Trust & Safety

Every order is covered by the Customer Commitment Guarantee. If your item arrives damaged, never arrives, or isn't as described, you get a full refund, including shipping and the guarantee fee.

What "as described" covers: the condition grades, the exact edition or version, the copy number when one is listed, everything listed as included, faults the listing didn't mention, and the seller's answers to your own questions and requests, and any answers posted on the listing. Anything clearly visible in the listing photos at normal size counts as disclosed. Faults a photo can't show, like how a record plays, always count.

You have at least 5 days to check it. Open a claim within the inspection window shown on your order, which is never less than 5 calendar days from delivery. We hold the seller's payment until it closes, so the money is still with us if something is wrong.

Every order ships on time and insured. Every order shows its ship-by date before you buy, including a later date if the seller is away. If it hasn't shipped by then, the order cancels and you're refunded automatically. Every shipment is insured whatever its value, and sellers photograph the packed item before it leaves, so damage claims are settled on evidence, not on who argues harder.

Not covered: changing your mind (unless the seller accepts returns), whether an autograph is genuine, and normal wear that matches the stated grade. Factory-sealed items aren't covered for factory defects found once the seal is opened. They're still covered if they arrive damaged, aren't what was listed, or turn out to be resealed. Category details has the specifics.

No stock photos. Every listing is one item, and sellers must photograph the exact item they're selling. Our system won't let a listing go live until the required photos are there.

• The right shots for each category: every category has its own required photos, listed under Category details.
• Proof behind the claims: a signed item needs a photo of the signature, and a numbered item needs a photo of its number.
• Closer evidence where it matters: where a small detail tells versions apart, like the runout etching on a record, the seller says what their copy shows, and that's part of the description our guarantee covers.
• A photo check before listing: before a listing goes live, a photo check helps the seller catch wrong photos and pressing mix-ups. It only makes suggestions, and the grade is always the seller's, but a listing whose photos don't show the item, or show a different one, can't go live until that's fixed. See How listings are checked.
• A live listing can only get more honest. While a listing is for sale, a seller can lower a grade, add a defect or add to the notes, but can't raise a grade, remove a disclosed flaw, or swap out photos. To change those, the seller has to pause the listing first.
• Matched to our catalog: each listing is matched to a catalog entry, so edition details come from the catalog, not from memory.
• No known unofficial items. Items our catalog marks as unofficial stay in the catalog for reference but can't be listed for sale.

Sellers are measured on accuracy. Each seller's accuracy score is the share of their recent sales without an upheld not-as-described claim. Buyer's remorse never counts against it, and neither does transit damage to a properly packed item. Sellers who fall short get a warning, then their listings are held for review, then they're suspended.

GrailBin never sees or stores your card number. You pay through Stripe, so your card details go straight to Stripe, never to us, and the charge on your card statement shows GrailBin.

• We hold your payment through the inspection window. The seller is paid only after your inspection window closes with no open claim.
• Sellers are paid through Stripe, after Stripe verifies their identity.
• One clear price. The price you see on a listing already includes the guarantee fee. Shipping and any sales tax are added at checkout, and the total never exceeds the listed prices plus shipping and tax.
• Sales tax is calculated and collected at checkout where the law requires it.
• Never pay outside GrailBin. If a seller asks you to pay by Venmo, Zelle, PayPal or cash, the purchase isn't covered by the guarantee and it's against our rules. Please report it.

Every seller verifies their identity with Stripe before they can be paid.

• High-volume sellers are verified again under federal law. Once a seller makes 200 or more sales of new or unused items and $5,000 or more in a 12-month period, the INFORM Consumers Act requires us to collect and verify their bank account, tax ID, email and phone number. They must confirm those details are current at least once a year, and we suspend sellers who don't.
• You can see who larger sellers are. For high-volume sellers with $20,000 or more in yearly sales on GrailBin, we show their name, physical address and contact details in your order confirmation and order history. Sellers who work from home may show only their state and country.
• Every listing from a high-volume seller has a way to report suspicious activity, by phone and online. See Report a problem below.

Learn more about the INFORM Consumers Act from the FTC

We collect what we need to run the marketplace, we don't sell it, and our database, not just our app screens, decides who can see what.

• Your address and account details are yours. Only you and GrailBin's administrators can see your address. A seller sees your shipping address only to ship an order you placed with them. Sellers' display names are public, and federal law requires us to show some larger sellers' business details (see Who you're buying from).
• Drafts stay private. A listing is visible to buyers only once it's published. Notes a seller imports from another marketplace are never shown to buyers.
• Photos carry no location. Listing photos are re-encoded in your browser before upload, which removes the GPS location and other hidden details your camera adds. We privately keep the time each photo was taken, as evidence if there's ever a claim.
• Translations send only the seller's notes. If you tap Translate on a listing, only the seller's notes are sent to an AI model to translate them, never anything about you. We keep the translation with the listing, so there's a record of what you read.
• Card numbers never reach us. Stripe handles them (see How payments work).
• Backups are encrypted. We keep nightly backups so your listings and orders survive an outage, and we encrypt them with a key that only we hold, never stored with our hosting providers.
• No ad tracking. We don't sell or rent your information, use it for advertising, or track you across other websites.

To see, correct or delete your information, email trust@grailbin.com. We respond within 30 days. Our Privacy Policy has the details.

The guarantee only works when the sale, the payment and the conversation happen here.

• Ask before you buy. Your questions and requests go to the seller privately. The seller can post useful ones on the listing for every buyer, showing you only as "A buyer". The seller's answer to you, and any answer posted on the listing, count as part of the description, so they're covered by the guarantee.
• Need a closer look? You can ask the seller for an extra photo or a closer check, like a play test of a record.
• Talk about your order in your order. Order messages stay with the order, so if there's ever a claim, the whole history is there.
• No off-platform deals. Arranging a sale or payment outside GrailBin with someone you met here is against our rules for buyers and sellers alike. It loses all protection and is the most common setup for fraud. Messages that share phone numbers, emails or payment handles are filtered.
• Every question, answer and message has a report button. Repeat offenders get a warning, then their listings are held for review, then their account is suspended.

If something looks wrong, tell us. A real person reads every report.

Please include the listing or order link and any screenshots.

If you believe you've found a vulnerability in GrailBin, email trust@grailbin.com with "Security" in the subject and enough detail for us to reproduce it. We'll confirm we received it and keep you posted while we fix it.

Please use only your own accounts, stop and tell us as soon as you reach anyone else's data, don't disrupt the service or test the systems of our providers (such as Stripe or Cloudflare), and give us 90 days before disclosing. We'll treat research that follows these rules as authorized and won't take legal action over it.

GrailBin starts with records. Each new category adds its own grades, required photos and fine print here, and the promises above apply to all of them.

Records

• Grades: the record and the sleeve are graded separately on the Goldmine scale, from Mint down to Poor.
• "As described" also covers: the exact pressing, the inner sleeve and any inserts listed as included, and playback faults the listing didn't mention.
• Required photos: front and back covers (plain sleeves skip the back), plus both sides of the record unless it's sealed. Sealed copies show the shrink wrap.
• Runouts: for pressings our catalog shows have look-alikes, the seller tells you which runout code is etched on each side, or that they couldn't read it. Either way, the pressing listed is what our guarantee covers. Sellers can also add a runout close-up photo; listings with one show "Runout shown".
• Catalog: more than 8 million releases, so the pressing, label and edition come from the catalog.
• Sealed copies: not covered for anything inside the shrink wrap, such as surface noise or an off-center label found on opening. Still covered if a copy arrives damaged, isn't the pressing listed, has a sleeve worse than its grade, has a warp the photos didn't show, or turns out to be resealed.
• Bootlegs: releases our catalog marks as unofficial can't be listed.
• Shipping and inspection: sellers ship within 3 business days and you have 5 days to inspect. Large lots can get longer, always shown on the order.