Recently I found myself with a bit of extra cash, so I thought: "I've never ordered direct from Brazil, though I love Brazilian Music". It'll be a hassle, but it might end up being a bit cheaper.
So I did a bit of research, identified a Discogs seller who had a lot of nice stock, then checked his reputation , which seemed pretty good. It was about 97% when I looked at it.
I read his profile, which mentioned a discount, varying by the amount you spent, so I contacted him and asked at what point he applied the discount. He replied that the prices shown were discount inclusive, which struck me as off, as how would he have know if you were going to qualify for a large discount or a small one.
Anyway, regardless of that ("Why oh why Turbo?) I decided to order. He had a Vinicius De Moraes & Baden Powell LP I didn't even know existed, and a few other LPs I felt like taking a punt on: Claudette Soares, Nara Leao, Gal Costa and Elza Soares ...
I ordered and paid. No acknowledgement. I waited a few days. Nothing. I politely asked him to confirm payment. That took him a week. After a couple more barely answered messages including one asking him when he was going to ship my order ("Soon"), I opened a Paypal claim against him.
At that point he replied that he had had a lot of orders, and that all his orders had been delayed. As if I gave a fuck. At least he then gave me a firm shipping date.
It took him 21 days to ship my order, and when it arrived 2 weeks after that, there was customs duty to pay on top!
I nervously took the LPs out of the well-packaged parcel and looked at the records themselves which looked OK. The jackets had been over graded (writing on labels and sleeves), but after cleaning the LPs well, they all played pretty well.
So, if there's a moral, it's read the feedback comments very carefully. Some of the seller's clients didn't even get their records or were sent the wrong ones.
It was interesting, but I doubt I'll bother again, and certainly not with that seller.
p.s. If you're thinking of ordering records from Brazil, and want to know the seller's Discogs name, P.M. me. I'll tell you.
So I did a bit of research, identified a Discogs seller who had a lot of nice stock, then checked his reputation , which seemed pretty good. It was about 97% when I looked at it.
I read his profile, which mentioned a discount, varying by the amount you spent, so I contacted him and asked at what point he applied the discount. He replied that the prices shown were discount inclusive, which struck me as off, as how would he have know if you were going to qualify for a large discount or a small one.
Anyway, regardless of that ("Why oh why Turbo?) I decided to order. He had a Vinicius De Moraes & Baden Powell LP I didn't even know existed, and a few other LPs I felt like taking a punt on: Claudette Soares, Nara Leao, Gal Costa and Elza Soares ...
I ordered and paid. No acknowledgement. I waited a few days. Nothing. I politely asked him to confirm payment. That took him a week. After a couple more barely answered messages including one asking him when he was going to ship my order ("Soon"), I opened a Paypal claim against him.
At that point he replied that he had had a lot of orders, and that all his orders had been delayed. As if I gave a fuck. At least he then gave me a firm shipping date.
It took him 21 days to ship my order, and when it arrived 2 weeks after that, there was customs duty to pay on top!
I nervously took the LPs out of the well-packaged parcel and looked at the records themselves which looked OK. The jackets had been over graded (writing on labels and sleeves), but after cleaning the LPs well, they all played pretty well.
So, if there's a moral, it's read the feedback comments very carefully. Some of the seller's clients didn't even get their records or were sent the wrong ones.
It was interesting, but I doubt I'll bother again, and certainly not with that seller.
p.s. If you're thinking of ordering records from Brazil, and want to know the seller's Discogs name, P.M. me. I'll tell you.
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