An old phrase which, I believe, may be timely...


The idea of "buyer beware" is not new, but may be very timely.  Knowledge is our best defense against being fooled/taken/scammed.  

I owned a very high end modern/Scandinavian furniture store for many 
years selling some very famous items, some of which are at MOMA.  

The famous designer "names" are in frequent use on ebay listings 
for poor quality items that have nothing to do do with those designers/architects. 
And the same can be said for Craig'slist and any other "resale" site....and in this 
economy people are selling off much of their expendable possessions. And yes, 
there are names that can be used in audio advertising for products that have 
nothing to do with those "names".   When in doubt, get an opinion from a 
person with knowledge. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveat_emptor
whatjd
noromance   I don't need to play my stereo outdoors, but I wish I did not feel guilty when I open the big windows behind my speakers to get rid of back wall reflections.  I still do it on Saturdays to drown out the pool speakers down the block, but the guilt is overwhelming... NOT! 
whatjd   I used to watch the time, but after over a decade of retirement,  I have trouble not only remembering the day of the week, but what year we are in.
 @whatjd,
Funny you should mention Scandinavian furniture here. My listening chair is an original Frank Reenskaug rocker.
Where I live we have a consumer guarantees act,which is a helpful tool against the many slippery traders of new goods.The second hand market is still a wild west affair where caveat emptor should be mandatory.In saying that its been my experience that most traders are worthy people with no intention to defraud.The ones that do become well known Shysters,eventually their past catches up with them leaving many unhappy buyers in their wake.
garebear758 posts
 
Thank you for your input.  I have had two bad experiences,  one on ebay and one on AudiogoN.  In both cases the "bad" Buyer in a very short time was not on either site...as I was not the only person they tried to or did scam. 

People are people, Nixon was Nixon....etc.  Although Dick had some early Heathkit stuff he really liked, but Pat was more of a Fisher person. 


Good thread - as I actually had one member here on Audiogon just a few months ago buy an expensive interconnect cable from me owned it for about 10 days and then decided that the cable was "broken'' and wanted his money back. Needless to say that this created an issue with Pay-Pal who really looked at both sides of this situation in which I had to literally defend myself and get verification from the cable manufacturer on why the cable as the buyer described it was in fact not broken but a product / result of his own equipment's shortcomings. This member / provided no information to Pay-Pal support to support his allegation ( hmmm sound familiar ) about the cable being '' broken '' and after about 6 weeks Pay-Pal ruled in my favor. He said ( lied ) that is was broken just to get his money back because he didn't like the sound. I now put ; No Returns on my adds just is case anything like this happens again. If you don't like it is your responsibility to re-sell it - not mine !        
@bob540,
I concur. I have had, for the most part, very pleasant transactions buying and selling used equipment. It is just those bottom feeders that get my goat.
B
I haven’t had any problems so far with buying equipment, but only two of those items were bought used.  I have not sold anything yet, but that might concern me more than buying.  There are people out there that don’t want to pay a reasonable price, that want something for nothing and try to swindle the seller.   It should be a pleasure to deal with others that share the enthusiasm for quality equipment and sound, and instead it can be a hassle.  Everything has its down side I guess.
...or,..."does anybody really know what time it is,..does anybody really care"  CTA album...

+1 about Caveat-venditor.   Those rascal caveats can cut both ways. 
Bad behaviour so prevalent on the internet reaches across many factions. Many are emboldened to behave with out simple basic politeness that a face to face transaction would have. 
Another reason to question the type of freedom we want for the best of all possible worlds. Freedom to play the stereo outdoors versus freedom from noisy neighbors. Freedom to sell with impunity versus freedom from being ripped off by unscrupulous characters. Etc.
Well, it seems that a post to this thread that had no good intent was removed by AudiogoN or the person posting it didn't care to seem as the post made them seem.  Good choice, thank you. 

Interesting thread.
Though I would like to add:
Caveat-venditor -Let the seller beware.

Recently, I have posted a bit of merchandise for sale on the other Audio website.
For the life of me, I can't recall getting so many:
A. Lowball offers
B. Obnoxiously phrased lowball offers
C. Offers from people who's Paypal account has been frozen and want to pay cash
D. Will only buy equipment with a manufacturer's warranty
Now, I have priced my merchandise below recent sales, so there is no question that my prices are fair, but really..😣
Thankfully, the serious buyers eventually bought my merchandise.
Bob
"Caveat emptor" will remain a relevant principal, until there's no further greed, dishonesty or- faulty goods, on the planet.       id est: FOREVER!
I bought a genuine Model 3 Tesla off Craig's List. Got a great price too. Can you imagine, only the third car ever made by the man himself, Nikola Tesla! They say he was ahead of his time and I believe it. This thing looks like it was made yesterday not 100 years ago!
but ebm is correct, buying and selling items like a CJ ART, Magnepan 20, several items from ARC, Thiel, Martin Logan and the like makes me an imposter and novice.

But I understand a user not being able to accurately look at my feedback.
I have 233 all positive feedbacks, just none in recent history.

and I completely understand doing all upper case ’HELLO’ it is my point of reference for many things....yelling with your keyboard is a sign of major intelligence.   , and just to be sure, I should use a few of these,.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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