Oblivions

I think the OP got their answer, no? The ensuing discussion (at least my contribution to it) was not intended as a counter argument or rejection of their question. If that happened, I'm sorry!

I've listed my records on there twice, both times for a several month stretch, and never made one sale. I don't have a huge amount of records I'm selling but I usually have a good 60-100 records for sale at any one time which is enough to get consistent sales on every other marketplace. After months of no sales but constantly having to edit my inventory, I gave up both times and unlisted everything. I'm curious whether their user base heavily leans towards certain genres? Indie rock and pop punk/emo did not do well at all, in my experience. The site's look and feel makes it seem like the users would be older and into classic rock but that's an uneducated guess.

Yeah. I get the idea of paying full price and expecting a non-damaged product and I do appreciate people who keep sloppy labels/shops accountable but, in practice, due to the reality of how records are made/distributed and the finite amount of time we get on this Earth, I just can't personally join that crusade for vinyl justice. If I needed perfect sleeves and perfect records (and to vacuum clean each perfect record before playing it for the first time) in order to collect records, I would quit collecting immediately. I barely have time to enjoy my dirty, slightly warped records as it is! That said, when I sell a record, I'm more than happy to make sure it arrives as perfect as possible and field complaints about dings/splits. In 8+ years of selling stuff, I've only ever taken umbrage with one person who didn't email me or ask for a refund or anything but instead left a neutral feedback that said "Record arrived with a small hole in one part of the shrink wrap, wish they had told me this beforehand". It was a hole the size of a penny and it was in the photos. You'll be shocked to learn that the buyer was a vaporwave collector.

I'm being a little facetious but there's something freeing about seam splits and corner bends. I spend a lot of time reading vinyl forums and browsing Discogs and the Great Quest for Vinyl Perfection can seep it's way into my subconscious as I read about people's frustrations with imperfect jackets or sleeves. It's sort of like getting your first ding on a new car; now, you can stop worrying about getting your first ding and continue with your life. "My jacket has a seam split. Phew. Now, I can just enjoy listening to this and not care about being an archivist and collector of mint memorabilia. I AM FREE."

Truth.

I imagine a goal for Discogs' marketplace is to get people to actually move what they're selling and I could see how only showing the last 10 sales being a universal rule would encourage the most sales? RocAndRolla78 is less likely to have his VG $15 record listed at $181 until the end of time if the $180 sale of a NM sealed, perfect copy from 2008 isn't highlighted in the sales stats box. This is purely a guess though, so who really knows.

Crucial update. It was delivered to my PO Box today. Weirdly fast for media mail. Check your boxes if you ordered this.

I just checked my account tab on the Numero site and it shows this shipped on 3/6 for me. They normally upload tracking in that account page but no tracking for this order. Excited to have it pop up sometime in the next week!

Paying import duties, offering free international shipping, and giving away free replacement copies with no questions asked was way way way more than good customer service. It was a little bananas. I don't think anyone can fault them for rolling back some of those perks. They might have a case against them for setting unreasonable expectations though.

This is very mild but my personal worst example. I passed on 4-5 copies of New Adventures in Hi Fi because I thought $50 was too expensive. Then it started selling for $90-150 almost immediately afterwards and I ended up ponying up $120 for it.

Could also be worth messaging their support account on their sub-Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/user/ntlcherrytree

DEAL ENDED

What I want to know is, who wants to grab me a copy of that Bingo Handjob LP and Green Day Woodstock LP? If your shop is getting copies and you think you can snag one for me, hit me up! If cost + shipping works, I'll add on a nice tip! Ask anyone who bought me records last year (can't remember if that Dischord started here or on Vinyl Me Please but I way overpaid happily for a bunch of non-rare stuff lol).

Do you still have those thick flexis? Those were rad and vinyl heads here should check those out (the music is good and they are both thick/firm and bendable).

Totally blanked and didn't remember about the pre-sale till 9am and I was still able to get orchestra seats row D at the Greek. I'm guessing orchestra is their A section? The seating chart for the Greek doesn't use the orchestra label.

Very possible. All she’d have needed was a Sufjan Stevens wig and the gumption to pitch a lead verse on recording day.

YOU KNOW WHAT? F YOU! (I’m actually sneaking back into this fight thread to say if you do an R.E.M. or Mitski chiptune Kickstarter, I’ll drop $50 on the vinyl.) NO. YOU’RE THE DOUCHE!

Haha. Y’all are funny. This is a niche, non-essential thing. Price it for the people who are into it and according to what you need to earn back to be to be worth your while. Beyond increasing your profit, a higher price point also weeds out a lot of headaches as a creator/producer/maker as it cuts down on people who are only interested because of the price. Those are the people who will take up residence in your inbox and count the pennies lost from their corner ding or get upset by the spec they didn’t read in your description because all they saw was the price. Having less customers total but more interested customers quality wise, especially if your goal isn’t to mass produce and make real money, can be preferable. If you’re married, your spouse will also thank you for not losing money and not wasting time by keeping your fun side projects as fun side projects. All that said, this is VC so technically I’m the jerk trying to stop nature from rightfully happening. Sorry, buds. I couldn’t help myself!

So far, there have been no actual shows that are member only (the sound check shows may have been member only). If that changes, I imagine they'd let you know in their email. They explicitly mention that tickets are limited and not everyone will get one in their correspondence for previous shows.

Stephen is one of the biggest douches in the world and yet I love everything 3EB does, non-ironically. This is my biggest listening blindspot as I normally am mindful and affected by the known antics and personality of the musicians I listen to. Lyric-wise too. I cringe and fume when I hear some of the stuff Rivers Cuomo tries to get away with and yet I will sing along to 3EB songs about tater tots and going down on someone in the shower for an hour. If you haven't read it yet, this John Vanderslice story about S. Jenkins is amazing, especially if you're into JV and aware of his reputation as being a very nice person: https://music.avclub.com/singer-songwriter-john-vanderslice-on-the-very-personal-1798238890

I think they did this with Sleep Well Beast and it was a few bucks knocked off a less limited variant (maybe the white one?). Good if you don't need the most rare variant or an ASAP pre-order copy and can wait until you buy tickets.

I was joking and being self-deprecating since I understand where you're coming from. If we're talking in a general sense I think we agree but I think this scenario is a bit different than a normal public pre-sale where some people miss out, both in the logistical specs of the situation and the wrinkle that the National are a little more appreciative of fans than the average band and wanted a better pre-sale experience for their members. People still missed out on the second pre-sale but there was not a massive backlash afterward because it went more smoothly and those folks understood that they had their fair chance and it didn't work out. For the most part, I feel like National fans are a tiny bit more understanding than some of the other VC band constituencies, which I think are better examples of your point about people whining if things aren't perfect.

I mean, if your POV leans towards nihilist guy on the internet, yeah, we are owed nothing and the only thing we can complain about is being brought into this life without our consent and/or killed for our food/land resources in a Mad Max style fantasy or something. But, in less exciting, practical terms, the service they initially used had technical issues and the initial allotment of tickets was a bit too small for their club size, which led too a bit too many members being in the 'no luck' pile despite being there at the right time. You're definitely right that they didn't have to react and do the 2nd pre-sale but they wanted to because (IMO) they do care about being a good club. The National have always had a fond appreciation for R.E.M. and their Cherry Tree club reminds me a lot of the R.E.M. club in it's thoughtfulness towards the product and service and appreciation of members. Other bands and clubs might back away from the reaction and stay hands off but good on CT and the National for doing what they could to give more members a chance.

They heard the complaints and, within a few hours, they coordinated a 2nd pre-sale through a different provider and a lot more people were able to get tickets. The initial sale was a cluster but the response and remedy was immediate and A+. IMO, the CT club team have done a great job of listening to their members and providing a good service for their $50.

Let us National fans have our self-medicated, work party tuxedo meltdowns and brain farts. We're 2 excited 2 function right now.