You may be a good discogs seller (I’m sure you are judging by what you have said) but there is no denying that the amount of bad sellers who over grade has become a huge problem
I’m not aware of any other online marketplace besides Discogs that doesn’t require sellers to upload images. If they have found a way to survive in a time where dedicated commercial hosting is cheaper than its ever been I’m sure Discogs could work something out. Sellers don’t need to take great photos for you to make a determination if it’s over graded. As I mentioned earlier you can tell a lot just by looking a sleeves and labels. Go look on EBay how many records are over graded. You can tell straight away even if the images are poor. The over grading problem is no better on EBay than Discogs but the images allow you to sift through the crap quicker.
I regret not asking for pictures. I did such for a Japan NM order. Pics looked good and records (all from the 70s) were as close to mint as can be. With BuzzardRecords, I put concern over missing out on some LPs I have been after, over taking the extra step to double check quality. I also trusted the feedback and communication with the seller to my detriment.
Feedback is so easily gamed on these sites as to be almost worthless. It doesn't help that many buyers who get burned are willing to not leave negative feedback once the scammer does their "oh, sorry, I didn't know" dance and refunds the money.
While it is a pain, I won't give a negative feedback if I get a full refund and seller pays full return shipping. It sucks, but I would give a neutral and explain in that case. This seller is not that person though. I will give negative feedback when deserved.
I was thinking of sending a link of this discussion to the seller, but I don't want him to get the wrong idea about it. Whatever that could be. He may read it it, but I seriously doubt he would join in. Would be interesting to see him try and explain though.
To follow up, I left negative feedback and as expected he then gave me negative feedback. He straight up lied which can be proven in our message history.
He refused to pay return shipping. Said that was all on me. If he would have even helped out on return shipping I would have sent the LPs back. Heck I eventually decided to eat the cost and quite begrudgingly took the return package to the USPS expecting the cost to be $40. When the price was just shy of $70. I changed my mind. It was from BuzzardRecords. I’m getting rude messages from him now. I’m still distraught over it. Read back a page for more info and see photos if you haven’t already.
That won't do you any good. It'll just antagonise him, plus he it'll just motivate him to join this forum and star fighting you here. Report him if he's being abusive and won't leave you alone.
Yes agree. I decided against sending him a link here, because as I mentioned above he could get the wrong idea. Though I must admit, I would love to debate him here amongst other audiophiles and vinyl lovers. You guys would be great mediators. Wish Discogs had such a thing actually.
