discogs marketplace?

My gripe - new buyer in Europe started asking where the package was four days after posting, now just over a month later they're still reporting non-delivery, so I'll be refunding it. Should get compensation from Royal Mail* but items going missing is so rare that it seems quite a coincidence for it to happen with a new user with no feedback who was jumpy from the off.

* but not sure if I calculated the 5 +20 working days right, can't find out if they count Saturdays for International Standard.

yeah I probably shouldn't be so distrusting but always suspicious when packages go missing. but since it happened to me with 2 parcels sent to different countries on the same day I think it's possible that they were actually lost by the post rather than 2 different buyers deciding to rip me off at the same time. I have put claims in for both of them but heard nothing from Royal Mail yet (says can take 60 days for international mail)

Yes, I have had that before where multiple parcels sent at the same time have all gone missing.

I thought it was common knowledge that packages tend to get lost at a greater rate if they are going to/from Italy or China.

Or Chicago.

I did get a cheque from Royal Mail today for the Italy one. so I only lost £10 because I didn't insure for over £20. hopefully will get one for the China one then.

Is the Discogs order page OK as evidence of value in your experience? I think that's what I've used previously and it's alwyas been fine but can't remember for sure.

It has always worked for me.

it's worked this time

I’m getting no Discogs orders at all either, and sales have slowed considerably on the bricks & mortar side. I think the combination of pandemic isolation ending, financial nervousness around inflation & high energy bills, and the general understanding that records are fuckin expensive these days is to blame.

Postage super expensive too, costs nearly £6 to mail a CD from UK to US.

I’m only buying records from Germany these days, the only country where postage is less than $20 to Canada

Including Canada

yeah, what's up with that? I've noticed as well

Germany is where I buy any kind of import if I can. Even if it's a UK or other EU country's release, I'll wait until a German seller offers it.

I've been wondering what the deal is with some UK sellers asking for triple-digit postage for a single CD.

Germany has enjoyed cheap international post for records but not for kuchinger because DHL are changing their parcel size brackets from July.

Kuchinger ? much longer.

I wonder if there's a word in German for the feeling of watching German sellers get up in arms about having to pay / charge the same as the rest of us?

As an American who's benefited greatly from that disparity, misery is the word.

Got some buyer feedback the other day: "dfb". Anyone know what that means?

Quick google search suggests maybe distributed feedback?

or perhaps "don't fucking bother"

Was it "Positive, Negative or Neutral"?

"damn fine bro"

I found a copy of the 4xLP of Live '93 by The Orb for $40 in NM condition, which would normally sell for like...three times that. usually deals like that are too good to be true (the "NM" record will have giant scratches in it) and I almost was like "nah, fuck it, that's a scam", but pulled the trigger anyway and got the order cancelled because apparently the seller got "hacked"? like come on he clearly just mistyped the price here right?

l33t h4xx0rs busting into discogs to change Orb prices.

When he relists it for $400 you will know for sure.

l33t h4xx0rs busting into discogs to change Orb prices.

― peace, man, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 7:45 AM

curses, foiled again!

(sorry frogs, i tried.)

ugh some clown is going around arbitrarily changing the country of release on albums. Someone more bothered than I will report him and get his editing privileges taken away, but man are you THAT bored on Thursday night?

never underestimate pedantry

the perversity of this whole process pretty much confirms that I need to do it. CDs are still going out atm

Count me as a pedant. I meant this user is changing countries on pressings that have already have thoroughly documented information, for shits and giggles I guess.

sorry I misunderstood - thought they were correcting things correctly not just trolling

is the site broken? none of the releases load

(ok it's working again)

That happens every couple of days. Usually when I’m in a hurry to look something up.

Just got this feedback (with a 5-star rating):

Flippers suck, $100 profit on a record that came out a month ago is quite unethical. Still would be retail price in stores. I needed it for the collection though. That said, shipment was fast and packaged well.

I did feel a little gross about the transaction. It was a record that came and went really fast — by the time I received my order from the label, it was already sold out and prices were through the roof. I’d bought one for myself and two for the store. The one sale paid for all 3 records almost dead even. I share some of his sentiment about flippers, but … it’s also part of the vinyl game right now? (And always has been to some degree, although the current market has added additional speculative elements, tbf.)

What do y’all think?

It's not your fault flippers drove up the price. I mean, if it wasn't so valuable, you'd keep it right? But surprise, it is valuable, you're on a budget, you want to buy more records, so you sold it. The guy doesn't know that - why would he? - so it sucks he left that review. I wouldn't feel bad, he's taking it out on the wrong person.

I bought 3: one for myself and 2 to sell. I was gonna sell them at “retail” (which would have been about $60 anyhow cuz I paid $40 each) but Lo and behold the price was already up at $100 with a couple sold before I got there.

I do kind of agree, flippers suck. A few RSDs ago I sent a Robyn record to a guy on Reddit who was desperate for one (you could tell he was genuinely a fan and not a grubber) without any markup just cause I thought it was gross, all these people running down and buying RSD records to flip them, knowing demand was gonna be much larger than supply.

I think there’s a difference between deliberately competing with fans on limited records and just lucking into some profit. But the guy who left me the review doesn’t know what my intentions were.

...is it Raum?

If you secure 3 copies for the purpose of flipping, that's the problem, not simply selling it for what it goes for. As far as that buyer could tell, that's what you did.

Complaining about the price of a record you still bought is dumb as hell. If he “needed it for the collection” and that’s what he paid, then I guess that’s what the record is worth? Dorks like that are the reason flippers exist, he’s much more to blame for the price than you IMO.

Oh yeah, to be clear I agree with that.

As long as he gave you five stars, let him complain to his heart’s content

A few times I have paid well over the odds for a limited title (small run or RSD scarcity).

In all times I needed it for the collection.

In all times the fault has been within me, not the seller.

within me, and within late stage capitalism obvs.

where are the star ratings? I've never seen this - just positive/neutral/negative

Oh right, I guess it was just a positive rating. I was looking at my overall rating, which shows a hard-workin 5 stars.

If you’re selling a record you just bought for $100 over the price you paid for it, you are flipper scum. You could have just bought 1 copy for yourself but you knowingly bought more (depriving others of their chance to buy), knowing you would flip the other 2. However, you are also just playing the horrific game of capitalism we are all condemned to endure. Accept you’re flipper scum and bask in your profits. On the grand scale of things you’re not too bad.

new records are luxury items anyway

xp I thought it was $60 over the price he paid(?)

This convo keeps making me want to look up the price of Flipper records on discogs

The good news - got compensation cheque for lost item.

Less good - a week later the item turned up "unclaimed".

Now, per the agreement, I am supposed to send the money back. No problem, although I suspect they don't actually expect this to happen in most cases because there is no information I can find about how to do that. I've written to ask.

You are too honest, but good on you :)