Rare Vinyl, eBay Complaints: An Email Grab Bag
Somebody sent me this link: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige 7079. This was an original New York yellow label in nice condition, VG++ for both the record and the cover. It sold for $2,028. Not sure why this particular link was sent to me, but I figured I’d share it nonetheless. Nothing seems out of whack to me, in terms of the eventual price or the provenance of the record as an original pressing. Maybe someone else can find something. You have all been more observant than I have been lately, it seems. Perhaps too many distractions at my end. Maybe I should just retire from work and devote myself full-time to Jazz Collector. š
Another reader sent us this link with this note: āNot sure if you caught this beautiful Lorraine Geller LP that sold for $1,200 (buy it now). There canāt be too many of these rarities left in that type of condition.ā Indeed.
Hereās a question from a reader:
“Al,Ā I have a question for you. When you bid on a jazz lp on Ebay and the seller gives it a visual grade of lets say NM-.Ā You win the lp and when you receive it, you find his visual description is perfectly accurate, but when you listen to it you hear lots of clicks and a lot of background noise. What do you do, if anything?Ā Would you complain to the seller about the sound or just accept it the way it is?Ā I ask because I notice many sellers don’t give an audio grade in their descriptions, and many of these lps sell for huge amounts.Ā When I sell, I give an audio & visual grade, but I think I’m in the minority. Anyway, I appreciate your feedback on this question. Thanks much (and thanks for the great website), Bill.”
Here’s my reply:
“Hi, Bill. Iāll pose the question to my readers, if you donāt mind. I wonāt mention your full name. I donāt buy much on eBay these days, but I would definitely get back to the seller.Ā I wouldnāt look at it as a complaint or question the sellerās credibility and I wouldnāt do it with even a trace of hostility or anger. Rather, I would say that, yes, the visual description was accurate, but when the record played it was closer to VG or VG+ or whatever. Then I would ask the seller what he would recommend. Some sellers will take the record back and give you a full refund (if thatās what you want); others will give you a partial refund and tell you to keep the record. Most sellers will do something. If they donāt offer anything and are arrogant or hostile, then just donāt buy anything from them anymore. Personally, Iām not comfortable filing formal complaints on eBay. Canāt say why other than karma. ā al”
I never did hear back from Bill on how/wheher this was resolved, so, Bill, if you’re still out there, what happened?
Here’s another question from a reader: āDo you have any information about the Crescent record label other than what is reported by Wikipedia?ā Answer: I donāt but I figured maybe someone out there does. So hereās the question for any Crescent experts.
I was listening to this record today: Vi Redd, Bird Call, United Artists 14016. Part of a pact I recently made with myself to go into the collection and listen to records Iāve either never before listened to, or havenāt listened in years. This is a damn nice record, to my pleasant surprise. Anyway, on this record, there is a trumpet player identified as āKansas Lawrence.ā The clue is that he went to school in Lawrence, Kansas. I tried to identify him by his playing. At first I thought it might be Clark Terry. That was wrong. It took a quick search on the Internet to find out who it was, which any of you can do as well. The question is, can anyone identify Kansas Lawrence without looking it up. As always, we are on the honor system here at Jazz Collector.
BTW, the Vi Redd record is over and now I have on the turntable, Annie Ross Sings a Song with Mulligan. Another great record, excellent vocals, excellent arrangements, with great contributions from both Chet Baker and Art Farmer. Iām trying to decide whether this embarrassment of riches is a curse or a blessing ā to have so many records, I canāt listen to all the good ones, or to have so many records that I can pull one off the shelf seemingly at random and be pleasantly surprised. Iām sure many of you will gladly volunteer to take some records off my hands to alleviate any concerns may have. It is also odd that I have this little bit of extra time on my hands to listen. I have a short respite between writing assignments, and close listening is something I rarely take the time to do anymore, so Iām having fun.
Carmell Jones. Easy.
I know who Kansas is, but only because Clifford told me awhile back, so I will cede to him.
and don’t worry about having so many records to listen to! think of it this way: you can listen whatever you want, and there’s little chance of you not having it!
Was I not supposed to comment the correct answer? oops!
As a Kansan who went to undergrad in Lawrence he’s something of a favorite son… Frank Lowe also attended KU, but is from Memphis. Still, great to have him as something of a Jayhawk… John William Hardy of Pacific Jazz Records/Revelation is another Jayhawk (ornithology studies if memory serves).
and of course there are all those Kansas Cityans.
or Citians?
Hi I’m new to jazzcollector.com and enjoying every minute of it, it’s a whole new world. I’m also new to eBay (ugh) so far the experience has been less than thrilling. I listed a 1956 recording of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington – Louis on one side if the L.P. and Duke on the other. My intention was to set it up for auction. Next thing I know it went live with buy only at the eBay price of $11 – What! And there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it. Sigh! Regarding above post about crackling noise on a perfectly good LP my suggestion is to check your needle and cartridge. Thanks…. P.S. I’ve listed my website http://www.wilsrecodshop.com but it won’t go live until spring. Meanwhile check me out on Instagram #wilsrecordshop
That’s http://www.wilsrecordshop.com
Clifford — yes you were okay to comment the correct answer. I couldn’t figure out why you said “easy” but now I see.
For 95% of jazz sellers, grading is visual. There are only a handful left who routinely incorporate play grading. It wasnāt always this way. For what its worth, Goldmine grading is predominantly visual as well.
Play grade usually correlates with visual grade, but there can be exceptions. An inferior pressing can sound bad due to the pressing or due to play wear, and it can be difficult to tell the difference between the two. Play wear is usually visible in the form of visible scratches or dulling, but not invariably so.
Rock chalk, Jayhawk!
Also knew āātwas Carmell Jones, mainly due to his great lp on Prestige label, Jayhawk Talks
Al. Thanks for posting my question and your response. After emailing you, I also checked with some jazz collectors on facebook and they seem to agree with your response and the response of Paul above. Paul appears to be correct when he says “For 95% of jazz sellers, grading is visual.” The gentlemen on facebook agreed that most of time a NM a record visually graded NM will sound NM or close to it. When there is a great discrepancy, they contact the seller in the manner you said you have done. I asked this question as I have always listened to every lp I sell and report on everything I hear. I’m learning that as long as my visual grading is accurate and conservative, a sampling of 5 to 10 minutes of the lp is probably good enough to give the potential buyer some indication of the sound quality. It will save me time and help keep my sanity as well. /// And if anyone else wants to comment on this topic, please respond…
As a seller, I kind of combine the visual grade and play grade. If it visually is really nice but plays poorly, I give it the play grade and note that it looks good but doesnāt sound good. I also have a tendency to err on the side of caution and sometimes grade a little lower than is fully accurate. Iāve had some bad run-ins with buyers, and I only sell on eBay as a hobby and for spare cash for my expensive record habit. I donāt need absolute top dollar when I already have a full time job and when the majority of what I sell is from the dollar bin (donāt knock the dollar bin… I once found a pretty decent original copy of Palo Congo in there!). Iāll usually just test play areas that look rough. If I donāt like what I hear, Iāll check a few more areas. If everything looks fine, Iāll play a song or two anyways to confirm it. And if anybody has any problems with my records, I accept returns. I also sometimes do partial refunds if they want to keep the record, but I clearly made a mistake when listing it, or something. If they want to keep the item and get money back because they didnāt like what they got for reasons that were clearly covered in the description and pictures, though, I tend to be a lot less accommodating.