Purchasing used lps on Audiogon

I bought two LP's, both described as "one of the best copies you will see" (or something very close to that effect) from one of the higher volume sellers that Rshak and Sc53 mention. I one case, the LP was cupped. In the other, the LP was RIPPLE warped with the LP lifted from the platter by nearly 1/2" at the THREE ripple "peaks". When I commented to that effect, he basically accused me of deciding that I just didn't like the music, STATED it was his assumption that I thought I had paid too much, and was trying to wheddle a refund from him. When I explained that I actually loved the music, but that it was an issue of condition, he "educated" me that modern turntables and cartridges are designed to handle such conditions and as long as the stylus didn't mistrack from the groove, he did not feel obligated to issue a refund! When I said that I resented the insinuations, he tried to say I misunderstood what he had WRITTEN, but his "signal was loud and clear". Futher, he said that unless an LP was two grades or more below the advertised condition, he would not refund. Went on to say that I was too picky and that he had had experience with vinyl since the sixites, blah, blah. Well, me too. And I know better, having a collection of some 2,500+ LP's.

After protesting rather vigorously, I did get a partial refund - the reason why I did not leave negative feedback. That, and from the tone of the messages I received, would have expected negative feedback in retaliation.

The moral of the story is that one must be very careful buying LP's sight unseen, even from seemingly reputable sources. Now, I have had many good experiences in this regard. In fact, many more good than bad. But, you are always taking your chances unless you've established a working relationship with the seller.

I will hasten to add that I have purchased from three other Audiogon dealers, and umpteen GEMM.com dealers, with virtually no incidence.

BTW, sorry for the "vent". Guess I hadda get it off my chest sometime. When I saw the dealer's name listed as "recommended" and recalled my experience, the steam built up quickly! ;-) Please, just keep in mind that when someone says an LP is the best example of this LP they have see, they may have only seen the one.

In retrospect, I feel it was unfair of me to merely say that the dealer to whom I referred was mentioned by Sc53 and RShak, since there are only two and the other may well possess the very soul of propriety. Let's just say the dealer's handle did not begin with "K".

4yanx - thanks for the heads up. Having only purchased vinyl from Audiogon members a couple of times (and they more than met my expectations), the heads up on the bad experiences is very welcome.

Although I have no affiliation or connection with this shop other than being a satisfied customer, I have to give kudos to a primarily classical shop, Mikrokosmos in Canada (www.mikrokosmos.com).

All my purchases were conservatively rated and fairly priced (IMO). All arrived in pristine, perfect condition...as in NO signs of wear or play (!)

Of all the used purchases I've made (local stores, eBay, Audiogon), the Mikrokosmos LPs are in the best condition. Perhaps the info will be useful to someone else around here.

Tim

Call me old-fashioned, but I am so reluctant to buy sight unseen that I simply never do it anywhere. I think it's difficult enough to make a judgment about condition even if you can eyeball the disc, since only the most obvious flaws are readily apparent. But then I'm fortunate, because I live within a mile of two top-notch used shops that have more than enough stock at reasonable prices to keep me happy.