3 Sounds, Good Deal. Blue Note 4020, DG, 63rd St. Original press.

$

34

What you're looking at: 3 Sounds, Good Deal. All original. Deep groove, mono microgroove. 63rd St. labels, Ear mark, heavy press. Horrible sleeve, fairly noisy record.

How it stacks up:

RECORD: VG- (5 of 10) Looks pretty decent. High shine, but the labels look bad. Hairlines throughout, and will have pops and clicks on both sides. 

SLEEVE: G (2 of 10) Bad sleeve. Spine is split in middle, I repaired a top 5" seam split. Aging.

OK, here’s the deal, I recently received some negative feedback (for either unfounded claims or buyers flat lying to my face), thus I have new policies. I didn’t think I had to barney down buying, but evidently I do.

MYTHS:

“The seller is there to make me happy.” FALSE. I am not a store, I do not have a customer satisfaction policy. I am here to get you the item you bid on, and here to describe it accurately. If something is damaged during shipping, EMAIL ME, and we can resolve it together. When a seller posts negative feedback, it hurts me, thus it is in my best interest not to be an @**hole. I will work with you.

“The seller misrepresented the product, he’s out to get money and that’s it.” FALSE. I do this on the side, and try to get people the records they want. I am a person and not a store. I do not willfully misrepresent anything. HOWEVER, I do not really have pity on buyers who say I do, considering the grading is ALWAYS an opinion. I do, however, offer a service free of subjectivity; an audio clip. ASK FOR AN AUDIO CLIP if you are one of the following buyers: Ridiculously hard to please; expecting more than you pay for; generally arrogant; or very particular about what you want. Also, if you are one of those buyers listed above, I prefer you do not buy my items anyway, I prefer to sell to people who are pleasant and reasonable.

HOW THIS WORKS:

1) I describe an item, which may or may not be up to your “standard.” However, if you question anything I write, email me BEFORE hand, and ask for an audio clip, because they do not lie. I’m not interested in reading, “I don’t like your scale of grading,” because I don’t care what you do or don’t like. 

2) You decide to bid or not. This amount of money is determined by you, thus you tell me what it is worth. I do not rig any auctions. Buyers like to throw out all sorts of accusations that are blunt and rude.

3) If you win, you pay. This is a hard concept to grasp for some, I know. It’s true, you pay for what you bid on. 

4) I package up the record in a custom box with a plastic sleeve. You don’t have to remind me to ship the record outside the sleeve, I understand this already and it is done with every record.

5) You receive the record. You inspect and play. If there are any issues, you contact me … because I am your point of contact for these issues. Whatever make believe story is in your head is most likely wrong, I am not out to steal your money, lie to you or manipulate anything. Your paranoia is not welcome with me. Write a genuine email to a genuine person (me).

6) With both of us happy, we leave pleasant words for one another and we continue our lives.

 … I promise this is a painless process.

MY GRADING SCALE:

OK, my objective is to be as specific as I can without being ridiculously wordy. I give one of these (from worst to best): G, G+, VG-, VG, VG+, VG++. That is it. No more letters, thus VG++ is a very good record.

AFTER THE GENERAL GRADING SCALE, I have a second number in parenthesis, which is meant to be more specific. I find that a number is more specific than a general sector of opinion, thus the number will be between 1 and 10. This is meant to give you a more-specific idea of what you are getting into audio quality wise, the former is more for visual.

That being said, I play with a Rek-O-Kut N-33 (YEAH BOY!!) through Polk Speakers and a Fisher solid state integrated amp.

IF YOU CARE TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUYING FROM: I am a full-time Master’s student who also helps teach undergrad classes. I collect records so much that I decided to sell what I don’t listen to and what not. I am big into Jazz, Psych, Garage, Classic Rock and the like. See, you’re buying from a person and not a store. Remember that I want to keep these transactions as simple as possible, so don’t be afraid to ASK QUESTIONS.

RETURNS: Generally returns are a no go, unless you have a compelling reason. I give plenty of chances to see what you’re buying (audio clips, emails, two part grading system and a full policy description) and, as I see it, the buyer has as much responsibility as the seller to a) know what they are buying and b) have the decency to ask prior to purchase.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: I charge $4 (covers postage and materials) for all shipping, and eBay will bill you for the rest. I’m part of eBay’s shipping program, and I let them sort it out.

I really hope this answers all questions and concerns; however, if it doesn’t, EMAIL ME. Other than that, bid happily.