Discogs - Help, Tricks, Secrets And Tips

W/r/t Newbury pressings, I feel like in many cases it's a situation where the prices are legitimately high but the "right" buyer may take a while to show up. Newbury doesn't typically get exclusive rights to anything so it's mostly on the tolerance of individuals to pay extra for a LE# and Colorway. Some fanbases are more willing than others. Also, with Newbury pricing higher than most other stores, their exclusives tend to hang around for a while, so it can be a long while before fans are willing to do it and you have some local folks who will see the start of a price increase and grab their local store's straggling copy to make a quick buck.
 
HELP!

I recently sold an album and the buyer got back to me saying that there is a significant scratch on Side 2 and he wouldn't even try to play the album in fear of damaging his stylus. I KNOW that scratch was not there when I mailed it. Unfortunately, sometimes weird things happened.

So, I gave the buyer the option to keep it at a discount, send it back to me for a refund or make a claim through Paypal. He chose option 2.

I received the album today, and there is an identical slice through the outer plastic, the inner sleeve and across the vinyl. (I ship with the vinyly outside of the jacket to avoid seam splits.)

It's very clear that the buyer cut through the cardboard package when opening and sliced right through everything. (Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't switch the outer/inner sleeves to hide the evidence.)

What are the options here? The album condition was exactly as I described when I shipped it. Now I have album I can't sell because of the buyers negligence.

I can't refund him for the album. This is something he clearly did - whether he admits it or not. Any suggestions? Should I suggest the Paypal claim route to him? Or does that money get taken out of my Paypal account?
 
stpaulbrowns said:
HELP!

I recently sold an album and the buyer got back to me saying that there is a significant scratch on Side 2 and he wouldn't even try to play the album in fear of damaging his stylus. I KNOW that scratch was not there when I mailed it. Unfortunately, sometimes weird things happened.

So, I gave the buyer the option to keep it at a discount, send it back to me for a refund or make a claim through Paypal. He chose option 2.

I received the album today, and there is an identical slice through the outer plastic, the inner sleeve and across the vinyl. (I ship with the vinyly outside of the jacket to avoid seam splits.)

It's very clear that the buyer cut through the cardboard package when opening and sliced right through everything. (Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't switch the outer/inner sleeves to hide the evidence.)

What are the options here? The album condition was exactly as I described when I shipped it. Now I have album I can't sell because of the buyers negligence.

I can't refund him for the album. This is something he clearly did - whether he admits it or not. Any suggestions? Should I suggest the Paypal claim route to him? Or does that money get taken out of my Paypal account?
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If he already sent it back I don’t think there is much you can do unfortunately. You could reach out to him and see if he’d be a stand up guy and do the right thing but if not, I think the only recourse you have is to leave him with negative buyer feedback.
 
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stpaulbrowns said:
HELP!

I recently sold an album and the buyer got back to me saying that there is a significant scratch on Side 2 and he wouldn't even try to play the album in fear of damaging his stylus. I KNOW that scratch was not there when I mailed it. Unfortunately, sometimes weird things happened.

So, I gave the buyer the option to keep it at a discount, send it back to me for a refund or make a claim through Paypal. He chose option 2.

I received the album today, and there is an identical slice through the outer plastic, the inner sleeve and across the vinyl. (I ship with the vinyly outside of the jacket to avoid seam splits.)

It's very clear that the buyer cut through the cardboard package when opening and sliced right through everything. (Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't switch the outer/inner sleeves to hide the evidence.)

What are the options here? The album condition was exactly as I described when I shipped it. Now I have album I can't sell because of the buyers negligence.

I can't refund him for the album. This is something he clearly did - whether he admits it or not. Any suggestions? Should I suggest the Paypal claim route to him? Or does that money get taken out of my Paypal account?
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Unfortunately you're probably better off refunding it and moving on. It's arguable the package was damaged in transit, and until the item is delivered, it's on you. If he goes through paypal, it's your word against his as to what happened, and he's certainly not going to admit he cut it himself. He'll likely win, because paypal tends to protect the buyer. Consider it the cost of doing business.

Also, you might want to upgrade your packaging, at least for higher priced items, in the future. One layer of cardboard protecting the record is risky. Also take lots of photos as you package it up, for documentation of the condition right then.
 
dansomeone said:
Unfortunately you're probably better off refunding it and moving on. It's arguable the package was damaged in transit, and until the item is delivered, it's on you. If he goes through paypal, it's your word against his as to what happened, and he's certainly not going to admit he cut it himself. He'll likely win, because paypal tends to protect the buyer. Consider it the cost of doing business.

Also, you might want to upgrade your packaging, at least for higher priced items, in the future. One layer of cardboard protecting the record is risky. Also take lots of photos as you package it up, for documentation of the condition right then.
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Yeah, I get all that, but it's complete bullshit. The problem wasn't my packaging (it also had a layer of bubble wrap). The problem was this guy took a hatchet to the packaging. No amount of extra cardboard is going to stop someone from being an idiot ... and then lying about it.
 
stpaulbrowns said:
Yeah, I get all that, but it's complete bullshit. The problem wasn't my packaging (it also had a layer of bubble wrap). The problem was this guy took a hatchet to the packaging. No amount of extra cardboard is going to stop someone from being an idiot ... and then lying about it.
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Yeah, it’s bullshit but sadly there isn’t much you can do about it. Like @dansomeone said, there isn’t much in the way of seller protections if you sell on the Discogs marketplace.
 
stpaulbrowns said:
Yeah, I get all that, but it's complete bullshit. The problem wasn't my packaging (it also had a layer of bubble wrap). The problem was this guy took a hatchet to the packaging. No amount of extra cardboard is going to stop someone from being an idiot ... and then lying about it.
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You're right, it is bullshit. And I apologize, I wasn't trying to criticize you. I'm shocked he was able to do that much damage, what a bozo.

But, if you're going to sell online, you're going to have to accept that some sales will go poorly, through no fault of your own. Some buyers aren't cool and don't see you as a person just like them. All you can do is be proactive - describe accurately, price fairly, and ship securely and promptly. I have been selling stuff online for over 20 years, thousands of sales, and I've been really lucky in that I've never experienced something like this (knock on wood).
 
dansomeone said:
You're right, it is bullshit. And I apologize, I wasn't trying to criticize you. I'm shocked he was able to do that much damage, what a bozo.

But, if you're going to sell online, you're going to have to accept that some sales will go poorly, through no fault of your own. Some buyers aren't cool and don't see you as a person just like them. All you can do is be proactive - describe accurately, price fairly, and ship securely and promptly. I have been selling stuff online for over 20 years, thousands of sales, and I've been really lucky in that I've never experienced something like this (knock on wood).
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Yeah similar and honestly the only protection you have is PayPal seller protection so if there was any issues going through their process would be the only avenue I’d be sending a buyer down.
 
dansomeone said:
You're right, it is bullshit. And I apologize, I wasn't trying to criticize you. I'm shocked he was able to do that much damage, what a bozo.

But, if you're going to sell online, you're going to have to accept that some sales will go poorly, through no fault of your own. Some buyers aren't cool and don't see you as a person just like them. All you can do is be proactive - describe accurately, price fairly, and ship securely and promptly. I have been selling stuff online for over 20 years, thousands of sales, and I've been really lucky in that I've never experienced something like this (knock on wood).
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No harm - no foul. I replied out of frustration. I apologize if I came across as a self-entitled asshole.

I refunded the guy last night just so I didn't have to stew about it anymore. I started selling in October 2021 - and I know now that my very first sale was a "it was scratched during shipping" scam. My response was to be overly descriptive, grade conservatively and pack those MFers to withstand a lot of abuse during shipping. I guess that's why this recent transaction was so frustrating.

Anyhoo - I always appreciate the respect and thoughtful insight here on the N&G forum. It's a good reminder that not everyone in the vinyl community are dishonorable grifters.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
I guess I was being rhetorical. I meant how can Discogs allow sellers do this on a regular basis? Thankfully I disabled the daily email and just go into my Discogs inbox once a week or so.
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I don't see it as that egregious, as the wishlist only works well if something rare is posted for sale for the first time in a while. Otherwise, as @LeeVing said, it's better not used at all or use it in a way that works for you (e.g. very few items in the wishlist, using a wishlist as a 'nice to have but not need to have', organizing by lowest price first). I disabled the e-mails long ago as well.
 
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