How many times do I have to hear this?
If you work at a record store, or deal in records, you may know what I'm talking about:

"Oh, these records are in excellent condition, they've been taken great care of."



I'm standing right there with this near-dilapidated box of records, having done the exact same thing countless times, dust and mildew forming a cloud as I flip through them, and she's trying to tell me they're in mint condition.  I'm flipping through them at a pretty advanced rate, if I do say so myself, and I'm growing less and less optimistic the closer to the back of the box I get.  I have to tell her, "Well, I dunno.  Condition must be a pretty subjective thing then."

They wreaked of cigarette smoke and were beat to crap; extreme ring-wear, seam-splits, and much of the vinyl completely unplayable –and that's not to mention they were the same old endless batch of records you can just never seem to escape from. The difference of this one individual's collection is just one odd filter over another, yet there they are, basically the same manifestation of that growing pool of increasingly saturated and stale dead-zone of the vinyl after-life. 

At least she wasn't trying to sell them on Ebay ; ) ...and perhaps saying the same thing in the description, "Great shape!! Taken great care of!"

What you love to see is the serious collector, who not only focused on some quality pressings to begin with (perhaps some rare avant-garde sh*t if you're lucky), but actually knows his records are in good shape.  He knows so because he cultivated the collection – carefully – himself, and treated it as an investment.

In the sense that condition will be tolerable in varying degrees for collectors, and aesthetics mean different things to different people, condition could be considered subjective – philosophically anyway.  But, if you care to be in the business, or even just sell off a collection of records on Ebay – well, sell them thoughtfully, and with some success anyway – then condition will hopefully become something very objective. That's unfortunately not always what we see however, not even here on one of the greatest used music markets of all.

Even with experience, objectively and accurately grading an album according to a standardized and well-accepted system is no light task.  Standardardized systems, such as the GoldMine standard, are a very helpful gauge, but they weren't put there just to guess at, or apply at random.

GOLDMINE is the only way to go in my opinion, it's the most widely used and accepted anyway.  The grades have specific definitions and key characteristics and clues to watch for.  Like anything though, it takes time to become acquainted with enough to apply in a skillful and efficient manner.  In the wrong hands, a guide-book and a limited understanding of a grading system is still a dangerous combination. Someone may see the NM (Near Mint) price of an album they have and think they've struck gold, but probably 95% of the time that record will have an actual value less than 50% of NM value, and below 25% if any less than VG (Very Good) condition.  If not taken seriously, or if done lackadaisically, slapping a qualification on your record is basically as meaningless as offering your guest some cat food and telling them it's gourmet, and it's about as convincing as well.

Many times, even experienced sellers will grade their records inaccurately, worse, it seems that some of them do it intentionally. One difference in one grade mark generally means twice as much money for a record.  Others unwittingly get in the bad habit of inflating the grades on their merchandise, using high grades like NM, or even NM– way too liberally.  Granted, there are several elite dealers who don't even touch anything less than VG+, but even then, man, it better be cherry if you're going to call it NM.  Listing a record as MINT is a dead giveaway that you're likely not being objective, as it's an unspoken rule among the more committed audiophiles that there is no such grading; there's no such thing as perfect.  SS (Still Sealed) is about as good as it gets, and even then I'd support a move to using FS (Factory Sealed) as the highest mark instead – as you've got to be careful of that jerk who will re-wrap their record in cellophane and ambiguously, although not untruthfully, describe it as Sealed.  If you are able to become objective and strive to militantly adhere to the most strict sense of the GoldMine standard, you'd generally find that most used records rarely climb higher than VG+, and VG++ (aka NM–) at best. That's not to say NM or even MINT records don't exist; just be very conservative with these grades please, and only use them if you really know what you're talking about.

So, if you're new to the market, or didn't realize how finicky we vinyl enthusiasts can be, do us (yourself?) a favor and spend some time reading the details of what passes for one grade or the other.  Study the Goldmine system religiously even – well, at least make an attempt.  Music collectors will place more trust in you if it looks like you've taken the time to understand the standards, and are likely to see straight through you, if you don't. 

Hopefully this is all more of a healthy reminder than a cynical or harsh rebuke – just a simple refresher.  Even if you're a long-time seller, consider revisiting the descriptions of the grades, continue referring to them every time you list something.  Obsess over it.  Love it.  Live it.  Make condition objective for once, and for all.

For more information on the Goldmine system, see the Record Collector's Guild – International Record Collectors Online.