discogs marketplace?

Makes sense with that Paypal change. Lot of sellers with storefronts plus their own sites (plus ebay and whatever else)

The number of sellers listing common records in VG or worse condition mystifies me.

eh, if that price is right, I don't see an issue with it, especially since no one sane has been inside a record store in over a year

I sell plenty of common VGs, but then they all have audio clips attached to their listings, and I almost always describe the condition in more detail.

Really, people will pay like a buck fiddy for a general used Linda Ronstadt album and then shipping on top of that? That’s... interesting to me. Altho maybe makes more sense for domestic US sales cuz you guys have media mail. In Canada shipping STARTS at $15 for an LP.

My question tho is, What’s in it for the seller? Surely the effort of looking up the record, listing it, then pulling & mailing it isn’t justified by the buck fiddy.

I suppose if you have a couple of hundred LPs like that you don't want to just chuck them out (assuming you're just a private collector downsizing not someone selling as a business)

I've probably got hundreds of LPs not worth much I want to get rid of at some point, so will have to decide if it's worth the bother or if I should just take them to a record shop or donate to charity shops

I’d say it’s worth it, you need to outlay for some mailing envelopes (or keep and reuse yr Amazon ones)

It depends on if you need the space pronto, or not.

In the post when I've listed a load of records cheap it is because I assumed other buyers are like me and are going to get a handful of records by digging through a sellers stock when they see one thing they want in my store and take a few punts on records.

In about a thousand sales though I've discovered that only a tiny percentge of people seem to do this, which has surprised me, but perhaps I've just got a load of rubbish for sale normally :D

^^that is what I do. It is quite a nice way to go about it I think, even when I eventually decide to not buy anything

I do that too. Probably pretty common when buying from Canada (per HD, above) or anywhere the postage is gonna cost you. Been meaning to actually start using the wantlist since they have options now for showing you if the seller you're looking at has more you're looking for.

Yes I do that too, and am similarly surprised when buyers don't. Particularly when the lp is £2 and postage is £11, I mean, nothing else interesting? OK I guess.

I just packaged up my biggest sale. The guy bought two high-priced records (both of which had been sitting in my store for too long), a medium-priced record, and then sent me an offer for three more that were in my 'low-priced-add-em-to-your-order' category. I accepted, and yes, this is how it's done!

I followed the advice ITT and just created a second account. one for the 40 or so records I'm really actively looking for, one for the 400+ that I'd just like to pick up one day, stuff like Falco and Starcastle and various Jean-Michel Jarre records that I'd like to get as part of a big order

maybe one for the “vinyl revival” thread but... is Joni Mitchell’s Blue a rare album now lol? very few US copies, all hella expensive

It’s never been particularly common, has it?

It's not a rare record by any means, but it's becoming more uncommon.

The silliest case of this is things like Thriller and Dark Side of the Moon and Rumours, which sold bajillions of copies, and fetch $20 or more a pop now.

I know, it’s ridiculous, but I can sell every copy I get of any of those 3 albums within a day.

I sold a CD box set to someone in Germany. They received it ok and are happy with it, but said they had to pay 16€ customs fees. They haven’t asked for a refund or anything but wondered how I should reply.

At very least I’m going to update t&c’s to say that buyer may be liable for any customs fees.

It's on them. Sellers needn't concern themselves with customs fees and certainly don't need to advise buyers of how much they will be, since the costs are entirely out of the seller's control. It's up to the buyer to do their own research on whether they will have to pay customs fees, they should be factoring that into their purchase decision.

xp

anagram OTM, although I've also been wondering whether to update my t&cs to make this explicit.

this is bandcamp rather than discogs related but wondering what would apply if it were a discogs transaction.

i sent a parcel abroad and it was returned as 'not known at this address'. i definitely had the correct address and indeed have successfully sent to this person's address previously. i re-sent and it arrived ok. i paid the postage to re-send it but wondered for future reference if it is the seller's responsibility to pay the postage again in a situation like this?

Someone (apparently) sent me some records I ordered two weeks ago, but they've not arrived. I contacted them to ask for some details of when/where they sent them, to chase up the package with the post office, but they've ignored the message thus far. What's the drill here?

I feel like I've done well so far in receiving all my Discogs purchases to date. Always knew my luck would run out at some point, though.

(Advance apols if any of the following is stating the bleedin' obvious!)

If they were 7-inch singles posted from the UK in a letter box, there won't be a proof of postage unless they were sent tracked (in which case you can ask for a tracking number, although this should have been sent when they marked the order as Shipped).

If they were UK 12-inch singles or LPs, they'll have been sent from a post office, in which case the seller will have been given a receipt with proof of postage. That said, if they were posted via standard mail, there are no useful details to be gleaned from the receipt.

If delivery was attempted and you were out, but no card was put through your letter box, the first port of call is your local delivery office. Finding out when/where the package was posted won't help, though.

Check also that your Discogs delivery address matches your PayPal delivery address, in case it's gone to the other address.

If they don't have anything waiting for you to collect, I would ask the seller for a refund, 30 days after the date they marked the order as Shipped. It's their responsibility to make sure the package is delivered.

If the seller has strong positive feedback, then it's likely they'll reply sooner or later. If all else fails, negative feedback may eventually prompt them to take action.

I sold a record to someone abroad, i actually tested it before sending as i was debating whether to keep it or not, and now they are telling me it is warped and that it is skipping. i think its because of their shitty turntable (i was sent pics, and it does look like it cost about £50), but now they have opened a paypal case for it. it is really making me livid, as in this particular case, i know there was nothing wrong with the record. i know paypal is often (or always?) buyer-biased, so not expecting anything in my favour, but it really does bother me. im not rough trade or amazon. the customer is NOT always right.

in which case the seller will have been given a receipt with proof of postage

There's some retroactive quantum causation effect that dictates that the very rare occasion where there's a problem with delivery will be the one time in a thousand that you left the PO without a proof of postage ;-) Actually I've been told that in that event the financial receipt can actually be used if you need to claim compensation.

actually

Cheers Mike - definitely not repeating the obvious. Just spent 30 fruitless minutes waiting for the local delivery office to answer the phone, but will try again tomorrow.

Delivery offices tend to be horrendously bad at answering the phone, and they all too often don't! If it's within easy physical reach, that's your better bet.

That's a good idea. I'd been holding off visiting them since lockdown began, but I guess this is a legit reason to visit.

And of course that's exactly where the package was. Thanks for the advice Mike!

Phew, good to hear!

I’ve got a buyer who doesn’t have a PayPal account & says they “can’t get PayPal to work” with a credit card & wants to pay via certified cheque. Is this likely a scam? Should I just tell them to eat shit?

It's 2021. If a buyer doesn't have Paypal, it's a non-starter.

You can always suggest they do a bank transfer, or even send cash by post.

I’ve accepted a bank transfer instead of PayPal a couple of times; quite nice not to have to pay their fee, too.

I got a record ive wanted for awhile but it’s the absolute foulest smelling record I’ve ever encountered. Was definitely stored somewhere extremely damp/humid.

the seller has a few more copies of the same album... considering asking if any of the others smell... but I don’t want to be uh rude or condescending... most other copies for sale are overseas

I hate when that happens. I have a really weird-smelling copy of the Miles Davis Quintet's Plugged Nickel box set that I bought used. One person thinks it's cooking oil but I think it smells too funky for that. At least it sounds and "looks" fine, and it's a tough set to find for a decent price, so I never bothered to return it or exchange it.

Two big, and unwelcome, changes for UK sellers:

1) From tomorrow (1st July), an additional 20% VAT will be charged for all purchases. As with US sales taxes and the like, Discogs will automatically levy the charge, which will initially be paid to sellers, then claimed back via the monthly billing system.

2) Also from tomorrow, a printed invoice must be attached to the outside of all packages shipped overseas from the UK. Printing can be done directly from the order page, using the "Print" button near the top. (I'll do this by sticking the invoice inside the clear plastic sleeves that I use for 45s, but it's going to be too tight a squeeze for CD-sized envelopes).

Full details at https://blog.discogs.com/en/uk-eu-vat-changes-on-discogs/

Yeah, same on eBay. Outside of the UK I'm just selling to Russia, Canada, Australia/NZ and Japan nowadays. EU's out because of this Brexity crap and everywhere else because of inept local postal services (USA I'm looking at you) or untrustworthy buyers.

Just to be clear, for U.S. discogs users buying from UK sellers, there's no VAT correct? (i.e. Discogs collects only U.S. taxes as VAT wouldn't be applicable.)

Yes, it's on cross border purchases INTO the UK or EU (and under a certain amount above which the VAT is paid on import).

Although I have sold things to certain US states (California for one) that add on a sales tax that wasn't there a few years ago, but maybe that's for everything including domestic sales? Not sure how that all works tbh.

I’m a little uncertain as to whether VAT is going to be charge on UK to UK sales. Anyone know?

Although I have sold things to certain US states (California for one) that add on a sales tax that wasn't there a few years ago, but maybe that's for everything including domestic sales? Not sure how that all works tbh.
That's due to changing U.S. state laws. In the last 10 years, virtually every state has tried to reclaim "lost revenue" from internet sales that weren't taxed. At first there were specific details that had to be met like vendors that had operations within the state (which sometimes included Amazon, sometimes not, and as you can imagine that pissed off sites that had actual brick-and-mortar stores if Amazon was excluded), but over time the tax laws have been expanded to include ALL internet sales, taxing based on whether a purchased item was delivered to an address within the state.

Sales tax are done at the state level, so it all depends on when or how quickly each state legislature has been able to pass their own tax laws. There are exceptions - for example, I think Texas still has no sales tax for certain internet purchases.

Yes, VAT will be charged on UK to UK sales.

As a service to EU sellers who sell to buyers also located in the EU, and UK sellers who sell to buyers also located in the UK, Discogs will apply supply of goods VAT to all orders where the buyer is not VAT registered.

Thanks!

There is no VAT on UK to UK sales if the seller is not registered for VAT. Nothing is changing there, I believe what it means is that for VAT registered sellers they will be able to list prices without VAT and the site will add the VAT for buyers that have to pay it. I'm aware that everyone seems to think it means VAT will be added to all UK to UK sales but that can't be right. Not long until we find out for sure.

I don't get much from the UK, but I buy a few things from Germany each year shipped to the US. Anything changing on that front?