When you buy or sell used vinyl, condition is almost always the biggest price factor — often bigger than which pressing you're holding. The Goldmine scale is the grading standard most of the collector market runs on: it comes from the American collector magazine Goldmine (founded in 1974), and the grading scale itself was established through the magazine's price guides during the 1980s. Today it is the standard Discogs uses for both media and sleeve condition. Once you know the scale, you can read a listing anywhere in the world and know roughly what to expect.
The scale at a glance
| Grade | Short | One line |
|---|---|---|
| Mint | M | Perfect. Often unplayed. Rarely used seriously. |
| Near Mint | NM (M−) | Looks new — no visible flaws, plays quiet. |
| Very Good Plus | VG+ | Lightly used but well cared for. Minor marks you can't hear. |
| Very Good | VG | Clearly used. Surface noise and light scratches you can hear, without drowning the music. |
| Good / Good Plus | G / G+ | Worn. Plays through without skipping, but with serious noise. |
| Fair / Poor | F / P | Damaged — cracked, warped or skipping. Filler only. |
The grades in detail
Mint (M)
Absolutely perfect in every regard — as if it left the pressing plant yesterday. Many dealers never use M at all, because in practice it cannot be guaranteed. Worth knowing: a sealed record is not automatically Mint. Shrink wrap can hide warps, pressing defects or a sleeve that was damaged before sealing.
Near Mint (NM or M−)
The highest grade most serious sellers will use. The record looks freshly unpacked: no visible wear under normal light, no spindle marks around the centre hole, and it plays without distracting noise. The sleeve has no ring wear, no seam splits, no writing and no price stickers.
Very Good Plus (VG+)
The record has been played but looked after. Under strong, direct light you may spot a few faint hairlines or surface scuffs — but they can't be felt with a fingertip and are inaudible, or nearly so, in play. Light spindle marks are acceptable. The sleeve may show minimal corner wear or the faintest hint of a ring. For many collectors VG+ is the smart buy: close to the NM experience at a clearly lower price.
Very Good (VG)
Here the use is both visible and audible. Scratches and scuffs show without special lighting, and playback carries surface noise, crackle or the odd pop — but the music still dominates and the record doesn't skip. Spindle marks are often obvious. The sleeve may have ring wear, early seam splits or an owner's name. A VG record is a fine listening copy, but don't count on it gaining value.
Good (G) and Good Plus (G+)
Misleading names — "Good" is not good. The record plays through without skipping, but with substantial noise and clear groove wear. Sleeves in this class often have tape, writing, split seams or heavy ring wear. Buy only as a cheap listening copy, or as a placeholder until a better copy turns up.
Fair (F) and Poor (P)
The record is cracked, badly warped, skips or sticks. The sleeve may be water-damaged or torn. The only reason to buy is an extremely rare title where no better copy can be found.
Media and sleeve are graded separately
A complete grade is always written as two marks, record first: NM/VG+ means a Near Mint disc in a Very Good Plus sleeve. The difference matters a lot for price — collectors pay for the whole package, and a clean sleeve is often harder to find than a clean disc. Look especially for ring wear (the circle the record has worn into the board), seam splits along the edges, price stickers, tape and handwriting. Inserts, posters and other extras should be mentioned separately if missing.
Visual grading versus play grading
Almost all grading on the market is visual — the seller inspects the record under good light and grades what they can see. Done with experience it works surprisingly well, but it misses what can only be heard: groove wear from worn styluses, mild distortion in the high end. Play grading is the only method that catches everything, but it is slow and rare among volume sellers. A practical rule: on expensive purchases, ask whether the record has been play-graded — and when selling, grade your own records under a strong directed lamp.
What the grades do to price
The classic rule of thumb from the price guides uses NM as the reference (rough shares — exact figures vary between editions of the price guide):
| Condition | Rough share of NM price |
|---|---|
| NM | 100% |
| VG+ | ~50% |
| VG | ~25% |
| G/G+ | ~10–15% |
| F/P | close to 0% |
Two things follow from that table. First: condition beats almost everything else — a common title in NM can cost more than a scarcer one in VG. Second: the gap between VG+ and NM is wide in price but often narrow in listening experience, which is why experienced buyers so often target VG+.
Practical advice when buying
- Treat a seller's grade as a claim, not a guarantee. Check their history and how earlier buyers rated the deals.
- Ask for photos in good light of both disc and sleeve — especially for anything graded above VG+.
- On marketplaces where Goldmine grading isn't the norm, "good condition" without a grade tells you almost nothing — ask specifically about scratches, noise and sleeve edges.
- Sealed is its own case: an unopened record can be flawless or warped — an opened NM copy is often a safer buy than a sealed unknown.
- Grade conservatively when selling. Undergrading makes a happy buyer; overgrading makes a return and a bad review.
Condition is half the price of a used record. Learn to tell NM, VG+ and VG apart in hand, and you'll know what to pay — and what to demand when you sell.