8-Track-Shack.com does not give a grade to all of our items, specifically records.  There are several reasons for this, and though it may take a few minutes to read, it will make your shopping and return visits to our site much more enjoyable. While we reference records throughout the following, the same information could be associated to all of our media products.

• Our records are unconditionally guaranteed.  If you feel you paid too much for the condition of the record, just let us know and we’ll ship a replacement free of charge.  Read our guarantee.

• We add only the better records to inventory.  We have hundreds of thousands of albums.  As we go through them to put them on the site, we weed out a large amount of them with damage or wear that we feel will affect the quality of music.  Hence, what you see listed in our inventory is the better quality records. Any record which does not meet our standards for inclusion in the main site will be added to our Bargain Bin category for a substantially lowered price. 

• No grading saves time and means larger selection.  Many sites offer detailed grading of records.  These sites spend much more time listing their records; hence they end up having a smaller selection of records.  At the 8-Track Shack, we know that most records will go to people that want to simply listen to the songs they remember and love.  For the collector looking for the special addition to your collection, please read further.

 As any collector knows, some records with some scratching and wear will play perfectly fine with virtually no crackling or noise, and on the same token, some records that look to be nearly mint will play with so much white noise it overpowers the music.  This is one reason for our guarantee.  If you are unsatisfied with the quality of the record, PLEASE let us know, and we will make sure you are satisfied. 

PRICING

Much of our pricing is, admittedly, very subjective.  We do try to keep the prices of the records low enough that collectors and non-collectors alike can find the music they want and own it, while still being able to offer our unconditional lifetime guarantee - which you will not find on any other site.  We use a number of methods in determining the prices of records including condition, selling price history, book value, rarity and popularity.  Our rarer and more valuable records that are in the best condition will most likely have at least one scanned image of the actual record.  If you see a stock image on a rare record, it probably means that we feel it is rare enough to warrant listing for the value of the music alone, despite having some sort of label damage or wear that would prevent a serious collector from wanting it for their collections sake.

CONDITION 

We try to only add records to our inventory that we feel will play nicely for our customers.  Some records with our stock image will be in absolute mint condition, and others may have some wear.  The rarer the record (the ones with higher book values) the more apt we are to overlook some wear.  When you find a rare or valuable record priced at a ridiculously low price on our site, it is because we feel that someone may want the music and not care if the label is worn or if it has some light scuffing to the vinyl.  ...or, maybe we just did not realize the real value of the record and it is really a super bargain for a collector - but not usually.

Say you find a record that books for $60 and it is in our store with a stock image for $3.99 or $4.99.  Chances are this record is priced as such because it has a low desirability to a collector, but may be just fine for jukebox filler.  Sometimes these records have vinyl that is nearly mint, but may have stickers or writing on the labels, making them virtually worthless to a collector who just wants to display the record.  

SELLING PRICE HISTORY 

Occasionally we will search the internet for auction results of a record, particularly if we cannot find it in a price guide and do not recognize the artist or song.  In these cases, we use www.popsike.com as a reference.  We then price the record accordingly based on condition.

BOOK VALUE 

We use the Goldmine price guides as a reference for determining book value.  We try to keep our prices around 1/3 of book value for most of our better records (these most often will have scanned images of the actual record).

POPULARITY 

Sometimes records - especially newer records - in our inventory may be priced slightly above book value. This is due to the popularity of the song and/or artist most likely.  If you find a newer record that is priced at $6.00, but book price is only $3.00, there is a pretty good chance we have found the title is very popular for jukebox filler and that the condition is VG+ or better.

NOTE 

We do not list the label of the records with stock images.  If you find a record that you feel is worth tons of money with a stock image, you might be right, and we may have missed it (it has happened before, but rarely), but most likely it might be a reissue or commemorative record.  Be sure to check both titles and refer to a reference, such as Goldmine.  Although we like sales, we also like happy customers.  We do not want you to be disappointed thinking that a two thousand dollar record is going to show up at your door that you paid $4.00 for on our site.  Most times, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.  Those buying a reissue for the music alone usually do not care what label or year the music was put out.  

Hopefully this page gave you a better understanding of how we determine our prices and what you can expect to receive when buying a record from our site.  Remember, if you are not completely satisfied with your record, we will replace it.   For more information about our guarantee or how to request a replacement, please visit our guarantee page or simply our contact us page.