Discogs

If you've only dealt with quality sellers on Discogs i can understand you having a high opinion of the site. But all it takes is one run in with an abusive seller for you to realize how vulnerable you are as a customer.
You have ZERO protections as a buyer aside from disputing the charge with your payment provider. The only protections seems to be for the sellers in the form of "seller terms" which they claim are "binding". From what I can tell there's no such "binding" agreement in favor of the buyer. What this has led to is a rash of sellers who send out damaged merchandise and then refuse a refund based on their seller terms. This system is so ripe for abuse it's no wonder so many buyers return to eBay for the peace of mind and the sense that they're buying from a reputable merchant.
Again, you can find amazing sellers on Discogs that run their business as well an any honest brick and mortar store. If the feedback system wasn't also constantly abused you might be able to tell the good ones from the bad ones. But the reality is that Discogs often removes negative feedback from both parties, essentially rendering the system useless. A corrupt seller can fly under the radar for years before they get enough direct complaints to have his account suspended.
So in closing, if Discogs is going to take a commission on every sale, like eBay, they need to start protecting their users, like eBay. They shouldn't be able to have it both ways. Either you're legit or not. And despite all outside appearances, DISCOGS IS NOT LEGIT. Use eBay or support your local record store!

I recently had my first experience as a buyer on Discogs. Unfortunate to say it wasn't a pleasant one.
Long story short, a seller cashed the money and did not ship the order. Delays, excuses, more delays (weeks), more excuses and very poor communication. Ended up cancelling the order altogether and resorting to a credit card charge dispute. Perhaps not directly Discogs's fault but certainly a tremendous lack of control and enforcement of their 'Sales & Transaction Policy'
Unfortunately, bad news spread faster than good news and -lesson learned- I will no longer be purchasing on this site.
What baffles me most is that that particular seller had very positive reviews (over 95%)
This lack of oversight is a killer to the Discogs platform since I am sure there are reputable and honest sellers willing to do good business.

Lesson learned. Buy local.

Discogs i
Does not adequately monitor their vendors. Seems more interested in receiving their 8 percent commission than protecting buyers.

Many items are listed with no shipping price. You have to order then wait for an invoice before you know how much it will cost.

The first time I ordered a record I waited a few days, got the invoice and paid it. However it looked like the payment didn't go through so I paid again. I looked at my Paypal account and it turned out I had sent two payments. This is the first time this has happened to me on any site. If this happened on eBay you would get a message saying you had already paid. The fact that you can pay for an item more than once is ridiculous. I can't think of any other site where this could happen.

I gave them another chance and thought this wouldn't happen again. I paid for a record and a few hours later got an invoice even though I'd already paid. This site is confusing as hell and not remotely user friendly. If and when I figure out what's happening with this record I think I'll quit while I'm ahead and delete my account.

One more thing - there are no pictures of the actual item you're buying. You just have to hope the seller is being honest when he/she says the item is in excellent condition.

Update - to add to the above, the users in the forum are very rude, or at least the ones that replied to my query. I was told "the problem is in front of the computer", the meaning being that I'm an idiot who can't operate a computer. No, the problem is the site. I've ordered hundreds of items online and I have never come across another site that would even let you pay for an item twice. Also I offered a criticism of the website, not of any of the members, and I don't appreciate personal insults.