Does anyone or does everyone pay retail price?

I bought retail Rowland 102 and Benchmark DAC1. Both of them have 5 years warranty but only for the first owner.

Buying new provides always newest revision of the gear. Buying used Benchmark might end-up getting older unit with thin sounding op-amps (Signetics NE5532) or high output impedance on unbalanced outputs. They already have about 10 revisions. Buying used Rowland was also risky since it was brand new technology (Icepower) and reliability was uknown.

"At the same time, I doubt any Chevy Cavaliers are sold at retail."

You would be surprised - guy I work with bought spiced-up Chevy Cavalier many years ago and paid more than I paid (within weeks) for brand new Acura Integra (same year). In case of Ford they would have to pay me.