Record Grading In 2013

[Guest Ralf Kurpjuweit]

Hello forum,

I´ve been collecting soul 45s for a long time, but stopped it about 5 years ago.

Now I´m in again and am wondering about the actual grading system. That means, that most 45s which were sold in 2005 as vg to vg+ now come as near mint from different sources like ebay, musicstack ... .

Did I just had bad luck with about 40 singles or have some things changed?

Best,

Ralf

Edited January 3, 2013 by Ralf Kurpjuweit

[davidwapples]

there are only 3 categories these days

mint ( new release or unplayed stock found in a warehouse )

knackered and wont play properly or has bits missing and sounds like a egg being fried

and the 3rd is anything between the other 2 which is playable with marks which often has lots of ++++++++++ preceding whatever imaginary grade the seller chooses to use to try and get more money from the buyers and often includes the phrase ok for djing

Edited January 4, 2013 by davidwapples

[Guest Ralf Kurpjuweit]

David,

thanks for your response.

That´s confusing, as I only try to get m- ones. So what´s the deal? Negative feedbacks for all misgraders? Got three 45´s today. All bought m-,. One is, two are vg to vg+ with permanent noise. I´m gonna use buyer´s protection of paypal and give em a negative feedback, without discussing. Hopefully other collectors do the same.

Edited January 4, 2013 by Ralf Kurpjuweit

[Pete S]

David,

thanks for your response.

That´s confusing, as I only try to get m- ones. So what´s the deal? Negative feedbacks for all misgraders? Got three 45´s today. All bought m-,. One is, two are vg to vg+ with permanent noise. I´m gonna use buyer´s protection of paypal and give em a negative feedback, without discussing it. Hopefully other collerctors do the same.

A mint record should have only been played two, three times at most, after that it becomes mint minus. An EX record or an EX+ record is the same as above but might have one mark not affecting play. A VG+ record will have sings of play, the odd pop, but not be a piece of crap like most people grade VG+ at! There is way too much of a jump between VG+ and M- which is why I won't use the Soul Source gradings.

[Guest Ralf Kurpjuweit]

pete, i know. but most graders think of walking another road. especially the ebay rippers. i´m absolutely annoyed about their policies. much money is involved. so i wanna get what i pay for.

[Pete S]

pete, i know. but most graders think of walking another road. especially the ebay rippers. i´m absolutely annoyed about their policies. much money is involved. so i wanna get what i pay for.

And so you should

[Steve G]

"E" on a Styrene 45 surely means "plays with hiss /background noise".

[Mick Sway]

Hello forum,

I´ve been collecting soul 45s for a long time, but stopped it about 5 years ago.

Now I´m in again and am wondering about the actual grading system. That means, that most 45s which were sold in 2005 as vg to vg+ now come as near mint from different sources like ebay, musicstack ... .

Did I just had bad luck with about 40 singles or have some things changed?

Best,

Ralf

Of course it is not ever going to happen, but Ebay should offer some grading advice along the lines of the Record Collector/Goldmine grading. I have received some shocking VG+ records of late which bear no resemblance to either of these guides.

OK they're fairly low grade records but that shouldn't mean knackered. Its hardly worth forking out for the

extra postage to return a $15 record these days.

Representations to the seller usually meet with the send it back then response.

Representations to Ebay have met either with an automated stock or no response.

I have posted about this myself several times but the general reaction is of the "suck it up" type.

Sadly I ain't got the cash to fork out for EX or Mint copies.

Thanks for posting, glad I'm not on my own in feeling this.

Mick

[Phild]

In my opinion, if I buy a record that looks OK and plays through then I really don't care.

The records we collect are on the whole over 40 years old after all

[MotownDave]

on the whole phil that probably isn't a bad philosopy that trouble is when some muppet on the bay dicribes a record as EX and when it arives wraped in last weeks chip paper it more resembles crystal palace ice rink than an item worthy of playing ,and if it does play it sounds like the chips are still being fried

[Jhsoulnotts]

Well, I just got stung again, three records graded VG+ which should mean decent playable records. They look like they have been stored in a bag of nails. Cant sell em on as I would not dare to sell em on here.

last lot that came like this I had to practically give them away, lost $£$£ on em...

My advice, buy graded records from dealers, from their own shops or on here, not ebay.

Never again for me

Edited January 5, 2013 by Jhsoulnotts

[Pete S]

I think if you are honest and actually take time to explain a grade which might not make a lot of sense at first, then there shouldn't be any problems.

I've got a copy of a record I am about to sell, Patti Austin - Someone's Gonna Cry - Coral demo.

The record is in mint condition, it looks unplayed and it sounds perfect. But it has one flaw. A f*cking great storage warp. So obviously my grading would be

"Mint Minus, plays mint but has a large storage warp which does not affect play".

I would also reduce the price from £125 to £75 because of the warp.

So for the sake of a warp, someone gets £50 off and is hopefully happy!

[Markw]

In my opinion, if I buy a record that looks OK and plays through then I really don't care.

The records we collect are on the whole over 40 years old after all

The voice of common sense and reason.

Edited January 5, 2013 by markw

[Pete S]

The voice of common sense and reason.

People aren't like that anymore though, it seems to me that half the people who buy records are out to try and con the sellers, on Ebay I mean - they'll look at a record under a microscope to find a flaw then complain about it to try and get money off.

I sold a cd on Amazon, the cd was actually unplayed, it was £2.99, the buyer put in a complaint and I swear to you this is true, it can be seen on my feedback "there was one spoke missing from the centre of the cd case which spoilt my enjoyment of the cd"

[sir cumference]

People aren't like that anymore though, it seems to me that half the people who buy records are out to try and con the sellers, on Ebay I mean - they'll look at a record under a microscope to find a flaw then complain about it to try and get money off.

I sold a cd on Amazon, the cd was actually unplayed, it was £2.99, the buyer put in a complaint and I swear to you this is true, it can be seen on my feedback "there was one spoke missing from the centre of the cd case which spoilt my enjoyment of the cd"

And there we all were under the impression that you were a thoroughly decent chap!

Someone inform Rogue Traders

[Jhsoulnotts]

People aren't like that anymore though, it seems to me that half the people who buy records are out to try and con the sellers, on Ebay I mean - they'll look at a record under a microscope to find a flaw then complain about it to try and get money off.

I sold a cd on Amazon, the cd was actually unplayed, it was £2.99, the buyer put in a complaint and I swear to you this is true, it can be seen on my feedback "there was one spoke missing from the centre of the cd case which spoilt my enjoyment of the cd"

Perhaps your right, there are some dodgy buyers out there and they do try and scam with the partial refund angle, but some sellers grades are a mile off, and "rinked" records sold as EX is the trend at the minute. There are some genuine buyers getting stung with rubbish too.

[Markw]

People aren't like that anymore though, it seems to me that half the people who buy records are out to try and con the sellers, on Ebay I mean - they'll look at a record under a microscope to find a flaw then complain about it to try and get money off.

I sold a cd on Amazon, the cd was actually unplayed, it was £2.99, the buyer put in a complaint and I swear to you this is true, it can be seen on my feedback "there was one spoke missing from the centre of the cd case which spoilt my enjoyment of the cd"

What a piece of door furniture.

[Phild]

People aren't like that anymore though, it seems to me that half the people who buy records are out to try and con the sellers, on Ebay I mean - they'll look at a record under a microscope to find a flaw then complain about it to try and get money off.

I sold a cd on Amazon, the cd was actually unplayed, it was £2.99, the buyer put in a complaint and I swear to you this is true, it can be seen on my feedback "there was one spoke missing from the centre of the cd case which spoilt my enjoyment of the cd"

That is just sheer twattishness (is that a word?).

On the other side of the coin, many people are just far too picky and unrealistic in their expectations of what a 40 to 50 year old record is going to be like.

[Guest Ralf Kurpjuweit]

maybe. but if they buy a mint record they should get one. how about a recommendation list? think this would help.

Edited January 5, 2013 by Ralf Kurpjuweit

[Phild]

maybe. but if they buy a mint record they should get one. how about a recommendation list? think this would help.

A recommendation list of what?

[Guest Ralf Kurpjuweit]

dealer.

[Phild]

dealer.

I think they're all great