All
vinyl is visually inspected and listened to for grading. Grading standards
for vinyl and cover are:
SS = Still Sealed
Never opened. Flawless, with no damage whatsoever.
M- = Mint Minus / EX+ Excellent Plus or M Mint
Has been opened, but is still flawless with no damage whatsoever.
Vinyl & CD: No visible marking / scuffing / scratches & plays
perfectly.
VG+ = Very Good Plus / EX
CD: ("VG+" grade not used. "EX" or "VG"
used instead.)
Vinyl: May have scuff marks and signs of some wear but will still play
almost perfectly throughout, with only "barely detectable"
crackles or pops. A slight noise at the begining is allowable, but the
remainder must be nearly flawless. Definitely no scratches or gouges that
a touch with a dry finger can feel.
Cover: May only have the slightest signs of normal wear.
VG = Very Good / EX-
CD: Visible scratches but plays perfectly all the way through.
Vinyl: May crackle, pop or make other annoying noises, but only
occasionally,never continuously, and not more loudly than the music being
listened to
Cover: Normal used cover wear such as ring wear and light/beginning of
split seams. If there is abnormal damage such as tears or markings, but
the seller still feels that it qualifies as a "VG", the damage
must be described in comments attached to the item.
G = Good
CD: one or more tracks skip.
Vinyl: May have continuous low level crackles, pops, etc... but not so
loud as to make the music completely unlistenable or unenjoyable to the
casual listener. Might also have "nasty little scratch" causing
popping on one or two more songs, with the rest of record playing fine.
Cover: More than normal wear and tear.
F = Fair
Vinyl: Only one side playable
Cover: splitting seams, heavy foxing/browning.
P = Poor
i.e. Only one or two songs on the whole album are playable. Cover will
feature full split seams or an old tape "repair" job.