Vinyl Grading Explained: Goldmine Grades From Mint to Poor

Vinyl grading is the shared shorthand sellers and buyers use to describe a record's condition, and in the record trade it almost always means the Goldmine standard: Mint (M), Near Mint (NM or M-), Very Good Plus (VG+), Very Good (VG), Good Plus/Good (G+/G), Fair (F) and Poor (P). The record and the sleeve get separate grades, and the grade you give has a bigger effect on price than almost anything else. Discogs uses the same scale, so learning it once covers most marketplaces.

This guide is written by record sellers who list on Discogs and Etsy, and it sticks to what the published grading guides actually say.

The Goldmine grading scale at a glance

*The value column paraphrases Goldmine's grading guide and the Discogs grading guide. Treat them as rough guides, not formulas: rare records often hold value better at lower grades, and common records can be almost unsellable below VG+.

What each grade really looks and sounds like

Mint (M)

Mint means flawless. Goldmine suggests the grade should only be used when more than one person agrees the item really is perfect. In practice most sellers reserve it for sealed records, and many won't use it at all. If a buyer opens a "Mint" record and finds a single hairline, you have a dispute.

Near Mint (NM or M-)

A Near Mint record looks as if it has just come out of a shop: shiny vinyl, no visible scuffs, no spindle marks around the label hole, no writing or stickers, and no factory faults such as an off-centre pressing. Played, it should have no surface noise. Goldmine stresses that the standard is the same for every decade, which is why genuinely NM copies of 1950s and 1960s records are scarce.

Very Good Plus (VG+)

VG+ is the grade most well-looked-after used records land in. You may see a few faint marks under a bright light, a slight warp that doesn't affect play, or very light ring wear on the cover. A cut-out mark (a drilled hole, notch or saw cut) is allowed at VG+ but rules out NM.

Very Good (VG)

Here the flaws are obvious. The vinyl has lost its shine, there may be scratches you can feel with a fingernail, and you'll hear surface noise, especially in quiet intros and run-outs. Labels may have a little writing or tape. Covers show ring wear, creases and possibly seam splits. Goldmine still calls VG records "a fine listening experience", so they suit buyers who want to play rather than collect.

Good Plus / Good (G+ / G) and Very Good Minus

The record still plays from start to finish without skipping, but noise and groove wear are significant. Labels and covers may have heavy writing or damage from tape and stickers. These are usually only worth listing if the record itself is hard to find.

Fair and Poor (F / P)

Cracked, heavily warped, skipping or repeating records, and covers that are falling apart. Unless the title is genuinely rare, these are rarely worth the shipping cost.

Grading the sleeve: ring wear, seam splits and writing

Sleeves are graded separately from the record, and buyers pay close attention to them. The main things to check:

• Ring wear – the circular outline of the record rubbed into the cover. None at NM, barely noticeable at VG+, obvious at VG, distracting at G.
• Seam splits – the cover coming apart along the spine, top or bottom edge. None at NM; a split under one inch at the bottom is tolerated at VG+; splits visible at a glance push the grade down to G or VG-.
• Writing, stickers and stamps – names, price stickers, radio station stamps and cut-out marks. Any of these rules out NM for the cover.
• Creases, corner wear and water damage – mention them even when they don't change the grade.

On Discogs, a plain or company sleeve can be listed as Generic, which tells buyers the original picture cover isn't there and that the sleeve adds little value.

Grading CDs: disc, case and booklet

Discogs applies the same grade names to CDs and cassettes. Its guide describes CD grades in terms of scuffs and scratches: a VG+ disc has a few minor marks, VG has quite a few light scuffs or several deeper scratches, and a G/G+ disc still plays through despite many scuffs.

Grade these parts separately:

1. The disc – check the playing side under light, then play it all the way through.
2. The booklet, inserts or digipak – look for creases, tears, water damage and writing.
3. The case – Discogs says standard jewel cases aren't graded because they're easily replaced, but mention cracks or broken hub teeth in your notes.

If you're deciding whether a stack of discs is worth grading at all, see are CDs worth anything.

Play-grading vs visual grading

Goldmine's standard is mainly visual: grade under a strong light, tilting the record to catch scratches. That's partly practical, since dealers can't play every record, and partly because visible damage usually predicts how a record sounds. Goldmine also notes some exceptions: in its experience, older LPs (roughly 1950s to 1971) often play better than they look, while some later records play worse.

Play-grading means listening to the record, ideally all of it, and grading on sound. It catches problems a visual check misses, such as pressing noise, distortion or a skip from a scratch you didn't notice. A practical approach:

• Grade visually first.
• Play-test anything you plan to list at VG+ or above, or anything valuable.
• If the sound is worse than the look, lower the grade and say why in the notes ("visually VG+, plays VG with crackle on side B").

How grades affect price

Condition is the biggest driver of what a specific copy sells for. Goldmine's rules of thumb, shown in the table above, put VG at no more than a quarter of Near Mint value and lower grades at a small fraction of it. Discogs' guide places VG+ around half of NM.

What that means in practice:

• Common records sell mainly in NM and VG+; below that, many barely sell.
• Rare records still find buyers in VG or even G, because some collectors want any copy. See rare vinyl records worth money for what makes a record rare.
• Mixed grades are normal. Goldmine suggests a rough estimate when the record and cover differ: add the two values and divide by two.

Use these percentages as a sanity check, then look at real sales for your exact pressing at your grade. Our guide on how to price records walks through that step by step, and vinyl record values covers where value comes from in the first place.

When you look up a record in ListMyRecords, the Discogs price suggestions are shown by condition, so you can see how much the grade you choose moves the price before you list.

Common grading mistakes

1. Over-grading. The most common cause of returns and negative feedback. If you're unsure between two grades, choose the lower one and explain why in the comments, which Discogs encourages sellers to use to justify a grade.
2. Using Mint for opened records. Unless it's sealed and perfect, use NM at most.
3. One grade for the whole item. Always grade the record and the sleeve separately (and the disc and booklet for CDs).
4. Grading in poor light. Use a bright lamp and tilt the record; many hairlines only show at an angle.
5. Ignoring the label. Writing, stickers and spindle marks on the label count.
6. Not mentioning what the grade can't say. Promo stamps, cut-outs, a missing inner sleeve or poster, a warp that still plays: put it in the notes.
7. Grading the wrong pressing. A perfect grade won't help if you've matched the record to the wrong release. Check the matrix/runout numbers and first pressing details first.

Sources

• Goldmine – Record Grading 101
• Goldmine – Collecting 101: Grading your records
• Discogs Support – How To Grade Items
• Discogs – How to Grade Items: Determine the Condition of Records
• Discogs – How to Price Items for Sale in the Marketplace