Audiogon is becoming the hub for scammers.

The INTERNET  has been,  IS,  and will always be the hub for scammers.

BUYER BEWARE!

"Let's be careful out there."

As a best practice, I always work to engage a seller in a substantive conversation about their gear, audio in general, what have you.  Scammers are not usually capable of holding that conversation in a way that doesn't raise red flags.

So by the time I've purchased something, I usually have a pretty good sense of who I am purchasing from, unless they are actually both audiophile and scammer, which isn't particularly common, I don't think.  Plus I've had some pretty enjoyable interactions.

It’s the responsibility of the manufacturer.
Before you allow your blood pressure to rise from my comment please allow me to explain.

When you purchase a Ferrari, either new or vintage, the owner is entered in a registry so every owner is verifiable. The registry also contains maintenance and provenance data. Enter the VIN on the registry and every single detail of the car appears. If the last address doesn’t meet or match the current owner then you can be suspicious.

Pass Labs does this, McIntosh I’m not sure.

I’ve bought/sold hundreds of items through this site and others over the past 20 years.. I have never, ever registered any of it with a manufacturer including probably 10 Pass items. Many of these items change hands multiple times.  It is NOT the responsibility of a manufacturer to keep track of every item they have ever sold. It is ridiculous to think that they would or even could.

Becoming lol. It have been for 10 years. One dealer has had the same pair of Wilson Sophia 3s (might I add spelled wrong) listed on here for at least 5 years. It has to be fraud. Paying for the same listing and never selling them or lowering the price? Get real. 

I am new to Audiogon and until now I have relied on it solely as an informative discussion forum for audio equipment owners and users to discuss the various pros and cons of THIS versus THAT brand of gear.

I have learned a lot here that I probably would not have ever found out about had I not discovered Audiogon.

I have audio equipment which I would like to sell, but until now I didn’t know Audiogon is also used as a venue for buying and selling used equipment.

I’ve always thought eBay was THE one-and-only go-to place for buying/selling second-hand items of any kind, be it antique silverware and chinaware, vintage clothing or old phonograph records, etc.

I like the idea of selling audio equipment here, because it’s being directed at a focused specific audience, rather than at the broad, generalized kind of audience that you find on eBay.

Seems to me anyone wanting to sell or buy equipment here must first register with Audiogon, same as we have to on eBay - as well as be a registered PayPal user, because PayPal is at present the best way to guarantee that neither the buyer nor the seller is cheated or scammed. A seller doesn’t get his money until the buyer has received his goods and is genuinely satisfied that he’s gotten what he was promised. Vice-versa, a buyer doesn’t get his goods until the seller has received his payment in full. This is the only fair and right way to do business with complete strangers.

It’s hard to be scammed if we abide by these rules and do our due diligence.