Vinyl Record Condition ebay vs Pro Sellers

I much prefer new records, but you cannot always find new or new is at outrageous prices. When one buys from a professional seller their rating system is fairly accurate. However on eBay I find records over-rated at times. Over-rated is usually two grades less than advertised. I bought a LP rated at excellent condition and it was only VG due to some pops and noise. I changed my buying on eBay as I will not buy any record rated less than near mint now. And do not be surprised if near mint is only excellent rated from eBay.

 

When buying used my experience is most records are only visually graded unless otherwise noted they where play graded. Looks like yours may have only been visually graded.

Most but not all Ebay sellers are terrible at grading records. I have had nothing but fair to poor experiences on Ebay. Don't get me wrong there are some great sellers but they seem to be few and far between. I have had much better experiences on Discogs.

 

I agree with you. It's much easier on Discogs IMO. I pretty much only buy NM and from 99.5% or better sellers. I either get a good record 90% of the time, or I get a refund and/or return. Most everything I want is out of print so Discogs is it for me.

 

Discogs is just as bad with overgrading. Find an accurate grader and stick with them. I never buy from random discogs sellers any more. I do buy direct from shops that grade accurately. It takes trial and error to find those shops. No easy answer, sorry.

 

Can you define "professional seller?"

Are you implying that there are zero "professional" sellers on Ebay? Discogs? Can't you find a little of both everywhere, and it depends on who you choose? It's never all or nothing, one or the other, like everything it depends.

Give me an example of a "professional" seller.

 

This is an eternal problem I have, I have polished my skills a lot at picking the right ones but from time to time I choose the wrong seller.

There are certainly very professional niche vinyl sellers on ebay but when it comes to those you'll pay through the nose either because of the high Buy it now price or because all the bidders will want what those sellers sell. There are other that are not that good but still more reliable than most. After that is just lucky draw.

I have a policy of not buying records unless there are good close ups of the vinyl itself. You can then spot many listings where the seller claims excellent but the photo tells you otherwise. It is not 100% perfect but it works.

I've found sellers that list things as VG to be on the safe side and the records are perfect, certainly better than some "mint".

 

I have a good friend that's sold records via his eBay store for years, and I've had this conversation with him about grading. When I asked about surface noise, ticks, etc., he explained that it would be impossible to listen to records he lists, given his listing volume (~10k). His approach generally is to buy collections that appear to be in outstanding condition, then discards anything that has any type of jacket wear/blemishes/marks. If something looks pristine/mint, he pulls it for careful visual grading. I'm sure he occasionally makes exceptions for rare/unique items. He's told me that refunds/credit for unhappy customers is "just the cost of doing business" and tries to keep the bar set very high to begin with to avoid problems. Last time I saw him, he had over 3000 new albums to sort through.

 

One thing to pay attention is the seller's feedback. Check for any people's reviews if they mentioned "accurate grading" and ensure that the seller's rating is at least 99% positive or higher. Don't be afraid to ask the seller for any detailed, up-close photos, too.

 

He is not alone in using that system but unfortunately while that might work for him that might not be the case for his customers. Besides making some people blow a gasket and having a bad time. The vast majority of those sellers will only pay for postage one way not only leaving you out of pocket but also a long period of time will pass with them having your money.

When you add into the mixture someone like me who might have to pay and lose US$25 in international postage -sometimes more- it makes it even harder to call that a professional vinyl seller. There is nothing professional about it except that he makes a living out of it.

 

eBay ratings tend to be worse for whatever reason, it makes no sense! Getting bad feedback is equally bad on eBay or Discogs.

 

I've gotten a few turkeys from Discogs myself and had to deal with a couple of sellers (they were used record shops) that really didn't seem to care if they shipped the purchase or not. It took one shop three weeks to finally get around to putting it in the mail. I've never had trouble with an individual seller on Discogs, just the shops. I've been really lucky buying on EBay but I always buy mint or mint minus.

 

Whether on eBay or Discogs it takes a while to find consistently reliable sellers but once you do just stick with them. I have about 10 I stick with. It's always worth a premium to get that reliability in grading and responsiveness.

 

Yeah, when I'm paying $AU 35 just for shipping with an impossible return cost I want the bloody thing in the condition it was supposed to be in.
I stopped buying from the US because of costs. I used to get into some of the US pressings too.

If anyone wants to see real amateurs at real prices have a look at selling 'vinyls' on Facebook. High priced lucky dip.

 

After 30 years buying and selling I can pretty well tell whether or not a seller knows what they are doing by the presentation in their ad. I'm rarely surprised buying on eBay as a result unless I knowingly take a risk because the price is right.

 

And also see if music media is primarily what they sell.

 

If you are talking high volume shops that sell on Discogs so they can move records that won't sell in store I do not buy from those places. I buy direct from stores I have experience with, and their prices are often a little bit higher than Discogs. I use the stores' websites. Discogs is not part of the transaction at all.

 

Yeah, you've really got to look closer at who you are buying from. I know it is tough.

When I first started selling LPs, I sold on eBay. I didn't know what I was doing and I over-graded the first few I sold. My buyers weren't happy. I offered full refunds. This made them feel better, and eventually, I learned to grade better.

Buyers can be tough too. You state a record is VG, and some seriously want it to be NM - and now, I slightly under-grade.

Now, I try to put the odds in my favor as a buyer by checking feedback, or asking specific questions.

My worst experiences buying LPs has been on Amazon. They come warped or the covers are roughed up at least 50% of the time so I stopped buying LPs on Amazon and places like Turn Table Lab who have a lot of stock stored there.

 

I hear you. It's a tough situation, because as a buyer I'd want that "personal" review of the product, and would be interested in label variations, matrix numbers, etc., but I know from his perspective that he just can't invest that much time in each record. RE: return shipping costs, I'm not sure he asks for returns; he may just offers refunds. I've never purchased anything myself, just traded odds and ends when I stop by. I know he ships a good deal of product internationally, mostly classical, soundtrack, etc.

 

I've had a bad year buying from Discogs. The last purchase was in May, the records were so bad I've stopped buying from Discogs. I have only bought new records from ebay.

 

The trend now on eBay is to not grade the record because any grade you give it will be contested by somebody somewhere.

 

Hi,
Yes but I wasn't even getting into that, my main concern is that the record doesn't sound like if it's been used as a food tray at Maccos. Sometimes it is quite clear that the so called visual inspection is done with the eyes closed or they weren't inspected at all.

 

Most people selling records don't listen to them, it would be impossible. Your complaint here would not be detected looking at a record. Any grading system is for visual appearance and is purely subjective from one person to the other. The fact is the pops and noise your complaining about here could be just a dirty record that needs you to wash it. Most seller are not going to wash all or any of the records they sell.

I can see that happening, just like I see the analretentiveness of many members on this site. There is no perfect record and some will complain about everything. I don't believe in the word mint in grading a record either even if it's new.

Some of the latest generation buying and listening to records today should just go back to CDs.

 

I don't know if many in this thread or the ones doing buying online a lot, ever been to a record store.

I haven't bought any used records online much because I have used record stores here. There isn't any grading in a store and most don't wash or listen to the records. You flip through the records and if you see something you like you check it out. You look at the physical condition, making sure it's not warped, scratched bad, and where it might fall into of age of pressing. There is a price on it and you determine if you want to pay that. That's it, there is no guarantee it sounds good or it will not have a pop when you play it.

Some stores have a turntable to used, but they are not good tables, and the record hasn't been washed, it can harm the record. I also might have 50-60 records I'm buying in a day, I can't go listen to them all, so visual looking is about it.

I personally feel a lot of people online buying records want some kind of special treatment. Like a seller needs to cull and find the one best record out of 20, have it washed, new inner sleeves and then call it mint for you, at a prices of $8.00. What about the cost of the other 19 copies?

There is a company that will do this for you Better Records, they call their records hot stampers, they look for the best sounding records for you. They hand select out of many same titles, wash them and give them all a listening. They then determine witch ones will be graded and sold.
Better Records: Amazing Sounding Pressings... Guaranteed

I don't think they grade visually at all, if the record has abrasions, but not heard while playing it doesn't effect the sound quality grading. But all this service that some of you expect all other sellers to do cost money. Best Records don't really have any used records for under $150, most in the area of $250-$450.