Pet Peeves - my Rants and Raves


Having been in this hobby for 30 years, I have seen it all. Perhaps it is just me but there seems to be more and more bad experiences being encountered. Not to be a whiner but here are my Pet Peeves and other observations.

1. "Nickel and Dimers" - this drives me nuts! You place a "For Sale" ad where a product is priced at or below the lowest price on Agon (in history from Blue Book)and you still get the lowball offers. I know, just ignore them...what about when they call you? It is a waste of everyone's time. Then you have the people who try to weasel out of paying freight or insurance or Paypal. I had a guy the other day buy speakers and request that I fund insuring them for 2x of what they are worth (this after paying 20% below mkt price and me eating Paypal fees). My advice, this is an expensive hobby. If you cannot afford it, do not waste other people's time. One other story...just last week on a $1k preamp purchase (full asking price) a member removed the batteries from the remote! Talk about cheap!

2. Refusal to call me on an expensive purchase or sale. I don't know about you, but if I am making a multi thousand dollar purchase or sale, I require speaking with that person. Call me silly, but over the years it has been my experience that the "gut feel" of speaking with someone generally is accurate. Particularly when dealing with members who have little or questionable historical Feedback. I find it more and more common for people to refuse to call or provide phone numbers. I know, avoid these people.

3. Packing materials - Is it just me or do packing "peanuts" drive you crazy? Seems like foam or bubble wrap work as well or better and do not get all over your house and the equipment just shipped to you. If you must use peanuts, be sure to seal off the equipment (including tubes) with bags so that the peanuts and residue do not get into the equipment. One other item, always wrap any equipment with a bag or something that protects it from rubbing against the packaging - this includes speakers not just electronics. Even if it is a garbage bag, this is better than nothing.

4. Tire Kickers - people who have no intent at all of buying your equipment but just want to compare it to theirs. If this is your intent, simply state it up front.

OK, these are my opinions. Nothing more, nothing less. Your thoughts or other Pet Peeves or Rants and Raves. It is good to get these out on the table as there are new people coming in. Some simple rules of etiquette may be helpful.
jeffga
If someone is going to use those 'peanuts' - they ought to be the dissolvable kind that are made out of cornstarch. Just dump them in the sink - turn on the water - no more peanuts. Probably the reason these are not more widely used is (I bet) that the 10,000 year lifespan-Styrofoam peanuts are cheaper.
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I think as a seller it is up to me to offer insentivs for the buyer to buy.I offer splitting the paypal fee or none at all.Just because you are offering the piece for below the cheapest price of one that sold on agon doe's not make it "book price".Many items are above blue book that have sold for the "agon price".I subscribe to Orion Blue Book for about $200.00 a year.I always ask the seller if that is their final price unless they state they will not go any lower in the ad.I especialy ask if the item has been listed for several days,I see nothing wrong with bartering by either buyer or sellr,after all you can just say no.Just my thoughts.
I agree completely wit Dopogue's comments regarding PayPal. I'm pretty inexperienced on this site, but I've not charged a "fee" -- a fine, really -- for using PayPal the couplafew times I've sold something here. When I see Product X listed for $2,000 and click on the listing to see what's what, it seems not a little disingenuous to read as a part of the description: "Add 3% for PayPal." So the seller is really asking $2,060 for the thing, right? PayPal is convenient for both the buyer and the seller. Why not consider that little fee a cost of doing business? I once saw a listing here in which the seller said that he did not charge "ridiculous" PayPal fees. Amen to that.
I have a rule of thumb that if a man can't admit to enjoying at least one song by ABBA, John Denver, and the Carpenters, then the maturity and independence of his musical taste is a little suspect.

As we grew up we all knew scores of people whose taste in music was imprisoned by their perception of what is cool. I suppose that's nearly unavoidable if your 13, but it is sure nice to grow up and hear music for what it is regardless of what other people think about it.

Mind you, I personally could not truthfully say I enjoy more than a couple of songs by ABBA, so none of you start to think I'm not cool....