Hello, I'm vinylsimple, here in Stamford, U.K. and I'm keen on vinyl records, they're so deliciously tactile, so ritualistic a music medium, so historic. Selecting a title from the shelf, you take the vinyl from the sleeve, you place it on the deck, the needle guided onto the groove with precious precision, stepping back a moment while listening to a few bars, just for assurance that all is well, then finally settling down with the sleeve to admire the artwork. To read the album notes. To know the musicians. Just to know everything about it. You begin to relax, you spend time appreciating the music as a performance, a captured moment in time and you give it reverence... somehow all that appears lost with other formats, don't you think?
For me, all that I've just discussed can be ruined because there's a scratch! Very irksome! That's why I grade with care all the records that I sell. I don't want it to happen to me, so why should it happen to you?
Even in today's world much of the listening pleasure I need out of vinyl still has to be bought second-hand, so care has to be taken even with the new re-released albums as some of the pressings are not as good as the originals. There are millions of quality used records out there so let's save them, let's cherish them, it's a green thing to do; it's the right thing to do.
Condition is subjective but I want to see and play a second-hand record that looks almost like it came out of the record shop back in the day, so unless it's sealed to me it's only "Near Mint": it looks near perfect under a strong lamp with maybe one or two very light spindle marks to the label. The sleeve is crisp and sharp, with the spine square, the corners at right angles, with all artwork and all the extras intact.
A record with less than a few very minor surface marks for me is "Excellent"; these surface marks are nothing more than the inner sleeve having brushed against the vinyl as it withdraws. To minimise this all the records I sell have a poly-lined inner sleeve provided, regardless of it having an original poly-lined inner with artwork. As you know, the vinyl, if it's left in that kind of inner will eventually split, a separate one will avoid all that too. The sleeve under this category will have a little light wear, the odd lightly bumped corner or mild scuffing along the edges, the odd minor blemish - let's face it, it's stored like a book so it gets shelf-wear but to minimise this I also provide an outer sleeve protector as part of the sales package.
"Very Good" is my lowest grade, unless it's occasionally deemed "collection filler" because it's so rare like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" solid blue triangle label for example. "Very Good" means it's been obviously used with a number of spindle marks, but no scratches, overall it plays well but with the odd pop and crackle although visually, in an ideal world, a few more marks than I'd really like. It's a value we have to accept to a degree because as we know, some copies of the original records are getting scarce. The sleeve although well-handled, is not torn, but maybe some of the original facets of the artwork are missing, perhaps like a poster or a lyric insert.
I cannot play every record that I sell but by fastidious grading you decrease the chances of buying a duff record. You can't help bad pressings but by also cleaning each record I sell, I've reduced the risk even further.
I've put my heart and soul into the process just described so for you to get this product, packing is so important.
For a start I remove the vinyl from all original sleeves, as mentioned it goes into a new or recycled poly-lined inner, then placed inside the provided sleeve protector. I buy my mailers and packaging from Covers 33 so take a look at what they provide. Suffice to say in time I'll have a little clip here to show what I do exactly but in the meantime...
I place the record pack between two card straighteners, then insert into a professional card mailer, it's then sealed, I then run tape around the edges with two bands of 'Fragile - Handle With Care' tape ready to then to accept address details & relevant Mail Service paraphernalia.
I pride myself with my packaging and although you cannot please everyone, it's rare, in all my time of selling on the internet, to be pulled up for bad packing