Record Grading Guide: What Our Condition Grades Mean

Almost every record here is a single second-hand copy. There is no second one behind it, so the grade is the whole of what you are buying — and it is the one thing you cannot check for yourself before it arrives. This page sets out exactly what our grades mean, so the word on a listing carries the same meaning every time.

The vinyl and the sleeve are graded separately

They wear differently. A sleeve spends forty years being slid in and out of a shelf; the disc inside may barely have been played. A record listed as Vinyl: Excellent, Sleeve: Very Good plays beautifully and looks its age. We grade them apart because averaging them into one number hides the thing you actually care about.

Where a listing gives only one grade, it is the vinyl.

The grades we use

Brand New — sealed or unplayed stock, still as it left the pressing plant. A small part of our catalogue.
Mint — indistinguishable from new. No marks that catch the light, no audible wear, sleeve square and clean.
Near Mint — played, but barely. Any marks are cosmetic and inaudible.
Excellent — our most common grade, and the one worth understanding. The record has been played and looked after. Expect light superficial marks that catch the light and do not sound; expect a sleeve that shows its decades — browning, a little edge wear, sometimes a repaired seam. It plays cleanly throughout.
Very Good — visibly played. Surface noise is audible in quiet passages and between tracks, more so on the run-in. The music is unaffected.
Good — a playing copy. Consistent surface noise, possibly a mark you can hear. Bought for the music or for scarcity rather than for the object.
Used — the seller graded the copy as played without pinning it further. The photographs are the reference for these.
Sleeveless — the disc without its original cover. Priced accordingly and always stated.

Why the photographs matter more than the word

Every record is photographed as the actual copy you will receive — both sides of the sleeve, and the labels. Not a stock image, not another pressing of the same title. Where a grade and a photograph disagree, trust the photograph and write to us; we would rather answer the question than have a record travel across the country and come back.

Indian pressings carry a particular kind of ageing that a grade alone does not convey. Paper sleeves brown, edges get taped, and sixty-year-old Odeon and HMV covers frequently show damp marks from decades of monsoons. None of that touches how the record sounds, and we describe it rather than hiding it.

Records described as having scratches

A listing that mentions superficial scratches means marks you can see and cannot hear. Where a mark is deep enough to be audible, the listing says so in those words. We do not use "scratch" as a general disclaimer — if it is mentioned, it was looked at.

If a record is not as described

Write to sales@bollywoodvinyl.in with the order number and a photograph. A record that arrives graded wrongly is our error, not a matter of taste, and we will make it right. Our cancellation and returns policy sets out the formal terms.

Vinyl Records Online in India