The double cee (cc) in my eBay user ID comes from the name of my record business,

 CRAIG CHASE VINYL.

C [raig] C [hase] VINYL.

Add "man", and you have ccvinylman (Craig and Chase are family names, one from my mom's family and one from my dad's).  

I guess you could say that my record business started when I first heard an excerpt of Richard Strauss's tone poem "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in a music appreciation class in college in the late 60s. Dr.Berry played the opening measures of this memorable work on his portable KLH stereo (he called them "Sunrise"), and that event sparked in me a life-long love affair with classical music!

For a short time in the 70s I was more of an audiophile than a discophile, but that fascination fizzled when my income could not keep up with the cost of "upping the ante".  In short, I had developed a champaign taste but had only a beer budget (and not the fancy imported kind, either!).

Nevertheless, I continued adding to my record collection and at the same time deepening my knowledge of, and appreciation for, classical music. 

To this day, there are few things that have the power to soothe, transport and uplift me more than a well-recorded piece of music.

I am not a musical snob, however.  My tastes are eclectic and wide ranging.  I like music of all sorts--rock, jazz, folk, sacred, electronic, the blues, and of course classical.  Furthermore, I am not a Luddite (a group of folks from Swift's Gulliver's Travels who feared change of any sort), but I enjoy musical media of all sorts, both analog and digital (though I own far more records than CDs).

So then, CRAIG CHASE VINYL is dedicated to serving people who love classical music.  This love causes them to cling passionately and tenaciously to a medium of musical reproduction that may be "on the ropes", but is far from beaten!  (Proof of this is the development of the twelve-thousand-dollar Laser Turntable that is currently being marketed worldwide from Japan!). 

Finally, it would be helpful for you to know what my assumptions are regarding records. So, in no particular order of importance:

1. The LP is a highly imperfect medium.  Even a new, unplayed record is, at best,  NEAR MINT, by which I mean that it will contain some imperfections--an occasional tick or pop, for example, as well as other artifacts stemming from the medium's inherent limitations. 
2. The record collector whose perfectionist tendencies "push the bar" of record grading to impossible-to-obtain heights, is probably not a suitable customer for CRAIG CHASE VINYL.  On the other hand, if the quality of a record's sound is of utmost importance to you, then welcome aboard!
3. A sealed disk will generally command the highest price, particularly when it is rare and highly sought after.  Even a sealed disk, however, can have secret flaws--that is, they're secret until you open it up and play it!  This brings us to assumption four.
4. If a sealed record proves to be damaged significantly, I will pay for you to ship it back to me, and when I receive it, I will then refund its purchase price.  The same no-questions-asked return policy applies to a record that you feel I have over-graded; that is, I assigned it a play-grade that is higher than the play-grade you would assign to the record.  Keep in mind assumption number one, however!
5. When a record's vintage could be considered important by most collectors, I believe in making this known in my description.  For example, RCA has its "shaded dog", "white dog", "no dog" and "very late pressing" labels (the last of which re-introduced RCA's "Nipper", albeit in a new format); Mercury has its early- (burgundy label), middle- (light maroon label and/or the words "Vendor:  Mercury record Corporation") and late- (light maroon label with stylized Mercury logo at top of label) pressings; Columbia has its "six-eye" labels; Everest its silver and blue label; London its FFSS (Full Frequency Stereophonic Sound) appellation; and so on. 
6. As for the grading of records, a PLAY grade of NEAR MINT (NM) indicates that a record is in like-new shape.  It may have been played once or more times, but when you play it, it will sound essentially as it did when it was first removed from its shrinkwrap.  Even in quiet passages, an NM  record will enable you to focus on the music, not surface noises.  Will there be an occasional tick, pop or swish?  Yes.  Will they be frequent?  No. 
7. NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) is a step below NM for two likely reasons:  one, it has been played a bit more; and two, it bears the "scars" of its having been enjoyed by a previous listener.  An NM- record has been well cared for, however, and it bears evidence of having been played "lightly".  After all, a diamond is the hardest of all naturally occurring substances, and PVC is one of the softest of manmade substances.  Put the two together and, well, you know what happens!  NM- records are priced usually a third below the price of an NM or SEALED record.  Its quiet passages may be a bit noisier than an NM, but they are not objectionable for the most part.
8. VERY GOOD PLUS PLUS (VG++)  indicates that a record has likely been played a good deal and therefore contributes more noise and distortion to the listening experience.  It has, however, been well cared for.
9. VERY GOOD PLUS (VG+) describes a record that in addition to the normal play marks of a VG++ disk also has stray marks, scuffs and light scratches that cause intermittent ticking.  It has not been as well cared for as a VG++, but neither will it skip a passage or get stuck and repeat a portion of the record until you physically move the tonearm forward.  This is generally the lowest grade of record I sell.  The exception would be an extremely rare and sought-after record that virtually anyone would be glad to have in virtually any shape!

I hope that the above information proves helpful to you, whether you have yet to become a customer of mine or have already given me a try.  Please keep in mind that CRAIG CHASE VINYL is a business.  In exchange for all the work that goes into providing you with the highest quality product and highest quality service, I really do deserve to make money.  Not a lot, mind you, but a fair return on my investment in money, time and effort. 

Between

• acquiring and paying for them,
• cleaning them and their jackets, 
• playing and evaluating them and assigning both a visual-grade and a play-grade to them,
• cataloguing and storing them 
• photographing  them,
• listing and describing them thoroughly for my eBay audience,
• and then finally shipping them to the four corners of the globe,

  I spend probably 20 minutes or more on every record I sell (or in the case of about 50 percent or more of those listed that don't sell!).  Add to all this the cost of listing each item and then paying a final-value fee to eBay, as well as a percentage to PayPal of every item that is bought through them. 

You can see why I get frustrated at times when an item either doesn't sell, or it sells but makes a "profit" of maybe a dollar.  When's the last time you were paid three dollars an hour?

Yes, I know, my dear customers (or potential customers), that shipping costs have gone through the roof and that acquiring a record even at a fair price can be quite pricey!  I ask you, however:  Is there another musical medium that gives you as much bang for the buck?  I don't think so! 

 For that reason, then, I encourage you to give me a try.  Hundreds of folks have, and the feedback they've given bears eloquent testimony that ccvinylman/CRAIG CHASE VINYL is a great place to shop for records!

With best regards,

Don Larter, ccvinylman

VINYL RULES!