HYDE (self-titled) 1969 RARE & VALUABLE VG++

	C$		100
	$		72

This offer is from your friendly non-commercial vendor Michael (La belle Ville de Québec) (username MichaelMcCubbinQuebec).  My musical tastes over the years run to a fairly wide variety of musical styles including, in order of importance: folk (especially Canadian), not so much traditional but more of the singer-songwriter and progressive types emerging in the 1960s and its tradition since; rock, especially progressive (excluding for the most part trite clichéd mainstream pop-rock of the American type); and spatterings of “world music”, jazz and big band, blues, soul, and classical.  What I most like to listen to, especially today (much less likely to be among the LPs I am selling), is fusion music in those areas, that pushes boundaries and resists classification.

 To see the other albums I am listing, go to

http://shop.ebay.ca/michaelmccubbinquebec/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25   Of course I’d really like it if, because you and I have taste commonalities, you listed me under your “favourite sellers and stores” under “seller info.”

All offers are authorized releases from those who legally created and distributed the items (unless otherwise indicated and in accordance with the law).

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"Label – Quality – SV 1832 – Canadian pressing

"Style – Psych Rock Folk

"Cover –VG+ - has light wear on front and back from age and on the top seam.

"Vinyl – LP is in excellent condition with nice luster.

"Labels –Labels are clean and in excellent condition.

"NOTE –  Rare original Canadian release from 1969 on the Quality label. Rated in Hans Pokora's 1001 Record Collector Dreams. Highly influenced by Bob Dylan. Features Canadian Psych legends Rockadrome as the backing band."

Sound quality and vinyl   VG++M-

I just played this through entirely to provide up-to-date verification of the playback quality.  In recent years all I’ve had to play these discs on is one of those cheap widely promoted record/CD/radio players.  So how I describe background noise is in part a function of an inferior system and needle.  Hence, for many of you, my evaluations are likely conservative.  I might also note that the last generation of vinyl records were mostly cheaply made and created background sound almost as soon as they were first played.  We may have to settle for poor vinyl in 1980s and early 1990s at the time audio cassettes (even worse in my opinion) were dominant.

This album plays with low vinyl background noise.  Under a very strong light I inspected the vinyl and found no markings at all; not a single tiny hairline, not a little scuff.

Cover and disc labels    VG++

The album is in very good condition.  There is mild round disk wear on the top, a bit of that is evident on the back.  All edges were carefully taped; one wouldn't notice that the tape wasn't part of the album unless you looked carefully.  The tape is not peeling. 

There is no evident wear on any of the edges or the corners worth speaking of; in that regard the cover is not mint but not far away.  "1969" (the year of release) is written in small neat characters in the far upper right corner.  Against the black background, that cannot be seen except in a certain angle to the light.  The label disks are fine except that I wrote my name in the border of the side 1 label; hardly visible, being  blue pen against blue background.

I WILL TAKE SPECIAL MEASURES IN PACKAGING THIS ALBUM FOR SHIPPING (e.g., placing the disc in a solid cover for an album I am not selling).

BILLING:  When you buy this album please await my personally written bill, as opposed to what may be an “official” looking, but usually wrong, PayPal bill.  Ebay/PayPal screws up the bills, often not including the actual shipping cost (often shown too high) and not including handling costs.  Read the instructions that I write below the official looking part of the bill.

Shipping to U.S.:  The cost for me to ship a single album to the U.S.  is $7.77.  Note that I always add a handling cost ranging from $3 to $7 to pay envelope etc.  That handling cost is included in what eBay shows as shipping costs, but only in the listings, and not separated from the shipping cost.  On invoices, they may use a shipping cost which is much higher than it will really be, or not include it at all.

Combined Shipping:  My objective is to pass all savings to you for combined shipments.  If what I pay to ship is less than you paid due to a combined shipment, I’ll return the difference to you. If you buy extra albums I will reimburse the shipping costs saved by sending them together, which usually means free shipping on one or more albums, along with a $1.00 discount on the handling charge per extra album.  That means big savings!

Consensus rating criteria:  How do I determine ratings like VG+ and so on?  What I try to do is go by the criteria given by several of the credible big sellers; separate for, firstly, sound and vinyl quality, and secondly, cover, dust cover and disc labels.  I’m trying to use a consensus scale based on the credibility of those criteria and their completeness in terms of pertinent aspects of what is being rated. 

One other thing:  with the issue of background noise it is often hard to distinguish between one rating and the next one up.  In such conditions I decide on the impact that the noise would have on the appreciation of the song.  I will ordinarily report what the case is to you in my opinion.

Shipping and Handling Costs:  It seems that many if not all eBay users are frustrated with the “calculated shipping”.  I suppose they, like I, cannot seem to get this across to eBay:  If you can actually get by their labyrinth intended to stymie efforts to contact them, they reply with apparently randomly selected emails that have nothing to do with the enquiry. 

Anyway, buyers cannot get a proper idea of what the actual shipping cost is to them.  I can’t tell what figures are given to a buyer, because the system won’t let me insert a country and postal code other than my own, so all I can see is the cost of shipping to myself, a lot of help eh? 

Firstly, note that a standard album to the U.S. ships for about $7.70 Canadian (I quote Canadian figures only because I resist the idea that the U.S. always has to be the centre of the universe); it is in fact cheaper than shipping to myself for various reasons (not so good!).  You should know that these days the exchange rate Canada-US is around parity. 

Secondly, for some reason eBay does not allow transparency to the buyer as to the handling costs included in “shipping costs”.  Many people are perplexed because the “shipping cost” quoted to them can be significantly higher than what they think it should be.  In my case, it is because there are several dollars included for handling costs, which are included in eBay’s so-called shipping costs.  

I include in handling costs the following (Cdn. figures):  1) envelope cost, $2.26; 2) provincial and federal sales taxes, at $0.12875 per dollar; 3) eBay commission of 9% of the original offer price (I don’t raise it if I get more); 4) listing costs; 5) $1.00 miscellaneous costs as a rough estimate of overhead use like computer, stationery etc.  

Hence the basic price of the product given to you represents pure profit for that specific product.  Fact is, saying it is pure profit is quite misleading:  I pay listing costs on most of my offers which do not end up selling, and for those which do I have probably already paid listing costs several times as I relist them.  For example:  I sell something for $2.00, but I may have paid $1.60 in listing costs three times already!  Indeed, I probably will never make any profit in this business, and have already lost hundreds net.  But I hate waste, and I have a veneration for the good old vinyl albums, as having a cultural role past and present.  I want them preserved and appreciated for decades to come.  As with all art, it has to build on the past.

Repairs:  Many of the LPs I am selling were repaired, reinforced or cleaned by me, usually many years ago when I bought them ? I am not an expert in such things.  If there is need for further repairs (e.g., gluing separated sides) I leave that to your tastes and/or expertise.  Since I am recovering many dust covers and some plastic outside sleeves from albums being disposed of as substandard for sale, when albums are missing dust covers, or if they are faded or torn, I will insert a better, appropriate one (unless you tell me not to), and perhaps a plastic sleeve.

Returns: If you send the disc back and make a convincing argument, given my reassessment of the disc, that my description of the album is an exaggeration, then I will reimburse your shipping back cost.  Even if I disagree or am doubtful, I will reimburse part of your cost, even though I take a loss.  I sure don't like the idea of your paying money for nothing; it would hurt my conscience!