Most records I have purchased new or second hand have been flat. 2nd hand can be tricky if advertised as NM or VG+, but having said that I have only had to return 2 records, which were definitely not as described. Records I buy from charity shops I carefully inspect under natural light if possible, occasionally I get comments from staff that it is for charity, and I point out that does not mean I have to buy a piece of rubbish to only throw it away, and they are selling something. I have not had an issue with purchases from Amazon, not yet anyway.