A trend I've noticed in ads.

I’ve noticed that also. I would hesitate to buy from a seller listing a piece as new when elsewhere in the ad it becomes obvious it is not new. Brand new, in use less than a year. Yes sir, gotta trust that seller!

Nothing is as new unless it is in a sealed box the dudes on Audiogon over state the condition many times.Buyer beware!!!

Another thing I see today...there is an ad running for an amp and when I googled for info about it, I found that the same ad was running over a year ago...with the same line about moving and that he’s had it for 3 months and it only has 5 hours if use. So...BEWARE SCAMMERS HERE.

I hate when a lightly used item; e.g., "Only 100 hours," gets a 10/10 rating.

Nothing is as new unless it is in a sealed box

Yes.

My experience, as small as it is, is quite the opposite. I bought a few things "used" because I could not find a convenient dealer to buy new as I had initially wanted. Ads promised good condition but none said "new". All were much better than expected with two clearly being unopened. The other ones were opened but looked as if they had never left the box. Ok, one of them was a few years ago and not on Audiogon, but still.

I've had great luck with sellers honestly describing used items like speakers, amps , turntables and cartridgrs.

Overall, with stuff that I've BOUGHT it's all been great--the products and the communication.  In fact, I've never done a deal here that hasn't worked out.  I've had gear that didn't like--never any fraud or undisclosed issues/damage. 

Some adds of stuff I want but haven't bought seem to have funky sellers behind them.   Sellers who won't take an offer within 90-95% of ask, yet they want offers and don't say "firm" or I don't have much room.  I've had plenty of offers come in at 50-75% of my ask and always respond.   

Someone above mentioned the seller who is moving, <100 hrs, etc.  I hear that.  Yet, I also try to understand when a seller is trying to be honest in justifying their price.  

On the Audiogon grading scale, "New" means sealed from the factory.  Never opened.  That seems simple enough to understand.

"10/10" means less than a year old with NO signs of use or wear.  

It shouldn't be that hard to determine if your gear fits these descriptions, but some people do seem to have trouble with it.

But when I get stuff from the manufacture I always open the box and verify that it’s there/correct. Such as I just ordered a pair of high frequency diaphragms for a pair of speakers that I have. When I got them I opened the box to verify that they were correct but I’ve never installed or used them. I would still want to list them as new.
I guess I would explain in the ad that I opened the box but they’ve never been installed…

Deceptive and misleading advertisements are all too common everywhere on the Internet. Even on eBay and Amazon. I’ve been burned and both of those portals have supported the seller - because they get paid by them. There is a plague of cowards on social media- not just the keyboard warriors who live here and elsewhere for the sole purpose of creating acrimony, but those who lie, steal and cheat without any consideration of the damage they do to others. 

I find the 'five years old, never out of box until I took these photos' (funny how it got all dusty in the box). 'Planned to use it but fell through. Now it can be YOURS for 90% of list!'

Here's one I absolutely love.... The item I am selling is brand new!.."I only opened the factory sealed box to take pictures for all you nice people". (duh) 

Then there was a guy recently selling an EAR 834L preamp
with "Less than 50" hours of use. Oddly somehow the EAR logo
was partially worn off near the dial.

...And here's the thing about brand new in a sealed box.....

Always check the bottom of the box!!!  

I sold audio gear at the retail level almost 30 years ago, and whenever we opened up a box for floor display, we always opened the box from the bottom.  If it was on display for a very short time and was still totally pristine, if you boxed it up neatly and replaced the tape on the bottom just as neatly, no one would notice that it was a re-pack.  Check the bottom taping job!  The top taping job looks perfect; if the bottom doesn't look the same, you'll know it might be a repack and not brand new out of the box.  But if it still comes with full warranty, then don't worry.