Pregnant Insomnia - Wallpaper. Direction 58-3132, 1967

	£		25
	$		33

HonestDave has, over the past 40 years, established himself as one of  East Anglia's biggest collectors and sellers of vinyl from the best era in pop music 1958 - 1973. This has been achieved by only selling the best possible quality items and at pretty good prices. All my discs are suitable for individual turntables or to replace worn out examples on the jukebox at the pub and I do not try to pass off something which I would never buy for my own extensive collection, as good enough for sale on Ebay! I currently have about 7,000 items for sale, which will appear here during 2010 and 2011.

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE YOUNGSTERS WHO RUN "EBAY"

Please note that vinyl singles and albums are now up to sixty years old and can legitimately be described as antiques. MINT condition items DO NOT EXIST. Please stop insisting that my detailed seller rating for descriptions is "only" 4.7 out of 5.00, instead of a minimum 4.8! In any other business, a seller offering 94% accuracy of description would be regarded as excellent, and my guarantee covers the few failings I do make. No-one loses money with HonestDave.  In the vinyl market, what you are seeking is not achievable. Sellers cannot legislate for individual customers and the remarks they wish to make. Age of the sale item HAS to be taken into account. What vinyl records do have is a "proper sound", and not the cold sanitised music that emanates from a compact disc (CD).  After 40 years in the business, I should know by now!

I use the respected Record Collector Magazine's Grading System (see the bottom of the page) to work out what I think is the accurate description. 

95% of my items will be in EXCELLENT condition with no more than 5%, usually extremely rare, items being of a lesser category, and then no lower than VERY GOOD. For the reason stated above, I do NOT use the category "MINT" All items are FULLY GUARANTEED to cover any description errors or omissions. In all cases where the buyer disagrees with my description, a FULL, UNCONDITIONAL REFUND is made within days.

All records will have been washed and inspected under a bright light before being at least partially played on a good quality sound system. Please note that vinyl that has been stored unplayed for years is likely to have some minor background noise for the first few plays until remaining ingrained dirt is removed by the needle. You should always wash old records from time to time with liquid soap and in warm, not hot water, rubbing the vinyl steadily with your fingers in the direction of the grooves. Drain off the excess water and play once or twice whilst still wet! Do not use other cleaning fluids or abrasive cloths. If, after cleaning and playing, you are still not satisfied, please ask me for a refund.

WHAT AM I SELLING?

READ THE FOLLOWING NOTES CAREFULLY. IF IN DOUBT,  DON'T BID!

Pregnant Insomnia - Wallpaper. Direction 58-3132, 1967

I have spent some time wondering what to do with this record. It is a very rare item by a group I confess I have never heard of, being released in the psych era so I am assuming it is one of those. The problem I have is that there is a crack in the edge of the vinyl, that does extend into the grooved area for about five or six revolutions, and yet, unless I am going deaf, it does not sound at all. If you resist the temptation to mess with it, then I think you have a record deserving of 50% of the book rate, which is almost certain to rise at this years end in the new volume of Record Collector. The B side is "You Intrigue Me". The letters K and F appear on the labels in small circles. I will describe this as Very Good, give it a replacement Direction company sleeve, and fully guarantee it so if you want to try it, you cannot possibly lose out. If unhappy, simply return it to me for a 100% full refund, postage and all.

All LP records should be assumed as being in their original covers, on the original label and the first or only pressing, with both the covers and the vinyl in Excellent condition. All EP's will normally come with their original covers and also be the original label and the first or only pressing, with both the covers and the vinyl in Excellent condition. About 85% of my 45's will be in an original Company sleeve, where possible, according to the issue label; where an original was not available at time of sale, a replica sleeve matching the original specification will be included. If that is not possible, then a plain paper sleeve will be issued. You can see which sleeve it will be under the title. The quality of original sleeves may vary considerably, but most will be VG. 

Further replica sleeves can be obtained subsequently from Doug Price. See his website www.bigboppa.co.uk. For sleeve information, refer to Erling Mehl's research on  http://45-sleeves.com/

POSTAGE RULES, PAYMENT, GUARANTEE  AND REFUNDS

Please note that for me, Ebay is only a hobby and not my life or my business - they both come first. Therefore, for much of the year, due to pressure of work, I am not normally able to post any item during the working week, and so I do the packing on Sundays and post on the first available Monday after closure of the sale. Postage rates are quoted for First Class, and should take no more than 1 or 2 days to be delivered once they are in the mail but if the sale date falls on a Monday, then your package could take nine or ten days (up to fifteen days if you are in Europe or up to 30 days if you are overseas). Please do not leave neutral or negative feedback or complain about slow receipt of goods. If you want the item on your doormat the next day, please do NOT bid for my records and then complain about non-arrival. I leave feedback (always positive) at the time of posting.

Payment is required no later than 10 days after the date of the auction unless you have asked for more time to make other bids. The more you buy, the less postage cost per unit you pay, but do please let me know what you are doing.

I am known to be very fair and I do not like to upset my customers and therefore I am very strict in grading sale items and I want to retain my 100% positive feedback. My total feedback is now 2296 and rising and repeat feedback is 3149 and rising.

All my items are 100% fully guaranteed - there are no exceptions. If an item is not as described, or is in any way unsatisfactory, just send an email and you will be contacted. In all cases where you are unhappy, you will be supplied with another copy of the record, if I have one, or you will be refunded in full, including all your costs, within a day or so. There is usually no need to return items so please do not do so without contacting me first - you may be wasting money. Any buyer that leaves me Neutral or Negative feedback without first giving me the chance to rectify the situation, will be immediately blocked from further auctions and will forfeit any refund!

If you have a wants list you are welcome to send it by email to info@trainseurope.co.uk with as much detail as you can. A telephone number would be helpful so I can call you if I find the record at a fair.

RECORD COLLECTOR MAGAZINE QUALITY GRADES                               (with some additional qualifying remarks unique to me, in orange).

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint. I will NOT use this grade unless I can personally prove it has never been played or is "still sealed". Be wary of this description as shrink-wrap machines are not that expensive to buy!

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing.   The majority of my sales are at this grade.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable. I will occasionally sell a record at this grade but it will be clearly marked as such and with the reason why.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration, etc. Only if the record is extremely rare, and worthy of sale, will I very occasionally offer vinyl at GOOD on Ebay. In normal circumstances, I use the grade GOOD to refer to a record where the vinyl is at least VERY GOOD or even EXCELLENT, but is let down by its cover.     

FAIR, POOR or BAD:   I do not sell any record in a condition as low as this - these have already been consigned to the rubbish bin!