On Buying Sealed Records

drewnice

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?

drewnice

By the way, any ideas before 6:00 p.m. EST[/b] would be most appreciated.

Jonny_Paycheck

I mean that is the nature of it. Unless the warp was really bad or something I feel like you are buying a sealed record you have at least a 50/50 chance of it being warped. You must deal.

faux_rillz

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.

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.

johmbolaya

Unfortunately, I take a risk in bidding on a sealed album. With temperatures going up this month, there's even a bigger risk that the package will through a hot state, and I open up the box and find a camp ashtray inside.

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.

Birdman9

This just happened to me yesterday:

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!

kidinquisitive

Lately I have been tending to open sealed records before trying to sell them just to make sure everything is tip top. Of course the exception is for records that derive siginficant extra value by being sealed.

Jonny_Paycheck

Lately I have been tending to open sealed records before trying to sell them just to make sure everything is tip top. Of course the exception is for records that derive siginficant extra value by being sealed.

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.

Rockadelic

Of course the exception is for records that derive siginficant extra value by being sealed.

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!!!!!

Kinetic

I mean that is the nature of it. Unless the warp was really bad or something I feel like you are buying a sealed record you have at least a 50/50 chance of it being warped. You must deal.

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.

karlophone

Unfortunately, I take a risk in bidding on a sealed album. With temperatures going up this month, there's even a bigger risk that the package will through a hot state, and I open up the box and find a camp ashtray inside.

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.

this made me think of the same seller using those big fat orange cheesy puffs instead of packing peanuts.

Flomotion

Unless I'm going to flip the sealed record straight away, I always ask the seller to check it before sending. Of course, you have to buy it first. If it's warped, the wrong record (this has happened a couple of times) or has some other problem no reasonable seller is going to insist on the original sale going through.