I generally go for a vg+ always cheaper and less disappointing!
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I was going to say the same thing. How much is it really in there for him/them if they’re just asking someone with a cheaper copy to forward it on? Seems like a poor business decision unless they are shifting loads.
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I’ve heard Jonny Trunk, the record collector/dealer/boss of Trunk records saying this goes on a lot with the particularly rare stuff; the seller doesn’t own it, but knows where to source it.Just seems spectacularly shit if it’s all just Discogs.
I imagine it must be quite easy to have a web crawler crawl Discogs, find all the stuff with certain criteria and then list it all again, with a suitable mark-up.
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Yeah absolutely. The guy claims to have 95k records in stock. He’ll be automating most of those processes / messages somehow. He hasn’t even responded to my private messages.
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Thanks for the heads up on this.
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No worries. I’ve sent stuff for this guy before without giving it a second thought. When I saw the latest order from him, something clicked, but I wasn’t sure what was going on?
I wonder if Discogs suspend users for this type of activity. Taking money from people then sourcing cheaper copies and pocketing the difference. Hope karma bites his ass hard!
craaazy. although this is how a large portion of Amazon sellers operate so it’s only inevitable it spills to other market pkaces
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I do fear this idea would a perfect money maker for the new owners of Discogs (amazon or apple, I don’t follow news?)
We would be given the option to close our accounts or find our stock shared all over the web. We have effectively given our data worth billions in streaming and re issues away. There was a fuss decades back over another change, it’s a monoply so what are you going to do…?
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I’ve had him do the same to me before! He made out to me that he couldn’t find the record or had already sold it. No idea why he doesn’t just cancel the order if that’s the case.
I guess he’s still paying the Discogs fees on the higher price he’s charging so if Discogs aren’t losing out on money then they wouldn’t mind?
Yeah. There’s always that ‘blind eye’ if the money’s still rolling in. Corporations eh??
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I think they sell on other platforms too. With so much stock its not surprising they can’t find stuff. I’ve had a number of orders from them over the years.
AKA short-selling
technically, it’s illegal as, unsurprisingly, you’re not allowed to sell something you don’t own the “title” of.
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Not sure what the laws are over there but over here short-selling is limited to $500 so with records it wouldn’t be prosecutable keeping the guy in business. Does ask another question, is he doing this in other territories as well?
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If he is doing this, how would this work if someone places a large order for lots of different titles?
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I still dont understand how you can charge enough of a mark up on other sellers to make a worthwhile profit without the buyer going to them in the first place, and how the whole thing isnt seemingly much more hassle than its worth.
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He’s just asked me to block him so he doesn’t bother me in the future lol. Feel like blowing the whistle.
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In my interactions over the last two years with dealers of various sizes and strangeness…probably best to let it go.
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You’re probably right.