What's going on with the audio market?

With Brexit, now what will happen to British audio?   A buyer's market ahead?

@mapman , where you been? It's been as strong of a buyers market for the last 1+ years as I've ever seen, even going back before Audiogon was created.

Sure. things can always get worse, but how much can you buy if nothing is selling? After a year of taking advantage of a buyers market, I now have to stop as nothing will sell. What looked like a steal only 6 months ago (60-75% off list) now has to be given away at another 25-30% loss.

As a seller ( and a buyer), I have halted buying until the market recovers a bit, and I can sell some of my extra gear.
Now if gear starts selling for 10% of list, I may be tempted to buy some more. ;^)

Jmcg that's interesting.  I have not sold anything here in about a year.  Last I did I did get a fair price but it took a couple markdowns by me to sell.   Not huge ticket items but I could see where the pricier items around these parts could be a very tough sell. 

I have kids still going to college and several years from retirement so I know I have to watch what I spend on discretionary stuff.  

Got the paddles out for this thread. I was going to chime in on the tariff thread, but it got a bit heated and was shut down.

I’ve been buying and selling gear for nearly 30 years—more than most, but probably modest compared to some here. Early on, I was on the merry-go-round like many: maybe 12 speakers, 15 amps, a few DACs, tons of cables. Sometimes I’d just eat the shipping cost, other times I made a decent flip—once even $5k on a speaker pair. Nearly pulled the trigger yesterday on a favorite I could’ve made $1k on, but… trading speakers, ugh.

Looking at the used market now, it feels a bit stale. Tons of listings—2,000+ speakers, 600+ integrateds—some of it exciting. Back during COVID, I remember only about 100 integrateds for sale.

Is the market oversaturated? Are sellers asking too much? Or is there a broader economic anxiety driving it? I’ve traded far less in the past 5 years, partly because of life (kid in college), but also because I’ve hit a kind of audio nirvana. Still riding that wave—for now—until I get bit.

 

 

 

 

This thread epitomizes the expression, "the more things change the more they stay the same."

Old thread but always a relevant topic.

Times of increased costs (inflation plus now massive taxes/tariffs) like year 2025 impact mainly the lower classes.  Wealthy people have the money to pay and are less affected.  Fewer items get sold and more go to wealthy people able to pay the premium cost being charged.

Tack on less fortunate people receiving low pay and fewer benefits and you get the "squeeze" that is basically driving everything in this country at present,  Luxury items like high end hifi gear are merely part of the overall situation.