Buying Vinyl at Record Fairs: How to Avoid Fakes

Develop a fixed 30-second routine so you check the same things every time. Pull the disc, tilt the dead wax to the light and read the runout etchings first — they are the hardest thing for a counterfeiter to fake convincingly. Then check the label: font weight, colour, catalogue number and the print quality of the text. Finally turn to the sleeve and study the rear barcode and print resolution.

Counterfeits betray themselves through sharpness and texture. Genuine label print and sleeve artwork are crisp; fakes are often a generation removed, so text looks slightly soft, barcodes pixelate under close inspection, and colours drift from the originals. A machine-stamped matrix where the original was hand-etched, or a sleeve that feels thin and glossy where the original is matte board, is your cue to put it back.

Come equipped. A small LED torch or your phone's torch transforms dead-wax reading; raking light across the runout makes etchings legible and reveals whether a matrix is hand-cut or stamped. A loupe or magnifier exposes barcode pixelation and label print quality that the naked eye misses in fair lighting.

Bring your phone fully charged with the Discogs app and Vinyl Guard ready to go, plus a note of the matrix numbers for any grail titles you are hunting. Cash helps you negotiate, but keep enough for card-shy dealers in mind. A short mental checklist of the most-faked titles you might encounter keeps you sharp when the adrenaline of a good find kicks in.

The single biggest advantage of a fair is that the record is in your hands — so use it. When something looks promising but you are not certain, photograph the label and the dead wax right there at the stall and run them through Vinyl Guard. In around 30 seconds you get a verdict that turns a gut feeling into a decision.

This is especially valuable for high-value grails where the genuine pressing might be £200-£600 and a convincing fake is £40. A 30-second scan before you hand over cash is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy, and it lets you negotiate from a position of knowledge rather than hope.

The classic fair scam is the 'sealed original' — a 1970s title shrink-wrapped to discourage inspection. Genuine originals from that era almost never survive sealed, and the wrap is frequently used to hide a counterfeit disc you cannot examine until you have paid. Decline to buy anything you are not allowed to take out of its sleeve.

Other patterns include reissues and counterfeits sold as 'original first pressings' with no matrix evidence offered, deliberately dim stall lighting that hides print quality, and the urgency play — 'last one, someone's coming back for it'. A dealer who refuses to let you inspect the dead wax, or who gets defensive when you mention matrix numbers, is telling you everything you need to know.

If your inspection or a Vinyl Guard scan raises doubt, you have two honest moves: walk away, or negotiate with the evidence in hand. Politely point out the specific discrepancy — 'the matrix is machine-stamped but the original was hand-etched' — and watch the reaction. A genuine dealer will engage and may explain a legitimate variant; a chancer will deflect.

Never overpay for uncertainty. If a record might be a fake, it is worth fake money — which is to say almost nothing to a collector. Use your findings to drop the price to reissue level if you only want a listening copy, or simply move on. The best negotiating position at a fair is a buyer who is genuinely willing to leave the record on the table.