Grading and Condition
Our music selection is primarily made up of pre-owned items (our Gear is all new unless otherwise noted). The photographs that accompany our listings are stock photos meant for illustrative purposes and do not represent the actual items being sold. To ascertain the condition, please reference the items grading in relation to the chart below. We VISUALLY grade our records. This means that we do not listen to each one to determine its playability. If you find our grading doesn’t meet your expectations (or ours for that matter), please contact us and we will work to make sure you are satisfied as a customer.
Grading Chart
| Vinyl |
LPs, 12” Singles and 45s |
| Mint (M) |
Vinyl - Still factory sealed. While we anticipate that it has no defects, it is as it was off the factory floor. Sleeve - We generally will not use a Mint classification on sleeves figuring that once it has left the factory it is impossible for it not to have been altered in some minor way. But if you do see this classification, figure it is perfect. |
| Near Mint (NM) |
Vinyl - Vinyl is in perfect condition but no longer factory sealed. Sleeve - This often will be a sealed record with little to no defects. |
| Very Good Plus (VG+) |
Vinyl - Vinyl is nearly flawless. May have some paper marks or a light mark that should not affect play. Sleeve - Sleeve may have small defects, such as the start of shelf and ring wear. |
| Very Good (VG) |
Vinyl - This is our broadest classification, mostly because we are a bit stringent on our higher grades. A VG record should still play without skips, but may have some auditory defects (but also may not). Most of our VG records are going to sound great on your system. If they don’t, let us know! Sleeve - Defects will be more apparent in VG sleeves. Heavier ring and edge wear may be evident. Punch outs, cut outs, corner cuts, etc may be present. There may be some splitting. We try to comment on most of these conditions. |
| Good (G) and Good Plus (G+) |
Vinyl - Vinyl may have a lot of light scratches. There could be a fair amount of background noise from the defects when playing the record. Sleeve - Sleeve might have heavier splitting or other tears and other material defects. |
| Fair (F) |
Vinyl - Heavily worn vinyl. Likely to have some skips Sleeve - Sleeve is totally falling apart, or is severely torn. Look for the comments in the listing. |
|
Poor (P) |
Vinyl - Record is destroyed. This likely is only being sold as a replacement sleeve. Sleeve - Destroyed and falling apart. |
|
Generic |
This is only used to describe sleeves. This means that the sleeve is just a plain white or black or company sleeve. Generally this is only used with 12” singles, many of which were originally sold with generic sleeves. There are a few LPs that are not in their original sleeve, but rather a generic sleeve. |
|
CDs |
CDs are all expected to load and play. Sleeves are graded on the paper portion of the sleeve, not the jewel case. |
|
Mint (M) |
Factory sealed CD with undamaged jewel case |
|
Near Mint (NM) |
Out of shrink wrap, but appears perfect |
|
Very Good Plus (VG+) |
CD has some scratches but is expected to play perfectly. Paper may have some folds. |
|
Very Good (VG) |
CD has more pronounced scratches but is still expected to play perfectly. Paper may have creases and cutouts, punch outs, etc. |