How to Grade Vinyl Records: The 8-Grade Goldmine Scale

Every price a record commands starts with one word: its grade. The scale almost everyone uses, including Discogs and most dealers, runs from Mint down to Poor in eight steps — M, NM, VG+, VG, G+, G, F and P — and it grades the record and its sleeve separately.

That scale traces back to Goldmine magazine's grading guide, adopted so widely that "Goldmine grading" and "record grading" are now nearly synonymous in the hobby. The idea is simple: describe condition consistently enough that a buyer on the other side of the world knows roughly what they are getting before it arrives.

In practice, applying it honestly is the hard part. This guide walks through each grade, how to inspect a record before you commit to one, and why the sleeve needs its own separate grade.

The eight Goldmine grades, from Mint to Poor

Discogs and most sellers grade media condition using this scale. Treat "Mint" as an aspiration rather than a default: a genuinely flawless, factory-fresh copy is rare, and reputable sellers reserve the grade for exactly that.

Sellers write media and sleeve grades together, media first: a listing marked "VG+/VG" means the vinyl is Very Good Plus and the sleeve is Very Good.

Grade the sleeve separately

A record and its sleeve age differently, and Goldmine-based grading treats them as separate items on the same listing. Record Collector makes the point plainly: sleeves take wear from handling, storage and light in ways the vinyl inside does not, so a Mint record commonly turns up in a sleeve that only reaches Excellent at best. Grade "as separate parties," in the magazine's words, rather than assuming one number covers both.

Learn the vocabulary dealers use for sleeve defects, since it tells you more than the grade alone:

• Ring wear — a visible ring worn into the card by the record spinning inside it over years.
• Seam splits — the glued edges of the sleeve opening up, usually at the top or the spine.
• Writing — a previous owner's name, a price, or a radio station's stamp.
• Cut-out — a notch, hole-punch or clipped corner marking a deleted stock copy, common on US pressings.
• Fading — colour loss from sunlight, especially visible on spines that faced outward on a shelf.

An inner sleeve or any inserts (posters, lyric sheets, obi strips) usually get their own condition note too, since a torn insert or a missing poster changes what you are actually buying even when the jacket itself grades well.

Do this in the app:Sleevewise · Collection

How to inspect a record before you grade it

Handle a record by its edges and label only — never the grooves — and use bright, raking light rather than an overhead bulb, since scuffs and hairlines only show up at an angle. Tilt the record slowly and look across the whole surface, not just the centre.

A quick checklist:

1. Check the label for spindle wear (a scuffed ring where the platter spindle has rubbed) and any writing.
2. Look for warps by sighting along the edge of the record on a flat surface.
3. Run a finger very lightly across the surface (never the reverse of your nail) to feel for scratches you cannot see.
4. Play-grade anything you are unsure about: a light mark that plays silently is cosmetic; the same mark with an audible tick is not.

Play-grading rewards patience. Cue the stylus just before a mark you can see and listen to it in isolation rather than judging the whole side at once. A single light click repeating once per rotation is usually a scratch at that exact spot; a softer, more even hiss spread across a whole side points to general surface wear instead, which tends to matter less to how a record actually sounds.

Goldmine versus the UK Record Collector scale

British price guides, including the Rare Record Price Guide published by Record Collector, use a different seven-step scale: Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor and Bad. It is not a direct swap for Goldmine's system, and there is no official one-to-one conversion between the two, so treat any crosswalk — including this one — as a rough guide rather than a rule.

This is also why an "EX" grade on a UK-listed record needs a second look rather than an assumption: one seller's Excellent is another's VG+, and only a description of the actual defects settles it.

Shorthand you will run into in listings

Sellers rarely stop at the eight core letters. A few conventions are worth recognising:

• Minus and plus modifiers — M- (Mint minus) is a more honest alternative to claiming true Mint; NM- or VG++ describes a copy that beats VG+ without quite reaching Near Mint.
• "Sealed" or "SS" (still sealed) — an unopened copy. It says nothing about the sleeve underneath the shrink-wrap, which can still show seam wear, spine wear or a cut corner visible through the plastic.
• "Generic" or "G-" — used below Poor for a copy so worn it barely counts as a listening copy, kept only because nothing better exists.
• "VG+ or better" — a shorthand promise on a multi-record lot, meaning every item in the batch meets at least that grade.

None of these replace the eight-grade scale; they refine it for situations the core letters do not quite cover.

Why condition drives price so hard

Grading is not academic: it is most of what sets a price. Record Collector illustrates this with The Kinks' 1965 album Kontroversy, worth roughly £100 in Mint condition against about £2.50 in Bad condition — a difference of more than 95%, on the same pressing of the same record. Rarity sets the ceiling; condition decides how close any individual copy gets to it.

That is also why the most argued-over grade on collector forums is VG+. It covers a wide range of "still very good, but not quite like new," and reasonable graders disagree at the edges. When you are not sure whether something is VG+ or VG, describe the specific marks instead of just naming a grade — it settles more disputes than the letters ever will.

Grade honestly, and write it down

Honesty is the whole system. A generous grade that does not match the record erodes trust fast, whether you are buying, selling or simply logging what is on your own shelf. Grade conservatively when in doubt, and note the actual defects (a light ring, two hairlines near the run-out, a soft top-right corner) rather than just a letter.

Once you have settled on a grade, record it against that exact copy — not just the release. The same pressing of an album can sit on your shelf in three different conditions if you bought copies at different times, and only a per-copy grade tells them apart later. For sellers, honesty also protects you: most marketplaces, Discogs included, let a buyer flag an order that arrives in worse shape than described, so a conservative grade is self-interest as much as courtesy.

Frequently asked questions

01What does VG+ mean for a vinyl record?

Very Good Plus sits just below Near Mint on the Goldmine scale. The record shows light handling or play but nothing heavy: a few faint surface marks are normal, and any noise should be occasional rather than constant.

02What is the difference between Mint and Near Mint?

Mint is reserved for a flawless, essentially unplayed copy, which is rare in practice. Near Mint (NM or M-) describes a record that looks and plays like new but may have been played once or twice with great care.

03Do you grade the record or the sleeve?

Both, separately. A listing written as VG+/VG means the vinyl is Very Good Plus and the sleeve is Very Good. Discogs and most sellers always give the media grade first, then the sleeve grade.

Keeping grades with your collection, not just in your memory

A grade only stays useful if it is attached to the exact copy it describes. Logging the media and sleeve grade for each record as you catalogue your collection means you are not re-judging condition from memory months later, and it is the detail that separates a rough guess at what your records are worth from a real one. It also matters before you pay a premium for a pressing: check that what you are grading is actually the first pressing it is being sold as, since condition and pressing are two separate questions that both affect price.

Sources

• Record Grading 101: Understanding The Goldmine Grading Guide — Goldmine
• How To Grade Items — Discogs Support
• Making the Grades — Record Collector