Hi all, I have just rekindled my interest in vinyl since acquiring a rega p6. Unfortunately I don’t have a local bricks and mortar record store stocking vinyl. Therefore most of my purchases have been online. I have bought from Juno, Amazon and Blue Note directly. I particularly like buying Edition Records from Bandcamp as hires downloads are also included. I also purchased the tone poet Cassandra Wilson album from Dodax on forum recommendation (many thanks :-)) Are there any other online suppliers that you would recommend?
I use the River less and less, partly because their vinyl pricing is capricious to say the least, and because I’m a little bit uncomfortable with some of their business practices.
I often buy from Bandcamp (artists get the best cut from this site), but also Recordstore.co.uk, Juno, What Records, Diverse Vinyl, Townsend Records, Bleep and of course Discogs; and if I’m in town and buying from a shop, Sister Ray, Fopp, Rat, Sounds Of The Universe or Reckless.
Add Sound of Vinyl and Rough Trade to those already mentioned. Sound of Vinyl often have good sales on. Today I got Roxy Music - Manifesto and their self titled debut album for 9 quid each
I regularly use Pebble Records. They give great service.
Have used What Records but sometimes you place your order and then wait weeks because they didn’t have the stock. I try not to use Amazon but have to admit the delivery service is excellent and if you need to return an album it’s easy. Sometimes use Discogs for mainly discontinued stuff but only if I’ve got the time to search which can be a bit daunting.
What Records try to keep stock levels lean, relying more on good supply from labels. This does mean that if you want a super fast delivery, you will be disappointed. However, Tims always very responsive to emails and also the phone. Prices are usually better than anywhere else, the packaging is first class, and if you have a problem, a replacement is no trouble. He also makes a point that he pays his uk taxes in full…
It may well be worth checking out where local record fairs are being held. This last eighteen months I’ve been using record fairs more than buying online, picking up quite a few 70s & 80s albums that have been found much cheaper than listed on Discogs and ebay, followed by a quick spin on the RCM they all cleaned up very well indeed. Some vendors also sell brand new latest release albums too.
If you search “record fairs UK” and sign up for their newsletter you will get a weekly bulletin with fairs for the coming weekend, plus the website has future dates for most of 2020 as well. Although the website design is utilitarian to say the least, the all important info is there.
Discogs can be good, but I’ve had some real stinkers too, with some cases of grading creep that has gone way too far. Sometimes a picture counts for a lot - an area where Discogs isn’t so good. I buy much less via Discogs now and only ever Mint or NM from 100% sellers.
You can’t see really from a picture if the lp will be Mint or NM or VG.
Personally I have been very rarely disappointed with lps I bought on Discogs. And the informations are very precise.
However I don’t buy lps very often too today.
No, but you can get a reasonably good idea of how an LP has been looked after by the state of the outer sleeve, inner, and how spindle marked are the labels.
Richard, interesting that tax is mentioned here. I get a bit bored with bashing companies and businesses over this, when they obey the law, or take advantage of the rules. Not that i say you are bashing.
They don’t set them, gov does, they are responsible for the regimes in place or not in place.
I guess you took a swipe at a major online retailer, other online retailers are available of course
Take the example of said major online retailer setting up shop in Luxembourg. They are allowed 3% VAT on books, whereas the VAT rates in Europe can be 29% in some cases. Luxembourg has the lowest general VAT in Europe at 15%. Special Luxembourg secret tax deals were allowed for Pepsi, Microsoft, Disney, PayPal and Amazon.
These secret deals took place under the premiership of Jean-Claude Juncker, who was prime minister for Luxembourg at the time.
Juncker is now president of the European Commission. <<< Please note, irony klaxon.
To finish, I use what records a lot too and I’m sure the now owners of Naim pay expensive advisors to minimise tax liability, like every citizen or business should.
When I was buying the lps directly in street shops before, I was often surprised by pops and clicks when putting the lp on my turntable. When looking at the lp, I could not detect scratches or used vinyl.
The state condition of the media could only be evaluated after listening.
So a picture is not enough for me.
However I speak only for my own experience.
I bought maybe 1000 lps during 15 years on discogs and for me the NM or M condition mentioned was effective in 95% of the lps I bought.
Martin my comment was no swipe, although it was perhaps a little flippant I admit. I was merely making an observation that What Records make a particular point on their site. They, of course, may well be taking a swipe at a particular major online retailer. I make no morality judgements on here.
Anyway, I’d rather this thread did not get dragged off topic, and the subject is bound to lead to discussion involving politics, which is off bounds on the forum these days. Thanks.
I agree a picture is definitely not enough. You need an honest evaluation of the condition as well as lots of good relevant pictures. Basically you want to get as close as you can to actually holding the vinyl in your hand inspecting it closely and then getting to listen to it.
For new records I don’t stick to any particular online store and have used most mentioned above over the years and apart from a recent MFSL purchase have been lucky.
I do have a few record stores locally none of which I use as they are all expesive I do however have a couple of used stores, Across The Tracks and Wax Factor to name two that are worth a look if I have a spare couple of hours (which seems to be never).
If I where offering advice then I would say stick to the many online stores and shop around if your looking for a specific record and for used vinyl Discogs is No 1.
I’ve had as good or sometimes an even better experience buying used records on Discogs than I have buying brand new vinyl from specialist online stores.
In fifteen years or more I can count on one hand the records that have not matched the listing and each time I’ve been offered a partial or full refund.
And I agree fully only playing a record at home can truly evaluate a record. Even if you bothered to listen in store at the checkout you’d be given a sealed copy to take home which could of course be a different quality completely.
