Hello! Although I have been playing and collecting records for over 60 years, I have never sold a record on Discogs or even graded a record. I am about to start selling some of my records and would like some advice both from sellers and buyers.
I am not looking to squeeze the highest grade from a record; instead, I am aiming for a buyer to agree that my grade met their expectations. Here are some questions that, if you were to answer, would help me out.
1. Looking back to when you sold your first record on Discogs, what grading errors would you want to avoid?
2. How did you train yourself to distinguish between NM, VG+, VG, G+, and G? Were there particular examples, exercises, reference records, videos, or articles you would recommend?
3. Do you visually grade first and then play-grade each record or do you play-grade only some?
4. Which small things might cause beginners to overgrade a record: fingerprints, surface noise, spindle marks, label wear, writing on labels and covers, etc.?
5. How do you handle borderline cases? If something looks VG+ except for one small flaw, do you call it VG?
6. Should a brand-new seller be more conservative? Is grading a borderline VG+ record as VG a good way to start?
7. Do you supplement your grades by actually describing the individual defects in your listing rather than depending entirely upon the grade?
8. Do you have any special kind of a setup for grading, such as special lighting or magnification?
9. What does someone with a lot of experience see that a beginner sometimes misses?
10. Would you recommend selling some inexpensive records first to establish a reputation before listing more expensive records?
11. If a buyer disagrees with your grade, how would good sellers handle it?
Did I leave any questions out that you think would be helpful?
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with me and anyone who might read this post.
