Purchasing used lps on Audiogon


What has been your experiecne with purchasing used vinyl on Audiogon? As a record collector of some 30 years, I have had mixed results. I have bought a pristine Tina Brooks Mosaic set for a very reasonable price and I have also purchased three import lps from the same seller which were all inferior reissues (a fact that wasn't revealed perhaps due more to ignorance than malice). These imports were not particularly well packaged and definitely were not mint. I did not leave negative feedback because the total outlay of cash in this case was small and grading is, unfortunately, a very subjective science. I have had sellers ignore defects like split seams and noticable cover ring wear. Your thoughts/experiences as buyers/sellers?
m2sweeneys

Showing 1 response by lugnut

I've only had wonderful experiences buying vinyl from the audiogon community. One member in particular (jimbo3, I think) even sent me my order before I got the check in the mail AND all the vinyl was like new. I've also traded vinyl with Twl and was most pleased with the transaction.

I recently sold a number of boxed sets of classical music here and struggled with grading. I eventually decided to sell them as a lot at a very cheap price. The buyer was happy and I was happy to find a good home for them.

It's got to be a tough job grading albums. Appearances don't tell the whole story and the price a generic album sells for doesn't justify spending a lot of time play grading vinyl. I have a lot of duplicates that just sit and gather dust for that very reason. It's more work than it's worth.