Selling high end audio

[skeith]

I see such equipment on both of these sites in my community.

Anyone had any experience with either? any suggestions?

Thanks

Edited March 20, 2011 by skeith

[.:.impossible]

?

[Stefan Wood]

It is what it is. Craigslist is only as good as the seller and his ad. Audiogon is generally better but expect to pay accordingly.

[Bigshot]

I've found that it's much better to put together a system intelligently, rather than just throw money at it. Great sound isn't necessarily expensive, andexpensive isn't necessarily great sound.

[riverrat]

Are you looking to buy or sell? *EDIT* I see you said this in your subject line.

Do you live in a large metropolitan area or a small outpost?

If you live in a larger city, a lot of good stuff can pop up on CL, and you have the benefit of checking it out in person before buying, and avoiding the cost and risk of shipment. Sellers obviously vary widely but it is usually relatively easy to determine if they are informed about what they are selling, or they are just flipping a yard sale find.

If you are a seller and want to use CL, you may want to have buyers meet you at some agreed upon location other than your home, just in case. Most audio buyers are probably OK folk but once in awhile you hear about problems arising from buyers finding out where you live.

Audigon has a huge array of quality gear, and has the benefit of the feedback system. You are probably less likely to find any smokin deals on audiogon, sellers are generally knowledgeable about what they have and current values. There seems to be a near-universal attitude there that the buyer is responsible for paypal fees.

Edited March 21, 2011 by riverrat

[EyeSpeech]

I'm in the SF bay area and have good luck selling stuff on Craigslist and buying stuff on audiogon. It's always better to do business locally to save shipping costs.

[skeith]

Thanks everyone.

I am looking to sell and there's the rub with CL. Most people suggest meeting away from home, but I want to sell speakers and would guess any buyer would want to hear them right?

[Enterprise Server]

Audiogon is pretty good. You will pay for quality equipment however. I have a friend who is obsessed with hi-end gear and does a lot of buying and selling there.

[EyeSpeech]

I am looking to sell and there's the rub with CL. Most people suggest meeting away from home, but I want to sell speakers and would guess any buyer would want to hear them right?

I had great luck selling my speakers on CL. I didn't have the original boxes and the speakers each weighed 155 lbs. A friendly engineer and his father responded to my ad, came over to check out the speakers and enjoyed hearing them. They left and returned later in the week with a check for my asking price and a van. I gave them a blanket and we loaded them in their van (those guys were strong). It was sketchy, but everything worked out.

I even sold my car on CL. That was more of a pain. I had quite a few lookie-loos come over and seem incapable of making a decision after I answered all their questions and let them take a test drive. The worst was one guy who called me from his office and ask me to meet him there. I wasted half my lunch hour waiting for him to show up. When he did, I confirmed with him that he knew how to drive a stick shift. He insisted he did and promptly stalled out three times on a test drive where he couldn't even make it down the block before I kicked him out of my car. You may get some flakes but keep trying.

[skeith]

Does Audigon allow you to see the sales prices on closed sales? How do you accesss that?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I've sold on CL but only bought on Audiogon. CL is free, Audiogon is not free.

My worst experience was a purchase I made on eBay. The seller forgot to tell me that his cats had used the speaker grills as a scratching post.

Be careful if you choose CL. There are so many scammers there that it's getting hard to tell them from the real buyers. They have gotten more & more sophisticated in their approach. You can't even trust a banker's check any more. They are making fake banker's checks. I think if I sold locally on CL, I'd insist on cash.

BTW, you could offer them up here first. I have bought and sold several pieces of gear from the forums I visit. I just recently sold a DVD/SACD/DVD-A player here on Organissimo.

Kevin

Edited April 11, 2011 by Kevin Bresnahan

[skeith]

I've sold on CL but only bought on Audiogon. CL is free, Audiogon is not free.

My worst experience was a purchase I made on eBay. The seller forgot to tell me that his cats had used the speaker grills as a scratching post.

Be careful if you choose CL. There are so many scammers there that it's getting hard to tell them from the real buyers. They have gotten more & more sophisticated in their approach. You can't even trust a banker's check any more. They are making fake banker's checks. I think if I sold locally on CL, I'd insist on cash.

BTW, you could offer them up here first. I have bought and sold several pieces of gear from the forums I visit. I just recently sold a DVD/SACD/DVD-A player here on Organissimo.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin, for your advice. I did offer them here before, but maybe I will again.

[skeith]

Did those of you who offered on Audiogon put your phone number in the ad?

[EyeSpeech]

No, you just communicate online unless the seller wants to talk to you, which is often the case. Initially, though, Audiogon will alert you when someone is interested in your item.

[skeith]

Has anyone sold on Audigon in the last 9 months or so.

I know that they changed the format of their website and apparently there were a lot of problems with it. Sort of scared me off... but I am wondering if things got straightened out?

[jazzbo]

I've bought from audiogon this summer. Not a single problem.

[mr jazz]

I've bought 2 items on Audiogon. No problems at all.

[Rupertdacat]

I've bought and sold several items on audiogon over a period of years- not in the last two years, though. At the time, i knew the market pretty well, jumped on pieces that were well described and at a good price when from sellers with uniformly positive feedback, and carefully described and priced pieces i no longer needed. Never found phone communication necessary, but would have provided a phone number, or telephoned, if so requested by what sounded like a serious buyer. Never had any problem.

[Tom in RI]

Another alternative you might consider for buying and selling audio equipment is Audiokarma. Depending on where you live there may be Audiokarma groups that meet periodically, there is in my area and I have had a great time at the get togethers.

[skeith]

thanks for your replies everyone.

And thanks Tom for the tip about Audiokarma. I also noted on that site something about Stereobuyers.com - have you or anybody used that group?