What is ad copy like this supposed to mean? "These speakers were bought brand new from authorized (speaker name) l vendor alittle over a year ago. They were opened for inspection and tested for performance. They have less than 2 minutes of usage and they are flawless."
the speakers are being sold at almost 50% less than retail. Why would someone buy speakers then "test them" for two minutes, then sell them a year later? What is a potential buyer supposed to think?
People like myself sometimes have more dollars than sense. This happens all the time and you should take advantage of it as you will get a great pair of speakers. What a country!
I have two amps right now that I bought two years ago. I opened them up to check that they worked properly. I then boxed them up immediately as I was in the process of moving to a new house. I'm in the new house now, have been here for two years, and I still haven't used these two amps. If I were to sell them, my ad would be just as the one you stated in the post and it would be absolutely true. If a potential purchaser was suspicious and chose not to believe me, then all that would happen is that they would lose out on a good deal.
This is also a method of selling "gray market" equipment. That is, directly imported audio equipment which bypasses the authorized USA importer/distributor/retailer network. This method will usually violate any manufacturers warranty. Checking the serial numbers with the distributor or manufacturer will clarify whether the speakers were actually purchased from an authorized vendor. Most buyers don't bother to check because the "deal" could evaporate.
Yeah, John is right. The same thing happens with photo equipment such as expensive lenses. Dealers will open the box,and therefore cannot advertise as new, but your buying a otherwise new lens at a significant discount. You save, and the dealer still profits over his cost paid.
i bought a $3000 preamp this way that was a year old and only opened to take the picture. come to find out it was a dealer who had one of his employees list it so he could sell it in other dealer's areas without getting them mad.
Many times dealers will sell product through AudiogoN. Some will even sell brand new product, but they cannot advertise it as such. So they try to imply that the product has been as lightly used as possible, just for advertising sake, they cannot list it as 'NEW'.
Saw this one a few months ago: New, only used for a few hours.
Emailed the seller and his reply was that because they were used less than 5 hours they were still considered new. I've heard of the 5 second rule; do we have a 5 hours rule in audio?
Also I sometimes think it's a way to sell a new item out of territory and but still make money on it.
Bingo! I once bought a pair of $1800 (retail) speakers from a dealer across the country. He had them listed as demos. When they showed up, the boxes had never been opened. I paid about $1200 for them, a good deal for me and of course he still made money.
I think both cases are pretty common. Sometimes we just get to buying stuff on impulse and after it arrives check it for damage but never really integrate into the system and decide to resell when we get around to it. I did that with a fairly expensive MSB DAC. I never even checked it out and resold it with no problem. Also I sometimes think it's a way to sell a new item out of territory and but still make money on it.
This type of thing happens more than you think. People sometimes find "creative" ways of selling products and then sometimes this is where they end up. Sometimes dealers go out of business and have unopened inventory that gets bought out by other parties whoc sell it here, etc. If the seller has a good rating and you feel you can trust them, go for it. If not find a local authorized dealer and try to negotiate a fair price.
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