too bad Audiogon seems to have morphed to fussy, picky buyers


For years I've bought and sold here with no drama but that seems to have been changing. Now sellers seem to want retail pricing for their products while wanting to low ball on anything they want to buy.

At the same time I see more and more fussy buyers nitpicking the purchase, requiring tons of hand holding and concessions after they buy a fairly represented good working order item. 

No longer fun for me unfortunately.
128x128cowan217
That has not been my experience with Agon at all.  I've been on here since 2001 and have bought and sold a bunch of equipment.  I have never had a problem, either as a buyer or a seller.  When I recently sold some gear, did I get some lowball offers? Sure.  I either ignored them or politely responded that the offer was too low for me to consider.  You can't fault someone for trying to get the best price that they can, no more than you can fault a seller for asking for top dollar.  You never know when someone just wants to unload something.  I'm not insulted by a lowball offer, nor should anyone else be insulted.  Just ignore it.  I personally think that Agon is doing a great job in facilitating the used high end audio market.  Try using USAudiomarket or eBay.  Not even close.
This is a great conversation. I am considering selling some of my unused gear and it is good to have a heads up. I have been buying used  high end gear for 25 years and have never had a problem with a seller. I recently purchased my second Counterpoint SA-1000 preamp in pristine condition for $400. Part of the fun is troubleshooting and tweaking to get the best out of your system. Maybe some of the new audiophiles do not have the patience...
Shadorne.

Sorry but when you have a great product at an already very fair price and you STILL get offers at 50% of your asking price (or less in a couple of instance) then it would try the patience of a saint.
And usually this has been accompanied by many irreverent emails even when you politely tell them their offer is not acceptable to but the product.
In general the whole attitude from buyers has changed considerably over the past 20 years with rudeness and brusque arrogance being all too common.
I've never really had a problem buying or selling. Have got ridiculous lowball offers and told the offerers to get lost. One buyer claimed my fault shipment damage and filed a claim but PayPal disagreed with him, so in the end still no effect on me. Will continue to buy and sell.

oddiofyl,  you assert: "So many Pay Pal scammers."  I suspect you haven't had any real experience.  I've sold hundreds of luxury items through Audiogon and my own website and my preferred payment method is PayPal since, unlike credit cards, they associate a bank account with a "confirmed" shipping address for which they promise seller protection. I've never been burned using a PayPal transaction. I can't say the same for credit cards.

Perhaps the increase in price perceptions is due to the fact that there are now many dealers offering trade-in and demo items for sale?