Combating scams in the Discogs Marketplace

StardogChamp79

For those using Discogs be careful…

Imcoffeegirl

Thank you - there was a major influx of new sellers on Record Store Day who, unfortunately sold vinyls they didn't have. I typically won't buy from anyone unless they have at least 100 great ratings.
Be safe out there, vinyl friends! 

pledgeagrievance

I’m a new seller and I’m frustrated. Buyer purchased item and no payment. It’s been 2 days, and they get 4 to pay? Makes me think they bought mine to prevent me from selling so they can sell theirs. Is that normal for buyers not to pay? 

HollisBrown

pledgeagrievance said:

I’m a new seller and I’m frustrated. Buyer purchased item and no payment. It’s been 2 days, and they get 4 to pay? Makes me think they bought mine to prevent me from selling so they can sell theirs. Is that normal for buyers not to pay? 

It happens but not normal. Most peeps I’ve sold to, pay.

StardogChamp79

I had a sketchy guy say shipped and didn’t provide tracking. I asked him and he dodged the question so I issued a fraud alert and received a refund immediately then he reported me as a fraudulent buyer. WTF?

Mattchew

I recently received that email as well. It sucks that people have to worry about that.

nuzzer1

What I’ve been seeing regularly is new sellers coming on with no or minimal ratings. They list multiple underpriced items typically around the same price. 

For example (this was happening regularly for several months)- Ryan Adams- Live After Deaf box set - which’s goes for between $400-$500 listed by a new seller for ~$81.00 USD. Red Flag #1

Red Flag #2; If you go to the sellers profile, and see multiple ‘like’ box sets or underpriced items (typically around same price)

red Flag #3: Italian sellers unfortunately have worst reputation for some reason. Believe it’s easier to set up fraudulent accounts there

red flag #4: don’t just take the seller rating at face value- look at the reviews- these guys are getting smarter and will post 10-15 positive reviews from the same account

lastly- and less frequently- if you think a seller with a good rating let something go at a moderately too good to be true price (and it’s not Matt’s son haha) then ping them and confirm- you can just say you’re verifying their account before sending payment or ask for pictures of the record. You don’t have to say it’s a good price- just that you’re doing your due diligence on account of all the fraud. I had this very thing happen with the same box set listed at $275- the seller hadn’t been that active so I simply asked and it turned out they had been hacked. 

PayPal and CC should cover fraudulent charges though regardless.

Also- ISO Ryan Adams Live After Deaf for somewhere between $82 and $400

mace1229

StardogChamp79 said:

I had a sketchy guy say shipped and didn’t provide tracking. I asked him and he dodged the question so I issued a fraud alert and received a refund immediately then he reported me as a fraudulent buyer. WTF?

Should be no surprise that a fraudulent seller was upset and reported you back. I would also think if you're claim was approved, they they would delete any negative ratings.

This was like 10 years ago, but I had my eBay account hacked and the item I had listed had buy it now offers sent out to everyone who had placed a big or watched it, all for less than the current bid price.
I still can't figure out what the scam was, as it would have taken them to pay me, but I'm sure there was something worked out.
Anyway, I noticed before anyone paid, contacted the buyers, let them know and canceled my item. All were cool with it except one guy, who demanded I sell it at the offer price. I tried to explain multiple times it was not me, why would I send an offer for $500 when the current bid was $800? He just kept saying it was a contract and I was legally obligated to keep it. Despite the fact I had 1 item and the offer went out to like 10 people. He eventually gave me my only negative feedback. eBay deleted it pretty quickly when I contacted them. He was an idiot.

HollisBrown

Discogs selling fee to increase from 8-9% on May 22, 2023.