Retail pricing in classified ads

When the MSRP of an item has increased over time, I think the only fair way to represent the price is to quote the MSRP at the time the item was originally manufactured -- not what it may be selling for now (maybe years later). The referenced MSRP ought to provide a rough gauge of the unit's value when it was made.

I have sent 5-6 notes this year to sellers who printed inflated MSRP's, suggesting that they correct the prices in their ads. Most of these sellers have subsequently revised the MSRP stated in their ad, and sent me a "thank you" you note for bringing their attention to the matter.

Not everyone does so, however. The most recent example I encountered was a Canadian seller who was advertising two Adcom preamp/tuners -- the MSRP he used in his ads for these two units stated MSRP's in the $1200-1500 range, compared to the actual MSRP of $400-500. This example reflects the grossest distortion of MSRP that I have seen in Audiogon's ads.

If you see an incorrect MSRP, help our audiophile community by contacting the seller and discretely suggest that they may want to correct the content of their ad. While it might be nice if the Audiogon staff could "police" the ads, that isn't very realistic, so it is incumbent on us -- the members of this site -- to help keep things honest and fair.

Another factor to take into consideration is that some of the MSRP's listed may be coming from a country other than the USA. It is not uncommon for a component to have widely varying prices / availability as one changes countries and / or continents. Sean
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Vrsola, the original BC86 Noisehound sold originally for about $350, so that listing was actually low. Prices do drop many times. An original IBM PC sold for over $2000 in 1982. The first basic consumer VCRs sold for $999.95

Some manufacturers have different prices depending on geographical location. Thiel often has a differnet east coast vs. west coast MSRP.

Scott makes a good point about notifying the seller. I was looking at a pair of speakers here that were demos listed by a dealer. The stated retail price was $200 more than even the MSRP as listed on the manufacturer's website. I called and the dealer seemed genuinely embarrased and apologized by saying that it had been a typo. The dealer did have a decent rating, though I still had a nagging doubt. I know some do this intentionally, though I think in this case it was an honest mistake. On the other hand, my lingering uneasiness points to the need to be careful when listing. Might cost you a sale.