How do we grade our records?

OK, for your general reference, here is how our shop works.  

Online, unless it says (CD ALBUM) or (CASSETTE) or something like that right in the title, it is vinyl.  Similarly, unless it says (NEW PRESSING) right in the title, it is used.  That applies to CDs as well (yah, we know you don't actually 'press' a CD, but we just stick with the same terminology to keep life simple). 

For CDs, we only put out stuff that is at least an 8 out of 10 in terms of quality.  We also have a resurfacing machine, so for normal items we can do little touch ups, and don't need to put crappy scratchy CDs up for sale.  (We don't use resurfacing on collectible stuff; we only put that out if it is in great shape naturally)

For LPs, we clean and inspect each album before we put it up for sale.  We do not individually grade each item to the Goldmine System, because we find that means different things to different people, and we never want to get into an argument that could make someone unhappy.  We Price Grade our stuff, which is a fancy way of saying we believe it is worth what we are charging.  We have a large Bargain Bin section in our bricks and mortar physical store, which is where we put anything that we think is just not quite up to snuff, not quite worth full market price.  We sell a ton of bargain bin stuff, so we have no incentive to put crappy scratchy records up for sale online.  

If we had to put it in terms of Goldmine, we would say that everything we offer up for sale online is going to be at least VG, with most of it being VG+.  But, remember, we don't individually grade items to the Goldmine Standard.

Shipping is automatically calculated at check out.  Generally, adding a few more items to your order is more cost effective for you.  It usually only adds a few dollars per item to add in more stuff.  It is the first single item that can look goofy: buy a $5 record and pay $20 shipping is no fun.  Buy 5 and pay $30 shipping starts to sound better per item.  Just a general reference: actual shipping costs are calculated at checkout.  You can add and subtract items from your cart all day long to check ship costs: you will never be charged until you finally decide to check out.

Hope all of that helps answer some of your questions!