Good News to LP buyers - Reminder to LP Sellers

[vintage_dog]

Effective immediately, no vinyl G-grade LPs can be sold here at the Marketplace.

All LPs with deep cuts and skips are automatically yours FREE!

Sellers who sell visually G graded LPs (vinyl, not cover) and consistently (3 instances) mis-grade their LPs will be banned.


Please KEEP JUNK LPs at the JUNK yard, not here at WS!

[vintage_dog]

Vinyl Visual Grading (based on Goldmine Standard):

Mint

Perfect. A mint record should appear to have just left the manufacturer without any handling; that is, it should appear perfect! No scuffs or scratches, blotches or stains, labels or writing, tears or splits; nothing. Perfect. And age has nothing to do with it; the same standards for mint apply to a 78 from 1954 as to a major label’s latest release! There are no sliding values for mint. The single biggest complaint by collectors relating to grading over the years has been the deteriorating standards of sellers’ grading. It is only natural for almost everyone to turn immediately to the mint (read "highest") price in a price guide. If a record is mint-minus, take the assigned mint value and work your way down!

A mint album cover should appear to have never had a record in it: no ring-wear, dog eared corners, writing, seam-splits, or even circular impressions, especially on single picture sleeves. A mint sleeve should essentially appear as though a record were never placed between its front and back covers! No slight seam splits, no turned down tops or dog-eared corners, no prices or dates stamped or written anywhere, including inside the sleeve. And, most importantly, no ring-wear! Any of these all-too-common signs of age would reduce the sleeve to VG+!

I will define ring-wear as any imprint in the sleeve from the record that it formerly held. Any imprint. To many dealers and collectors the ink has to be worn off of the picture for them to recognize ring-wear and grade a sleeve down. I have been handed sleeves where each of the four corners were virtually bent back from the pressure of the disc inside but there is no ink rubbed off so the dealer/collector claims the sleeve is mint and asks an appropriately high price. Uh-uh. Mint means perfect and nothing else.

Near Mint

A record that is otherwise mint but has one or two tiny, inconsequential flaws that do not affect the play or the appearance is "NM" (M-) and should command 90-95 percent of the mint price. For many, near mint and mint-minus mean the same thing; for the sake of this article, they remain interchangeable. When dealing with a seller who discriminates between the two grades, you should inquire as to what the dealer means when one record is referred to as "M-" and another :NM". Many dealers and collectors take the position that any used (opened) record cannot be verified as mint so they use NM 9or M-) to describe what appears to be a perfect record that has been opened.

A sleeve for a single may have a slight impression from the record having been in it (no ring-wear; ring-wear should always be listed as a defect with the appropriate notation). An otherwise mint sleeve or cover with a price stamped on it is acceptable to many collectors; writing of any sort is not.

Similarly, LP and EP covers should still be close to perfect with minor signs of wear or age just becoming evident; slight ring-wear; minor denting to a corner; writing on the cover should all be noted properly.

Very Good Plus

Sometimes referred to as "Excellent." A record that has been handled and played either infrequently or very carefully. That is, an item obviously not perfect, but not too far from it. On a disc, this could mean that there are light paper scuffs from sliding in and out of a dust jacket; the vinyl may have lost some – not all – of its original lustre. A light scratch that did not affect the play in an otherwise nearly mint disc would all be acceptably VG + for most collectors; a scratch of any sort that audibly clicked throughout at a level greater than or equal to the music would not be acceptable. Always list the flaws in a VG + record or cover. As a rule of thumb, a VG+ item is worth 50 percent, or one-half, of the near mint value.

On covers and sleeves, some wear from storage is acceptable, especially light wear that does not affect the beauty of the artwork. Again, listing the flaws when selling is safest.

Very Good

Used but not abused. A very good record will display visible signs of handling and playing, such as loss of vinyl lustre, surface , groove wear, spindle trails from countless spins on the turntable. When played, surface noise will be evident, although it should not prevent the listener from enjoying the audio aspect of the disc. In other words, a VG record should appear to have been well-played although well-loved by a responsible owner. Gouges, rips in the label, cracks, maple syrups in the grooves are all unacceptable.

As more and more collectors spend more and more money, the lower limits of acceptability for an item to be admitted into their collection rises. That is, to many collectors, a record in "VG" condition is not acceptable unless the item is truly rare and virtually unavailable in any other condition! And then, only if the price is scaled appropriately to match the condition. A "VG" record should command approximately 20-30 percent of the near mint price.

This is a difficult grade when discussing paper goods; usually a cover, like a disc, is VG when a variety of problems are evident. Ring-wear, seam splits, bent corners, loss of gloss on the photo, stains, etc. An aggravated combination of two of these problems – never all of them – would likely cause a sleeve to be graded VG.

Good

Good in record collecting parlance all too often means a beat, thrashed, take-it-to-the-flea-market frisbee. This should not be (obviously). Good should mean that the record is well-played with any number of defects that collectors normally shy away from, such as name labels stuck on the label, almost complete loss of surface sheen, aggravating surface noise, etc. Still, the purchaser, knowing full well that he or she is buying a "G" record, should be able to take it home, slap it onto the turntable and have a good time listening to it. Records that do not provide this most fundamental requirement are just no good. A "G" record should command 10-20 percent of the near mint price.

A good cover has seen considerable handling over a course of years and displays the obvious physical signs: ring-wear on the front and back ; some seam splitting, particularly along the bottom and/or the left side, which would receive the brunt of the record’s sliding in and out; corners may be dog-eared to a light degree; an infatuated owner may have written his or her name somewhere; etc. Good should never mean bad. If a record or cover is beneath your contempt, it is not in "G" condition; look below for the appropriate guide.