Save the reissues — please stop returning them!

While I agree with this sentiment. Amazon needs to ship adequately. Ive received vinyl from them that was just tossed in an oversized box. The inner and outer sleeves both having rips in them from the vinyl banging around. I kept it, but only because I feared a replacement would be even worse. Ive stopped buying vinyl from Amazon, which means I now have to pay shipping because Amazon doesn't ship correctly. I understand why people would continue to return vinyl to Amazon.

 

Either they dumped it elsewhere to be written off or sell off their returned products in bulk pallets for people and small businesses to purchase.

 

I’ve been buying vinyl since 2008, and in that time I’ve only had two records that were visibly warped such that anyone could see it with the naked eye. One plays just fine without any audible distortion, and the other, which I just received the other day, was so dished the edges of the record wouldn’t even touch the platter and that one I returned. Either I’ve been extraordinarily lucky in all my years of buying vinyl or some people are far too picky, IMO.

 

How about not using vinyl if you are so eco? LPs that get wasted are a miniscule fraction of the overall vinyl disposal problem. The complaint is out of proportion to the actual situation.

The eco angle is a straw man, the OP was about wasting limited editions, which is valid, but the kind of folks being addressed are not going to change. The search for the perfect disc is probably more important than the music or the disc itself to them.

 

I suspect that the big retailers like Amazon just re-shrink the LPs and sell them as Amazon Warehouse stock. And at least once I was at a Barnes and Noble store and came across a copy of Technical Ecstasy that didn't have any hype sticker, and it was in a thick plastic sleeve that was sealed with tape, not shrink. I looked up the catalog number on the Internet thinking perhaps I had discovered some international pressing but it was the then-current Rhino LP. So I suspect that the LP was sold and returned to the store, and the department manager looked at it and said, "Hmm, nothing wrong with this one", and just put it in a bag and returned it to the floor. It was full price. I passed on it, obviously.

 

I hear many people (especially those new to the medium) return records for reason 4, but many times things like that goes away after a few plays, as you know.
(I only use a Carbon fiber brush)

 

Amazon does not rewrap.

 

I don't return anything unless it's really mangled or sounds terrible. I've kept plenty where a corner was bent or the packaging was a little off, mostly because the album itself sounded good and that's what ultimately matters.

 

I remember reading about a guy who kept ordering and returning Rhino's reissue of Joni Mitchell's Blue because he wanted one with both sides cut by Hoffman/Gray, but most of the copies he purchased had one or both sides cut by Kevin Gray alone. As much as I love the work of our host, the sides cut by Gray alone sounded equally wonderful. It's a shame because those records he returned are sought after - selling for between $75 and $150 each. Oh well.

One aspect of vinyl collecting that I do find unfortunate is that two of the primary "defects" in vinyl - warps and noise - can often be corrected fairly easily with a Vinyl Flat or similar disk flattener, and by making sure that they are free from static. The Classic Records 45 rpm reissues are among my favorite records in my collection, but many of them were "dished" when I purchased them. Fortunately, I never returned them and was able to flatten them all when I finally bought a vinyl Flat.

 

I’m no perfectionist, but…. If I pay a largish premium for “audiophile” pressings, I frankly have less tolerance for defects. I’ve had one or two bum RSD pressings - non-fill, warped, etc. - but they’re generally non-returnable, and replaceable only if the record company is interested, so I cope, especially given the limited runs.

 

I mainly have issues with Amazon’s poor packaging and damaged sleeves. I feel if I have paid a premium for a new item then I expect it to arrive new and undamaged. If I receive it and it’s a copy I would not buy from a record shop then it goes back.

 

I have a a bigger issue with people returning items (CD or vinyl), because they don't like the mastering, than I do for legitimate damage/defects.

 

None. None go back to the label. They're all sold as non-returnable by the labels to all buyers.

Every return is a hit to the bottom line of the retailer. End of that story. And the only lesson you teach by returning them is "retailer, stop carrying vinyl, so I'll have fewer options when I buy again, and prices will be higher."

Some things deserve to be returned. Some things don't.

 

I disagree. There was time when 99,99% of records were flawless. For last 10 years I have bought two new recently made records. I had to return 50% of them because the pressing was so bad. Yes, I collect CDs these days.

 

Well, there is a difference between actual problems and obsessive nitpicking. Where that line lies though, I suppose, is a matter of debate.

 

That is a pretty small sample, obviously, one out of a sample size of two.

 

Not sure if things have drastically changed. But having worked in a small shop previously (last 10 years), depending on the label/distro, while they rarely asked us to send back defective/damaged items, they would issue us credit against such items.

 

Just to be clear, the records don't go in the garbage when they are returned. They get sold as discounted items, either by the retailers or by the retailer offloading the items to a liquidator.

At least for big retailers, like AMZ, that is what happens.

One local record shop here takes defects and returns and puts them in the used bins. When my friend ran his online shop, returns would be sold at a generous discount with the defect disclosed.

Trying 7 copies of a record is a bit much, even for me, and I'm very picky. Typically it's between 2-4 copies for me before I give up. At that point I buy a digital version or a CD if I don't already have the album. If the album is repressed in another run several months or a year later, I may try it then.

There would be a lot less returns if many plants weren't churning out so many defective records. This problem has gotten worse and worse IME since we get further into the whole "vinyl comeback" trend. Frankly I can't wait for the trend to die down, so less records are pressed overall and more attention is paid to quality. This isn't just an issue with the bottom feeder plants anymore, but all plants now, IME.

BTW labels also return records to plants if they are particularly bad. I know of 2 labels who recently returned pallets of records to the plants because of centering defects. In these cases the old records get ground up into recycled plastic and the covers are typically reused if possible.

There is no reason we shouldn't be getting flat, centered records free of non-fill and other defects. None. I would encourage folks to return their defective records so the labels and plants get the message that we aren't going to settle for garbage pressings.

 

I’ve never once returned a record and I’ve been buying vinyl continuously since the late 70s. I don’t get it.

 

One local store puts their returns out in the dollar bin. I have scored 180g copies of the Velvet Underground, ELO Secret Messages, several Rundgren/Utopia, several Blue Note, several Miles and Coltrane... All do have some non-flatness, but hardly what I consider warped and all play flawlessly on my tables.
There is also a section of new sealed stuff that has minor to not so minor cover issues. At half off or more I have found some bargains there. Picked up the Zappa pink vinyl Hot Rats with a dented corner for 10.00 and a Hendrix In The West with some slight tearing at the bottom of the cover for 6.00. The records themselves were fine.

 

I will accept small flaws with covers but I wont accept scratches, skips, severe warps or nonfill.

 

Follow-up: I bet the ones that are returning 5 copies of something are OG vinyl customers, who forgot about the imperfections of the format during the CD years, and are now just very confused. That doesn't mean there aren't crappy/poor pressings, but any experienced listener should be able to tell the difference between an overall pressing with poor QC and a copy with one or two inevitable anomalies.

 

Agreed and I live in India. Imagine how many of my records imported from the US and UK had creases, corner bends, splits, warping etc. Never returned a single record. At most I'd work something out with the seller like a partial refund or just sell the record locally and buy another copy. Having been on the Blue Note Classic series thread, I'm surprised at how frequently folks return their records for the smallest issues.

 

Oh man, I wish our shops did that. I'd be all over that. For bargain prices I really don't care about the covers as long as they're decent.

 

Just saying, but I've been buying CDs for almost 40 years. The next one I have to clean will be the first.