Tony L
Administrator
The Weekly Listing
Welcome to pfm records, all records on the list are carefully assessed and graded using the well established Record Collector Magazine criteria and only the very best quality second hand vinyl will ever make it onto this list. Covers are graded first, i.e. VG/NM indicates a ‘very good’ grade sleeve and a ‘near mint’ record. Any shop price stickers are removed as part of the grading process to ensure accurate grading of the sleeve. Any original record company advertising stickers are left in place.
The Record Collector Magazine Grading System
M: Mint - the record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.
EX: Excellent - the record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing.
VG: Very Good - the record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.
G: Good - the record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.
F: Fair - the record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and/or defaced.
P: Poor - the record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.
B: Bad - the record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection-filler.
Plus (+) and minus(-) symbols are sometimes used to describe records that are borderline between grades and therefore don’t quite fit.
Additional Grading And Testing
If a record has any visual problem it is additionally graded by listening to the affected area, any issues are noted and commented upon. As a rule no record below EX will be offered here for sale unless it is genuinely rare as hens teeth or sounds significantly better than it looks.
Abbreviations Used Within The Listing
dc: deletion cut-out, the record has a small deliberate corner cut or hole on the sleeve to indicate it was either sold as ‘end of line’, imported or used for promotional purposes.
dig: digital master (used only in classical section).
gf: gatefold sleeve.
inner: original printed picture or lyric inner sleeve.
insert: printed lyric sheet etc.
nb: narrow band Decca SXL / SET label.
wb: wideband Decca SXL / SET label.
woc: writing on cover, usually a small owners name (I don’t buy in records with more than a tiny amount, so it will be minor).
wol: writing on label, i.e. previous owners name or date.
Record Cleaning
Records are occasionally cleaned as part of the grading process, e.g. if they had finger marks etc. Any item can be cleaned on a VPI 17F cleaning machine upon request for 70p per disk, i.e. a double album is £1.40.
Cleaning is now included for free on the classical listing.
Keeping The List Up To Date
Items are indicated as being sold with an asterisk ‘*’ in front of the title and finally removed from list once shipped. This keeps the list bang up to date so at any time it is possible to see what is available. The list works on a strict first come first served basis, so please make requests on the thread rather than by PM. Requests by PM will be honoured, but in the case of any duplicate orders the person who has requested via this thread will get priority.
New stock is uploaded to the list on a weekly basis, this usually takes place on Sunday between 6:00 and 6:30 whilst carrying out a full list update. It is at this point that previously sold stock, i.e. that which is marked with a ‘*’ is removed from the list (a backup is kept).
Placing Orders, Postage And Payment Options
There is no minimum nor maximum order limit, though most customers tend to work to a 'pile' system based around the capacity of the cruciform box mailers used for shipping, i.e. they pick whatever records they fancy when they appear in the listings and when they have a nice full box I send a checkout invoice out via PM. The mailers hold around 5-8 LPs, and this means a full mailer comes in at under 2Kg so fits neatly within the UK Standard Parcels break-point and is also below the weight international airmail pricing becomes criminally insane. Payment within the UK can be via cheque, bank transfer or PayPal, international orders via PayPal only due to the strangely unpredictable nature of international bank charges.