How to get eBay alerts for the record pressing you want

Decide which pressing you’re hunting

A popular album can exist in dozens of pressings: the original, later represses, other countries, mono and stereo, record-club editions and modern 180-gram reissues. They sound different and sell for very different amounts, so first work out what identifies yours.

• Catalog number. Printed on the spine, the back cover and the label. Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue was issued in the U.S. on Columbia as CL 1355 in mono and CS 8163 in stereo. A catalog number pins down the label, the country and often mono or stereo, but many records were repressed for years under the same number, so it rarely proves a first press on its own.
• Label design. Labels changed over the years, and collectors date copies by them. Columbia’s “six-eye” label came before the “two-eye” label of the 1960s; Blue Note buyers look for the “deep groove” (DG) ring pressed into the label, the address printed on it, and the “ear”, a small P stamped in the runout.
• Runout (matrix) etchings. The smooth band between the last groove and the label carries etched or stamped text: the matrix number, a side and stamper code, and sometimes a mastering engineer’s mark, such as “RL” for Robert Ludwig or the “STERLING” and “MASTERDISK” stamps on U.S. pressings, or “Porky Prime Cut” on British ones. These are what separate a first press from a later copy with the same catalog number. Discogs’ release pages list the runout text for each known pressing, so you can compare a seller’s photo against it.

Goldmine grades, decoded

Most sellers use the Goldmine scale and grade the record and sleeve separately. “VG+/VG” usually means a VG+ record in a VG sleeve, though not everyone uses that order.

Some sellers add EX (Excellent) between NM and VG+. More important is how the grade was reached: a visual grade comes from looking at the vinyl, while a play-graded record has actually been listened to. Groove wear you can’t see can still be loud, so ask if the listing doesn’t say.

Sleeve shorthand you’ll see: RW (ring wear), SS or seam split, WOC (writing on cover), cut-out (a drilled hole, clipped corner or saw cut marking a remaindered copy), WLP or promo (white label promotional copy) and in shrink (still in its original shrink-wrap).

OBI strips and Japanese pressings

Japanese LPs were sold with an obi, a paper band wrapped around the spine edge of the jacket, printed in Japanese with the title, catalog number and price. Many buyers threw them away, so a copy with its obi is worth noticeably more than one without. Listings say “w/ obi”, “with obi” or “no obi”, and often mention the lyric insert too.

For a complete Japanese copy, put obi in “Must include” and no obi, without obi in “Exclude”. When an alert arrives, check the photos for tears in the obi and make sure the insert is there if the listing calls it complete.

Originals versus reissues

If you want an original, the Exclude box does most of the work: reissue, repress, remastered, 180g, 180 gram. Heavy 180-gram vinyl almost always means a modern pressing. Add CD, cassette for big-name albums, where other formats share the title.

Two cautions. First, an excluded word drops the listing wherever it appears, so a seller who writes “not a reissue” is skipped too; only exclude words that honest listings for your pressing rarely use. Second, “original” and “OG” in a title are not proof. Sellers use them for any old copy, so the runout photo is still what decides it.

If a good reissue is what you want, name it instead: audiophile lines like Mobile Fidelity’s “Original Master Recording” or Blue Note’s “Tone Poet” are written into titles.

Set up a Spotter for a record

1. Keywords. Artist, title and format, the way sellers write them: Miles Davis Kind of Blue LP. Leave out details some sellers skip.
2. Must include. The detail that marks your pressing: a catalog number like CS 8163, or a label term like six eye or deep groove. Sellers write catalog numbers with and without spaces or dashes; if you see both, run a second Spotter for the other form.
3. Exclude. The reissue words above, plus anything that keeps showing up and isn’t a record: poster, shirt.
4. Condition and price. Choose new for sealed copies or used for the rest. Set a maximum price from sold listings of the same pressing in the same grade.
5. Listing type. Rare records often go to auction, so leave it on any.

To price-check, search eBay for the record and turn on the Sold items filter. Compare like with like: a VG original and an NM reissue are different records.

Start from a photo, a sentence or a link

Typing catalog numbers isn’t the only way to start a Spotter.

• Shop by photo. On a phone, “Take a photo” opens the camera, or you can upload a picture or screenshot. Photograph the label or back cover, where the catalog number is printed. Spotter Otter reads that text, uses eBay’s image search for clues, and writes a description of the record for you to check, with the closest current listings for reference. The photo isn’t stored; it’s sent to OpenAI and eBay to identify the item. Runout etchings are hard to photograph, so add pressing details like those yourself before you start.
• Describe it in your own words. Write something like “original U.S. mono Kind of Blue on the six-eye label”. Luna, Spotter Otter’s AI, turns it into a search and a list of must-haves, which you confirm. A maximum price is required.
• Must-haves checked like a person would. A must-have like mono is matched with the words sellers use for it, such as “mono” or “monaural”. A listing that says stereo is left out; one that doesn’t say gets a Maybe.
• Paste a link. Missed a copy? Paste the eBay listing, or a store’s product page, to start a Spotter for the same record.

Shipping: what to ask before you buy

• A proper mailer. LPs should travel in a rigid record mailer with cardboard stiffeners, not a padded envelope.
• Record out of the jacket. A record shipped inside its jacket can slide and split the seams. Most careful sellers ship the vinyl in its inner sleeve beside the jacket, unless it’s sealed. If the listing doesn’t say, ask.
• Media Mail. Many U.S. sellers ship records by USPS Media Mail, which costs less and takes longer.
• Heat. In summer, bring the package in as soon as it arrives; a record left in a hot mailbox can warp.

If a record arrives warped or in clearly worse shape than described, contact the seller first, then use eBay’s Money Back Guarantee if you need to.