Did you know that we photograph almost every single record you’ll find on our site?
With the exception of the ‘stock products’ that you’ll find in our Buy 3 Get 1 Free deal, we take real photos of every single record.
With 100s of new listings every week, here’s our explainer on just how we do this.
How We Picture Records
We take pretty much all our photos on one day per week – this allows us to be as efficient as possible and still have enough time in the week to do everything else we need to do. Between two people and one camera, we can photograph up to 1120 7” records in a day, or 400 LPs. That could be over 4000 photos!
To get ready for picturing, we need to make sure we’ve processed and graded (you can learn more about that process here) enough records. As soon as they are pictured, they’ll be added to our shelves ready for adding to the website and shipping to their new homes.
We take pictures of the front and back of both the record and the sleeve. We also photograph the inside of gatefolds, inner sleeves and any extras that come with the record, like a poster, lyric sheet, or other inserts. When the record is particularly special or if we know there’s something you’ll want to see, we always take additional photos to show those features.
A great example of this is ‘In Through The Out Door’ by Led Zeppelin, which sometimes comes with this original paper outer sleeve which is highly desirable.
If there’s ever a feature of a record that isn’t photographed in as much detail as you like, you can always ask us for help. We’re here every day to respond to your questions – we get back to every enquiry within 24 hours on working days, but it’s usually much quicker than this.
After one of us take the photos of the record, it then gets handed to a second person who will put the record into a brand new anti-static inner sleeve (if the record came with one, we put the original inner inside the main record sleeve) and then we put everything into our custom ‘Atlas Records’ resealable outer sleeves. Next, we add our barcode which also includes the title, artist, grading, and other key details about the release which makes it useful for you as well as for us!
Did you know?
Our process for 7” records is the same, though typically a lot faster and simpler seeing as they are easier to handle and don’t tend to have quite so many extra items. Also, you’ll never find a ‘stock photo’ company sleeve record on our site. We find that company sleeves vary in design so much that it’s vital we take real photos of every single one. We don’t want this to stop you being able to buy company sleeve records in our Buy 3 Get 1 Free offer, however, which is why all company sleeves under £10 are included in this offer.
How Stock Photos Work
We don't list records using stock photos any more - every single record on our site has been photographed. So, the ‘stock images’ you'll find on our site are older products that were the releases that we come across (and sell) most regularly, and always for under £10. Having these set up as permanent products on our website (all of our other listings will never go ‘back in stock’ once they have sold) means several useful things!
- You can add it to your wishlist and be notified when another one comes in stock.
- You know exactly how much it will cost.
- Because we use four predefined grades, you might even receive one that is in better condition than we listed it at.
- Because all copies of the matching record are contained in one listing, it saves your search results from showing lots and lots of identical items.
Key Stock Product Questions Answered
How do I know I’ll receive the record looking how I want it to?
Our stock products will always exactly match the record shown in the images in terms of the sleeve design and material, as well as the label design, centre, and material.
For example, the record in the example above has a paper sleeve, an orange and blue paper label with a four-prong push out centre. That’s exactly the record design that you’ll receive!
How do I know a stock product won’t arrive dinked? (With the centre removed)
Unless the record was originally made with a large centre hole - like one pressed for a jukebox or from the US – we won’t allow it through our processing and grading stage without its original centre.
The record in the picture has a sticker on the sleeve – will mine have a sticker too?
Not necessarily. The picture shown on our site is just the first copy we came across. If you’d like to avoid records (and labels) with damage like stickers, we always advise opting for grades of Excellent or higher.
