Got burned on Discogs

jazzbo26

Started buying on Discogs a few years ago, all very positive experiences. Finally got burned and its probably my own fault. Found a record from a seller in Hungary. Had great reviews. Great communication, answered a bunch of different questions I had. So I purchased. Only takes Bank Transfer and Skrill (WTF is Skrill) as payment. This should have been my 1st warning, but I'm stupid. It's a European thing is what I'm thinking. So I sign up and move the money. The fees are irritating but whatever. Klara (if that's what her name really is) says she will ship on Weds or Thurs. Status changes to shipped on Thurs. So I wait. And wait. And........wait. Nothing. Thinking its just hung up in the mail somewhere. Didn't pay extra for tracking (again stupid) but have ordered from Germany and Belgium without before and never had an issue. So after 5 weeks send a message. Nothing. Check her seller page and see recent positive reviews. 6 weeks send another message. Nothing. Again look and see all positive reviews. At this point I'm thinking I'm screwed because I didn't get tracking and its lost. This week (I think we're at week 7) go on the site to file a sender not responding complaint and BLAMMO!!! multiple negatives reviews claiming payments made and nothing received. It's up to a dozen or so. SO FUCKING PISSED!!! At myself for falling for it and at this asshat for scamming me. Skrill has no protection for buyers like eBay (learned this after the fact) so my money is bye, bye. Saw on the Discogs forum that sellers from Eastern Europe accepting only bank transfers has become a popular scam. Also after the fact. It sucks because now I'm gonna be leery everytime I go to buy something on Discogs. Aaaaaahhhhhhhh !!!!!! But I guess if I stick with Paypal for the protection and buy the tracking for the no guessing, I should be all right. Thanks for reading my rantings and beware.

LukinFan

Damn this sucks.  Really sorry to hear this.

What's the sellers name - Klara?

jazzbo26

The Discogs username is Ladyonmusic. Name associated with user is Klara, don't want to post the last name. 14 negs and counting and someone pointed out all her for sales are pulled. Don't know if she did it or if Discogs locked her out.

jazzbo26

Oh P.S. I did have another Discogs purchase issue that happened to me. Not the seller but the "Porch Pirate" that swiped my PJ 1997 & 2000 Fan Club Singles off my doorstep before I got home from work. Totally forgot about that.

SONSABITCHES!!! BUMPUSES!!!

2-feign-reluctance

Bugger!!

brianlux

Bummer on both counts. jazzbo.  Getting ripped off always sucks!

I've gotten some excellent deals on Discogs from Germany, France and England but I avoid countries that have less secure mail services. 

I've found that using a my work/business address  is much safer (but of course not everyone can do that).  I also cough up the bucks annually for a post office box.  The only thing we get at home is junk mail for the recycle bin.  Mail theft is just too risky these days.

I hope you have better luck with future purchases.

HesCalledDyer

I've been leery about Discogs ever since someone sold me a "NM" Merkinball vinyl... and it looked like a kid used it as a plate for french toast then hid it under the bed for 8 months and let the crumbs & syrup petrify.  I only ever buy from there if it's my last resort.

a5pj

try telling your bank that you transferred the money from? worth a shot

F Me In The Brain

HesCalledDyer said:

I've been leery about Discogs ever since someone sold me a "NM" Merkinball vinyl... and it looked like a kid used it as a plate for french toast then hid it under the bed for 8 months and let the crumbs & syrup petrify.  I only ever buy from there if it's my last resort.

Ha!  At least it wasnt too expensive a lesson.
Same rules as eBay for me -- US Only, PayPal Only, Lots of great feedback Only. 
So far, so good!

Sorry OP, that stinks.

eeriepadave

the title of your post sounds like it should be on a t-shirt "I Got Burned at Discogs" (sorry)

FR181798

Can't help you get your money back but what's the record you were after, maybe someone can help out. When I first used eBay 20yrs ago I remember shipping dollars from the UK disguised in an envelope etc. Never ever got ripped off but I guess I was lucky.

PJ_Soul

eeriepadave said:

the title of your post sounds like it should be on a t-shirt "I Got Burned at Discogs" (sorry)

brianlux

Buy from an independent brick and mortar is always the safest bet but those are becoming fewer and farther in between.  If I can't find it in a store I go to Discogs or eBay. 

I wish Discogs would (or could) put into place a guarantee similar to eBay.  I've rarely had a problem returning an improperly rated record on eBay.  Discogs, not so easily.

The problem with  rating records and books is becoming worse and worse all the time.  I see this with ordering used books for customers.  "Acceptable" mean totally trashed.  "Good" means written in, broken spine, and only chocolate smears but no dog poop on the pages. "Very good" means good reading copy. 

Same with records.  'Fair" mean your kids sister used it as a nail file.  "Good" also means guaranteed to be scratched all to hell.  "Very good" means hopefully you love a lot of surface noise. "Near mint" means it only has surface scratches (which a good system will pick up). 

Rating standards have reached an all time low.

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

Buy from an independent brick and mortar is always the safest bet but those are becoming fewer and farther in between.  If I can't find it in a store I go to Discogs or eBay. 

I wish Discogs would (or could) put into place a guarantee similar to eBay.  I've rarely had a problem returning an improperly rated record on eBay.  Discogs, not so easily.

The problem with  rating records and books is becoming worse and worse all the time.  I see this with ordering used books for customers.  "Acceptable" mean totally trashed.  "Good" means written in, broken spine, and only chocolate smears but no dog poop on the pages. "Very good" means good reading copy. 

Same with records.  'Fair" mean your kids sister used it as a nail file.  "Good" also means guaranteed to be scratched all to hell.  "Very good" means hopefully you love a lot of surface noise. "Near mint" means it only has surface scratches (which a good system will pick up). 

Rating standards have reached an all time low.

They totally have, and I think the onus is on the website in question to do something about it. Crack down on sellers who rate improperly. Highlight the standards, and give an option to buyers to specifically respond to the condition rating outside of the customer feedback rating, so that there is an actual specific stat just about that next to each seller. Something needs to be done about this problem, especially on discogs, given the name and purpose of the site.

HesCalledDyer

The grading system definitely misleads itself.  The only rating in the entire system that has a bad connotation is "poor."  There simply cannot be 7 or 8 conditions that lend a buyer to believe it's in good shape and only one that signifies bad to effectively grade records, books, etc.  And I find that a lot of sellers tend to over-grade their stuff.

PJ_Soul

HesCalledDyer said:

The grading system definitely misleads itself.  The only rating in the entire system that has a bad connotation is "poor."  There simply cannot be 7 or 8 conditions that lend a buyer to believe it's in good shape and only one that signifies bad to effectively grade records, books, etc.  And I find that a lot of sellers tend to over-grade their stuff.

Good point... although the definition on each rating is very specific. Still, yeah, they should be named differently; anything that has surface noise should be named something with a negative connotation, not a positive one.

jazzbo26

FR181798 said:

Can't help you get your money back but what's the record you were after, maybe someone can help out. When I first used eBay 20yrs ago I remember shipping dollars from the UK disguised in an envelope etc. Never ever got ripped off but I guess I was lucky.

I'm afraid to say because of the morality police on the boards, but it was a Lost Dogs bootleg.

FR181798

jazzbo26 said:

FR181798 said:

Can't help you get your money back but what's the record you were after, maybe someone can help out. When I first used eBay 20yrs ago I remember shipping dollars from the UK disguised in an envelope etc. Never ever got ripped off but I guess I was lucky.

I'm afraid to say because of the morality police on the boards, but it was a Lost Dogs bootleg.

Well hopefully it will get a proper reissue one day. I had two original copies until a couple of months ago when I sold one. I know it's no consolation but a $5 official cd is better than a fake LP. If I see another original cheaply I'll pick it up for you. These things appear when you're not really looking for them.