A record listing says “VG+ / VG.” The cover looks attractive, the price fits your budget, and the album has been on your wantlist for months. What should you expect when the needle reaches the groove?
Those letters describe condition. Learning to read them helps you ask better questions before buying—and describe your own records more clearly.
This page comes with a one-page A4 grading chart you can download as a PDF: all grades from Mint to Poor with an illustration for each, ready to print or keep on your phone.
Open the full-size grading guide to read or save it.
Vinyl grading chart: read the scale before the sales pitch
Discogs uses the Goldmine grading standard. These are condition categories, so the everyday meaning of “good” can be misleading. Here is a concise reading of its vinyl definitions. See Discogs: How to Grade Items for the complete criteria.
| Grade | What it means |
|---|---|
| Mint (M) | Unplayed and flawless. Use this grade sparingly; a sealed package alone does not establish perfection. |
| Near Mint (NM or M−) | Almost pristine, without obvious wear or playback defects. |
| Very Good Plus (VG+) | Minor cosmetic marks from careful use, without an adverse effect on listening. |
| Very Good (VG) | Wear and surface noise are apparent, but the noise does not dominate the music. |
| Good Plus (G+) / Good (G) | Significant noise and wear, yet the record should play through without skipping. |
| Fair (F) / Poor (P) | Severe damage; uninterrupted playback may be impossible. |
G+ and G remain distinct grades, as do F and P. The illustration groups each pair to keep the overview readable.
Download the grading chart (PDF, A4, one page)to print or keep on your phone for your next record hunt.
VG+ versus VG: the difference you hear
The practical dividing line is whether wear intrudes on playback. A VG+ disc may have minor visible marks. A VG copy has audible wear or noise, which can stand out during quieter music. Goldmine discusses this distinction in its Record Grading 101 guide.
Imagine two listings for the same album. One says “a few faint sleeve marks, play-tested.” Another says “crackle during the opening piano passage.” The second description gives you a specific listening tradeoff to consider. Ask the first seller what the play-test covered rather than assuming the short description tells the whole story.
Your tolerance matters, too. Would occasional noise distract you during an album you play to unwind? Would you accept it on a hard-to-find copy? Decide before the excitement of finding the record makes the decision for you.
The grade also moves the price. Goldmine's rule of thumb puts a VG+ copy at about half the value of a Near Mint one, and a VG copy at no more than a quarter. How to value vinyl records shows how to check what copies in your grade actually sold for.
The record and sleeve need separate grades
A clean disc can live in a worn jacket. Goldmine treats the record and its packaging separately: ring wear, creases and seam damage concern the cover, while groove condition and playback concern the disc. See its record and cover grading guidance.
When a listing explicitly says Media VG+ / Sleeve VG, it describes a better-preserved disc inside a more worn cover. If you see only “VG+ / VG,” check the field labels rather than guessing their order.
Ask about anything else that matters to you: the original inner sleeve, an insert, a poster or an obi. Make a short list of what you expect to receive. A condition abbreviation is too small to describe every component of a release.
How Discogs grades a listing: Media and Sleeve
Every Discogs Marketplace listing carries two grades set by the seller: Media Condition for the disc and Sleeve Condition for the cover. Both use the scale above, written as you will see it in a listing: Mint (M), Near Mint (NM or M-), Very Good Plus (VG+), Very Good (VG), Good Plus (G+), Good (G), Fair (F) and Poor (P).
The sleeve field has two extra options:
- Generic: the record comes in a plain or company sleeve instead of its own printed cover. Discogs does not grade a generic sleeve further, because it adds little value and is easy to replace.
- No Cover: the original cover is missing.
Anything the two grades cannot express belongs in the seller's item condition comment: a seam split, a sticker on the label, a missing insert, the side where the noise is. Read that comment as carefully as the grades. "Media VG+, Sleeve Generic" can be a fine record to play, but it is not the complete package a collector of original covers is looking for. Discogs explains the fields in How to Grade Items.
How Discogs grades match Goldmine
Discogs adopted the Goldmine standard, so the grades map one to one: VG+ on Discogs means the same as VG+ in Goldmine's guide. The difference is presentation. Goldmine's guide describes Good and Good Plus together, and Poor and Fair together, while Discogs offers each as its own option, so a seller has to choose between G+ and G, or between F and P.
Goldmine's price rule of thumb therefore carries over to Discogs grades:
- NM (M-): the reference price.
- VG+: about half of Near Mint.
- VG: no more than a quarter.
- F / P: 0 to 5 percent, if the record sells at all.
A photograph cannot tell you everything
Visual inspection and listening answer different questions. Goldmine recommends looking carefully at condition and discusses the value of play grading; glossy appearance by itself is not a complete playback assessment. Its grading guide explains the inspection process.
Treat the pictures in our infographic as illustrations, not reference samples to match scratch for scratch. Lighting and reflections change what a photograph reveals. The most useful follow-up is specific: “Have both sides been played all the way through?”
For a purchase you care about, these questions make a useful starting point:
- Is this a visual grade, a play grade, or both?
- Were both sides checked in full, or only selected passages?
- Are there repeating clicks, distortion, skips or sections with pronounced crackle?
- Can you show the labels, sleeve corners and spine clearly?
- Which inserts are included, and what is their condition?
Keep the seller’s answers with the listing while deciding. If the description and photographs leave an important question unresolved, ask about that point directly.
What about CDs?
The same Mint-to-Poor scale applies to CDs: Discogs uses the Goldmine standard for every physical format (How to Grade Items). What changes is what you inspect.
- The disc. Check the playing side for scuffs and scratches, then play it through. As with vinyl, anything graded Good or higher should play all the way without skipping or stopping.
- The "sleeve". For a CD this means the inlay, booklet, digipak, slipcase or box. A standard jewel case is not graded, because it is cheap and easy to replace.
- Each component. If the booklet, tray card and inserts differ in condition, describe them separately.
Light marks on a CD often have no effect on playback, thanks to the format's error correction. That is why the play test carries so much weight when you grade a disc.
Give the next find a place in your collection
Before browsing, separate the albums you already own from the ones you still want. CRATTO lets you catalog your collection and build a wantlist, giving the next record hunt a little more focus.
For a walkthrough, read how to manage vinyl records with CRATTO. Use the grading guide alongside a seller’s detailed description and your own listening priorities: the aim is to know what you are bringing home.