Grading - Price And Condition

[Swifty]

A few questions as I'm sorting out some records I need to sell.

1/ Is there a Grading standard that everybody works to ?

2/ How do prices depreciate according to condition ?

i.e. If a record is worth £100 M- then what is that record worth at Ex or VG+ , is there a sliding scale ?

3/ How do you grade a record , what is the criteria ?

Help !!

Cheers

Swifty

[Gene-r]

The system I use, and the percentage of a Mint value each condition is worth, is as follows:

MINT: Perfect. May well have been played once or twice, but there are no marks and no audible evidence of playing (100%)

MINT-: As above, but maybe one or two very light marks, possibly caused by removing the record from the sleeve (90%)

EX: Very few light marks, but no deterioration in sound (75%)

VG+: Many light marks, and a small amount of surface noise, though this should not detract from the music. (55 - 60%)

VG: Surface marks - played quite well with some surface noise and maybe one or two superficial scratches. (50%)

GOOD: Lots of marks/scratches and noise, but will still play through with no jumps or sticks. Not a nice copy to listen to. (25%)

FAIR / POOR: Don't even go there!

Using your own judgement, plus and minus can be used between any of the grades. For example, a record in EX- condition is likely to be in better shape than one in VG+.

Hope this helps.

Gene

Edited April 21, 2009 by Gene-R

[Swifty]

The system I use, and the percentage of a Mint value each condition is worth, is as follows:

MINT: Perfect. May well have been played once or twice, but there are no marks and no audible evidence of playing (100%)

MINT-: As above, but maybe one or two very light marks, possibly caused by removing the record from the sleeve (90%)

EX: Very few light marks, but no deterioration in sound (75%)

VG+: Many light marks, and a small amount of surface noise, though this should not detract from the music. (55 - 60%)

VG: Surface marks - played quite well with some surface noise and maybe one or two superficial scratches. (50%)

GOOD: Lots of marks/scratches and noise, but will still play through with no jumps or sticks. Not a nice copy to listen to. (25%)

FAIR / POOR: Don't even go there!

Using your own judgement, plus and minus can be used between any of the grades. For example, a record in EX- condition is likely to be in better shape than one in VG+.

Hope this helps.

Gene

Cheers Gene , very helpful mate , whilst on the subject is there any difference in UK & USA grading ( I wouldn't have thought there was but...) , the reason I ask is I have on quite a few occasions had records that were listed on ebay as Ex and were a bag of Shite

Thanks again

Swifty

[hrtshpdbox]

... is there any difference in UK & USA grading ( I wouldn't have thought there was but...) , the reason I ask is I have on quite a few occasions had records that were listed on ebay as Ex and were a bag of Shite

Everyone may have different opinions on this, but I don't think EX is generally a U.S. grade at all, except for 78 rpm records. I know I don't use it, but use VG++ instead. As far as accurate or inaccurate grading, I've seen both - from all parts of the world.

[Premium Stuff]

Goldmine is the US standard - many eBay sellers use this.

Go here:

https://www.goldminemag.com/article/Collect...g_Your_Records/

Record Collector in the UK does similar I think.

The main difference is that UK Northern colectors use Excellent.

There can be confusion between US and UK grading systems - essentially VG+ can either be fairly close to Mint, or a total dog of a record

Cheers

Richard

Edited April 21, 2009 by Premium Stuff

[Gene-r]

This is true - Excellent only appears to be used in the UK, whereas VG+ is the next step down from MINT- in the USA.

[paultp]

A few questions as I'm sorting out some records I need to sell.

1/ Is there a Grading standard YES that everybody works to ? NO

There's a grading system called Goldmine that they use in the US and Record Collector have a system in the UK - give em a google

2/ How do prices depreciate according to condition ?

i.e. If a record is worth £100 M- then what is that record worth at Ex or VG+ , is there a sliding scale ?

An Ex record is worth about 20% less than a M- one, VG+ about half .....

...... but it all depends on demand

Working out the price of a M- is the hardest - a record is only worth whatever someone will pay for it. Ignore the books as they are massively inaccurate.

3/ How do you grade a record , what is the criteria ?

The above grading systems (including Gene's) pretty much explain this but the rule is:

Grade it as if you were receiving it in the post - would you be happy given the price you paid?

If in doubt reduce the grade.

Help !!

Cheers

Swifty

HTH

Cheers

Paul

[Swifty]

HTH

Cheers

Paul

Thanks to All for your help , much appreciated !

Swifty