On Buying Sealed Records
drewnice
5,465 Posts
What are people's experiences with buying sealed records in terms of warping on eBay?The seller said: "I don't accept return request for the sealed items because I can't avoid the possibility someone change the record with the one he(she) has. If you want to avoid having warped record, I can open the sealed for you and check it before shipping."But, I don't know if that means I still have the option to opt out of the sale if it does turns out to be warped.Anybody been through this before as a buyer or seller? Advice?
Comments
Well, I think that's sort of implied.
I mean, the alternative is that he opens it, tells you that it's warped and then cacklingly insists on selling it to you at full price anyway.
The seller knows that if you don't want it, someone else will, and opening it might lower the price the next time he puts it up on eBay again. Of course, said seller could easily say "this album has been sealed, but I opened it for a visual inspection. It is not warped. The record has not been played. I also ate Funyuns while doing the inspection, so the side of the record may have some Funyun dust."
If you do win, make sure that the seller packs it well.
I bought a sealed Detroit Emeralds 'Feel the Need' from a good friend of mine's store. I knew I was taking a chance on it possibly being warped, but there didn't seem to be any indication of this (it lay flat and looked fine). What I didn't prepare for was a copy of CJ and Co.'s 'Devil's Gun' being in the sealed sleeve!
In this case he is giving me the price of the LP in credit and I am giving him back the LP. In my opinion he is going above and beyond since it was a sealed LP, but at the same time I didn't feel bad asking what he could do for me in this situation. Just one of those lose/lose scenarios since I really wanted the record and he really wanted to sell it!
Same here. The last time I sold something like that it was a sealed mono Duke Pearson title, the winning bidder asked me to open it in order to examine the label. He agreed beforehand not to ask for a refund if it was not what he expected. He ended up getting the better end of the deal as the record would've gone for more if I had known which label variation it was - 63rd Street versus New York, USA (which is what I thought it was).
If it's something where part of the value is in having it sealed then I will only open it at the buyers risk - no refunds.
And this covers a LOT of records......recently I sold a sealed copy of The Band's "Music From Big Pink" on ebay.....an open, M- original MAY be worth $15.00 tops....this sealed one brought $82!!!!!
I've bought a number of sealed records on the bay and never had a problem. I've bought sealed records in the wild and never had a problem. But there's always that moment when you open it and you just hope that it's not the wrong record inside, or its not dishwarped! I think you gotta accept that that's just the risk you take.
this made me think of the same seller using those big fat orange cheesy puffs instead of packing peanuts.