vinyl condition ratings

[struth]

when ive sold records ive tried to grade them as i would accept them. if you do that you wont go far wrong. obviously the older the record the more acceptable is the odd blemish, especially to cover. as i said before older vinyl can have marks but it wont usually be audible. i still say older vinyl was tougher.(ie 50's 60's good stuff)
also listening to vinyl on headphones you will hear more problems alas.

[RothwellAudio]

Given the nature of the vinyl format don't all these problems just come with the territory?. It's why they invented compact disc. Anyone remember compact disc? I've bought a fair few of them second hand and they are all mint with no pops or crackles

I think you may be right. To me, the beauty of the revival of interest in vinyl and the popularity of downloads and streaming is that second hand CDs can be bought dirt cheap

[Macca]

I think you may be right. To me, the beauty of the revival of interest in vinyl and the popularity of downloads and streaming is that second hand CDs can be bought dirt cheap

Bought a CD yesterday, brand new, came out last year, £9.99. Or I could have had the vinyl version at £20.99. Over twice the price! But when CD first came out they were £12 and the vinyl version was £5.50. How times change.

[Phil Lawton]

There are always chancers about who push the envelope of credibility...I'm fairly sure that their idea of "near mint" is that it's been stored adjacent to a box of 'After Eight' for a week.

Genuine sellers will usually do a play-test for you - there's really no harm done by asking. I've had a couple of them come back and tell me that the audio rating is way below the visual rating and that I should avoid the item. Such honesty is rare.

Alternatively, as someone else earlier in the thread suggested, buy only from Japan.

[Bigman80]

There are always chancers about who push the envelope of credibility...I'm fairly sure that their idea of "near mint" is that it's been stored adjacent to a box of 'After Eight' for a week.

Genuine sellers will usually do a play-test for you - there's really no harm done by asking. I've had a couple of them come back and tell me that the audio rating is way below the visual rating and that I should avoid the item. Such honesty is rare.

Alternatively, as someone else earlier in the thread suggested, buy only from Japan.

quality

[Shovel_Knight]

It seems all Japanese collectors are neat freaks and their pressings are very impressive, but I don’t like Japanese mastering :-( All my Japanese LPs are a touch too bright for my taste.

[speedracer]

I sell, & buy, quite a few records on ebay, & always play test, clean & pop the record in an anti-stat inner to help me grade it properly. You get to know the good sellers & I have returned only 2 or 3 in 5 years or so, & have had none returned or my grading questioned, so some get it right. I avoid sellers who say "it looks very good" because they obviously don't have a clue.

[Pete The Cat]

There's a fundamental flaw in how the Record Collector rating for Mint is interpreted. The definition refers to the cover being "in perfect condition". That's means more than simply "new".

Back in the day many covers weren't in perfect condition when you saw them in shops. I'm not simply talking about being thumbed, I mean that they weren't particularly well made.

It's quite noticeable that the production quality of album covers has improved in the past couple of decades. Look at the spine on the gatefold of a modern re-release in your local Sainsburys and it will look like a hardback book compared to its 70's equivalent.

For this reason I assume all cover ratings shown as Mint are at least one grade lower than claimed, before allowing for seller bull.

I recently bought a very well described Rush Archives which is the best I've seen in over 70 adverts and would still only say it's VG/EX.

Pete

[Audio Al]

I have had severall LP's that look like they have been use to sand down a artexed wall

Discribed as excellent

Complained and had a full refund , Then put them in my bin

[Mike Reed]

Given the nature of the vinyl format don't all these problems just come with the territory?. It's why they invented compact disc. Anyone remember compact disc? I've bought a fair few of them second hand and they are all mint with no pops or crackles

Yeah, yeah, yeah ! You can't vilify vinyl with a broad brush reference to those fiddly little things, however!

Covers are surely easy to describe; it's the grooves inside that contact your stylus and can't be seen. Actually, I'm amazed by the number of charity shop records I've bought, despite showing poor care and dubious provenance, that play well after a clean. Difference stylus profiles may have something to do with it, as it depends upon where that crappy stylus has sat in the groove.