"High end" store snobbery

Agree with what AKG-CA said in above post.

Personal experience with a famous dealer in Delware ,who accepted Mcintosh and AR in trade in but refused AVRs

Bingo!

I completely agree with the “be a real cash buyer” advice above. Sell your receiver yourself. Probably the best place being your local Craigslist.

I have found this to be true (sell your used audio gear yourself, not trade in) not just with audio, but also with cars. I have been better off selling my old car to CarMax for cash (they make it very easy), then buy the new car outright with the dealership, as now I am focusing on one single deal (buying a new car), rather than two deals at the same time (trading in my old car AND buying the new one)

@jeffseight     A real cash buyer.

Yes!   Real cash buyers can negotiate discounts on expensive gear if they don't fog the deal by offering to sell their item.  For the dealer that just kills the deal as he has to get rid of the part exchange item that probably doesn't match his market profile or his customers' requirements.

Horses for courses.  Sell your used gear on Audiomart, eBay etc etc.

Take a nice 1 1/2 hour drive to see Domenic at Hawthorne Stereo in Seattle.

They also may not want your trade so sell it on US Audiomart.

Become a real cash buyer.

if the OP lives in north puget sound, he could try Hawthorne Stereo.

Your item  would maybe get a $200 trade in never trad in at a store , actually

craids list would be ideal that .depending how much you have to spend there are dealers that will ship on trial especially for dacs .

One thing about this that comes to mind is that if they're the only audio dealer in town you don't have to worry about competition. They have less reason to treat people well if they don't want to. One reason they might be loath to take trade ins is that they have comparable used equipment in stock and its not moving. For someone in your situation an audio show would be a good alternative because it's ethical showrooming. You could listen to a lot of stuff, figure out what you like and then buy it online - or even used. That wouldn't solve your trade-in problem, but it would seem a solid state AVR would be pretty easy to ship and thus selling it yourself might make you more than you'd make in trade.

So? Just go somewhere else.

I live in a seasonal seaside community with 20 million dollar homes but there are no good audio stores. You need to go to a city- where the money comes from. 

Arrogance is in every industry just shop elsewhere. The used market is alive and well here and on US Audiomart. With some research and risk you can do well.

Good luck on your journey!

Breaking news!!! The stores are for profit. Not charities.

And if you want to sell your receiver, there are places to do so, such as eBay or Craigslist

Their message to decline your AVR would have been the same, but with a much better form …your post suggests a very poor form on their part

Agreed on this. No need for them to be a jerk, even when figuring out there is zero profit opportunity. Being polite, gentle, and having compassion, goes a long way

I can sympathize with your disappointment, but and it’s a BIG “BUT” ,..IMO there is another a couple of key factors that drove their choice that they declined to share with you,

Simply put, the vast majority of audio dealers simply don’t take in trades on AVRs …with the rare occasional one being the rare and very VERY high-end $$$$ units that are mint and less than two years old. These high-end $$$$ ones are the rare 3 or 5 year warranty units.

The 99% of limited one year warranty units and pricepoint units swamp the market in terms of numbers ,,,we all know that. It’s a major impediment to dealer accepting AVR trades. AVRs are viewed as not LT customer investments , they are viewed as ST use units that are replaced by new tweaks or unit failure , which ever comes first . …. ergo substantive disposables that’s the arena of the big-box stores that they don’t compete in.

Q why?
A let me explain

The AVR OEM mfgs won’t service any units out of warranty , which translates quickly into an absence of available parts . AVR HDMI boards ( especially out of China ) are nortorious for common failure . Also, go and get a qualified pro tech to service one yourself  these days —— good luck with that too. They refuse them now and refuse to get dragged into Frankenstein-ing repair parts.

. Dealers don’t want the taint of a pissed off customer complaint who suffers the problem of a comparatively failure that renders the resold AVR to a status of a boat anchor.

- OEM AVR mfgs annually come out with their latest flavour with its tweaks =

(a);they now only carry THOSE parts FOR WARRANTY…. Full,stop

( b) the latest and greatest tweaks …that’s the current customer interests arena … not the resale market thats a real tough sell. Hence, obsolescence in AVRs is huge, ( HINT: think bobsled to hell …) because of this consumer scent for the latest and greatest features AND the comparatively short useful life of an AVR.

(C) The pre-owned 2-channel audio market is MUCH different in that it has a niche for “vintage” units appealing to the nostalgia fan cohort …however it’s absent/nada / zippo, for AVRs = they mostly get banished to the local Craigslist marketplace . The dealer sees minimal profit and much trouble in for them keeping slow moving (if at all ) for sub-$$$$ AVRs in their inventory .

- A final cold hard fact is that the $$$ of what you propose to buy is ALWAYS a finsl tipping point determining factor on ANY dealer trade in …full stop.

TAKEAWAY

Most dealers will politely tell you upfront that they never take in 99+% AVRs for all the reasons above .

IMO your dealer , could have and should have, been more polished and attentive to you in delivering that very common marketplace reality check message.to you.
Their message to decline your AVR would have been the same, but with a much better form …your post suggests a very poor form on their part

carry on …

So they have more low end inventory than they need.  They should have worded it that way.

Jaf and Pet:

The place is in Bellingham WA.

One shop for "X" product is the norm here.No competition.

Anyway,I'll check out Seattle,seems like there are some very decent shop shop there.

You can play smarter and present your Yamaha near the end of the trade leaving little space for them to think. Anyway bad service, but they are not the only ones, and it is strange for a smaller city.

gabor2525

Where are you located? I would certainly seek out a better Audio shop. A 1-shop town is no good.

Happy Listening!

It happens. Typically, I would never go back. 
 

If you are really interested in audio, then a trip to a major city can be really worth it. Call and explain where you are in the process and what you like. Then they should make sure they have time for you. Take your partner for dinner and a mu vie or something.