COMMENTS AND TERMS

Updated 20 August 2013 

I encourage buyers to make offers. You can always send me an e-mail with your offer and if I accept it, I will change the selling in the listing so you can buy it at that amount. I am ready to deal with you for reasonable offers! I moved away from allowing buyers to make offers as a result of the disappointing fact that more often than not, it seems buyers make ridiculously low offers without regard to the record’s value or without any regard to making the transaction equitable for both of us.  I want to sell records not give them away.

I don’t know and to be honest I really don’t care what other sellers do. It is the exception that a record I sell is not outstanding. Occasionally a record will look beautiful but it is a dog when played. I can’t play every record and sometimes I do miss something in my visual comments. On the other hand the universally-accepted record grading system is comically flawed and leaves much to subjective interpretation. Since I sell mostly records from the ’60s and ‘70s (and to some degree from the ‘80s), I am dealing in records that are 40 to 50 years, with an unknown history of care. It is amazing how well many of these records sound today with the way they were taken care of but there is no way I can guarantee that my subjective grading will agree with yours! Since it is so ‘flaky’, don’t have a cow if we disagree.

I have outstanding feedback and that is not by chance. I have no way of knowing if I am at the top of the heap but I have not found anyone who is doing a better job. If you read my feedback, the repetitive themes are outstanding customer service, honest communication, equitable resolution of issues and outstanding quality. I don’t use the VPI record cleaner as a gimmick because I know what it takes to use it properly and continuously to clean records. Every time I play a record whether to listen after a sale or for my own pleasure I ONLY use the VPI machine. I also supply each record with a 3 or 4 mil outer sleeve and an archival Mobile Fidelity (MoFi) inner sleeve (sometimes older VRP sleeves that are no longer made) or double record archival sleeves for two record sets) even on $11 records! Records are boxed in the MoFi sleeves and stored between the outer sleeve and the jacket to protect the records in shipping) and double-boxed for larger orders with bubble wrap and shipping peanuts used as necessary. You have nothing to worry about. I will take care of you even if USPS doesn’t always take care of me or eBay which frequently costs me money due to its policies.

One of my biggest gripes is eBay’s feedback. eBay has set up a very elaborate feedback system but unfortunately, eBay has not set out the parameters for giving feedback or DSR ratings. Each buyer just does whatever he/she wants and this leads to chaos but yet eBay uses feedback as its barometer on determining each seller’s future. This reduces some sellers to begging to do anything to avoid low marks and further empowers buyers to extract as much’s they can get from groveling sellers who seem terrified of a negative or a 1 or 2. Without eBay parameters on what constitutes successful seller performance, feedback means very little.  It would be trying to play a vinyl record without the R.I.A.A. curve which standardized every record to conform to a playback EQ curve. If I sound cynical, I am. Here is an example.

I have free domestic shipping on every record I sell. I have had 5.0 on the DSR for ‘shipping and handling charges’ for months yet I have fallen to 4.96 recently. Obviously a few people gave me ‘4’s’ yet how can I get anything but a ‘5’ when I offer FREE SHIPPING? If there are no shipping charges, how can anyone complain about ‘shipping and handling charges?!!

I am very fair and very reasonable but the price I want to sell a record for may not be what you want to buy it for.  When I get ‘low-ball’ offers I usually explain why I can’t accept that if I respond but if they are too low I very well might not even respond. It seems some buyers will only buy if the record is given away while others realize that their ability to get the records like I sell is dependent on me getting those records and if I didn’t make any money, then I wouldn’t offer them. I am always offering records that are hard-to-find if not outright rare. MAKE ME A REASONABLE OFFER and you will get the item. I have been selling records on eBay as one of my venues since 1999 so with that kind of experience, I have something worthwhile to offer.

This nonsense using two-letter designators to describe the condition of a record is about as accurate as telling someone they have cancer with a lump under the skin. It is just silly but it seems too many 'so-called' collectors swear by it. I don't subscribe to it and I write descriptions about record condition (which take more time and thought, than glib two-letter designators) based upon what I can see under a strong light and what I hear, if I have time to play the record.

I am always here to help you either what a record you want or service after you have bought. You just gotta ask.

Records are visually graded but I play as many as I can so I will catch most problems but sometimes I don't.

There are only 4 SUBJECTIVE GRADING record levels that I use and these are used in conjunction with a written description of the cover and vinyl. Taken together along with the scans these give the buyer a reasonable expectation.

VG+

VG++ =  EX,

NM-

NM

If you have questions, send me an e-mail.

TOUCH: self-titled (Coliseum Records, 1969, SUPER-NICE!!)

COVERS: SUPER-NICE Cover with slight scuffing and ring wear.The Cover is in quite nice shape but not perfect.

GATEFOLD: INTACT and SUPER NICE!

SPINE/SEAMS:No rips, tears or splits in the spine or seams

SLIT OPENING: Virtually no thumb breakdown of the paperboard

VINYL: Vinyl has some light surface paper scratches and S1 has some light scuffs. Overall teh vinyl looks quite nice but it is not perfect

LABELS: No spindle marks


COVER: VG++

VINYL: Overall VG++
but don't forget the notes above
I am a music lover FIRST and a RECORD DEALER second.

 As always, you get my TLC with VPI machine cleaning, a translucent outer sleeve and a MoFi archival inner sleeve at no extra charge.