Number 12 · The shop journal
How we grade a record
Under the lamp, then on the turntable in the room: what M, NM, VG+, VG and G mean on our price tags.
Ellen Moe · Thursday 5 November 2026 · 4 min read
Every record that comes into the shop goes on the turntable in the listening room before it goes in the racks. We look at it first, under the lamp on the counter, and then we play it: the first track of each side, the last, and anywhere the light showed us a mark.
We grade the vinyl and the sleeve separately, because they age differently. A sleeve can be soft at the corners from forty years in a box while the record inside plays like the day it was pressed, and the other way round. The grade on the price tag is the record’s; the sleeve’s is in the note under it.
The grades
| Grade | What it means |
|---|---|
| M | Mint. Still sealed, or never played. |
| NM | Near mint. Played with care; nothing you can see or hear. |
| VG+ | Very good plus. Light marks under the lamp, silent when it plays. |
| VG | Very good. Some noise in the quiet passages; it never jumps. |
| G | Good. It plays through, crackle and all, and is priced to be played. |
We grade by ear. A record can look scuffed and play quietly, or look clean and hiss through every fade. The lamp tells us where to listen; the room tells us the grade.
The lamp tells us where to listen; the room tells us the grade.
When we are not sure
We grade down. If a record sits between VG+ and VG, it goes in the racks as VG and the price follows. Nobody has come back yet to complain that a record played better than its tag.
Anything worth knowing goes on the note. Harbour Lights by the Ellen Moe Trio is a first pressing at VG+, and its note says there is a whisper of surface noise on side two, so you know before the needle finds it.