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Change needed at Audiogon

Dear members,

I don't know how others feel about stupid inquiries from non-members about items for sale but I will no longer even bother to answer them. I take great care to word the ads as accurately as possible and include enough photos to properly show the listed item. I also try to be realistic with pricing.

I certainly don't mind being asked to soften my price or to do something a little special for an interested party. But when I list the item as being sold only in the U.S., including original box and manual, and the price is firm with the buyer paying for shipping and then an UNKNOWN person with a Hotmail account asks if I will ship to Canada, lower my price and inquires if the equipment includes the original box and manual I get angry. Can't these people read??

As a verified member I would like to see the owners of this website make two changes. We sellers should ONLY receive emails from registered users that have a REAL email address. I don't mind a buyer's real identity being hidden from me during the initial correspondence but feel strongly that Audiogon should know who they are. I would also like to see Audiogon institute a verified "buyer" service for a reduced fee. I know, as a seller, if a buyer were verified I would take even the lame inquiries more seriously. A verified buyer fee could be quite low and upgradeable to full verified status for the monetary difference.

The benefits would help everyone have a little more confidence with each other. It would provide an influx of revenue to Audiogon. It would save all the sellers the grief of crank inquiries.

I want to close this rant with expressing how much I value my association with the fine folks that provide this service and the community involved. All of my sales and purchases through this site have left me feeling that I have made friends. It's just a few anonymous jerks that need to be filtered out.

Feel better now,
Patrick
lugnut

Showing 3 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
I basically agree with the core of your post. I do want to bring up the fact that MANY ( more than we think ) people are actually reading / posting / contacting through their computers at work and do not have computer access at home. As such, hotmail and yahoo accounts become a necessity for those that want to keep their jobs and be able to "play" on the puter while at work. Deleting those people due to their email account would severely limit the potential market for products marketed on A-gon and appear "snobby" since we no longer wanted to do business with people who weren't "approved audiophile A-gon members".

To get around this, A-gon might want to impliment something that Audio Asylum has had for quite some time. That is, the option of setting your email preferences as to who can contact you via the A-gon remailer. This would allow you to choose between receiving email from anyone that wanted to contact you or just registered members.

While i think that this might cut down on both legit inquiries and window shoppers, it could be done at the sellers own preference as they chose to do so. This would allow individuals to come across as being "snobby" or "elite" without casting all audiophiles and / or A-gon members into the same group as it would be up to the individual to decide what they wanted to do. Any comments or suggestions ? Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Lugnut, my point was that people posting from work do not want to use their company's email address for their personal email. This would allow the bosses to keep track of how much actual work was getting done and how much time was spent monkeying around on the internet. As such, they have to make use of some form of personal communications method that does not come through the companies servers or email programs. Hence the wide use of yahoo and hotmail accounts by legit office workers.

Having two log-in names would not be necessary under any conditions as A-gon allows you to log in from ANY computer and use your moniker. The only reason that i can see someone using two monikers would be to act as a "shill" in terms of bidding / feedback or to post rude comments that they don't have the guts to be associated with.

I was not accusing you of being snobbish nor anyone else here of such a trait. I find this forum and group of people to be the most relaxed and pleasurable to talk with out of all of the other audio related websites that i visit. I hope that you nor anyone else took my comments that way, as i was only trying to bring up a point as to how "outsiders" or "non-members" might see things. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Glen and Angela, is it possible that we were triplets separated at birth ??? We seem to be sharing the same thoughts. One way to tell might be to find out if we all have something in common genetically. Let's try this: I don't have a hairy back. How about you Glen and Angela ? : )

Marakanetz, verification involves a credit card. They charge you a small amount and run it through. This verifies your billing address. I can't remember if there is something posted about this somewhere or not to list alternative means of verification. Sean
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