Does it bother you when you see inflated MSRP’s for used gear on AG?

You're not alone. Several times I have sent a PM to point out the error.

No not really, I just look at it as the first indication of who I might be dealing with. Enjoy the music

I have not knowingly experienced this when looking for items I was interested in.... 

Nope … it no longer bother’s me. It’s getting worse .

No amount of intercedence or suggestion I might provide will get them to change or fix it . And their umbrage invoked on the effort

MY TAKE :

Fine …. Carry on …. Each to his own ….. no worries

You can try to heal the sick, but you can’t raise the dead ,

Come on...it’s economics 101—what the market will bear.

I tried negotiating with a seller and he promptly asked, "Do you want it or not?"

it bothers me, but then again, sometimes when selling gear I purchased used, I do some research and find a few different MSRP, and there has been no changes to the item...it often seems during Covid many list prices went up, then came back down again...

It irritates me to no end why they do that. I have tried to correct a few, but always get shot down. One guy did ask me if I wanted it or not and before I answered he said he had plenty of offers. 3 weeks or so later, he sent me a "still interested?" and I told him I was never interested in it, just wanted him to know the suggest retail price was way too high. I also said, "you had all those offers, I guess they figured out you jacked up the retail on it." After that, it was curtains. Sky Fi was the worst, I was basically told to GFMS.

No it doesnot both me , only a fool would pay for a jacked up price 

I never would rarely even pay 50% , unless it was exceptionally good and 

could not get one new for a  good price would I pay max 60% if pretty new.

why it should?

one can buy the other can't no biggie

@stereo5 Sky High... someone must be paying their asking.

Lots of people do this.the way I view it is that either they were scammed when they bought it, or they are looking for someone to prey on. 
 

what bother me more is people bragging about their systems and using jacked up prices to illustrate how good their system is….

Price is one thing, but condition grading is what gets me steamed. Calling 40 year old amps a "9" and so on. I send corrective messages to sellers on a regular basis. Sometimes they thank me, and other times they ask if I'm interested in buying the item.

Not all audio equipment is purchased in the USA.  Some other countries have significantly different retail prices when compared to the US.

Are you only buying at MSRP?  If not, who cares!

There’s a sucker born every minute. If you are an Uninformed buyer, than you might be that sucker.

Perhaps the MSRP listed by some is adjusted for inflation? The same inflation we are told is minimal at most…. 🙄

I inquired about a trade-in for an amp I owned. I was quoted 100% of the current MSRP price even though my amp was bought before the price increases during COVID.

My takeaway is that this dealer plans to resell my amp relative to the current MSRP price.

It does bother me...I'm fine with paying a premium (relative to eBay or craigslist) for gear sold on the site, but I expect honesty from the seller even if I can do my own research. I will say that 90% of the agon buyers and sellers I've dealt with are straight.

listing hi legal

offering low legal

rite of seller and same for buyer.

good luck

Any used gear was manufactured in the past. Each sale makes the exisging ones more rare. The rarer valuable things become, the more the existing ones cost. What do you have to pay for a 1927 Siver Dollar? Considerably more than $1. Is this surprising? There is lots of fine new gear available now that will outperform the old sttuff. Spend wisely, enjoy the music!

A little context I’m Scottish, audio prices in my eyes are way over priced so right there I walk away from most new gear. Knowing Audiophiles are audio restless consequently there will be many pampered units in the used market.

Now I have a rules I buy within one hour driving range ( Philly NYC), never pay more then 50% of the new price, this percentage goes down as the gear ages. I just wait until my price points are reached. I have purchased my current system this way and saved a couple thousand. I purchased an integrated amp, main speakers, subs and speaker cables all used from different sellers. I did buy my cd player new. In all cases the seller came down in price. I also got lucky on timing and age of gear. Luck does have its place buying used. Oh I look but never bought on Agon. 

My favorite "ad copy" nowadays (and it cracks me up that nobody even TRIES to be original, they just retype what has been used a thousand times before):

"RARE Vintage (fill in the blank piece of gear -- usually Realistic, BIC, or White Van Speakers).  No lowball offers -- I KNOW WHAT I HAVE!!!"

@scott22 I read your entire post in a Billy Connolly accent.

A little context I'm Scottish, 

If you want to buy something used and you think the dealer is playing silly buggers with the price, I would think the thing to do is to make an offer of 50% of the retail price and explains your reasons to him. He doesn't have to sell it at your price and you don't have to buy it at his.

yes. it bugs me on usam and anywhere else fake list prices are postaed. 

heretobuy

New does not work that way used does. Dealers have all that overhead to contend with and a small market so they are not gonna negotiate that much. 

It revolves around the 'desirability' of said item...

If 'it' was explicitly 'good', it depends upon how many for how long it was made and offered....and how many have survived relatively intact.

Then it's in your court; how much are you willing to spend to have one.....

'Twas always thus...:)

@bigkidz +1. Im more pissed when they sell way about the book value. 

@audioman58 : +1 Agreed. 50% retail is my cut off as well for used gear.. Jeff

Many times when you get greedy people their  item unless super popular 

will be sitting for months , unless it says OBO.

In defense of those asking if you’re interested in buying the item…I find equally annoying public inquiries (very common on a motorcycle forum I’m on) with detailed and often accusatory questions along with requests for pictures, etc., once all hoops are jumped through, they disappear. I think there’s a segment that wants to show the world how smart they are by interrogating a seller and having them go through a myriad of gymnastics while never having the slightest interest in buying. Inflated list prices seem minor in comparison. 

I find it mostly on Ebay ... annoying it may be but sooner or later someone will buy it.  It's in the seller's interest to wait.

Long lead-times for new equipment also keep asking prices high ...

Ultimately all that matters, price wise, is the selling price...

They can ask what they want, but it is only worth what the buyer pays for it. If the buyer pays a high price then it must be worth that much to them. I never pay more than what the product is worth to me, no matter what the buyer is asking.

Just yesterday I saw a pair of Sennheiser wired ear buds on USAM and the seller quoted a retail price. He was asking was 50% of that price. Naturally, I quickly and painlessly looked these up on Amazon and a dedicated audio retailer and found the actual retail price to be substantially lower than the seller indicated. I was considering making an offer for these earbuds but not after I caught him inflating the supposed retail price. BTW, I consider the retail price to be the actual price you would pay for a brand new unit under full warranty from an authorized retail channel. For older models that are out of production I use whatever the reviews say was the retail price at the time of the review.

I've got a simple piece of advice for sellers. When you inflate the retail price of your item it just makes you look dishonest and stupid. It only takes a few keystrokes to find out the true retail price.

Who gives a Sh**, to each their own…too many Web police officers a detectives on the forums calling people out.  Just don’t buy the item if it’s listed wrong or priced wrong, a good buy is the perception of the one paying for it with his/her money not yours.

This is a tough question. In short it depends on whether you are a buyer or a seller.

As a seller I price my component high- hoping for the "Greater Fool"  In short people with money here not the greater fool. 

As a buyer I think an honest meeting in the middle between my motive (for free) and the sellers motive (a profit) makes for a good deal.

What really bothers me is when I'm a legitimate buyer with cash and want a legitimate used item price the seller pretends his item is worth what he paid for it,

In the end there are 3 things that force a seller to accept reality: Death, divorce and Debt.  That's when the prices get real.  To you old bastages who hope someone is dumber then you I say "good luck dinosaur" 

@yesiam_a_pirate I don't understand your point in the last sentence. 

To Bigkidz and others:  No, you’re not buying at MSRP but in a number of cases you don’t know what the item originally retailed for.  Inevitably, you do some research and find the $ to be inflated, sometimes substantially.  As someone posted on this thread, it does give you an idea of who you’re dealing with when that occurs.

Sellers listing inflated MSRP is a good indicator of who you may be dealing with. Items are only worth what someone is willing to pay (looking at you Mr. DoYouKnowHowLuckyYouAreImSellingThis)

What I have a problem with is deceitful behavior from retailers. The worst offense I witnessed was from a certain YouTube’r insisting his rebranded Doge integrated was a much better value than a similarly powered PrimaLuna, while quoting his amp’s price in US dollars, and the PL in Canadian dollars…“inflating” the price by about $1500. This sailing vessel can’t sink quickly enough in my opinion.

Skyfi gets away with their pricing due to their proximity to NYC, and the fact that vintage gear is hot at the moment. Those people are happy to pay insane prices in order to wallet wave when the opportunity arises. It’s a badge of honor. If you want to lose your mind, just look at their car listings.

Audiogon should just remove the New Retail Price field, it serves no real purpose

I’ve messaged sellers that do this and said with the MSRP you have listed and asking price you’re about 40% of retail; the actual MSRP is this so at 40%  I’ll offer this lol I guess you can imagine that doesn’t go anywhere

Don’t buy it if the price is not right. 

Testpilot:  is it really that difficult to list the *correct MSRP?  I don’t get it.

*e.g. the MSRP at the time of purchase, or or more accurately in those rare cases where they diverge, the MSRP when the component was manufactured.  

leaving the New retail Price box blank is always an option when in doubt...

@russellrcncom ,  leave the msrp blank.  If it is important to the buyer, they can perform their own due diligence.  Why draw the scrutiny from the pricing police.  Problem solved.  

In Bloomington IN, the spiral ham was at price point of $131 with around $13 per pound. Same one in Ohio was in the vicinity of $10 for whole thing with just buck per pound same ham so go figure where you spending right or wrong.

It took me a trip to Shanghai to realize that batteries aren’t that expensive for EVs and Americans pay around 20x of what Chinese pay.

Doesn't bother me at all.  I just ignore them.

What bothers me is the insane MSRP that gets put on an item so the dealer can "discount" you 20 or 30% so you feel like you got a deal. For example an ARC Ref 750 MSRP is a cool $84,000 plus tax. Are they insane? Have you ever looked inside one of these? Cheap frame, messy wiring, not very impressive caps....disappointing from a once great company. 

Then someone wants to sell a used one a decade old they ask $42,000 arguing that "It's half of retail".  No it is not. And it won't sell anywhere near that. And it didn't sell for anywhere near MSRP when it was new.