Buying LP's online from DIscogs.com

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eastofthesun

eastofthesun

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Hi guys , Has anyone bought LP's from the site Discogs.com? is it reliable and are there additional import fees like they have on amazon or is it just the mentioned price + shipping. Any inputs/advice wlould be most welcome.
Regards
Anand

STEREO: Transrotor zet 1 TT, Transrotor 8.2 MC reference phono stage, Ortofon rondo red cartridge, MSB Platinum iv DAC, MSB DATA TRANSPORT iv CD transport, mola mola Kaluga power amplifiers, Transparent audio Ultra cables and interconnects, Transparent audio premium USB cable, Transparent audio Reference Power cables Synology D 415 play 12 TB RAID NAS drive, Mac book air with Roon, Joseph Audio Perspectives Floor standers, Stillpoints Aperture Acoustic panels, Stillpoints Ultra mini isolators, Blue jeans CAT6a cables. Transparent Audio Power isolator’s MM2.
HT1: Optoma HD 82 projector, I box media player, Synology D 415 play 12 TB RAID NAS drive, Anthem MRX 500 AV receiver, B & W center & DALI surrounds, REL T5 subwoofer.
HT2: Panasonic 42' Plasma, Monitor audio Radius R250 center and front speakers, Radius R90 surrounds and radius R360 subwoofer. Dune & Zappiti media players and pioneer BDP 140 blu ray player.
 
eastofthesun said:
Hi guys , Has anyone bought LP's from the site Discogs.com? is it reliable and are there additional import fees like they have on amazon or is it just the mentioned price + shipping. Any inputs/advice wlould be most welcome.
Regards
Anand

STEREO: Transrotor zet 1 TT, Transrotor 8.2 MC reference phono stage, Ortofon rondo red cartridge, MSB Platinum iv DAC, MSB DATA TRANSPORT iv CD transport, mola mola Kaluga power amplifiers, Transparent audio Ultra cables and interconnects, Transparent audio premium USB cable, Transparent audio Reference Power cables Synology D 415 play 12 TB RAID NAS drive, Mac book air with Roon, Joseph Audio Perspectives Floor standers, Stillpoints Aperture Acoustic panels, Stillpoints Ultra mini isolators, Blue jeans CAT6a cables. Transparent Audio Power isolator’s MM2.
HT1: Optoma HD 82 projector, I box media player, Synology D 415 play 12 TB RAID NAS drive, Anthem MRX 500 AV receiver, B & W center & DALI surrounds, REL T5 subwoofer.
HT2: Panasonic 42' Plasma, Monitor audio Radius R250 center and front speakers, Radius R90 surrounds and radius R360 subwoofer. Dune & Zappiti media players and pioneer BDP 140 blu ray player.
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Discogs have different sellers like ebay, so check reviews thoroughly for reliability and record grading accuracy. Almost all sellers do visual grading, so slip ups are bound to happen - records graded NM or EX can sometimes turn out to be VG (but most of the time they are accurate). There is no additional import fees like Amazon. I usually buy 8 records max and have never had to pay customs. Also I buy only from UK with Royal Mail International Signed (tracked) and the parcel arrives at my doorstep in max 10 days.
 
I've bought (and sold) quite a bit on Discogs. It's a great site, however it is a bit higher risk than sites like eBay as all you have is the graded description of what you are buying as there is no pic of the product. So buy from people with good seller ratings. Also, as plasmoid pointed out, i would recommend not buying more then 5 LPs at once since it may attract customs. I've (touch wood) not had a bad experience with Discogs yet and i've been using the service for over 5 years.

As a side note, if anyone wants to check out my Discogs profile go here : https://www.discogs.com/user/mogambo/collection

Share your links too if you have a Discogs profile, would be great to link with some HFV FM's on there.
 
plasmoid said:
Discogs have different sellers like ebay, so check reviews thoroughly for reliability and record grading accuracy. Almost all sellers do visual grading, so slip ups are bound to happen - records graded NM or EX can sometimes turn out to be VG (but most of the time they are accurate). There is no additional import fees like Amazon. I usually buy 8 records max and have never had to pay customs. Also I buy only from UK with Royal Mail International Signed (tracked) and the parcel arrives at my doorstep in max 10 days.
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Thanks a ton plasmoid.
 
tek said:
I've bought (and sold) quite a bit on Discogs. It's a great site, however it is a bit higher risk than sites like eBay as all you have is the graded description of what you are buying as there is no pic of the product. So buy from people with good seller ratings. Also, as plasmoid pointed out, i would recommend not buying more then 5 LPs at once since it may attract customs. I've (touch wood) not had a bad experience with Discogs yet and i've been using the service for over 5 years.

As a side note, if anyone wants to check out my Discogs profile go here : https://www.discogs.com/user/mogambo/collection

Share your links too if you have a Discogs profile, would be great to link with some HFV FM's on there.
Click to expand...
thank you tek would it be able to share your number so i cld call you?
Cheers!
Anand
 
plasmoid said:
Discogs have different sellers like ebay, so check reviews thoroughly for reliability and record grading accuracy. Almost all sellers do visual grading, so slip ups are bound to happen - records graded NM or EX can sometimes turn out to be VG (but most of the time they are accurate). There is no additional import fees like Amazon. I usually buy 8 records max and have never had to pay customs. Also I buy only from UK with Royal Mail International Signed (tracked) and the parcel arrives at my doorstep in max 10 days.
Click to expand...
Hi plasmoid , Can u share your number on my inbox just needed to clear some doubts abt discogs.
Cheers!
Anand
 
Additional import fees are not collected by Discogs, but you are of course still liable to pay duty fees if your parcel gets caught in customs. Most sellers on Discogs undervalue the parcel to reduce the chances of this headache.

Overall I'd say Discogs is more economical than eBay (at least from my experience). If an LP goes for around 30$ on eBay, you are quite likely to find that same pressing on Discogs for around 20$. Just make sure you choose an experienced seller who has 99%+ feedback.

In case the LP that you want is extremely rare and available only with a few sellers (who have some negative feedback), make sure to contact the seller before hand. Ask them about all the details. Ask for pictures, ask them to share the details of the courier company that they would use to ship the parcel, etc. Only if you are confident after all this interaction, go ahead with the purchase. It's not worth it to go through the process of filing claims on Paypal.
 
peace_sells said:
Additional import fees are not collected by Discogs, but you are of course still liable to pay duty fees if your parcel gets caught in customs. Most sellers on Discogs undervalue the parcel to reduce the chances of this headache.

Overall I'd say Discogs is more economical than eBay (at least from my experience). If an LP goes for around 30$ on eBay, you are quite likely to find that same pressing on Discogs for around 20$. Just make sure you choose an experienced seller who has 99%+ feedback.

In case the LP that you want is extremely rare and available only with a few sellers (who have some negative feedback), make sure to contact the seller before hand. Ask them about all the details. Ask for pictures, ask them to share the details of the courier company that they would use to ship the parcel, etc. Only if you are confident after all this interaction, go ahead with the purchase. It's not worth it to go through the process of filing claims on Paypal.
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Thank You Peace sells !
 
I've purchased a lot of LP's from discogs, and they have all arrived as described by the seller and well packaged. Most of my records have been bought from the USA and shipped to Australia. Since shipping from USA is very expensive (sometimes as much as the record itself), I use aggregating sites (shipito is what I use; there are others as well) where you get an address in the USA for shipping all your LP's to, who then packages it in a single box and ship to my address. This is economical if you intend to buy a lot of records in as short period of time.
 
jinxedloki said:
I've purchased a lot of LP's from discogs, and they have all arrived as described by the seller and well packaged. Most of my records have been bought from the USA and shipped to Australia. Since shipping from USA is very expensive (sometimes as much as the record itself), I use aggregating sites (shipito is what I use; there are others as well) where you get an address in the USA for shipping all your LP's to, who then packages it in a single box and ship to my address. This is economical if you intend to buy a lot of records in as short period of time.
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thank you jinxedloki :-)
 
I have been purchasing records from discogs since 2013. Sellers have varied from US, UK, Netherlands, Singapore to Kazakhstan. So far I haven't been in any issue wherein the courier didn't come, got caught at the customs or the records were in damaged condition. I thank speed post for this. Nowadays I have been shipping them to my friends/ colleagues who are in US and they hand carry them once they are travelling back.
Please check the seller's rating, shipping rates and also the vinyl and cover gradient. There is no hard if you negotiate for a discount.
happy hunting !!!
 
Now that Amazon.in has good collection of English Vinyl at reasonable price what is the advantage of buying from Discogs / eBay etc. Is there a difference in SQ, Record condition, Price Advantage, Title availability etc.
 
Hassan Khani said:
Now that Amazon.in has good collection of English Vinyl at reasonable price what is the advantage of buying from Discogs / eBay etc. Is there a difference in SQ, Record condition, Price Advantage, Title availability etc.
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Discogs have lots of early pressings which sound better than today's re-issues(most of the vinyl these days are from digital sources). You can check this video for comparision: Also lots of rare records for collectors.
 
Naturelover said:
Another option you could look at is Japan based snowrecords.com. I bought a bunch on a trip to Japan. Fully satisfied. Grading is extremely conservative.
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I bought from them online recently and I'm really impressed by the condition of the records (much better than what they advertise them as), and the packaging (new inner and outer sleeves). The shipping can be expensive, though, as much as the cost of the records.

The sound quality if much better than those I have bought online from Indian stores (with equivalent grading) - maybe it's the environmental and storage conditions? I wonder.
 
Another option to try out is www.musicstack.com - although they don't have the features of Discogs where you can search for a specific pressing/edition of an LP, it seems much easier to search for stuff (at least to me). Shipping rates for some are also lower - not generalizing - but you still have to wade through a lot of sellers and titles to get the right combination of what you want and affordable shipping rates.
 
Of all these years purchasing in discogs my last purchase received 3 days back , the parcel from Netherlands had the record broken to two. I doubt if I will get refund or replacement . All my earlier purchases were perfect no hassles
 
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