No problems @dyl71 , I try not to read too much "motive" into posts here and I don't need to defend Audiogon since they are what they are and have done quite well on their own. @elizabeth 's post below is a good example of "what the market will bear." Around here, there have historically been seasonal swings, with certain times of the year being better to sell stuff and other times being better for buyers. There have also been ups and downs relative to the economy and for other reasons. I seem to remember it being pretty tough to sell expensive stuff here in 2008/09. Right now, for whatever reason, sales seem to be in sort of a lull where the items being sold either need to be in relatively high demand or priced competitively, or else they just sit. Being patient is ok for some sellers who can afford to hold until a better sales climate comes along. Other folks who need the money will have to reduce their price until the market, or the perfect buyer, decides it is low enough.
Unfortunately I have to disagree on that the majority are asking too much. It is only the poor market that is driving prices down. I do not consider at all that 55% of new price for a popular in demand item that is only 3 months old is greedy. But the amount of either lowball offers received or just plain apathy was an eye opener.
Sure if you list it cheap enough then it will sell and if you do not have much money in it or you just REALLY need the money right away then fine. But the vast majority I believe are in similar position to myself at upgrade time in that I need a fair price for my old items to go towards my new items.
And we could argue all day on what constitutes fair price.....
With respect, "fair" listing prices don't seem to have much to do with selling used audio gear, which seems to be based more on what the market will bear at the time of sale than on any subjective idea of what constitutes a fair price. If a seller chooses not to part with their stuff for a price below what they believe is fair, then the consequence is that they wait longer for a willing buyer to come along. It seems to be really that simple.
Agreed Mitch And everyone is going to have a different viewpoint of what is fair.
Sometimes the right buyer for the right item can appear instantly. Other times it may be 6 months IF you are holding firm on what you consider fair.
Still back to the initial OP.
Sales are still VERY slow on the gon more is the pity! I have sold way more gear on eBay than here which as duly noted carries a 10% fee AND 2.9% PayPal fee. But at least they have sold although I was successful in some clandestine pm exchanges to direct a couple of interested parties from eBay to here instead. However you cannot count that as a success story for Audiogon, rather my tactics.... Lol.
I believe there is more to the current lull than our typical seasonal swings, or economic conditions, and that the high-end market may indeed be shrinking as @cooper52 pointed out earlier in this thread.
The point is that the market does seem to be shrinking and we can point to any number of factors affecting it. I'd put market-saturation at the top of that list, followed closely by an aging constituency (I guess I fall into that category) and then the fact that HEA doesn't seem to be attracting a younger following. My recent visit to the California Audio Show in Oakland was a bit of an eye-opener in that regard: I'd guess the average age of the attendees on the day I was there was somewhere in the late 50s.
I certainly have some funds to buy new but it's not kind of funds to be able to buy what I would want to. Besides, I might be interested in particular older models. As for younger people, quite a number of them do have money, they just mostly spend it on other things or invest or save. They are also with some exceptions digiheads. When you are outside analog you are unlikely to become true audiophile. Someone would take this thought further - not only analog, outside of tubes there is no audiophile land.
One possible factor could be the rapidly changing technology. Some gear can be outdated before the year is over, sparking interest near the end of year for some good deals.
Hard to pull the trigger on something if a successor is already announced soon after a component is released.
I'm new on here, but trying to buy something - I've asked (probably dumb) questions of the seller, but no replies. Granted, I asked about shipping cost which is probably some kind of taboo, but I'd like to buy! I can't make an offer when shipping could be nearly half the price!
The only dumb questions are the ones not asked imho.
If the seller cannot or will not give you a very close real shipping cost provided you have given him your address or at least zip to get in the ballpark then there may be some reasons. Could be busy or maybe does not want to deal with a new member?
However in my opinion you should probably just move on as yes sales are darn hard to come by and sounds like they do not deserve your business.
There is NO excuse for just ignoring anybody no matter what their train of thought maybe, I have sold items to a number of new members with zero feedback and had no issues at all.
I have found that it's not the sellers fault about not answering all the time.....I have had the Audiogon system so screwed up that it will not let you answer.......I was down to my last two days of a sale and couldn't answer any Audiogon e-mails.......I'm sure I lost the sale over that.....So keep trying......Will
Uberwaltz/autospec, thank you I thought be I was committing some kind of Audiogon faux pas by asking. He has my zip etc, I just don't want to get hit post purchase with a $350 shipping charge!
I guess there could be an email issue although I have not had any problems, have been getting emails regular.
Jerry, if he has a email problem then you could just try just replying direct to their ad with a public reply so that they and everybody should see it, be polite but state your facts.
I sold a Benchmark DAC3, Benchmark AHB2 amp, and Audience 1+1 V3 speaker for 60%-90% of what I paid. This was in the last 60 days. I guess if you have in demand items and the overall cost is not prohibitive your items will move for a good price.
Uberwaltz, Added a public friendly 'nudge' to say he has a message. Hopefully he wants to sell to someone even if they have no feedback (he has 1 - everyone has to start somewhere!). I know that if I was selling an item worth that much, I'd be all over my messages!
My most recent experience on here suggests that some members just do not truly want to sell their item at all.
Without naming I found an integrated amp very interested in here at a fair price, cross checking on eBay showed same amp/seller but $200 LESS than he had on here. I sent a message asking if he could do a better price right here as an eBay sale would cost him near $300 in fees alone and as he was already $200 less there they could afford to cut a break on price here AND still net more for their item.
Their reply was terse and simply said they thought my negotiating tactics were very strange!
Say what? I was trying to get the guy some more money, and save myself a few dollars I admit, but how odd!
I see a lot of the same items listed, relisted, relisted again, etc. I remember seeing this one ad for a pair of school bus yellow Wilson speakers. I have seen the ad for 2 years and the picture is of them in the guys garage next to his Porsche. The ad always says Porsche not included. Honestly, how many of us want school bus yellow speakers in our living room? Perhaps that is why they haven't sold. Also, the price was rather high and he kept mentioning the custom paint job on the speakers.
Thought I would give an update based on sales price of gear of late.
it appears vinyl is pretty healthy, sold three tt and four carts fairly quickly for fair money. cables and the ilk also fairly easy sales again at fair prices. good speakers always sell it seems.
amps if a well renowned brand and In good order also moving ok
the kicker to the selling trend is more modern tech like DACs and streaming devices. Does not matter how highly regarded they were, the tech is so fast moving these are definitely a hard sell at decent fair money . Even priced way below market is still a slow sell.
@stereo5 , That sound like the same guy who was selling a pair of Vandy's a few years ago. They, too, took years to sell. ( and, a custom paint job, too). B
UBER: I would have to ask if you are continual selling items or just one's and two's .......The market place seems to be approached differently by people who see the seller as a dealer...........And that seems to justify the treatment the seller receives.....I find the people doing the most questions, do by far the least buying......I would call them "Dreamers".....It seems that the more questions they ask ??? The more in touch with the item they feel .......I have even tried to let people buy on a two month pay out, just to help the sales process.......But it is very easy to lose patience with people when they have you do very time consuming picture taking and sending and you never even get a "Thanks"..........Will
One issue I am a bit perplexed with is sellers not taking new users seriously. I have seen a few posts from Agon members not wanting to sell to those with little or no feedback. With Audiogon's policies, I can't see how a seller would be taking a risk in selling to such a person- And, we all have to start somewhere. Bob
It does seem some of the eBay mentality towards new users is creeping in but it's crazy.
Example is that 3 of 4 sales made in last couple of months were made to new users with zero feedback. Now if I had turned my nose up because they were new it is possible I may still be sitting on those items now! All went perfectly.
Autospec.
Just selling in one's and twos and it is all my own personal gear from upgrade or change of plans etc.
I refuse to give the stuff away just to make a sale but always open to negotiate on price or a deal to a point.
Unlike one strange seller I dealt with recently who told me i needed to learn to read as if he was open to any offers he would not have limited his listing to a buy it now price only. That's a winning attitude if ever i met one!
I'll tell you why I don't like selling to new guys is the will have you spend hours answering questions, taking pictures and the drop out like a bad habit...........I had a guy just yesterday have me pair up four pairs of 75 pound amplifiers and take pictures of them (36 pictures) that took two and a have hours and he really didn't want anything.....What a waste of time..............Will
I must say sales are very good for my cables and used gear now. Yes tons of questions leading to dead ends over 70% of the time, but I knew this would be the case. I try to inform and answer no matter the length and nature of the questions.
I have been doing this since e-bay started and since Audiogon started the first time, I guess my biggest problem is with peoples honesty , how they will tell you one thing and do something altogether different........Will
Anybody seeing any uptick in sales here or eBay or usaudiomart? Unfortunately even with good pricing (imho) it still appears to be a very troubled market. Only way I have sold many items is to let them go at very low pricing and even then still a fair amount of tyre kicking going on.
There are some items I have used that I can do this with if I feel I have had my monies worth out of. However some other goods where I need to sell to fund new projects I just cannot do so it has to stay at what I consider a fair price.
To rate sales on the big three I would have to say in this order.
eBay if I sell at a no reserve auction but then you run the risk of not getting close to what you really want but at least it will go.
Audiogon if I price a desired item very keenly.
USAAudiomart bottom of the pile, usually only had silly questions from there but hey its free so there you go.
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 😬
Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bi-atches I’ll recruit my army from the orphanages I been to St. Herman’s church and I’ve said my religious vows I’ve sucked the milk out of a thousand cows
I had two phono stages sell within 6 others a few weeks ago. Then again, When I first listed one of those stages a few months ago, it sat for 30 days with crickets.
I haven't sold on audiogon for quite a while, but I've sold about 6 items in the last year with no problem (canuckaudiomart). I listed my MBL 121 monitors last night and they were literally sold in five minutes. And within a couple hours I had 10 more offers to buy immediately. (But then, I tend to list things for cheaper than they are normally found. I don't mind losing a few hundred bucks or whatever in order to make a fast sale).
Good for you Prof. Glad still some life out there. Tbh I have not really had any wasters or tyre kickers of late. Been slow but those who have bought have been great members with sensible questions and fair offers.
I think some used gear is not priced well either. Just because something is no longer available new it shouldn't be listed for more than the original new price.
I haven't been all that active a buyer/seller on the A'gon for some time now. My most recent acquisition was a trade up of my ARC Ref 5SE to the Ref 6. I did the flip with an ARC dealer. The Ref 6 was a broken-in dealer demo (610 hours). The main advantage was convenience of being able to swing 2 units in one deal.
Did I lose money by going through the dealer? Probably, … but the convenience factor was hard to beat. I've done the buy/sell thing on A'gon many times. Making the buy and sell deals, followed up with the schlepps to a local FedEx or UPS store just got old for me, ... because I am getting old. ;)
When I buy used, I generally choose gear that I know is coveted by some portion of audiophiles, and I jump fast on a really great price when I find one. That way I can be reasonably confident of re-selling if necessary. And I always go in simply expecting to have paid some level of expense to acquire the gear. I’m not concerned with getting every penny back when re-selling. I had ten years of use out of my MBL speakers so I have no problem selling them for somewhat less than I bought them. Basically, when I re-sell, I want it gone quick.When I find the lowest previous sale price I often put mine a bit lower so I can always alert "lowest price."
Certainly worked again for selling my MBL speakers. In less than 2 days I’ve had 36 offers for outright buying them, almost no tire-kicking or low-balling.
Someone is picking them up today - I sold for over asking price.
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