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DISCOGS RATING SYSTEM

M

MFTROOP

Member
Hi Everyone

I purchased my first album on Discogs...Sgt Peppers

The seller rated it as VG+

I received it yesterday

The cover was in bad shape...

The record was scratched, with multiple skips

According to the seller this is what VG+ means on discogs.

Is that correct??

If so, I guess I will NOT be purchasing via that site!
 
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I've bought NM there that were pretty scuffed and lightly scratched too. I guess it depends on vision and lighting, or lack of it.
 
MFTROOP said:
According to the seller this is what VG+ means on discogs.
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No that's bull! The Goldmine record album price guide rating system is what's generally used to rate vinyl condition online. By definition: "VG+ records may show some slight signs of wear, including light scuffs or very light scratches that do not affect the listening experience". Discogs uses Goldmine too. See here. According to them: "A Very Good Plus record will show some signs that it was played and otherwise handled by a previous owner who took good care of it. Defects should be more of a cosmetic nature, not affecting the actual playback as a whole. "

That seller is way off and you should stand on your rights.
 
Yeah it shouldn't be a big deal. Just tell him the condition of the record and that you would like a refund.
 
spartanmanor said:
Any good seller will make good on a sale. Discogs is a marketplace so it is up to the seller to do the grading.
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And Discogs has feedback so AK is not the place for this... if OP is unsure how rating works I believe a glance at Goldmine standards posted here should suffice. Record grading is somewhat subjective but skips are not acceptable if not noted. I have NM LPs with a slight pressing bubble that causes a skip and it sucks so not NM sadly.
 
MFTROOP said:
He has agreed to refund..he claims that Discogs has an "inflated" rating system
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Now you know....... all sellers are not alike. Find a few you trust and stick with them.

For the best $25 you will spend all year you can join AK as a subscriber and have access to our own sale site here where many fine sellers sell great stuff at fair prices to each other.
 
This thread should probably be in General Audio Discussion, but very few of us go there. A recent over graded purchase from Discogs was refunded after leaving a positive feedback with true factual information. I then sent the seller a email thru Discogs and asked him to read the feedback. He refunded me promptly.

As far as Bartertown is concerned, In the 4 or 5 years I subscribed my record purchased were probably only 65-70% successful. YMMV I have done at leasst that well on Discogs over the years.
 
MFTROOP said:
He has agreed to refund..he claims that Discogs has an "inflated" rating system
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Discogs does not rate the LPs - he does when entering his info. His ratings are inflated. There are great sellers on Discogs that have nice stuff at reasonable prices. I read feedback closely, looking for discrepancies in grading and shipping problems.

I have been cataloging my LP/CD collection and don't worry a whole lot about the rating. If I was going to sell, I would definitely go back and verify my grading.

Alan
 
How can you tell if a visually graded record has skips? Though it's rare, I've got records that look perfect but have skips because they were cut with overlapping grooves.

Anyway...Goldmine is the gold standard...it is NOT inflated, though the vendor's rating often is.....
 
And if you play it to grade it, whether it skips may depend on the TT used. It might not skip on axe with 5 g tracking weight. :D
 
IMHO ... Discog, eBay, Amazon market sellers ... you have to read feedback and take it w/ a grain of salt.
I like to buy from merchant sellers online ... but it's like buying at a flea market w/out seeing the goods. o_O

I try to deal w/ the same sellers as often as I can ... ones who have proved themselves to me (trust their grading).
I do take chances now & then ... but won't put much money at risk. The higher the dollar value .. the more cautious I get.

Bought an LP from a Discog seller recently ... Vinyl was over graded (but price was right) ..
which I assumed it would be (I routinely lower one grade as par for the course) ... listed as Nm- ... it was actually Vg++. Considering it was
a 1970 album .. worked out well for me.
 
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ripblade said:
How can you tell if a visually graded record has skips?
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Absolutely true, but then again, goldmine (and thus Discogs) says that even a near mint record has likely never been played. So how is one to grade it any way other than visually? This would logically seem to leave mint and NM records open to the possibility of having skips. Seems like a conundrum to me.
 
Hey every once in a while you get a dud, it's the nature of the game. Not all records are the same nor are all play back systems. There is cases the same exact record will be quiet and play fine with one table and cartridge, and on another will sound like crap and even skip.

On one hand you can have a buyer that is unrealistic as to what a record should sound like all the while playing in on an inferior system.

On another hand you can have a seller who thinks records should snap crackle and pop, in their mind it's the beauty of records LOL.

If buyers and sellers can't find a happy medium working together we see a problem.
 
Do you homework OP. Overgrading is rampant on Discogs, and this is well documented all over the internet. Seller ratings don't help with this issue either.
 
In general when making a purchase on Discogs, I will base my decision on this question: "If, when I receive the item, it is a full grade lower than listed, am I ok with that?" If the answer is "Yes", then I buy.
 
before buying a record at disccogs i always make sure the seller has 100% postive feeback
 
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