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Discogs

Darren L said:
Although I've never bought from the Discogs platform
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I am having difficulty understanding your comments on a Discogs thread, if you haven't used Discogs to purchase records.
I do understand that buying records, new or used can be frustrating.

It wouldn't be fun otherwise :)

Discogs should work well because of the feedback system, and you have the opportunity to question the seller in detail about the item for sale, before you commit to the purchase.

It can fail because of feedback being withheld because of fear of retribution.

You can challenge negative feedback and have it removed.

My advice when using discogs is to always keep communication non-personal and keep it short.
And being polite costs nothing. I have involved discogs a few times in disputes, and I have always found them fair.
 
Big Tabs said:
I am having difficulty understanding your comments on a Discogs thread, if you haven't used Discogs to purchase records.
I do understand that buying records, new or used can be frustrating.
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My comments are relative to the buying of secondhand vinyl regardless of the platform.
After reading various positive and negative comment in this thread I'm just sharing my experience of having bought lots of second hand records over the counter at a record fairs, the Discogs of the 90's , while some appeared to be in excellent condition they didn't sound excellent when played. I'm sure it's the same for some second hand records bought and sold on Discogs on eBay.
Anything I've looked for so far seems to be available and a good range of options at that, I must see if I've any doubles or unwanted LPs worth selling.
Thanks for the tips!
 
Darren L said:
My comments are relative to the buying of secondhand vinyl regardless of the platform.
After reading various positive and negative comment in this thread I'm just sharing my experience of having bought lots of second hand records over the counter at a record fairs, the Discogs of the 90's , while some appeared to be in excellent condition they didn't sound excellent when played. I'm sure it's the same for some second hand records bought and sold on Discogs on eBay.
Anything I've looked for so far seems to be available and a good range of options at that, I must see if I've any doubles or unwanted LPs worth selling.
Thanks for the tips!
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Record Fairs have always been a negative experience for me, but I haven't been to one for decades.
I like accidental finds in independent charity shops.

If you want to make money, the prices for used records on Amazon looks way higher than discogs or ebay (sometimes).
The descriptions of used records on amazon is quite vague I find.

if the description of a used record for sale on discogs has very little added notes about the condition, I try to stay clear - or I message the seller and ask direct questions about the state of the record and sleeve.

Has anyone ever purchased a record from Russia?

They are jolly expensive.
 
I've bought relatively few items from Discogs, maybe 100 give or take, but I've not really had any issues to worry about. I think the "worst" one was I bought an album (that I already have) just because it was a promo and was labelled up accordingly. Guess what, it wasn't when it came and it was blamed on a "copy and paste" listing. It wasn't a lot of money and the actual item was fine so, for me, it just wasn't worth bothering about. I tend to only buy from UK sellers just to cutout potential delivery isues but having said that I've been waiting ages for a UK located "Side Tracks" to no avail so I have a copy on its way from Germany, so far, so good.....
 
Big Tabs said:
Has anyone ever purchased a record from Russia?
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Yes, Warm Dust - And it came to pass, 2xLP, 1970. My copy had a bad scratch on side 4. The Discogs seller had a copy with a trashed sleeve, and LP1 was beyond redemption too, but LP2 was VG+, so I ordered it; the seller sent me a message asking if I had read the description and did I still want it? Yes, I said, so I was able to upgrade my copy for peanuts; a good deal!

Talking about record fairs, I wonder when they are going to be allowed to come back? We have one just up the road from us, but obviously, it's not been there for months. Yes, they are variable; I can't believe the rubbish that some seller take there, but you can find some hidden treasures too.
 
Darren L said:
Although I've never bought from the Discogs platform IME buying secondhand records can be a bit hit or miss, I've bought secondhand LPs at record fairs that looked pristine but sounded far from it when played. More times than enough this has been done to unacceptable and intrusive surface noise, just because it looks clean and scratch free does not mean it was played to death on a sub standard record player with a penny on the headshell.
I do wonder how many people actually listen to the whole LP and give an accurate description of the records condition or if the grading is based on visual appearance.
Most reissues I've bought have been either fine or in some cases particularly good, of course not having a mint OG first pressing to compare it too means I accept it for what it is.
Fwiw in general I'd rather buy a new sealed copy regardless of when it was released, pressed, reissued or remastered though sometimes this is not possible, sometimes it just a matter of waiting until a re-release or reissue is made available.
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I never list a record for sale without listening to it first, that’s just totally lazy but anyway you need to be able to respond to someone saying that track such and such is noisy or whatever and you can’t do that if you’ve not listened beforehand anyway I always list noises on records and I’m not the only one who does that there’s loads of sellers on Discogs who do the same.
 
I tend to play the record through again if I have interest from a potential buyer.

I have made mistakes, but they tend to be early things that I listed when I was learning the ropes. In that situation I have been honest with the potential buyer and usually send it free, or charge them nothing for it - that is if they still want it. Depends what it is and what I have missed.
Individual service and all that.
 
Nothing beats the occasional charity shop find. I’ve never snagged anything particularly valuable but bought a copy of ‘Night & Day’ for £2 which turned out to be an original pressing in really nice nick.
 
I think I'll give it a try but think I'll stick to listing a few M/M records that I have that I don't really like, I'm surprised at some of the values of 'recent' LPs that I bought new in the 90's and 00's.
 
Hardly sharing secrets here I know but until the recent resurgance in vinyl's popularity it generally sold in very low numbers, so bearing in mind some of it is now 30 years old and taking away those that were not cared for there are slim pickings at the NM level, for 90s stuff at least.

I would love to see figures for actual sales per format of a release, to try and gauge just how rare some vinyl is. For instance, a couple of my most valuable albums (3 figures territory) are mid 90s ones by The Trash Can Sinatras, who never really set the charts alight and were unceremoniously dropped after their 3rd album, so sold in I guess in very low numbers. Just how low though I know not.

As for grading I have recently started listing a few albums (on here, not tried Discogs for selling yet) and on each one make a point of cleaning, playing it through and making notes. Even then if I hear the odd bit of noise or pop on a pristine-looking and seldom-played album I still wonder whether it is truly NM. Thankfully feedback has been good so I am gaining confidence in grading, but do struggle with it sometimes.

What would one do if an album has clearly been very well looked after and not played to death but has what appear to be pressing defects? I have a Field Mice one that goes for daft dosh on Discogs but despite having been bought new and put in a poly sleeve since opening has some clicks from marks that look to me like they are from the pressing. So if that's the case it is near mint compared to how it was when new, but not perfect on playback.
 
deebster said:
What would one do if an album has clearly been very well looked after and not played to death but has what appear to be pressing defects? I have a Field Mice one that goes for daft dosh on Discogs but despite having been bought new and put in a poly sleeve since opening has some clicks from marks that look to me like they are from the pressing. So if that's the case it is near mint compared to how it was when new, but not perfect on playback.
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If the sleeve has no storage wear, ring marks, sticker removal marks, corners and edges intact, no creasing, no writing etc. maybe N/Mint if no obvious signs of wear. Otherwise VG+ tops. State any obvious defects. I never use Mint for any used record.
If the record has any signs of play, hairlines, paper scuffs etc and include the labels for spindle marks and/or signs of wear it is VG+
You could try describing as N/M but including the marks you regard as a pressing fault.
If there are a lot for sale, look at the descriptions? Sometimes with regular pressing issues it will be mentioned in the sellers accompanying notes.
 
I grade new/unplayed records as mint, essentially new old stock. Not all such records are mint however, especially 12" singles in single sleeves which can accumalate hard to shift dust lines. Anything else is NM if it looks unplayed and lower as appropriate. I have this in my terms so buyers understand my grading.
 
Talking of rarities I sold some of my son’s CDs last year, I’d never heard of the vast majority of the bands, anyway I did an audit on one of those buy your record collection sites and I think they offered me about £1 for a particular CD so I stuck it on Discogs for £25 and it sold within days but it was very rare though so rare I don’t think one had sold on there for years.
 
deebster said:
What would one do if an album has clearly been very well looked after and not played to death but has what appear to be pressing defects?
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Grade it on how it sounds, state that it's based on play testing and include a detailed description stating the defects exactly as you have.
 
It is always worth looking at how many are for sale on Discogs, this gives a good idea of rarity & likelihood of a sale.
 
Or like me list an obscure bluegrass piece of vinyl on flea bay and within five minutes it’s snapped up for a tenner. Following day it’s back on with a starting price over £100. Discogs for me on all future sales.
 
I've bought loads of stuff from discogs, always stick to VG+ and high volume sellers and have never had a problem that couldn't be resolved to my satisfaction.
 
Old thread and only skim read it but why don't Discogs use the Excellent category? As someone posted it's a big jump from VG+ to NM.
 
I started using discogs in late 2000s. As a buyer I found it disappointingly unreliable, but over a few years of occasional use experience gradually improved until it became my favourite 2nd hand source. Some time after that realised discogs hadn't changed much since I joined, and it was down to me taking four or five years to how learn to use it.
 
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