Why is selling used stereo equipment involve people from the sales platform?


Most of my audiophile colleagues upgrade their systems by selling and replacing  individual pieces of equipment. The funds from the latest sale are used to purchase a nicer upgraded piece of equipment. For most of us, this is one of the rewards of being an old audiophile.You have an opportunity to sell and upgrade pieces of equipment over many years. I’ve used this approach for many years to successfully upgrade my system without going broke or driving my wife to divorce course. For this model to work, we must be able to post our equipment, offer a price, and negotiate with interested buyers without interference. Several fellow audiophiles have shared examples of increasing levels of intrusion into the cycle of listing and sales. Many of us have experienced almost intrusive recommendations from 3rd parties speaking on behalf of the sales platforms. And many of these monitors seem to  have limited audio experience. I am appreciative of their need to protect perspective buyers from dishonest sellers. But the zeal of these agents of the sites is silly and likely unnecessary. For instance, a site monitor demanded that I resubmit my pictures of a piece of equipment to show that the model number in the ad was correct. His suggestion was to take a picture of the model number on the unit or he’d withdraw the adt. Clever but impractical since the model number is not on the unit. Another example was a colleague selling a used cartridge. He was notified that his photos did not adequately confirm the status of the stylus. I’m used to the market determining what is adequate and accurate — not a third party who I don’t know. Am I being unreasonable by asking the monitors to stop helping me? Do we need a third party protecting us? Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

wfowenmd

I wish it were that simple, The seller is not given the option of igniting the guidance and still posting. That’s not a recommendation. It’s a mandate. 

I never heard of this before. What site are you referring to? I have never seen this here or on Usaudiomart. I thought that you were saying that site members were bothering you because you mention 'third parties", but then you say that you are being made to follow the guidelines. Please clarify.

USAM will do this from time to time, example if you are listing a product as NEW Condition 11 and open the boxes to take pictures they will instruct you to update the ad to a lower grade Mint-10, as you opened the box. Not a big deal IMHO.

I think it is good they monitor the ads and look for deceptive and inconsistent data. 

If OP has encountered this issue on several occasions, it may be that he is posting ads with questionable ratings or other faults. I haven't had an issue ever, and I have been using them since the beginning.