ebay vs audiogon

There are good and bad sellers on both; that said, I find that ebay is just shadier all around. The small handful of A'goners I've dealt with have been, on the whole, more communicative, responsible, friendly, and professional than the ebayers--but that's rather a generalization considering my limited experience.

I also much prefer the classified way of selling. I don't like auctions and won't buy off Audiogon auctions since I don't have to. On ebay I will rarely use anything but buy-it-now. If there is no BIN, I won't bid on anything that suggests I will have serious competition. It's too easy to get carried away or burned.

Ebay buyers often get carried away and pay way too much for an item. I suspect that is one reason people sell there.
It is much more risky. Many scammers are lurking there. Often if I am bidding on an item I get an e-mail offering the same item for lower price. On the rare occasion I make contact with person, it is from someone overseas wanting a wire transfer to proceed. If I ask for serial #, usually they disappear.
Buyer Beware on Ebay!

I have the opposite experience. I have over 150 deals on ebay and 10 deals on audiogon. I have had 3 sour deals all on audiogon none on ebay. It was mainly my fault as I dealt with 0 or low feedback guys each time. I also have more offers that are not kept on audiogon as the system allows non-members to contact us. On ebay I have been lucky because I buy the seller as well as the equipment. The gon allows anyone to post feedback even if no transaction is completed. The reason I was burned is because I felt the membership was more honest here than ebay, but it is just a typical cross section of society. Some good some not. I learned from my audigon experience that here as with ebay you buy the seller as well as the deal and equipment. In closing I would say that ebay nor audiogon in general is better or worst. People will always take advantage when allowed. The false sense that audiogon is safer can get you in trouble someday.

I have bought and sold on both sites and I have found both sites to work well. When I am looking at high end stereo equipment then Audiogon gets my interst. I look at the feedback on Ebay to see what the character of the seller may be like. This sometimes can put up the red flag. A scratch on a component can be tolerable if the purchased price is a great deal even if the buyer was not aware of the issue.

Kevyo

I think the biggest problem in ebay is the "power sellers". A lot of these pick the stuff up from estates or whereever, and often no nothing about high-end audio, etc. They really dont even know HOW to list the items properly. Some guy had a Pioneer Elite CLD-95 Laserdisc player listed as Dolby Digital capable. I looked it up to make sure (I was already pretty sure it wasnt DD capable), and sure enough, it was not. I emailed him and he thanked me and changed the listing.