#21

yeah it’s not super intuitive but it’s kind of the best thing out there right now if you want it for both cataloguing and buying/selling.

1 Like
#22

I’ve been using Discogs to sell off the vinyl that I don’t listen to anymore to fund new purchases. Doing pretty well. But wow, there are some odd people buying records. I just had this message from someone who wanted to buy New Order, Walls, Darkstar and Caribou stuff:

hi there

*Could you please confirm that these records are all in the described condition according to Discogs grading (http://www.discogs.com/help/mp-grading.html)? I tend to return items I’m not happy with so better for us both to sort this out in advance :slight_smile: *

Please take the records out of the sleeves before packing, and pack carefully. Would be great to keep shipping costs down to a minimum - it should cost a lot less to send than your shipping terms. Thanks!!

I just replied and told him not to bother.

#23

Anyone else had any odd buyers?

#24

I don’t think this is odd tbh.
Records should be shipped outside of the cardboard sleeves where possible but they aren’t always.
Records are expensive and people do inflate the shipping costs in order to make more profit on what they sell. I’ve seen a lot of sellers offer multi-buy shipping discounts, sounds like you aren’t?
This person sounds like they buy a lot of second hand vinyl and want to make sure they’re buying records that have been graded properly.
¯_(ツ)_/¯

#25

I think its fine really; until this line anyway…

which tickled me! the obvious reply being nah mate

#26

I decided about a year ago to have a big clear out and have had a pretty positive experience overall but yeah definitely a few weirdos. I think you just have to accept it.

Weirdly the very first enquiry I got was one of the strangest. I’d put some stuff up that I genuinely had never played more than once because they were just not my thing. Got an enquiry for about half a dozen of these from a Greek guy saying he already had these in VG+ condition so they must be NM. I wrote back really politely giving info on each record, offering to send photo’s etc. He came back saying I needed to examine them under Led light and loads of other guff. so I wrote back and said ‘ok, it sounds like you need to inspect these in person so I don’t want to risk disappointing you’. At which point he wrote a really aggressive email saying I musn’t cancel his order because its against the terms & conditions of the site.

Whole thing was really weird.

I’ve had 2 or 3 other pretty weird ones as well. But it really is the exception, I think it just pays to er on the side of caution on the grading and yeah package everything well so that people are happy they receive a nice package. When I but stuff from discogs it does make your heart sink when stuff turns up in a pizza box (happened twice to me!).

I was kind of amazed at the stuff I sold (even a few CD singles!) so I’ve always treated it as a bonus and that I hope people enjoy the records.

Edit: I mentioned his nationality as I do think English as a second language can sometimes have a bit of an impact on the tone of some messages. I’ve had a couple of people who came across as really aggressive in their initial messages and I don’t think it was deliberate.

1 Like
#27

I charge exactly what the post office charge me - which means I lose money when I’ve paid for packaging, discogs fee and PayPal fee. But Italian post is expensive (for single items anyway) so I just take the hit. You still get the odd person complaining though, which I do think is weird. I guess people are used to Amazon and even the retailers who get discounted postage rates.

#28

Nope, my shipping policy is cheap and I offer discounts for multi buy. No profit made on shipping.

Also my 102 positive ratings regularly state that I grade my records conservatively.

I state in my shipping that they can have records taken out of sleeve on request. I don’t think this ‘should’ happen though. I’ve never had it happen in any record I’ve bought from a shop.

Telling someone you’re happy to return things before you’ve seen them is just rude in my opinion. If you’re that fussy only go to a physical shop?

#29

I’ve bought quite a bit of stuff of there never had any problems. Same risk as ebay for me. Sold a couple of records on there and you got all sorts of weird messages.

#30

I do the same for postage, but these cardboard mailers are expensive and Discogs fees aren’t cheap. There are definitely others adding these fees to their shipping.

#31

Funnily enough I went to buy a single 12" yesterday and the guy added £7.88 for postage. When I contested he told me that all his stuff must be insured. I just cancelled the order.

#32

Totally agree with all of this. I’ve had a few people with obviously similar music taste who we’ve chatted back and forth well after the purchase. I’d say 90% are really sound.

It’s this grading thing that gets me most worked up. It can only ever be an opinion M, NM, VG+, VG, quibbling over this is crazy. As others have said, look at the person’s feedback and decide whether you want to take the risk, just like Ebay.

#33

I think a good thing about discogs is the lack of random weird messages, which I can imagine is a thing on ebay.

#34

I found it’s the M and NM that attract the weirdos.

Even if brand new and sealed I’d caution against M as if it has any tiny blemish it will get disputed by a certain type of person (tbh I’m not sure they really want the records!) - better to put NM and explain it is new and sealed in the description. Effectively NM means pristine and maybe played a couple of times.

But yeah it’s subjective when it comes down to it.

It’s definitely work to get it right on discogs - grading, packaging, dealing with people etc.

#35

yeah this is definitely a tactic some sellers use - low price so people pick it and then load some extra charges onto the shipping.

#36

I think people on discogs expect the people on there to know their onions and how to treat records etc. While on ebay there is maybe an expectation that it is someone selling their dead parents collection and don’t know anything. Suppose that is probably why there are more weird messages on ebay.

1 Like
#37

I’ve sold a lot of stuff on Discogs and 90% of transactions are fine. You do get the odd idiot complaining about postage charges. My attitude is simply that my charges are fair, they’re clearly set out in advance and no-one is forcing anyone to buy anything.

For what it’s worth I think the Discogs charging structure (when you pay a fee based on a percentage of the sale price not including postage) tends to incentivise people to bump up postage charges.

#38

Ensuring that your gradings are accurate is v important but there are so many cunts on discogs that I stopped using it. Seemed like every time I sent a record someone would quibble, people wanting partial refunds just because they’re trying their luck, wanting refunds without returning the records, someone lodging a complaint which froze my paypal account for a week because the US postal service is slow. Glad to be rid tbh.

#39

I think you’ve just been unlucky, to be honest. Maybe I grade conservatively but I’ve never had those sort of complaints. Grading is so subjective that there’s always the prospect of disagreement. Perhaps I’ve just been lucky.

#40

If anyone wants to be Discogs ‘Friends’ here’s my profile

https://www.discogs.com/user/zanimos

Not quite sure what being friends on Discogs means but basically I like being nosey about other people’s record collections!