Buying vinyl on Flipkart

[G401fan]

Hi Tek,

The price quoted for vinyl on the flipkart site is the final price, all inclusive.

There's a pretty decent selection, which is best accessed using their search facility. Packaging is excellent, as also their personalised delivery service. Over the past two months, I've picked up the following titles, which are priced closer to Amazon, but without the additional delivery charges:

Richard Thompson - Dream Attic
New York Dolls - New York Dolls
Big Star - No. 1 Record
Big Star - Radio City
John Coltrane - Blue Trane
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - same
Shelby Lynne - Just a little lovin'
Marianne Faithfull - Easy come, easy go.

There are plenty of great jazz and blues titles priced < 650. I have to restrain myself a little bit.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Now, I think Flipkart should start stocking the Vinyl accessories also e.g. Antistatic gun, Low cost Record cleaning machine like Spin clean, micro fiber cloth / towel, stylus cleaning fluid etc. What do you say?

 

[denom]

Now, I think Flipkart should start stocking the Vinyl accessories also e.g. Antistatic gun, Low cost Record cleaning machine like Spin clean, micro fiber cloth / towel, stylus cleaning fluid etc. What do you say?

Good idea, suggest you & the others send them your suggestions & feedback
Seeing the requirements they should definitely add these.

 

[tek]

Hey G401Fan!

Great selection there! You should pick up Big Star - Third if you get the chance.. much rawer, but great album.

How long was the delivery time for you? I was thinking of picking up some of those Sundazed 60s garage/psych bands reissues.. they look fantastic!

Cheers

Tek

 

[thatguy]

If you are looking for music, it is a good idea to check the price on Rhythmhouse.in too. I was shocked to see that Flipkart's price was more than twice that of rhythmhose.in for a CD I wanted to buy

Flipkart.com: Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem: Music: Audio CD - Rs 611

Brahms-Ein Deutsches Requiem Rhythm House | Buy Online Music CD - Rs 295

I have a feeling that Flipkart folks buy some of their stuff at retail prices from Amazon. I found an Amazon invoice for about a dozen books in one of the packages I received from them. But this is speculation.

 

[ajay124]

thatguy

You are on the right track. I bought the same Klemperer version of Brahms' Requiem from Rhythm House for 295.

It pays to check price and availability from multiple sources before placing an order.

 

[G401fan]

You should pick up Big Star - Third if you get the chance.. much rawer, but great album.

How long was the delivery time for you? I was thinking of picking up some of those Sundazed 60s garage/psych bands reissues.. they look fantastic!

That's also on my list for the future, Tek. Have the CD right now, but as with most of my CDs, it rarely gets played, as vinyl gets preference.

Delivery has generally been between 2-3 weeks.
And yup, those Sundazed reissues are a great bet, as the originals would be next to impossible to find.

 

[thatguy]

You are on the right track.

Thanks Ajay. Though the credit for discovering this particular piece goes to my boss. He bought it on iTunes and was so impressed with the choral work that sent me an e-mail on Sunday recommending it.

 

[G401fan]

Agree with thatguy regarding CD prices. They're exorbitant on Flipkart, often 2-3 times that at RH or Landmark.

But oddly, there is a bunch of vinyl that costs much less than what's on offer in the stores. Rhythm House prices are generally 1000+ for most titles, plus they stock the more popular stuff only, maybe because of pressure of shelf space. Flipkart has more than 13000 titles in its catalog, most of which you'd never see in a store in India. And many at big discounts. It's a great deal, IMO.

 

[The Wall]

Have ordered multiple vinyl titles from Flipkart.
Majority of them never available in India viz:

Concert in Central Park : Simon and Garfunkle
All the LP albums of S&G : Bookends,Parsley Sage ..... Bridge over troubled water
Live At Montreux : Jetro tull

Great Packing and great service.

 

[reubensm]

I've bought 1 LP from Flipkart - Vande Mathram

It arrived in 3 days time, well packed and in proper condition. The service experience was fantastic.

Meanwhile, I also ordered another LP - Jhoota Hi Sahi from Saregama. It too arrived well packed and in proper condition, however it took a good 20 days to arrive.

I am waiting for the Pink Floyd launch on Flipkart in mid-October. Definitely planning to return for more purchases - Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall

 

[KDM]

Agree with thatguy regarding CD prices. They're exorbitant on Flipkart, often 2-3 times that at RH or Landmark.

I've got to disagree with you here. Unless it is an import and they have to source it directly from abroad, the price quoted by Flipkart will almost certainly be cheaper than the price quoted by Rhythm House.

The classical CD listed on Flipkart is an import, sourced directly from abroad, hence the much stiffer price tag. The price quoted by RH is the price of the CD sourced by the local distributor, hence the difference in pricing

 

[G401fan]

I've got to disagree with you here. Unless it is an import and they have to source it directly from abroad, the price quoted by Flipkart will almost certainly be cheaper than the price quoted by Rhythm House.

I don't want to make too fine a point about it, but a random sampling of two artists tells its own tale:

Fairport Convention Music: Buy in India @ Flipkart.com

Items 3, 10 & 11 are available in RH at prices less than 450 (or maybe 395, I'm not certain)

Neil young Music: Buy in India @ Flipkart.com

Lots of titles in this list available in the stores from 350 to 450.

I agree about the imported titles, but their markups seem more than that for vinyl.

regards,

 

[sandeepmohan]

My experience was not so good but this probably is a one off case. I will still buy from Flipkart but might hesitate to buy records in future. The Dire Straits Private Investigations record I bought recently was terrible. A brand new record had dust and scratches. A couple of scratches were so bad that my stylus kept skipping. Washing the record did not help matters. Too many clicks and pops for a new record. I did get a replacement but the replacement was not all that great. No skipping and the amount of clicks and pops are more tolerable. What I can't understand is how so much dust gets inside a brands new sealed record.

I wrote to fk again telling them the replacement was not all that great. Nothing happened after this.

 

[josephjohnt]

I have bought several books from them and haven't seen any issues. Last month i bought a iron box, it came in late and the manufacturing date was 3 years old.

 

[KDM]

My experience was not so good but this probably is a one off case. I will still buy from Flipkart but might hesitate to buy records in future. The Dire Straits Private Investigations record I bought recently was terrible. A brand new record had dust and scratches. A couple of scratches were so bad that my stylus kept skipping. Washing the record did not help matters. Too many clicks and pops for a new record. I did get a replacement but the replacement was not all that great. No skipping and the amount of clicks and pops are more tolerable. What I can't understand is how so much dust gets inside a brands new sealed record.

I wrote to fk again telling them the replacement was not all that great. Nothing happened after this.

Thanks for letting us know this. It is necessary that others using their service know about it.

1) If the 30 day period has not expired, call them up and let them know your dissatisfaction. DEMAND a replacement.

2) Write an accurate but blunt review on the product's page. DO NOT forget to mention your dissatisfaction with Flipkart regarding that product. That will, at least make others aware of the problem.

 

[tek]

@ sandeep - it's an unfortunate incident, but i'll tell you there have been a couple of instances where I have bought sealed records myself from shops in the US and Europe and returned home, opened them and found dust, paper scuffs, patches, and even deep groove scratches.. most of the time these are manufacturing defects and not really Flipkart's fault I feel.

@g401fan - I think many of those Neil Young cd's are imports, even the ones you CAN get locally at RH or Landmark. However, the ones listed on FK as "Available" seem to be on par price wise with the local shops here.. but it doesn't make sense to order an imported version of a cd that is already available in the local market.. I guess you have to do your fair share of research before buying anything online anyways!

Cheers

 

[KDM]

I don't want to make too fine a point about it, but a random sampling of two artists tells its own tale:

Fairport Convention Music: Buy in India @ Flipkart.com

Items 3, 10 & 11 are available in RH at prices less than 450 (or maybe 395, I'm not certain)

Neil young Music: Buy in India @ Flipkart.com

Lots of titles in this list available in the stores from 350 to 450.

I agree about the imported titles, but their markups seem more than that for vinyl.

regards,

Again, those are imports.

 

[malvai]

^^ I agree with KDM...

there are cd's that are manufactured in India that cost under Rs 300... the imports cost twice as much... and I think Flipkart is importing the CD's.

also, the imports DO sound MUCH BETTER.

 

[sandeepmohan]

most of the time these are manufacturing defects and not really Flipkart's fault I feel.

I don't blame flipkart. It is not like they are manufacturing the record. The record I received first was just a bad piece. The replacement was not all better. This was a record I was really looking forward too as the music and recording is very good. The record had tracks that I love and this compilation can be heard in its entirety without getting up to skip a track. The clicks and pops are just annoying for a brand new record. I will comment on their website.