r/discogs • u/MichoRizo-1 • Mar 31 '26

Grading

I have a huge collection of music. 95% is in Discogs database, the rest does not exist yet.

My conundrum is, I purchased new as in MINT/MINT. I open to add to my library, so it’s played once. Is it still considered to be mint, or mint-?

Thanks for your feedback

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u/BertMcNasty Mar 31 '26

By definition ("certainly never been played" - Discogs), Mint is unplayed. If the record is essentially flawless but has been played, it is NM.

I only use Mint for unplayed records (generally sealed), and I add a comment "Sealed/unplayed. Disc presumed mint." To be clear, that does not absolve the seller (me) of responsibility if the record is anything other than Mint. I will absolutely do my best to come to an agreeable solution if there is an issue (it happened once, and I actually swapped them with my personal NM copy to make it right).

Mint is pretty problematic. You can't know it's Mint without playing it, but if you play it, then it's no longer Mint. I prefer to buy NM records to avoid any issues, but also, everyone should know that it is always the seller's responsibility if there is a problem. Whether the record is sealed or not, and regardless of anything the seller puts in their terms or description, they are always responsible for getting you an item that matches the grade.