Would You Accept This Seam Split

Looks exactly like seam splits caused in the mail on brand new covers that I've had.

 

Unacceptable. Also yet another reason I don't buy vinyl from Amazon.

Bull Moose, Amoeba, Acoustic Sounds, MOFI, Music Direct, Barnes & Noble. All package and ship vinyl properly.
MOFI even removes the record from the jacket if you ask them to !

 

Definitely not photoshopped. Stood the cover up on a chair and took the picture looking down. The replacement looked exactly the same under the shrink. Why would I take the time to create such an image??? Makes no sense at all. I am no longer in possession of the album, otherwise I might have taken a few pics from different angles. Just hoping the order from Walmart is not the same.

 

I shake my fist, though shaking another body part (especially without shaking anything else!) could be effective, too.

 

Ha! I see I left my thought incomplete - I’ll leave it up to each reader to fill it in on their own.

 

It was packaged well. Was in one of the Amazon wrap around LP mailers than inside another box with plenty of cushioning. The album sits very firmly in the wrap around mailer so I think it came from the manufacturer this way. Maybe jacket is a little under-sized and record was forced into it.

 

To me, the value of a record is not only the record and the music on it, it is also the cover. I return any purchases from Amazon that has any cosmetic flaws be it a corner ding, crease or seam split (no matter how small) .

 

Heavyweight vinyl with sharp edges is more likely to do that even with good packing.
Unfortunate given the current fetish for that vinyl.

 

If I paid full price for a new LP with a sleeve split like that I wouldn't accept it. As a matter of fact, this very morning I returned an LP to amazon with a smaller split than the one you show.

 

Return

 

That's a bit larger than I'd like to see as I am fussy about my covers. OTOH, I've repaired lots of splits over the years w/white glue and safe tape (the masking tape you get at paint stores that will release without damage) reversing a piece of tape along the split. Once the glue dries you pull the tape and touch up with a black marker.

There's several factors here because the item is both new and common:
1) Do I want to deal with a return? (no)
2) Is the item ever likely to be sold to someone else? (for me, 99% likely no)
3) Is the item ever likely to appreciate in value to a point where I would consider selling it to someone else (extremely unlikely)
4) Do I want to acknowledge to myself that I am being incredibly pedantic over something so minor? (very unlikely)
5) In the scheme of things (Covid, dysfunctional politics, global warming, racial injustice, etc) this is such a petty item that I simply can't let it get under my skin.

 

I think of it more as, since I paid for something new, I want to receive it in "new" condition. I don't buy a new toaster on Amazon and keep the toaster even if it arrived with a cracked or dented side panel even if the toaster still works. I buy it to toast bread and not think that the value will appreciate over time, but I still want to enjoy the looks of a brand new toaster I paid $20 for (or a record in the case of this thread).

 

I received the order from Walmart and it was absolutely perfect. Most likely came from a different production run.

 

The quality of new records is so hit and miss now I'm scared of sending back a damaged jacket with a perfect record and getting a perfect jacket with a bad record. Which based on past orders I would say has about a 50% chance of happening.

 

When dealing with Amazon, I will hold on to the defective record until the replacement arrives. Even more so with multi LP sets. They give you 30 days to get the return back.

 

New box sets scare me because of the odds of getting a dud and then you have to return the whole thing. I got the Fleetwood Mac Box Set and half of the discs were defective.