Items for sale here and on ebay without remotes....

I’ve been lurking on this forum for about six months and this is my first post.

I have to agree with the OP. Not so much on Audiogon but as far as Ebay is concerned I believe that a good percentage of items with missing remotes are stolen. Note: I did say "a good percentage". That doesn’t mean ALL.

Most thieves "smash and grab". They’re not wasting time looking for the matching remote. I’ve been burglarized several times in my lifetime. Three home break-ins and three automotive thefts. I know, I wasn’t living in the best neighborhoods at the time but nowadays that’s irrelevant. Thieves aren’t picky who they steal from.

I also agree with the posters who have left batteries in too long and they leaked. I either had to replace or repair a few due to that.

But, in all my years I’ve never "lost" a remote. I always keep the original box, manual and remote. I don’t carry the remote around the house with me. All my remotes are on a small table next to my listening position.

Yeah, some folks may have lost their remotes during a move or they have children who may wander off with one but if you really care about your gear you would treat the remote the same as the main piece.

If I swap a piece of gear out and it’s not going to be used for awhile, I remove the batteries (so I don’t have any more leakage incidents) from the remote and put the remote with that piece of gear so it doesn’t disappear.

Just my opinion, but when I was looking for a relatively inexpensive Universal DVD player on Ebay I noticed the same thing the OP did. NO REMOTE. After awhile, I couldn’t help but think, "C’mon, ALL these people couldn’t all have lost or trashed their remotes."

Remember, for a lot of today’s gear the remote plays an integral part in the operation. DON’T LOSE IT!

My phone on the hand ... that’s another story all together. :-)

I don't know what kind of area you guys live in but to me the whole idea that a significant percentage of items sans remotes are stolen is bizarre. I've picked up a large number of receivers for instance at garage sales. Very few have remotes. Are they therefore suspicious? Get real.

Before you sneer that I mentioned garage sales, I did find a nice set of Quad ESL 57's on custom hardwood Levinson stands for $300 once in the Haight by the Panhandle. Yes, I did. No, I didn't think that somebody
had broken a window, grabbed the speakers and gone a running to then sell them at a garage sale.
Ever been to a thrift shop and seen a bin full of lonely remotes? No?Seems like all Thrift stores have a bin like that. Because of all the thugsthat are too lazy to hunt down the remotes?
I just don't see it.

Think I'll check some conspiracy websites now...

 I'm no tin foil hat wearer but last I checked remotes don't have feet.  They shouldn't just wander off on their own.  It's amazing to me that people can't seem to hold on to them.  

In Australia, every 6 months we have "clean up day", where you put all your junk out that you don’t want and it’s collected by council to be recycled. A friend once scored a pair of early Thiel's and a Threshold amp.
Many are audio products, TV’s, white goods, moblies ect that are faulty, and some worth grabbing if "upper end stuff" as it could be fixable, but rarely does one get the remote with it, sometimes these are fixed by the budding electronic tech and then advertised usually without the remote.

Cheers George

Its a well known phenomenon that remotes disappear into the same black hole that swallows up all the pens, cos you can never find one of them when you need one either.

On a more serious note Georges clean up day happens any and every day here in the USA.
Its pretty much accepted knowledge that anything that is put out at the end of a persons drive is fair game for anybody to rummage through.

I have put my fair share of items out and always constantly amazed at what people take!

Never yet found any decent audio but you just never know!