What exactly is "B stock"?

B Stock can be what Jerry says. It can also be much much more.... Usually what Jerry described is sold as "refurbished".

B stock can be brand new gear. They have left over inventory of the old model in the warehouse brand new. They want to clear it out. To help lower the wholesale price they shorten the warranty period. Since they are not selling it with the full new warranty, they slap a B Stock label on it.

B Stock can also be brand new gear that did not pass final inspection because there are slight cosmetic blemishes. Electronically perfect, just might have slight imperfections on the chasis somewhere.

I personally am not afraid to buy B Stock, even refurbushed gear.

In addition to the above, I suspect the occasional tout of B stock may reflect a sales person's effort to circumvent a dealer's factory authorized territory, often citing the opened box or slight blemish in consequence, when in fact the goods are as new.

Thanks for the answers; I appreciate them. On the subject of "refurbs," I will add that in the past decade I have bought two "factory refurbished" units from a major manufacturer of electronics with a good reputation, both at reduced prices but from an authorized dealer. I wound up having trouble with both and was left with the clear impression that I'd bought someone else's problem or lemon. I won't be buying "factory refurbished" again, although of course I may have just had bad luck. For whatever it's worth.

I purchased a pair of B stock dynaudio special 25's that were used as the demo pair for Stereophile magazine. They are perfect in every way, I have a full set of measurements for my individual pair of speakers in the June 2005 stereophile, and Dynaudio has honored the full warranty and all other perks of buying "A" stock. Sometimes B stock can be very good buys.

I'm in the middle of a mess with an overseas seller that may be selling "B" stock as new. This is only speculation at this point because the seller is checking with the factory to determine if they made the modification. If we find that they in fact did not do it at the factory and it was not modified by either myself or the original buyer (I purchased on Agon from a very reliable and trustworthy source who did not even open the chassis.) This has the potential to be quite harmful to the credibility of this seller. So does the seller have a duty to disclose that a product was in fact a return, although it may be cosmetically perfect on the exterior?

Survey says ....