"Hardly Used / Less than 100 Hours / Took out for pics only"????

"... and I only played soft jazz.  AND, the volume knob was never turned up past 11 o'clock"

“…gentle use”.

There’s also the impulse buy.  Someone may see something they have been curious about at a great price, get it home, then have buyers remorse, especially if they really didn’t have the money to spend.  So it goes up for sale.

I do this constantly.  I try something or buy something and forget I even have it.  I find something I like and stick with it, some of us have a problem but I admit it.  LOL.  Four step program for buying audio gear and not using it.  Really liking my setup now though, hopefully no changes for at least a few months.  :)

It is a legitimate question, however, often plans can change, not referring to emergencies or buyer remorse, and the intended use is no longer applicable. For example, 18 months ago, I bought a pair of Wilson Benesch Discovery II for which I have no use any longer as I was able to fit larger speakers in their originally intended space. As a result, the speakers went on for sale with truly less than 100 hours of use. They were literally opened to get inspected for full working order and pictures. Nothing wrong with the speakers. They sound great and if I had the space, I would have kept them. Therefore, it is possible, judging from my own experience.

From a internet buyer’s perspective, keep your life real simple and don’t read too much into it....It should be a 0, 1 scenario. NEW or USED, that’s all there is.....Don’t fall for the "hardly used, less than a 100 hours, took out for pics only", meow, meow crap. You could read into it as dude's a relatively more desperate seller and bargain more.

If you are visiting with a guy in person to buy some gear, you can infer a lot more now by looking at his room size, choice of music, how much gear he has, etc.

a) If he has a lot of different types of gear, multiple speakers, etc (i.e. gearhead), there is a higher probability that it may have been lightly used (in case it wasn’t his favorite item).

b) Take a glance at his music collection and have him play something. If you get the feeling that he listens to Diana Krall at 60db, he may not have beaten drivers to death. If he’s playing Pantera at 95db, he could have beaten drivers to death.

c) Younger hometheater guys can beat the living daylights out of subwoofers. Be careful buying subwoofers from those dudes. Older audiophiles with "fuller range" speakers could have tried a sub and could have kept it turned off a lot, etc, etc

d) Tube dudes will generally lie about how much usage the tubes had unless you can see that he has many different tube amps or other exquisite sounding SS amps. There is a higher probability that he may have used it less in the latter instance.

e) If ex-wife is selling divorced dude’s gear, you could hit a gold mine w.r.t prices (as she may be selling it at the fake price the dude told her it costed 😁)

etc, etc, etc

Use some common sense, in general.