FAQ

Have questions about vinyl?

Are there things I should know about your shipping procedures?

We think so, yes.

For starters, how much will it cost to have you ship a package to me?

Our shipping charges are calculated by weight and shipping location and pulled directly from the USPS and UPS daily rates. Simply add your items to your cart, click "Checkout,” and choose your ship-to country or US zip code to calculate your approximate postage cost. You will have a chance to review all shipping charges before submitting your order.

And, how does shipping within the U.S. work?

We provide tracking information for all orders within the United States. We’ll send you an email when your order ships. The email includes the delivery confirmation number, which can be used to track your package.

How long will it take to get my U.S. order?

Once you place your order, you can expect it to ship out from our warehouse in 1-3 days. After that, we estimate (though we cannot guarantee) 1-5 days for all items sent via USPS first/priority mail or UPS ground.

The shipping times for the UPS Next Day, Second Day and 3-Day services are conveniently indicated right there in the name of the service in question. This means 1, 2 or 3 days, depending on which one you select.

What about international orders?

Orders to non-US countries are shipped via USPS Air Mail (First Class Package International or Priority Mail International) or FedEx International Economy and are charged a shipping and handling fee based on weight and country of destination. We charge you what the carrier (USPS or FedEx) charges us for this service. Please be aware that some countries charge a customs fee on incoming shipments. YOU will be responsible for all customs clearance requirements (duties, taxes, fees, etc.) if you want your package delivered. And, we will NOT refund shipping charges for items returned to us due to VAT-related issues. We have no control over the amount you may be charged for customs, but we do everything in our power to reduce or eliminate any extra fees we can. Additionally, we do not guarantee shipping to/from 3rd party freight forwarding companies.

And, how long will it take to get my order if my shipping address is outside of the U.S.?

Most international orders are delivered within 10-14 business days. Depending on your country and its customs departments/mail services, some packages can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the day they are shipped. This is especially true if you live in Brazil or Italy. Sorry Brazil and Italy. If you still have not received your order 6 weeks after you receive your shipping confirmation (which is different and also not the same as your order confirmation) please email websales@subpop.com and we’ll work with you to find or replace your package.

I want to place an order that contains both pre-ordered releases and items that are already available for sale. Is it possible for you to ship all the available items now and the pre-order when it is released?

Sorry, but no. If your order contains any pre-ordered items, none of your order will ship until the pre-ordered items are ready to ship as well. If you don’t want to wait, please place separate orders. Thanks!

I recently received my order but the poster I ordered wasn’t included. Did you forget it?

Probably not! All posters have to be shipped separately from any other type of item on an order, and even though your entire order is always shipped out together on the same day, poster tubes seem to get sorted differently by the USPS and tend to show up a day or two after the first package is delivered. If you haven’t received your poster within 2 days of the arrival of your first shipment however, email websales@subpop.com and let us know!

The t-shirt I ordered doesn’t fit like expected and I want to exchange it for a different size. What can I do?

You can send your item(s) back to us at:

Sub Pop Records
ATTN: Returns/Exchanges
520 S Brandon St
Seattle WA 98108

Include a note with details on the exchange you’d like to make. Provided your desired item is in stock, we’ll gladly make the exchange. It’s best to email websales@subpop.com first to make sure the item you want is actually available.

What are the dimensions of your t-shirts?

See the image below for the standard t-shirt dimensions from American Apparel of the shirts we carry. Obviously, most shirts are fairly uniform in cut and style, but they are bound to vary a tiny bit from time to time. Be mindful that 100% cotton shirts can shrink a bit on the first wash/dry cycle, so they are often slightly larger than the 50/50 and tri-blend styles initially.

I can’t find the download code that should have been included with my recent vinyl purchase. What gives?

In mid 2020, we stopped including download codes in our LPs, mostly because people weren't using them. And, you know, waste not, want not. HOWEVER! Anyone who buys any format of any album from the Sub Pop Mega Mart will still receive access to full album downloads through their account on release date.

If you have purchased a Sub Pop or Hardly Art LP somewhere other than the Sub Pop Mega Mart, and are disappointed about this lack of a download, please contact websales@subpop.com with proof of purchase and we will do our very utmost to make it right.

Where do I redeem my download code?

Right here.

Why was my credit card declined, and why then does my statement say, "payment pending”?

The main reason for declined credit card transactions, other than insufficient funds, is incorrect billing address information. To protect ourselves and our customers from theft and fraud our bank requires billing address verification, which includes street address and the postal code (zip code) as well as the 3 digit security code printed on the back of the card, which should match what is entered into the “CVV” field on your order form.

If your your card has been declined, you can rest assured that your credit card has NOT been charged. A "payment pending" charge may show up on your bank or credit card company's records for a day or two, but no actual funds have been, or will be, transferred.

VINYL QUESTIONS!

Hello, dearest consumer of Sub Pop vinyl discs!

As you may have noticed, vinyl is officially BACK. We truly appreciate your support for this allegedly (but probably not) industry-saving format, whether you view your record collection as a display of quaint souvenirs of enjoyable concerts, a cumbersome accessory to download cards, or a dark, bottomless pit into which one may vainly shovel social anxieties, untold amounts of money, and an all-consuming desire for significance and permanence in a fleeting, uncaring world, believe us, we understand.

The resurgence of vinyl, however, has not been without its hitches. In short, vinyl is messy to make, pressing plants are busier than ever, and many listeners are accustomed to the ease and perfection of digital music. So, for your benefit, and also to save us time answering confused and/or angry emails, we present the following not-at-all-evasive explanations of things you may be wondering about. (We’d call it a FAQ, but we didn’t really phrase anything like a question. Oops.)

My vinyl record is not perfect in every imaginable way.

This, friend, is the nature of vinyl records. Were Plato philosophizing today, he likely would have had a giant epiphany regarding ideals vs. reality after hours of desperately vacuum-cleaning his Cro-Mags Age of Quarrel LP, rather than inspecting olives or whatever he did back then. Please know that, while we, and the mastering and pressing plants to whom we outsource the job of physically producing our records, strive for the ultimate in audiophile perfection, vinyl can be a finicky and inconsistent format. On the upside, vinyl allows for nice packaging, a pleasing sound (often described as “warmer” and “snobbier”), a connection to century-old rituals of music consumption, and many other benefits. On the downside, the process of getting music from a piece of tape (or, as is often the case, much to the chagrin of purists, a hard drive) onto a slab of vinyl, to your house, through your needle, out your speakers, and into your ear is subject to all manner of interference, much of which we have little control over. Having said that, let’s get into some specific issues you may be having…

My record skips.

Well, that is unfortunate! Many factors may cause skips. Please try the following troubleshooting steps to help identify the problem:

• Make sure your turntable’s tonearm weight and anti-skate settings are adjusted correctly. How, you ask? Here’s how! And here’s a more detailed version of how!
• Clean your record with a record-cleaning brush, or a soft, clean, non-abrasive cloth. Thanks to dust, stray bits of vinyl, and other detritus that may accumulate while a record makes its journey from the pressing plates to the shrink-wrapped final product, even brand new records can require a quick cleaning.
• We have been told by reputable sources that sometimes 180-gram vinyl requires a slight increase in tonearm weight for the record to play correctly. If you’re playing a 180-gram LP, try increasing the tonearm weight a little bit.
• Are you using a portable turntable, a very cheap turntable, or an extremely old needle? Any of these things can cause skips, and there’s zippo that we can do about it. Sorry!

If you are still experiencing skips, it may in fact be a defective record. You should return it to your place of purchase.

My record is warped.

How warped is it? Vinyl records are petroleum products stamped between metal plates in high-heat conditions, and thus rarely perfectly flat. (Again, Plato.) Are you seeing a tiny fluctuation that does not affect the sound of your record? If so, you probably shouldn’t worry about it. Have you checked your tonearm weight (see above)? If your tonearm is adjusted correctly, and the warp audibly tarnishes your listening experience, please return it to your place of purchase.

My colored-vinyl record has streaks of black, or another color.

This is not a defect. When vinyl is being squeezed through a tube onto the pressing plates, it sometimes picks up a trace of the color that was previously going through that tube, creating small streaks in the finished record. The sound quality of the record is not affected. This usually only affects the first handful of copies pressed on colored vinyl, so what you own is actually a unique, super-rare variation. Congratulations, and you’re welcome!

My record sounds like it’s drowning in molasses.

Is it Earth 2? If so, it’s supposed to be like that. Otherwise, try playing it at 45 RPM instead of 33. Why would we press an album on two 45 RPM discs instead of one 33 RPM disc, you ask? Well, the speed of a record, the amount of music you can fit on a side, and the sound quality of a record are all connected: the faster the rotation speed, the less time you can fit on a side; at a certain point, squeezing more music onto one side - regardless of the speed - diminishes the sound quality; depending on the length and dynamics of the music, it may sound better at 45 RPM. So, if an album is too long for a single 33 RPM 12”, but not so long that it requires two 33 RPM 12”s, we may press it onto two 45 RPM 12”s to make it hit your ears in the most pleasing and powerful way possible. Similarly, we may press a 7” at 33 RPM if the music is too long to sound good at 45 RPM. Bored? Us too.

The sleeve and/or packaging of my record came bent, smashed, scratched, wet, or otherwise disfigured.

That’s not good. Please return it to your place of purchase. And maybe ask your mail person to be more careful, if they brought it to you.

My record does not have any of the above problems, but the music sounds terrible throughout.

Try comparing it to the digital version via the download code that came with your record; this will tell you if what you’re hearing is generally what the record is supposed to sound like. If that all checks out, please double-check the label on your record. If it says Sub Pop, you’re probably just not getting it; try listening some more. If it does not, well, sorry, but that’s what you get.

Vinyl is too expensive! Especially those overwrought deluxe editions.

Vinyl costs a lot to make! Especially those overwrought (though we prefer to call them “artful” and “experience-enhancing”) deluxe editions. We do our best to price records so you can afford to buy them, our artists can afford to make them, and we can afford to stay in business. On occasion, the creativity of the artists with whom we work (and/or our inflated sense of self-importance) causes us to make a fancy-pants - and sometimes defective! - version of a release. While we hope you find these items worth your hard-earned cash, we also release albums on CD and on this here internet thing at lower prices so you can acquire the music (ostensibly the most important part) sans any price-inflating bells and whistles we’ve attached to it.

I love my vinyls!

This is incorrect. You love your vinyl. “Vinyls” is not the plural of vinyl.

I am having a problem with my record that has not been addressed above.

Please return your record to the place of purchase. If—and only if—you bought the record directly from our website, please email websales@subpop.com. Of course, if you have some other question, you may also email us at info@subpop.com.