Strange classified responses


I've been buying and selling gear on Audiogon for 15 years as needed.  Recently I posted a great all in one Simaudio ACE for sale and I've received some of the same inexplicable inquiries repeatedly.   I've never seen this before and I'm curious if this is a common problem on the boards now.  

All responses are from recently created accounts, with zero feedback and ask variations of "why are you selling?"   

Is is this a common phenomenon or SPAM?   I always answer politely and honsetly but the fact that I'm replacing an all in one for separates has never even kindled a conversation.  

Strange days indeed!



bbyer
@stereo5 :

All responses are from recently created accounts, with zero feedback and ask variations of "why are you selling?"  

Selling is not much fun anymore. Lots more tire-kickers and low-ballers than in years past. It's part of the territory circa 2017.

On the bright side, my growing disdain for selling has helped me to curtail my buying habits. ;^)
Some other fun ones: "will the Moon ACE drive my speakers", "Is the product eligible for an upgrade program", "will the manufacturer warranty the product", "How old is the unit".   

Simaudio just started making the ACE last year!  It's not an old Levinson transport that could be 20 years old.  Why is the unit for sale?   That ones obvious - I bought something even more expensive and now this is for sale and I want to sell it.   If I didn't like it I most likely wouldn't have bought it in the first place and taste is subjective anyhow.  The darn thing has great reviews everywhere online.   It's getting exhausting having to explain to fellow audiophiles that I'm a degenerate audiophile who spent 3x the money on something new.   

Maybe I should just auction it off on EBay and at least the "fun" will be over in a few days. 

My original post was more about the people who create profiles and ask these questions in the middle of the night.  Do you think there is a human on the other end or are they fishing?

or are they fishing?

I wonder if they are fishing or really phishing for details about you. I'm sure it's happening to other members.

E-Bay sucks for sellers, they charge 10% fee when sold and 10% fee on shipping costs. I have an AVR  listed there, and on other sites, and so far, like the OP, a parade of tire kickers  and low ballers with very strange questions.  

So it's not the OP, but its the state of the market place and the very soft resale of audio gear.

 I did have one person that asked questions about each of the details I had posted in the ad - I thought they must have been lonely and just wanted to chat - pretty weird

One thing I've found that seems to reduce the number of instances of "strange questions" - I always include a line at the bottom that states ...

"SEROUS offer only" or 
"PRICE IS FIRM"

It seems to minimize the number of the casual "trollers"

I haven't experience this problem on Canuck Audio Mart - they all seem pretty genuine and knowledgeable about the product listed. 

Give it a try :-)
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On the other hand, I tried to buy a specific phono preamp a few years ago on A'gon and twice after I thought I bought them they (2 different sellers) announce they're not in stock. BALDERDASH. As far as whining about seller fees goes, I've sold lots of stuff over the years and since YOU know ahead of time what you want for the thing, when the auction ends, and what the fees are gonna be, you should simply adjust your pricing accordingly...and answering questions, even dumb ones, takes about a minute. Get over it.
Hey Willie. I agree with you for the most part on dealing gear on Canuk Audio Mart, but it seems to be starting to go the way of KIJIJI. I've noticed in the past year or so, too many tire kickers and lowbllers. Just my experience though.
Many bottom feeders from overseas that are clueless to high end audio i ignore these turkeys!!
Not clueless really but most are from elites and/or religions that consider a seller about two steps below a mangy dog .