got it, it was absolutely trashed. A complaint led to a bout of arguing, and suddenly a box arrived from him a few days later with a German-pressed All Things in truly excellent condition. He never said he was shipping another and never responded to my thanks afterward. I think he realized after beefing with me that he'd shipped out the wrong one.

 

This is happening to me way too often lately with sellers who sell a lot of records and have 100% positive feedback. I'm backing off buying records online for a while.

 

Yes it is. What I find strange is that, it's quite easy to see that many of these records are not NM. Even in the rubbish light in my office I can see many of the scratches that the seller seemed to have missed. They either lying or taking about 5 seconds to grade the lp in very low light.

 

Tell me. One 'NM' copy of London Town arrived Wednesday (it's a Wings album) several thick scratches that when replayed are clearly audible. I scratch my head in wonder thinking how that wasn't seen???

 

The market has been flooded with people who are not record collectors selling whatever they have found in the basement or at garage sales. Clueless.. I`m really tired of seeing "I no longer have a turntable, so I have no way to check this (badly scratched) "mint" record. It SHOULD play through just fine." Seriously?

 

I just got from a Discogs UK seller 9 records for around $140 plus shipping . All described between NM to M-. Well only one was NM the other are VG+. OK I can live with these VG+ record but from the 9 UK records (all with first pressing and low stampers numbers) 6 were very bad mastered ( no bass, very low volume, ...) From now I will cut my UK LP purchases to zero.

 

I don't get what the mastering has to do with any of this.

 

YES.

.

 

Well UK seller not just overrated the grade but they write about how wonderful this first edition sounds and what you get is a low-fidelity lp

 

Dachada,
could you please provide some more details?
Who was telling you the sound was good? Was it the UK seller? What are the titles you bought?

Verstuurd van mijn AMOI N821 met Tapatalk

 

Yeah sorry not the sellers fault that you have no clue what versions have the best masterings. It's your job to do that reasearch.

 

In this purcahse I asked for the matrix written on all the records . One of them (UK-Danger Money LP). ) the seller just gave me the UK matrix but the lp has also US matrix stamped. I have the US LP and sound identical so I paid $20 plus shipping and Us pressing can be found here for $5 in VG+ condition. Ok this is not a just UK seller problem. Many online sellers are making good profit with easy to find UK made LP overpricing them and hiding details from buyers.

 

This is the description of one of the lp I bought in this same purchase:

Media Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Sleeve Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
** A1/B1 1ST PRESS ** TRANSPARENT RED VINYL ** ALL UNMARKED AND COMPLETE.

Well the record I received is not Red. is dark translucent red so is black basically. The cover is in VG condition with wear at corners and big creases in two places The record is in VG+ condition and it has silver labels with strong spindle marks . This looks like a rock lp played in many parties. I laugh because I must not cry

 

Other:
Media Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Sleeve Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
A1/B1 + '1 1 1' POLYGRAM STAMPERS BOTH SIDES. 130 GRAM QUALITY 1ST PRESSING.D ISC PLAYED ONCE NM. LYRIC INNER AND SLEEVE AS NEW. ALL UNMARKED
The copy I received is in EX condition record and cover but the inner is not better that VG+.

 

Other:
Media Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Sleeve Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
* A1/B1 1ST PRESS ON MAD HATTER PICTURE LABELS. EARLY STAMPERS. GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH ORIGINAL INNER. DISC NEAR MINT. ALL UNMARKED AND COMPLETE

The copy I received has the record in EX condition and the cover is not better that VG+.This has a blue Gatefold cover but the cover had lost all the colors around the spine and has wear inside

 

Please provide your eBay handle so I can block you from ever purchasing from me.

 

BTW this seller has 99.9 % positive feedback. I feel I just had bad luck. Now he has some interesting 60s pressing Beatles UK LPs for sale in VG+ over $100. He has a Rubber Soul LP with the name of they previous owner in pen at the cover and inner but he explain is small. I will write him asking how the name looks. In some cases people are really inventive written their names on psychedelic albums

 

I believe but I can be wrong , the dark translucent red LP does not have any kind of red ink. These are black vinyl but with a different formulation and they are translucent red under a strong light. In my understanding, the transparent red lps are more like clear vinyl with strong red inks like the Judas priest LP shown at the picture

 

This car is in stone mint condition, right off the showroom floor. No issues whatsoever. It does only have one brake, no windshield, and I don't have a drivers license so I can't really test it. It should drive great though!