You can't confuse a hobby with a sales experience. Clubs and audio societies are all about learning. A retailer especially in audio these days can't be all things to all people. If you had walked in and said I want a new X (amp, speakers, system, etc ) and I have X $ to spend they might have been able to help you (and more willing to spend some time). Trade-ins have NEVER been a big part of an audio shop's business, although some might allow (grudgingly) an upgrade in something they sell a lot of. An even lightly used big brand AV box loses value about 10 faster than a new car. A good stereo is complicated. A good AV system even more so and many audio guys don't even bother. It's a specialty.
"High end" store snobbery
Our county lies in a fairly remote part of the country.Our major city of 100,000 has one "high end" shop so to speak.
I visited them yesterday.The store has limited selection of decent stuff-a few McIntosh amps.Marantz.Paradigm ,Focal,Sonus faber etc.No Wilsons or Bel Canto category.
I asked then if they take trade ins-I want to upgrade my one year old Yamaha RX4 AVR,worth $500 retail.
They said they only take high end components for trade i.e.McIntosh etc.
After that conversation, the 3 store employees pretty will ignored my presence and I continued browsing their meagre inventory.
Lo and behold!
In a corner I spotted about 30 items-old Pioneer,Yamaha amps and even an equalizer from the 1970s.Prices ranged from $75 to $500.
I asked :"what are these"
response from employee:"oh, those are items we are familiar with as they were swapped out for upgraded gear by our customers."
Thanks for tolerating my rant...
Gabe