sellers trying to sell used product for 10-20% off of list price

Don't like the asking price ?  Either make an offer, or ignore the listing.   Instead you take the time to post about your displeasure.  Why are you wasting your time ?

" Hmm...you never heard of Harvey Electronics, Meyer Emco, Pc Richard, The Wiz, Sam Goody ? There’s another handful too..."

Sorry, all were mid-fi, at best and none were only "9-store" chains.

The Sound Mill, in Mount Kisco, NY. THAT was a high-end store.

I do not buy or sell on Audiogon, as I live in Canada. I do buy and sell on Canuck Audio Mart though, and have noticed a spiraling trend lately. I used to always list my gear at what I considered a reasonable resale price. Most of the time I would get, or close to my asking price. These days though, I find that lowballing is the norm. I tend to get ridiculous offers that I do not bother responding to. So now I tend to advertise at a price point that is too high, and negotiate down from there.  

We have entered an age of marketing in which every seller expects that the buyer will offer them 25%-30% lower than the posted price. So they jack up the price to ridiculous number and when they drop down to a reasonable price the customer is supposed to think he got a bargain. Its not just here. Go into  retail store. Everything is on sale with 25%, 30. 40% off. Its not really a sale nor is the MSRP the real price. But everyone loves a bargain. So you play the game. Look at the advertised msrp.  Most of the time its exorbitant. No one would pay that price. But when you get the 25-30% off you can brag about how good a deal you got on that Item. 

artemus_5

Absolutely. That is exactly how it is nowadays. It's a known fact in retail, and even in reseller circles. That putting something on "sale", even if it's available elsewhere (or even the same site, think Ebay/Amazon) for less, will sell your item. People jump at the word sale, even if it's not really. How many people actually look at the unit price on a supermarket for instance? 

And since they now expect a deal on everything, and it's considerably easier for people to be brave with negotiating tactics online, as opposed to in person or even on the phone. Now everyone throws out low balls all day, and beat up the sellers. How many ads have you seen that say "low ballers will be ignored" on Craigslist for instance? My point here is that those people are most surely not selling their gear at their asking price, and it's only a starting point. Unless they get lucky that is.