Vinyl Grading Guide
The Goldmine standard, used by serious record dealers — and how we apply it to every LP we list at Unusual Finds.
Used vinyl is a condition market. Two copies of the same pressing can be worth $4 or $40 depending on how they were stored, handled, and played. Buying online without seeing the record means trusting whoever graded it — so it helps to know what the grades actually mean, and how an honest seller arrives at one.
This is the system we use on every record that comes through our shop. It’s the Goldmine grading standard, the same vocabulary you’ll see on Discogs, in collector price guides, and on most reputable dealer sites.
Two grades, not one
Every record has two condition grades: the record (the vinyl disc itself) and the sleeve (the cover/jacket). They’re graded separately because they wear differently. A record can play perfectly inside a battered jacket, or a beautiful jacket can house a record that was clearly used as a frisbee. You need both numbers to know what you’re buying.
You’ll often see grades written like VG+ / VG — record first, sleeve second.
Record grades, plain English
Mint (M) Rare for used
Perfect. Sealed, unplayed, no flaws. We almost never grade a used record Mint — if a record has been out of the shrink, it’s no longer truly mint. We reserve M for genuinely sealed copies, and we say so explicitly.
Near Mint (NM or M−)
Looks brand new. No visible scratches, scuffs, or marks under normal light. Plays cleanly with no surface noise. Labels are unmarked, edges sharp.
Honest NM is uncommon on records from the ’60s and ’70s — if a fifty-year-old LP is genuinely NM, somebody took very good care of it.
Very Good Plus (VG+)
This is the sweet spot for vintage vinyl. The record may show light surface marks under a raking light, but they don’t affect play. Maybe a faint scuff, no audible scratches. Plays with minimal surface noise — you might hear a soft tick or two between tracks; you don’t hear it through the music.
Very Good (VG)
An honest player. Visible surface marks and light scratches under direct light. Surface noise is present in quiet passages but the music plays through cleanly. No skips, no repeats.
Good (G), Good Plus (G+)
Plays through without skipping, but you’ll hear it. Significant surface noise, audible scratches, possibly groove wear. The record was loved hard. Worth buying for a hard-to-find title or to fill a hole until a better copy turns up — not for casual listening.
Poor (P), Fair (F)
The record skips, sticks, or is cracked. We don’t generally list records in this range unless a title is rare enough that even a beater copy has value. When we do, we’re explicit about every defect.
Sleeve grades, plain English
The sleeve (cover/jacket) uses the same grade names as the record but evaluates different things: shelf wear, ring wear, seam condition, corners, and any writing, tape, stickers, or stains. The record can be NM inside a VG sleeve, or vice versa — that’s why we publish both grades.
Mint (M)
Still factory sealed in the original shrink. We reserve this for genuinely sealed copies.
Near Mint (NM)
Looks unhandled. No ring wear, no seam splits, no writing, no tape, no price stickers. Corners are crisp, edges sharp, surfaces glossy where they should be.
Very Good Plus (VG+)
Light shelf wear visible only at an angle. Maybe a small corner ding or the faintest ring impression on the front. No splits, no writing, no tape.
Very Good (VG)
Honest wear from years of use: visible ring wear, edge wear, maybe a small seam split (we measure it in the listing), a price sticker or owner’s name written on the back. Presentable, clearly used.
Good (G), Good Plus (G+)
Hard-used: seam splits, heavy ring wear, writing, tape repairs, water staining. Still complete and intact.
Poor (P), Fair (F)
Falling apart, large pieces missing, or heavy damage that makes the sleeve barely functional. We call out every defect explicitly when we list at this grade.
What we look for during inspection
Every record we list goes through two passes: a human inspector with the album in hand, and an AI vision check on the photos. Both feed into the final grade, and the inspector has the final say on every record.
Cover (sleeve) defects we check
The inspector tags every defect they see on the jacket. Each defect has a severity (light, medium, or heavy) that determines the highest possible sleeve grade. Specific things we look for:
Wear
- Fading of the cover artwork (light, medium, heavy)
- Ring wear — the circular impression of the record visible through the sleeve (light, medium, heavy)
- Creasing or folding of the jacket (light, medium, heavy)
- Corner compression or rounding (light, medium, heavy)
- Edge dings, fraying, and worn finish
Damage
- Seam splits (top, bottom, or side) and their length
- Unglued or taped seams
- Tears, surface damage, paper loss
- Water damage and water staining (light, medium, heavy)
Owner marks & stickers
- Writing, doodling, or names on the jacket
- Former-owner labels or address stickers
- Price stickers and sticker residue
- Dirt spots or general grime
Cut-out markings
- Notched corners, center notches, or punched holes — these are common on promo copies, budget reissues, or remaindered stock and don’t indicate damage from use
Disc defects we check
The inspector tags any defects they see on the playing surface, severity-rated. Specific things we look for:
Operator inspection
- Scratches (light, medium, deep)
- Scuffing (light, medium, deep)
- Former owner’s initials written on the label
AI vision check (additional)
- Hairline scratches the eye might miss on a small photo
- Pressing defects: warps, dish warp, bubbles in the vinyl
- Foreign material: sticker residue, writing, tape marks on the playing surface
- General surface-noise indicators
How we combine defects into a final grade
The grading isn’t a single judgment call — it’s a set of rules that produces a defensible answer:
- Worst defect determines the cap. The most severe defect we tag sets the highest grade we’ll consider. A cover with one heavy ring-wear tag caps at G+, even if everything else is light.
- Cover — three or more defects, drop one more grade. If a sleeve has three or more separate defects (e.g. light ring wear + light corner compression + writing), we step down one additional grade from the cap.
- Disc — both scratches and scuffing present, drop one more grade. A record with both kinds of defect plays worse than either one alone, so it grades down a step.
- AI and operator disagree? We take the lower grade. When the AI vision suggestion differs from the operator’s assessment, the more conservative grade wins.
How AI assists the inspector
Every disc photographed for a current listing is also reviewed by our AI vision check. It sees the full-disc photo and the runout close-up, returns a suggested Goldmine grade with a confidence level, and lists the specific observations it found — scratches by depth, scuffing, pressing defects, foreign material, surface-noise cues.
The human inspector confirms or overrides every suggestion. No record is graded by AI alone. Why both? The AI catches faint hairlines and small marks that are hard to see at a glance; the human catches the things AI gets wrong — defects that won’t survive cleaning, pressing variants that change the grade context, and condition factors that are hard to photograph.
How we grade every record at Unusual Finds
Every LP that goes online gets the same workflow, by hand, in the shop:
- Visual inspection under direct light. Both sides of the record, the labels, and the full sleeve. Surface marks, scratches, scuffs, warps, and edge condition all get noted under raking light, where flaws show clearly without having to touch the playing surface.
- Photographed runout (on current listings). Records listed through our in-house listing system are photographed in the deadwax (the runout area between the last groove and the label), and the matrix etching is decoded automatically. You see the actual runout of the actual copy you’re buying — not a stock image. Older listings predate this system; we’re working back through them.
- Two grades published. Record and sleeve, both written into the listing in plain language.
- Defects called out explicitly. Writing on a label, a small seam split, a price sticker on the back — if it’s there, the listing says so.
How we describe grades in listings
Different sellers write grades different ways. Ours read like this:
- “Record: VG+. A few light surface marks visible under light, plays cleanly with no audible noise through the music.”
- “Sleeve: VG. Light ring wear on the front, small seam split at the bottom (about 1 inch), price sticker residue on the back.”
If we’re not sure between two grades, we list it at the lower one. We’d rather you open a package and be pleasantly surprised.
A note on cleaning
Records that look noisy under inspection sometimes just need a wash. We clean records that look like they’d benefit from it, and re-evaluate the grade afterward. A dirty VG can become a clean VG+ once the gunk is out of the grooves. We grade what you’ll actually receive, after cleaning — not before.
Common grading questions
What grading system do you use?
The Goldmine standard, which is the de facto standard for used vinyl in the US. The same vocabulary used on Discogs and in the major collector price guides.
What’s the difference between a scratch and a scuff?
A scuff is surface haze or a light surface mark visible at certain angles under raking light; it usually doesn’t affect play. A scratch is a distinct groove cut into the surface that reflects light sharply along its length; it usually will be audible.
Will a VG+ record sound noisy?
Not through the music. You might hear an occasional faint tick in a quiet passage between tracks, but you shouldn’t hear surface noise over the recording itself. If you do, it’s closer to VG.
What grade should I look for?
For listening, VG+ or better is the sweet spot — honest used copies that play cleanly without paying NM prices. For a record you want to actually collect (first pressings, originals, anything you care about long-term), aim for NM and inspect the deadwax to confirm the pressing.
Do you grade conservatively?
We try. When we’re on the line between two grades, we list the lower one. Returns are accepted if a record arrives in worse condition than we described.
Do you buy collections?
Yes — we buy vinyl collections outright (we don’t do trade-ins). Email welcome@unusualfinds.net or call (540) 613-1052 with what you have.
Shop graded vinyl from Unusual Finds
Every record online has both a record grade and a sleeve grade, plus runout photos of the exact copy. Visit the store in Roanoke (hours and address in the footer) or shop the whole catalog online.