What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

I've been a member for many years and have sold and bought a decent amount of gear under this handle. That said and while I appreciate the polish that the publisher has made to the site, people and dealers who now see this as a new retail store have pushed prices to the point that it makes almost no sense to buy.

Always had a great experience, but the BS being pushed by sellers is getting foolish. Used gear is what it is...used. Babied, non smoking and pet free----who cares. Like these sellers never turned on their gear and cranked it or they live in a hermetically sealed ecosystem.

Sort of ruined the experience for me to the point that even looking bothers me. I love vinyl but guys, come on...none of these turntables are worth what people are asking. Speakers- right, only played at a whisper for 18 hours. 

Its cool with me if you think this is the new norm, but i'm not buy-in it, literally.

Too bad

Hello! You guys are leaving out Generation X. Boomers complaining about Millennial's LOL These are your children! Plenty of Audiophile Gen X's around but yes I've seen plenty of my friends (non-audiophiles) go from decent stereo's to sound bars & mp3's. I have collected all of their LP's since the early 90's since they gave up vinyl for cd's & cd's for mp3's. I've reached a certain point now that for me to move up I need to hit the used market.  

@writer2 

Price is definitely part of it. I see vintage speakers listed at higher speakers than they were listed/selling for back in 2008-2010. One one end there's been a lot of inflation, on the other end a lot of people don't believe in paying more for the same thing or something that's even more depreciated 10 years later.

There is also a risk factor...  if I buy new from a store I may be able to negotiate a price and try it at home.  no risk



If I buy new from an internet dealer.. I can pay a few hundred dollars... or less and return it if I don’t like it.  minimal risk


If i buy a used item that lists for $1000 and pay $650 (35% discount) and don’t like it... I own it and have to resell it.... but the risk/loss is a lot less painful than a 35% discount on $5000 piece... so, to take the risk on a high price unit... the market wants a bigger discount.  

Some sites were over-protective of buyers. I understand that there are questionable selling practice by some.

But at the same time, I dealt with more and more buyers whose expectations were unrealistic. Expect everything perfect, a tiny thing you missed or not pictured perfectly, you would be coined a liar. Full refund and dispute and all. Always haggle about shipping cost (which is a lot nowadays). One time, an RCA input wire got loose --- the buyer didn’t wanna connect it back himself, he doesn’t want hire a local guy to put the wire back --- they demand the unit fully refunded at my expense, or ship to the original factory to put the wire back. Yea.

I started to encountered a few who falsifying operating condition just to file a claim to force refund. Paypal’s policies made it worst (a little better if you’re selling in eBay). Some would try saving return shipping by using flimsy boxes to cut weight, instead of using the original factory boxes. That usually end up damaging the working items (and make the situation even worst against the seller)!

The other not so obvious thing is ... my stuff is mostly tubes, and I seriously doubted people know how to operate them. Some are like big spenders who wanna get into this cool hip retro thing, and is completely clueless about its safe operation. If I am selling something modern, idiot proof like Ayon or Music Reference, great, but any vintage, or DIY stuff or un-even QA stuff (VAC, Counterpoint), I would get a return request 9 out of 10 times.

Would giving away my used stuff to avoid such hassle help? Not really. Some of my friends felt I was forcing my "trash" down their throat. They do not appreciate my good will at all. Even those "charities" become so nit-picking ... anything that look old, they would refuse pickup (seriously).

I am resorting to yard sale sometimes, simply trash them thru recycle some other times, unless the items are working great and worth serious cash to go thru the used market sale, and I don’t wanna ship anymore.

Not because of risk of shipping damage, but to avoid abusive, nit-picking buyers.