Yeah I noticed it yesterday. Lots of angry people in the Discogs forum discussing it. I have a feeling. Whether it was intentional or not it will be reverted back soon. I like my big artwork plus it takes forever to scroll a single album at a time. Very inefficient.
He's full of crap. He already accepted the return and refunded your payment. Neither Discogs nor PayPal have any interest whatsoever in his convoluted "investigation" of this matter two months later. It's his word against yours and the transaction is complete. I don't think you have anything to worry about.Well this is a doozy... be prepared for a long post. Anyone ever been accused by a seller on discogs of scamming before? Grab your popcorn...
Back in 2019, I ordered a copy of Tha Carter II from VMP and the jacket had a seam split and I had just moved back in with my parents after graduating college because I didn't have the greatest of a job and property in Phoenix AZ is expensive for a single male in his 20s. Since I was moving back into my bedroom, I put a bunch of stuff in storage, including my turntable, so I basically put my record collecting on hiatus. Also, I had just started collecting, so I didn't really care too much about seam splits. Life got better though and I eventually got the turntable out of storage and the hobby (addiction) started up again. I never did get around to spinning that copy of Tha Carter II though, and the more records I amassed, the more I became picky about the jacket quality.
Here's where the fun starts. I'm figuring out what to listen to in December and I come across that copy of Tha Carter II I ordered and thought, hey maybe I should finally give this a spin. Then I remembered the seam split so I hop on discogs to see if there are any copies that had a flawless jacket because of how much I grew to enjoy that album over the years. A seller has a NM/NM copy for sale (no LP description notes, but has approximately 1000 thumbs up ratings so I figured, hey he knows what he's doing), so I purchase it expecting a clean jacket and clean LPs. I get the mail and unfortunately there's an undisclosed seam split in addition to one of the LPs having a gnarly scratch running entirely across the grooves in between songs. I message the seller back explaining that the grading isn't accurate and he agrees to a refund after I send him pictures/videos of what I received. During our exchanges, he mentions that he never play-tested it and must've missed the mark. To be fair, it was a red colored vinyl and it could only be seen when light hit it a certain way, but it was definitely there. I send the LP back, I get my refund, transaction over.
About a month later (this is mid-Jan now), I see another copy that is NM/NM on discogs and the item specifically says flawless jacket, so I scoop that up, get it in the mail, and it's perfect. Well, now I have two copies of Tha Carter II, so I hop on reddit to get rid of my first copy since I don't need two of them. Someone comes across my post and starts asking me questions about the record, such as how long I've had it, if I have pics, if it's been played and if I've noticed any issues with it. I tell them the copy I have for sale still has never been spun and I'm only getting rid of it because I acquired a replacement copy, and the replacement copy I ordered played perfectly. They ask to see my wantlist to see if we could set up a trade because I said I'm willing to entertain offers, so I send him my discogs.
A few minutes later, I receive a message on the discogs order for the copy I bought back in december with the seller asking me why I'd buy a second copy of an album I've owned for 2 years that I'd never spun and also got a replacement copy of and accusing me of scamming him by sending him back a different copy than what he sent me. I guess he used his reddit account to try and question me and make me frame myself for scamming? I tell him I'm not sure what he's insinuating because the replacement copy I told him I purchased in our reddit exchange was purchased Jan 15th and he basically says "I'll let reddit, discogs, and paypal be the judge of that as I've contacted all of them"
So... I guess I'll keep all of you posted? I'm literally so confused as to what's going on and I know I've got nothing to hide, but for some reason I'm scared I'm gonna get screwed out of this. He did admit he never play tested it, so at least I have that going for me... I also only have one VMP order for TC2 and two discogs orders for TC2 so it's not like he can say I swapped a bad copy from VMP out with whatever he sent me. I guess I'm just paranoid because there's no way I can prove the condition of the first copy I got from VMP. Am I overthinking this whole situation? I guess this will also be the last time I'm picky over a seam split
That's very refreshing to hear and honestly something that makes a lot of sense, but something that didn't cross my mind in the last hour. Thanks for that message, I'll actually be able to sleep a bit better after seeing this haha
Here's the thing. As a seller of vinyl, unless you (1) meticulously document the condition of your item with multiple photos and a video of the item being packed, and (2) pack the item securely, so it can't move at all inside the packaging, and with the record outside of the jacket if it's opened, if a buyer complains that the condition of the item isn't as described and has pictures showing that, then you really have little choice but to work something out. That's what happened here. Even if you did scam this guy, he has no recourse now. He needs to just let it go.
Yeah I think what shocked me the most is that it was two months later. This happened in 2021 and we're now 2 months into 2022. I definitely have way more important things to be doing than scamming people for records online, and I fully believe in karma so even if I did do something as low as that, I'd be deathly afraid of something happening to one of my grails in my collection.
On a positive note this has been fixed now and BIG artwork is back
Good lord, all this over a scratch and a seamsplit he failed to disclose? He sounds like a petty dude that feels he's been wronged, with a lot of extra time on his hands. I would try to get ahead of it if possible, otherwise PayPal should reach out to you for your side. Has he brought discogs into it at all? Via negative feedback or other?Lol I just received another message from the disgruntled seller this morning - apparently PayPal will be reviewing and potentially freezing my account and I guess they told him to contact my local police to inform them of potential fraud & said he plans on doing that unless a fair resolution is met because he feels taken advantage of. Do I even respond at this point or do I just wait to hear from PayPal because I haven't seen any communication from PayPal
What was funny to me is that the records were shipped outside of the jacket and the jacket still had a seam split he didn't disclose in his discogs listing and I acknowledged that in our initial communication and said the jacket shouldn't be NM if there was a seam split. There has been no negative feedback left by either of us, and I'm currently in the process of messaging the reddit mods on VinylCollectors to see if they've been contacted and was also going to reach out to PayPal to see if they've been contacted.
I can definitely understand that scam happening, but yeah, to your point, it's been 2 months and nothing was said until I listed the original copy I received from VMP in 2019 for sale. The whole getting authorities involved just feels like a joke of an attempt at intimidation because he has literally 0 evidence and I don't feel obligated to provide my VMP purchase history and discogs purchase history. Thankfully I don't have any funds in my PayPal and only have cards linked to it for discogs/bandcamp/etc. purchases. This whole thing is just ridiculous if you ask me, and yeah, who really has that much time on their hands?
Reddit the company won't but the mods of certain subreddits will definitely blackball you as a scammer, which effectively ends any future sales or purchases you can expect from the thread.
Your only recourse here is to tweet at Lil Wayne in hopes of getting him to pen a diss track against this person. Surely he'll then back down.
So what is the difference in value between the record as he described and the record that you received and returned? And, will local police investigate a dispute involving an online transaction between two private parties over what I'm guessing is a relatively small amount of money, with numerous civil remedies available for the guy to pursue?Lol I just received another message from the disgruntled seller this morning - apparently PayPal will be reviewing and potentially freezing my account and I guess they told him to contact my local police to inform them of potential fraud & said he plans on doing that unless a fair resolution is met because he feels taken advantage of. Do I even respond at this point or do I just wait to hear from PayPal because I haven't seen any communication from PayPal
The record he sold me was priced at $180, and I was expecting a clean LP and flawless jacket because he didn't say otherwise in the listing description, just NM/NM.
Wow, so he thinks he's out $180 minus the value of the record he thinks you swapped? That's not even worth taking to small claims court, much less something law enforcement would pursue. And this is a numbered edition? I understand why you're fired up and taking the offensive on this, but per @Melt Face Molly Drop, keep a level head. This guy's doing this out of emotion, not reason, so no need to make him angrier.
I'm not even that fired up, it's more so just irritated because I'm being hit over an assumption that he has no proof to support outside of some reddit messages he took out of context. Now I need to take time out of my day because someone got in their own head and got butthurt. I sent him a message saying "Again, sorry that you feel taken advantage of, but I'm even more sorry that you lied about the condition of the "NM/NM" record you sent. If you don't want to believe that the record you received was the record you sent, I can't change that. I look forward to hearing from PayPal (if they reach out) as I've done nothing you've accused me of, and I've gone ahead and filed a complaint with Discogs because the negative feedback you left is based off an incorrect assumption with no proof. I have nothing left to say to you since you clearly have your mind made up and I'll let the respective sites handle it. Intimidating and harassing because you made an incorrect assumption is immature and I'm not putting up with it."