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Discogs question


jhulud
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I rarely use Discogs for anything but I need to. 
 

Is it normal for Discogs sellers to not have the actual photos of the record they’re selling? A particular record I’m looking for that I found multiple listings for, they all have the same photos. 
 

What’s the deal? 
 

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To echo what Buff said, I don't think you'd necessarily need to ask for photos... but due to the nature of sellers having to select the correct entry to submit their sale listing, it is well worth your time to reach out and message them if you're at all skeptical.  If you're after a particular press or variant and it's not spelled out in the comment section of the listing, I would suggest messaging the seller just to confirm.  Can't tell you how many headaches I've saved in advance – it seems like a lot of the lesser-experienced sellers will just click the first available "LP" option and post their listing there, regardless of press #, colorway, etc.

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Yeah, most all of my purchases on Discogs are new records so the advice above should be taken with a grain of salt, with that kept in mind.  If you're eying something that's listed as VG+ or if the item's comments refer to "light scuffing" or "minor jacket damage", I see no harm in requesting photos since everyone grades that pretty subjectively.

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If you want a certain pressing or concerned about the grading, ask for pictures.

A few sellers have no clue how to list and how to grade, but most are doing just fine.

Some sellers even look up the rarest and most expensive variant (test press, limited color) and try to sell a regular copy via that listing for a premium price.

 

However I do have a lot of good experience with Discogs, probably buy more there than everywhere else.

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3 minutes ago, nardes said:

When I sell I always include "pics available upon request" if there's anything off with it (seam split, creased corner, off-center label, etc). I wish there was a way I could just include it in the post. 

If you really wanted to take the initiative, you could upload the photos online and include the URL in your listing.  I see it fairly often with Imgur links on Discogs; nice, short URLs that redirect to an “album” upload featuring multiple photos, angles, etc.  I don’t believe you can link directly but any potential buyer can easily just copy and paste the mini-address from the comment you attach, if they’re curious enough.  Probably the best approach until we get a total overhaul for the Discogs marketplace.

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1 hour ago, Derek™ said:

If you really wanted to take the initiative, you could upload the photos online and include the URL in your listing.  I see it fairly often with Imgur links on Discogs; nice, short URLs that redirect to an “album” upload featuring multiple photos, angles, etc.  I don’t believe you can link directly but any potential buyer can easily just copy and paste the mini-address from the comment you attach, if they’re curious enough.  Probably the best approach until we get a total overhaul for the Discogs marketplace.

oooh good call! I never thought about that!

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I'm not a super-high-volume Discogs buyer, but in 30+ transactions I've never had a serious issue regarding condition or anything else that's required reaching out to the seller after the fact. Could be lucky, but there it is.

 

While we're on the topic of Discogs: I wish their want list notifications were more like Camelcamelcamel, where you could be emailed when an item drops below a certain price. I'd be broke in a week, but it'd be nice. 

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57 minutes ago, ZeroNowhere said:

Since we’re on the subject of Discogs, has anyone received a want list email in the past 5 days?  I was getting one daily but just noticed it stopped.

I reached out to their customer service and this is a known issue. For those that don't know it's not an email issue and it's directly a problem within discogs.com. I guess they're working on resolving it.

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As a seller, I always take careful pictures of my records before I send them off. Holding the record at the right angle is crucial for catching the condition of the record. I have not had any problems with people being scammy, but I like to have actual proof of condition when I sent the record to avoid a possible situation.

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3 hours ago, Derek™ said:

It nauseates me to side with Ben but he’s 100% right on this one.  Bookmark that URL and just check it periodically throughout the day, on breaks, lunch, etc.  I’ve caught tons of great finds over the years with that method. Waiting on the e-mail is a slow man’s game.

Couldn't agree more. I'll admit to obsessively checking my wantlist throughout the day. But I have gotten a few insane deals that way (once got a 7" that would sell close to 1k for just $150 as there was no sales history value for the seller to go off of). But my wantlist emails always showed up in the middle of the night so anything good would be gone before I woke up.

 

My only complaint is that i wish you could filter out certain sellers or set price ranges for what shows up on your wantlist. As there are always people charging 4x what something is worth cluttering up my list, and reposting those items daily.

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Like many others here have said, I always say 'message for pics' when I am listing a record.

Though, its maybe one in ten sales where anyone takes me up on it, so I usually don't take photos till I am packaging things up for delivery.
Then they are more for protecting myself in case there is damage in shipping. (to show I honestly described the record in the listing).

 

I have had a few records come in that were graded lets say.... 'optimistically' but never anything that felt dishonest.

And like I mentioned above, the condition of any record can change while its in transit to you unfortunately.

 

And, in terms of receiving the wrong variant, that has only happened to me in maybe 2% of orders.

The sellers in both of those situations offered a return/refund or a partial refund.

 



 

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I sell about 300 items a year on discogs, and may get at most 10 requests for photos per year.

If the photo is for a condition check or because it has a hand made cover then I send those.

But about 8/10 of the requests I get each year are for items that are brand new sealed NM items, which I don't typically waste time on taking photos of.

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