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 pbowne

Here's a great explanation and standard for grading vinyl:

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/6784/gradings.html

I buy a lot of vinyl on Ebay, and get pretty good results. It seems like you have to read between the lines sometimes and guess how professional some of the sellers are to make sure they actually grade conservatively. Also, I could care less about the jacket condition...I'm much more concerned about the vinyl!