What is your go-to online place to buy physical medium of music? And why?

Out of print CDs: Discogs and Ebay. Rarely: Amazon.

New: Import CDs, Discogs, Rarely: Amazon.

Why? Discogs is, so far as I know, the most comprehensive collection of used cds.

Import CDs for the same reason for new disc’s, domestic and imported.

Music Direct for mofi.

Another vote for Elusive Disc.

+1 for Discogs, my go to place for hard to find CDs.

@jeffdill2 

Nonsensical? 

What would you suggest as an alternative?

Condition matters to me. I want to know what to expect when buying used discs. There are plenty of sellers who are sloppy about grading and I've gotten to the point of asking all sellers to double check and verify their grading before I commit. Having to return poorly graded cds is a PITA!

There are plenty of sellers who are sloppy about grading

My point exactly. If you can't trust anyone to grade correctly, then I would argue the grading system itself does not work. When you have a grading system that's mostly subjective, having so much granularity is always going to be troublesome.

I think a basic/non-granular grading system – New, Mint, Fair, Poor – would be more than sufficient and much less likely to contribute to the constant disagreements about condition between buyers and sellers.