What’s happened to Discogs? Dodgy sellers!

tempo_n_groove

I've never bought on Discogs, never bothered.  All seems overpriced to me.

RS65573

I buy there all the time, never had an issue, but only buy from people with more than 10 5 star reviews recently and also use a paypal and cc I can dispute.

BIGDaddyWil

RS65573 said:

I buy there all the time, never had an issue, but only buy from people with more than 10 5 star reviews recently and also use a paypal and cc I can dispute.

...same here. 

1ThoughtKnown

Just like Amazon, you can’t trust the reviews anymore. Discogs is no bueno. I’m out 

Zod

tempo_n_groove said:

I've never bought on Discogs, never bothered.  All seems overpriced to me.

It mostly is because your generally using it to find out of print records which fetch a premium because they can't be bought in stores anymore.

Zod

Paypal sided in my favour and issued a refund for the scammed record I bought.   I imagine if discogs doesn't get their stuff in order, Paypal might discontinue their parternship with discogs, if they're having to refund a bunch of things.

tempo_n_groove

Zod said:

tempo_n_groove said:

I've never bought on Discogs, never bothered.  All seems overpriced to me.

It mostly is because your generally using it to find out of print records which fetch a premium because they can't be bought in stores anymore.

I find cheaper stuff on ebay all the time.

I do need to use it to catalog my records.  One day I'll do that...

lexicondevil

RS65573 said:

I buy there all the time, never had an issue, but only buy from people with more than 10 5 star reviews recently and also use a paypal and cc I can dispute.

Yep. Have never had any problems buying or selling.

StardogChamp79

Like this guy! How does he have 4 Molines? Crazy!
https://www.discogs.com/seller/mick2105wiredrecords/profile?utm_campaign=sell_email_v2&utm_source=relationship&utm_medium=email&ev=wh_new&q=Pearl+Jam

1ThoughtKnown

If you live outside of major US or Canadian cities some records can be hard to find so you use discogs or eBay. It was great for a while and there were deals to be had. Was great during the pandemic. If you live somewhere like NY, Chi, LA or T.O., I would think you must be a recluse if you couldn’t hit several of the bevy of great record stores there. 

Anyway, I don’t trust the platform any longer and it’s got me thinking of other ways to shop for vinyl. Decided I will hit the Austin Record Convention in late September this year for the hell of it. 

redraw

Ordered the PJ20 GITD set last week from a seller in France for $650 (should've known it was too good to be true...)
Got a refund from PayPal the next day. 
Seller then tells me their PayPal account has been limited, my order is ready to ship if I pay into his wife's account as f&f.
Obviously a scam... 
Still cost me $30 for an international transaction fee from my bank tho 

goldrush

I have a bunch of stuff on my Watchlist, but I’ve only ever bought a couple of things off Discogs. Everything I’m watching is expensive and shipping to Australia is always crazy.

I gave up on e**y years ago because it was just too risky (it was great in the beginning, but bad for my wallet!) I’m not as trusting as I used to be, and I’m a hell of a lot more sceptical these days.

redraw

Yeah shipping to Aus can be outrageous at times - the Flaming Lips EPs that got announced today would cost me $57USD which is more than what the vinyl costs...
I have bought heaps of stuff on discogs over the years without any issues but it is definitely getting smashed with dodgy dealers lately 

tempo_n_groove

goldrush said:

I have a bunch of stuff on my Watchlist, but I’ve only ever bought a couple of things off Discogs. Everything I’m watching is expensive and shipping to Australia is always crazy.

I gave up on e**y years ago because it was just too risky (it was great in the beginning, but bad for my wallet!) I’m not as trusting as I used to be, and I’m a hell of a lot more sceptical these days.

ebay ebay ebay ebay ebay.  You won't be damned to hell, you can say it.

jgregory89

I've only had one issue on Discogs out of 20 purchases, but still eventually got the record.  I was buying Neil Young Carnegie Hall for my dad, having it sent to him in Philadelphia.  Seller marked it as shipped the same day as purchase, but took 3 days to get the tracking number to me.  Then following that tracking number, the record went to North Carolina and was made "ready for pickup" at the post office.  I messaged the seller about the issue and after 2 days he shipped another one, which eventually arrived and my dad said it was sealed and sounded great. At the time, the seller had about 50 reviews with 90+% rating, now he's got 205 with 70% positive ratings with all of the most recent buyers not getting their records.  Definitely a strange situation.  Now I only buy from sellers with nothing less than 99% positive ratings with a lengthy history of sales.  

PB11041

bottom line with discogs, buy from record stores or sellers you have or can see have a long and flawless track record. Discogs is going to have to start verifying sellers soon because the scammers have arrived in force.

1ThoughtKnown

PB11041 said:

bottom line with discogs, buy from record stores or sellers you have or can see have a long and flawless track record. Discogs is going to have to start verifying sellers soon because the scammers have arrived in force.

Fair comment. 

There is a potential workaround there as well. If a seller has something on discogs I want, I check and see If they have their own online store and buy it there. They don’t have to pay discogs or PayPal those exorbitant fees. It’s like the Ticketmaster of vinyl. 

alphawolf

Thats a shame its getting sketchy now. 

Ive bought 15-20 of my favorite 90s rap albums from there, before the pandemic, and i never had any issues. 

But, i agree with what others have said about buying from 5 star sellers, record stores or long sellers with long sales histories. 

F Me In The Brain

Goods heads up.  Have bought plenty of times and only had one issue.  It was a $30 record so I wasn't too burnt.  (The Cult, if memory serves.)