Buying a used record — what to check
In this order. Each step catches something the next one cannot.
With the record in your hands
| Step | What to look for | What it catches |
|---|---|---|
| Sleeve, front and back | Ring wear, creases, split seams, water staining, writing, a price sticker that will tear the finish. | How it was stored, and whether the seller graded the sleeve at all. |
| Open it before anything else | Is the disc inside the right one? Does the label match the sleeve? | Swapped discs — the single most common surprise in a cheap crate. |
| Disc at a shallow angle to a light | Turn it slowly. Scuffs and haze only appear at the angle where the light grazes the surface. | Everything flat light hides. Do this before you look at anything else on the disc. |
| Fingernail across anything you can see | A mark you can feel is in the groove wall. One you cannot feel usually is not. | The difference between a mark that ticks and a mark that does not. |
| Sight down the disc edge-on | Lay it flat on your palm at eye level and look across it. | Warp and dish warp, which are invisible face-on. |
| Spindle hole and centring | Enlarged or torn hole; label printed off-centre. | Wow on playback, which no cleaning fixes. |
| Label | Spindle marks, writing, a stamp, a different label design from the one you expected. | Play history, and the wrong pressing sold as the right one. |
| Runout groove | The etched or stamped letters and numbers between the last track and the label. | Which pressing it actually is. This is the field that settles it. |
| Inserts | Inner sleeve, poster, booklet, obi, hype sticker — and whether they belong to this pressing. | Most of the gap between a complete copy and an incomplete one. |
Buying online — six things to ask, and what each proves
| Ask for | What it proves |
|---|---|
| A photo of the runout groove, both sides | Which pressing this is. Everything else in the listing is a claim; this is evidence. |
| A photo of the full label, not cropped | That the disc matches the edition being sold, and shows spindle marks and writing. |
| Photos of the disc at a shallow angle to a light, both sides | Scuffs, haze and cleaning marks. A flat-lit photo of a record shows nothing and everyone posts one. |
| Photos of the sleeve corners and seams | Ring wear and splits, which is where sleeve grades are usually generous. |
| Confirmation of which inserts are present | That you are buying a complete copy — and creates a written record if you are not. |
| Whether it has been played, and on what | Whether the grade is visual or heard. Both are legitimate; only one is a claim about sound. |
Keep the conversation where the marketplace can see it. Discogs states it cannot review messages sent outside its service, so anything agreed by email or private message counts for nothing in a dispute.
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