I've stumbled upon GEMM many times in my Google searches for hard to find records. What's the story? Is it good, legit, etc.? Does anyone recommend any alternatives?

I've used it several times, but only for stuff that I'm desperate for that I absolutely can't find anywhere else. It's a last resort, but I've never been burned, nor was I ever ripped off or anything.

I wouldn't really use either myself,they tend to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more over priced than ebay which is sometimes bad enough itself.

Ive seen some absolutely joke prices for easy as a fiddle to find uk 77punk stuff ala clash-complete control standard press for about 15 quid on discoggs and exploited singles for ten quid a pop when they are ten to a penny in a decent second hand shop and would set you back about 3 quid.

I've used Gemm once to pickup a emo record *assfactor 4*for my ex girlfriend for christmas transaction was sweet but did pay more than i wanted to pay.

If I order from Gemm I usually check to see if the seller has their own site - it's usually cheaper that way, instead of getting ripped off by GEMM - they charge a few extra bucks (built into the price) for using the site. It's a last resort for me though I just bought an early, hard to find Don Covay album for $5.99.

well i've been selling on it for over a year and its been a good year there for sales!
i have a website,but use it as another venue.
and i agree,the prices there can be a bit on the silly side..that why i try to do some homework and undercut everyone big style..
ebay is on its deathbed.great news!

As others have said...legit. I find some reasonably priced recent releases there, but for the most part it seems to be a cheap option for people to park their rare and not so rare records at wishfull prices hoping that someone will eventually bite. Another option is Discogs, is not as extensive an offering of records for sale, but I found a fairly priced french version of the Cramps "Songs The Lord Taught Us" and was very happy with the transaction.

Waaay overpriced for the most part. But very legit.

It's legit as legit as ebay in the sense that some of the sellers are good and some are bad. I find that most of the pricing is on the high end.

I used it as a seller before setting up the evil empire records website but found that it didn't get much traffic... I think I had one order over the course of a year. It did allow me to put a search box for my gemm catalog on my myspace page, which I thought was a nice piece even it was rarely used.

Discogs.com is a site that just started recently and it has some nice features. Its geared towards record collectors as much as the sellers, which is kind of nice. I haven't placed any orders or tried to sell anything through discogs yet, though.