Can Audiogon compete with AudioMart (US and Canuck)

I have only  bought through USAM and Audiogon and it was so much easier buying through USAM because you can do simple things like ask for a phone number and talk to someone in real time about the product they are selling instead of each question taking time before you get an answer. You can get a better feeling about the seller by talking to them instead of getting a cut and paste answer.

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To me, USAM is what Audiogon once was, and it is where I look when I'm seriously considering buying something. I have never been a seller on either site, opting to find a local buyer when I decide to let something go. The majority of stuff I've bought was through Audiogon, simply because I started with them back in 2010. But in the past several years, the few purchases I've made have been mostly through USAM. Never had a bad experience with either service that I can recall. I think it's a good thing to have both as choices, because each definitely caters to a slightly different need/customer. And I have to agree with the post about sellers being easier to communicate with directly via USAM; it just seems like a more relaxed experience for some reason.

There are many ways the commerce side of this website could be improved to create a better user experience, but it just feels as though the focus is mainly on extracting as much revenue as possible from existing users. That may work in the short term...

Example - location visibility - with shipping costs as high as they are now, I’m far more likely to transact with a seller who is reasonably local. On US Audio Mart, I can see the seller’s state directly in the search results, so I can quickly focus on listings in VA, NC, and sometimes DC.

Why not add that to Audiogon? 

It seems like such a basic usability improvement, especially for large, heavy, expensive audio gear where the option for local pickup can secure a deal.

Yeah, I know I can go inside and fiddle around with the search feature and use ’Miles from my zipcode’, but I want it right in the search results along with price and title so I can scroll through ’Today’s Listings’ and see what’s local.

And yes, the Cloudflare verification step when landing on the homepage is annoying. I understand the need for bot protection, but Cloudflare can be configured to run quietly in the background. It sometimes takes 10-20 seconds to access the website - why put that kind of hurdle up??

It feels like the owners have given up on investment in developing the user experience. Platforms don’t survive forever on reputation alone - if the user experience keeps feeling dated and frustrating, people drift away, particularly when you can get the same thing free down the street.

@rooze " Why not add that to Audiogon? "

The sellers location was always listed on Audiogon!