Tips for buying used Vinyl needed

Another thing about stretched center holes that negates worrying about them as a reason not to buy them.
A few auto turntables had no overhead arm to stabilize the waiting LPs, they used a central spindle only (with three tiny fingers sticking out and had a small pressure finger to hold all but the LP to drop. And they pressed open the central spindle hole on all my LPs with even just one use.
I know because i owned one many years ago. A Garrard Lab 80, and all my LPs had mashed out holes, even though I used a Sure M55e at 1.5 grams...(1966)

I have to diasagree with Audiofeil here. Spindle hole can tell a lot.

Spindle holes are meaningless if the TT it was played on are of the caliber of Audiofeil's. His is the level of less than 5% of the consumers that played those LPs, so it is a more safe than not assumption.

This thread should become a sticky - there are a lot of good tricks and tips that have been mentioned so far. My 2 cents worth is:

1- Universally, the worst LPs as a class are rock & roll; especially "classic rock". It's so bad that I won't even bother to inspect a used Beatles or Stones LP unless I know or trust the seller.

2- Conversely, the best class is almost always classical and opera. As someone mentioned, box sets are almost always a good bet. Pay attention to your label and who actually made the LPs, though.

3- I won't buy any LP that smells of mold or mildew. This tens to be a big prolem with garage sale LPs, in my experience. I know that I can clean them up, but I'm not going to take the time and I just do not want them in the house.

4- I won't buy scratched albums, period. It's just not worth it. Inspect all sides of all LPs in a multi-album or box set, but 99% of the time Side 1 is in the worst condition.

5- Learn to recognize the differences between scratches and scuffs on the LP surface that are not audible.

6- While I prefer pristine album covers (who doesn't?), most aren't. Some labels used poor construction and/or bad glue, especially some import labels. If the LP is in good shape it's still worth buying, assuming that it is not water damaged. See note 3.

7- I agree with everyone who has stated that vacuum cleaning is a must. I do not like the Spin Clean for deep cleaning, it just doesn't get the job done for me. But I do think that it's handy as a pre-cleaning device to get the surface dirt off of the LPs before I take them to the VPI cleaner.

The suggestions regarding record cleaning are all absolutely correct. I have a Loricraft PRC3 which I upgraded to after many years of a home made machine. At 1500 you might say it is not cheap, but I think you should think about spending as much on your record cleaning solution as every other piece of the analog chain - cartridge, TT, arm. phon-preamp. It is at least, if not more important than all of these. There is nothing you can do to improve a dirty record no matter what you spend on other components.

As far as used record advice. I have collected about 2000 early jazz used records over the past 10 years. Most of them early Blue Notes, Prestige, Atlantic etc. You won't even find these if you restrict yourself to a local market. You have got to go to Ebay or the larger record fairs/retailers. Most of these records don't come cheap.

I have always been amazed at the durability of vinyl. Moldy, dusty dirty records can be cleaned up to sound wonderful. Scratched and abused records cannot. You have to learn the sellers reputation. Ebay is alot better now than in the early days. Most sellers offer no questions asked 7 day money back guaranty and I probably return 10% of the records I buy as less than satisfactory and have never had an issue. Happy hunting.