Brand new vinyl - what’s acceptable to you?

I buy the majority of my LPs  in "mint used" condition from either very reliable stores in Tokyo or from a trusted vendor whom I see once a year at the Capitol Audio Fest.  Unlike others, I do not wash newly acquired LPs, new or used from those sources.  I also do not buy from eBay, unless I desperately want work from a particular artist who is hard to find, where I am willing to cross my fingers and hope that the LP I get will be as advertised. Nor do I ever buy from yard or estate sales or from Goodwill or any other thrift store.  If a newly acquired LP has a flaw, I THEN wash it on my VPI HW17. I use Triton X100 and propanol diluted in distilled water in my record cleaning fluid, and I do rinse with plain distilled water which I did find to make a difference.  If washing does not help, the LP goes to the trash bin.

Like most responders here, I clean all my records ultrasonically before first play, whether brand new or secondhand.  The original inner sleeves get replaced with anti-static sleeves from Nagaoka.

If a brand-new record has more than two successive clicks from a scratch, I let Presto Classical know about it.  (I buy almost all my new records on-line from Presto in the UK).  They ask for a photograph, and send a new copy free-of-charge while asking me to destroy the old copy after the new one arrives.

Sometimes the damage is highly visible (for example, on Decca records after they introduced glossy inner liners with pictures and ridged joins) but to me, most offensive scratches are invisible.  I just send a photo anyway!

again, proof that most of you need professional help

LOL!  Perhaps the very act of acquiring and playing vinyl records is proof we are off our rockers.  It is certainly eccentric in this day and age.  

@parkergetdean 🙂

Sadly, it doesn’t help. The average counselor is woefully unprepared to deal with audiophilia nervosa.

But hey - it’s also a useful lever for my adult kids or wife. Need to change the subject? Easiest move is for them to ask me anything about music or my system. Instant relief.