I have bought a number of used albums from audiogon sellers such as Kaleidakol, Albumhead, LPGal, and emil_anghel. I have been extremely pleased with my purchases, none was very expensive, and all of the albums were as represented--excellent to very good. I don't know how to grade LPs myself and from shopping in used record stores for years I am aware of how greatly quality can vary and how hard it is to tell from looking at the vinyl. It's a crapshoot, really, unless you know the seller and he/she has played the album before listing it for sale. But for $10 or $20 I have considered it a worthwhile gamble, and have not been disappointed on Audiogon. I would most likely not spend more than $50-60 on an album sight unseen, however, unless I knew the seller or had had other transactions w/him or her.
Purchasing used lps on Audiogon
What has been your experiecne with purchasing used vinyl on Audiogon? As a record collector of some 30 years, I have had mixed results. I have bought a pristine Tina Brooks Mosaic set for a very reasonable price and I have also purchased three import lps from the same seller which were all inferior reissues (a fact that wasn't revealed perhaps due more to ignorance than malice). These imports were not particularly well packaged and definitely were not mint. I did not leave negative feedback because the total outlay of cash in this case was small and grading is, unfortunately, a very subjective science. I have had sellers ignore defects like split seams and noticable cover ring wear. Your thoughts/experiences as buyers/sellers?