Record grading explained: Discogs grades, M to P
Discogs grades records on a scale from M (Mint) to P (Poor), once for the media, the record itself, and once for the sleeve. The scale goes back to the Goldmine standard, and it is what buyers, sellers and your own future self rely on to know what a copy is really like.
Here is what each grade means in practice, how to grade without overthinking it, and how Shelfify 1.1.0 lets you set the grade right where you file the record.
The grades
- M (Mint): perfect and unplayed, often still sealed. Use it rarely.
- NM (Near Mint): almost perfect. No marks you would notice, plays without added noise.
- VG+ (Very Good Plus): light signs of play, maybe a few faint scuffs, but they hardly show up in the sound.
- VG (Very Good): marks you can see and some surface noise in quiet parts, but still a good listen.
- G+ and G (Good Plus, Good): plays through, with clear noise and visible wear.
- F and P (Fair, Poor): heavy damage. It may skip or not play through.
Grade the media and the sleeve separately: a clean record in a worn sleeve is common. Sleeves use the same scale: ring wear, split seams, writing, stickers and creases bring the grade down. For the sleeve, Discogs also has Generic (a plain paper or company sleeve) and No Cover.
Grading without overthinking it
- Clean the record first. Dust and fingerprints look like wear and sound like noise.
- Look at the record under a bright light, tilted, so scuffs and scratches show.
- If you are unsure, play a quiet passage. What you hear counts more than what you see.
- When in doubt between two grades, take the lower one. A copy that turns out better than its grade never disappoints anyone.
- Write what you noticed in the notes, like "light scuff on B2, plays clean". A grade is short, a note tells the story.
Setting the grade in Shelfify
Open a record and go to Notes & Condition. Media and sleeve sit side by side. Tap one and the grades from M to P open right under it, so setting a grade is two taps instead of a list. Every change shows a message with Undo for a few seconds before it is saved to Discogs.
Notes and your own Discogs fields are one slim row each, and an empty one says + Add. Your own dropdown fields, like Signed, open their choices in place the same way. Changes go to Discogs right away. If you are offline or close the app right after, Shelfify sends them the next time it opens.
Your own fields, and finding what is not graded yet
On the Discogs website you can add your own collection fields, like the variant, where you bought a record or what you paid. Shelfify shows them in Notes & Condition, and you fill them in per copy. More on how Shelfify works with Discogs.
Browse Collection, in the same round menu at the bottom right of the Records tab, can filter by media and sleeve grade and by your own dropdown fields. Each choice shows how many records have it, and Not set finds the records you have not graded yet. That is the quickest way to grade a whole shelf: filter, pull the records, grade, done.
Questions
What does VG+ mean on a record?
Very Good Plus: the record has been played and shows light signs of it, like a few faint scuffs, but still plays without noise you would notice. Goldmine sums it up as a record that would be Near Mint except for a couple of minor things.
What is the difference between VG and VG+?
VG+ has light marks you hardly hear. VG has marks you can see and some surface noise in quiet passages, though it still plays through without skipping.
What does NM/VG+ mean in a listing?
The first grade is the media, the record itself, and the second is the sleeve. NM/VG+ is a near mint record in a sleeve with light wear.
What is EX?
Some shops, mostly in the UK, use Excellent (EX) between VG+ and NM. Goldmine treats EX as another name for VG+, and Discogs has no EX, so an EX record is VG+ there.
Is a sealed record always Mint?
No. Sealed only means nobody opened it since it was wrapped. Warps, seam splits or a resealed used copy are all possible, so many sellers list a sealed record as sealed rather than Mint.
How much does the grade change the price?
A lot. As a rule of thumb, a VG+ copy sells for about half of a Near Mint one, and VG or lower for much less. On Discogs, the sales history of a release shows what copies in each condition sold for.
One thing Discogs does not let apps do is empty a grade or dropdown once it is set. For that, the choices end with a link that opens your collection on Discogs inside the app, and closing it reads the record again. Everything else happens in two taps, with the record in your hand.
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