Discogs - Help, Tricks, Secrets And Tips

I don't know how much of a choice you really have for Discogs if they've bought and paid for the records.

From a buyer's perspective who occasionally dabbles in selling, I would do USPS Priority w/ Insurance to the value at the minimum for something that pricy. I might message the buyer beforehand and ask if s/he has any specific instructions on how s/he wants it shipped in terms of packing style to try and avoid that line of argument (in or out of sleeve for instance). Or if there is a preferred carrier (some areas have bad USPS folks, mine are super good but others don't). Otherwise stick within the standard rules (Paypal address and all).

Packing wise, I've only bought one album in that realm and it was packed like Fort Knox. Sealed record, placed in an outer sleeve, between carboard slices to fill out the mailer, in a mailer, which was then inside another padded box which was tapped up to where you needed a chainsaw to get into it. May be overkill but it would have taken more than an errant drop or fall to hurt that record.

I agree with detailed photos but I'm not sure how much that'll protect you unless there's like...a full video of chain of custody - might be worth showing the buyer's photos prior to shipping if you have any concerns about that.

There's no real way to foolproof avoid it so ask whatever questions you can of the buyer and pack it exceptionally well.
 
waruv said:
I don't know how much of a choice you really have for Discogs if they've bought and paid for the records.

From a buyer's perspective who occasionally dabbles in selling, I would do USPS Priority w/ Insurance to the value at the minimum for something that pricy. I might message the buyer beforehand and ask if s/he has any specific instructions on how s/he wants it shipped in terms of packing style to try and avoid that line of argument (in or out of sleeve for instance). Or if there is a preferred carrier (some areas have bad USPS folks, mine are super good but others don't). Otherwise stick within the standard rules (Paypal address and all).

Packing wise, I've only bought one album in that realm and it was packed like Fort Knox. Sealed record, placed in an outer sleeve, between carboard slices to fill out the mailer, in a mailer, which was then inside another padded box which was tapped up to where you needed a chainsaw to get into it. May be overkill but it would have taken more than an errant drop or fall to hurt that record.

I agree with detailed photos but I'm not sure how much that'll protect you unless there's like...a full video of chain of custody - might be worth showing the buyer's photos prior to shipping if you have any concerns about that.

There's no real way to foolproof avoid it so ask whatever questions you can of the buyer and pack it exceptionally well.
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Thanks.
I think I might just cancel the order and refund. Really, what are the odds that a new user to Discogs (only been on the platform for 1 month) from Idaho would immediately buy a $300 record from some small indie band from Indiana. It also seems strange that they didn't message me and ask for any photos of the record prior to purchasing. Or request any information about condition other than what I posted in the public comments.

Regarding Paypal and the way their claims work, my main concern is, the buyer will file a PP claim saying "item not as described." They will be forced to return the record to me and provide PP with a tracking number in order to get their refund. Now the buyer could simply send me an empty mailer, and when the tracking number shows as delivered, PP will refund their money. Then I will be out of a record and the money. I believe that is how some of these scams go nowadays.
 
zdkaiser said:
Need some advice.

I listed a record on Discogs last night for $275.

Someone purchased it today and already paid via Paypal. It was nearly $300 after taxes. The buyer joined on November 4, 2021. Has 8 positive reviews for purchases. No other profile information. No collection listed, no avatar. Bare bones Discogs profile.

Would you all feel comfortable shipping this record to this person? I obviously do not want to be scammed.

What are the best ways to protect myself here? I said I was going to ship USPS Priority with insurance. I plan to take detailed photos of the record and jacket. And then a video of me packaging up the item.

Long-story short, I don't want to send this person a $275 album for them to come back and say "not as described" then file a Paypal claim against me. Also, the person's name on the Paypal is not the same as the person I am sending it to on Discogs. I am sending it to a woman, but the Paypal account was for a man (maybe husband/wife).
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In my experience, the more records I sold, the less I became worried about any one transaction, even if it was for a $$$ record. So far, 10+ years into selling a good amount of records, I haven’t had any one do anything wild or irregular. The times I’ve had to refund or pay to get a record shipped back to me were pretty warranted due to mail damage or a defect I missed.

My advice is to pack very well and, worst case scenario, ask for the record back if the buyer isn’t happy with it and just relist it again with any needed adjustments to your description to address any possible concerns. I wouldn’t expect there to be an issue but you can always be informed on what your options might be if an issue came up.

Worst worst case scenario, if the buyer purchased it specifically to swap it with a worse copy or you think they damaged it and are lying that it came damaged, etc etc, honestly there isn’t an official policy or process for rejecting a customer’s concerns due to your own suspicions that will be backed by PayPal or Discogs. You’d basically need to pressure the buyer and get them to believe that photos of you packing are admissible evidence to PayPal and they should comply voluntarily and avoid having a case opened, etc. OR you’d have to hope PayPal offers to refund the buyer out of their own pocket, which they occasionally do for longtime members as a courtesy to keep you happy. They’ve done that for me 2-3 times over the years but it’s always been under $100 in my own cases.

It’s possible PayPal makes other courtesy decisions that go above their own seller protection but I haven’t had that happen for me or read about it. But they can technically make any exception they want so maybe others have some experience with that.

In the end, it’s also your store/transaction. You can do what makes you feel most comfortable and you shouldn’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Hope my experience/advice is helpful.
 
swamp jazz box set said:
In my experience, the more records I sold, the less I became worried about any one transaction, even if it was for a $$$ record. So far, 10+ years into selling a good amount of records, I haven’t had any one do anything wild or irregular. The times I’ve had to refund or pay to get a record shipped back to me were pretty warranted due to mail damage or a defect I missed.

My advice is to pack very well and, worst case scenario, ask for the record back if the buyer isn’t happy with it and just relist it again with any needed adjustments to your description to address any possible concerns. I wouldn’t expect there to be an issue but you can always be informed on what your options might be if an issue came up.

Worst worst case scenario, if the buyer purchased it specifically to swap it with a worse copy or you think they damaged it and are lying that it came damaged, etc etc, honestly there isn’t an official policy or process for rejecting a customer’s concerns due to your own suspicions that will be backed by PayPal or Discogs. You’d basically need to pressure the buyer and get them to believe that photos of you packing are admissible evidence to PayPal and they should comply voluntarily and avoid having a case opened, etc. OR you’d have to hope PayPal offers to refund the buyer out of their own pocket, which they occasionally do for longtime members as a courtesy to keep you happy. They’ve done that for me 2-3 times over the years but it’s always been under $100 in my own cases.

It’s possible PayPal makes other courtesy decisions that go above their own seller protection but I haven’t had that happen for me or read about it. But they can technically make any exception they want so maybe others have some experience with that.

In the end, it’s also your store/transaction. You can do what makes you feel most comfortable and you shouldn’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Hope my experience/advice is helpful.
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Yeah, I don't feel that comfortable selling to this person. If it was a $20 record, yeah, no problem. But at $300 and they joined Discogs one month ago, that raises a red flag. To me, only a serious record collector would drop $300 on a record, and nowadays I'd expect these individuals to have a much longer history on the Discogs platform. Maybe not though.

I reached out to them via Discogs with a few questions. I will see how they respond. Definitely being cautious as I don't want to get burned.
 
Offered to send pictures to buyer. And inquired about how they would like the record to be packaged. They said: "please send"

Refunded them and canceled. Seems sketchy to me.
 
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zdkaiser said:
Offered to send pictures to buyer. And inquired about how they would like the record to be packaged. They said: "just send it along."

Refunded them and canceled. Seems sketchy to me.
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Can you disclose the buyer name? I'd like to keep them on my radar. Some of these people just don't have great online etiquette. But unfortunately I've found the positive feedback means nothing anymore and you have to look beyond that to confirm buyer intention. eBay is awful at this. I've got people with 100+ positive feedback only to find out they are just a scam account.
 
Not saying it applies at all here but that buyer reminds me a lot of me when I dropped 225 or so on a fairly obscure low print record. I didn't ask for pics because I was afraid it would sell (it would have) in the time for a response.

With that said, given that "reply", that is not the vibe I'd expect on a big purchase. Your instinct may be on point.
 
dansomeone said:
Discogs states you need to allow four days for a reply. Then tell cogs the seller isn't responding, and they will step in. But not as to a refund, they'll just threaten to suspend the seller. At that point you may start a dispute at PayPal, with a basis - the product was not as described and the seller isn't responding.

Basically do what you can to resolve the dispute yourself first. If that fails, you will look reasonable in the eyes of PayPal
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so i filed the seller not responding thing . shall i wait until the reponse time expires now ? i really dont want to go to paypal straight away and hope to solve this once he decides to reply. is there any disadvantage to wait before going trough paypal ?
 
BazookaTooth said:
so i filed the seller not responding thing . shall i wait until the reponse time expires now ? i really dont want to go to paypal straight away and hope to solve this once he decides to reply. is there any disadvantage to wait before going trough paypal ?
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PayPal's purchase protection program allows 180 days from the date of payment to open a dispute, giving you ample time to do that if it becomes necessary. So, yes, you should try to resolve the matter using the discogs process first. If the seller ultimately never responds, then you will be able to document that for PayPal and get a refund. Just save all the emails you send/receive regarding this matter.
 
BazookaTooth said:
so i filed the seller not responding thing . shall i wait until the reponse time expires now ? i really dont want to go to paypal straight away and hope to solve this once he decides to reply. is there any disadvantage to wait before going trough paypal ?
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I would go through paypal as well. There is a delay with paypal to "investigate" and you can always cancel the complaint if you resolve it.
 
Thanks to advice on this thread, I've jumped in and started selling on Discogs. I'm selling 1-2 LPs a week and it's ... exhilarating! (Is that weird?!)

Anyway, I'm interested in starting to sell some of my CD collection. Does anyone have any advice on shipping CDs? What's the Discogs "norm" - padded envelopes? Cardboard CD boxes?
 
stpaulbrowns said:
Thanks to advice on this thread, I've jumped in and started selling on Discogs. I'm selling 1-2 LPs a week and it's ... exhilarating! (Is that weird?!)

Anyway, I'm interested in starting to sell some of my CD collection. Does anyone have any advice on shipping CDs? What's the Discogs "norm" - padded envelopes? Cardboard CD boxes?
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I sold several hundred CDs years ago and shipped them all in padded/bubble mailers, never had a single complaint.
 
In high school, circa 2002, I built my own music review website and I got on the promo lists for a ton of indie rock/pop-punk labels (who had no idea I was 16). By college, I had like 800-900 CDs and many of them were like-new CDs in their actual packaging with just a small sharpie mark on the barcode. Anyway, between 2005 and 2008, I sold a ton of those promos on Half.com for like $10-20 each. The last time I took my CD collection out of my closet and looked up prices, every CD I checked was listed on eBay for like $3 with free shipping. :oops:
 
swamp jazz box set said:
In high school, circa 2002, I built my own music review website and I got on the promo lists for a ton of indie rock/pop-punk labels (who had no idea I was 16). By college, I had like 800-900 CDs and many of them were like-new CDs in their actual packaging with just a small sharpie mark on the barcode. Anyway, between 2005 and 2008, I sold a ton of those promos on Half.com for like $10-20 each. The last time I took my CD collection out of my closet and looked up prices, every CD I checked was listed on eBay for like $3 with free shipping. :oops:
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As a collector of vinyl promos, I haven't seen too many CD promos that have become valuable.

The small handful I have seen are promos of releases that end up not getting released, for one reason or another.

To go along with my soundtracks list, I also have a list of promos I own.

All My Promos by leeving | Discogs Lists

Explore the All My Promos list by leeving on Discogs. Create your own list of music and share it with the world.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

All My Soundtracks by leeving | Discogs Lists

Explore the All My Soundtracks list by leeving on Discogs. Create your own list of music and share it with the world.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com
 
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