What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

I have a small retail business for past 2 years - I am still not sure if the economy all that good despite the stock market - lol.  There are at least 2 types of high end audio equipment buyers (and this mimics our society) - those that have enough money that it does not matter what the cost of the equipment is and those (such as myself) that enjoys the hobby but cannot afford most new equipment or even most of the used equipment.  So for me the status of the economy is irrelevant.  As an example - I may have $8K (which is a lot of money to most of us) to spend on my entire system.  In my instance I Iook for highly regarded used equipment that is 3-5 years old - maybe 90% of current technology but at 30-40% of current price.  You can build a nice system that way (you can end up with $20-25K equipment for that budget) - but always be a few years behind current, and that is very important to many.   If I had $15K to spend I might buy used equipment 1-2 years old, or using the same thoughts end up with used equipment that had original prices of $40K.  

I'm definitely there with you on that jimman.  With the exception of the about to happen electrical feed upgrades I'm working on, and my disc spinner, everything in my system is preowned, bank auctioned or maufacturers close out.  Now if only we could turn a new generation on to the same, we'd effectively abolish the topic of this thread

Well overpricing is a constant issue with resellers. When the used sales were all just folks selling off their own old equipment, the prices would be lower. I have purchased in the past, items at 25% of retail. easily. Now, most of the items for sale are from resellers. who all expect at least 50% of current price, or higher. Even higher than LIST for some "collectable" items. Their only interest in selling is to make a profit. Nothing wrong with that, but it does mean the prices are higher. And so people who actually BUY the equipment, baulk. Like I just bought a brand "A" device from a DEALER directly as they had a price $500 less than here. Why would that be? Because Agon is now a boutique store, Since clearly Audiophiles are just loaded with all sorts of cash.  So IMO if stuff is not selling? The folks who are expecting to make a bigger than reasonable profit can accept the blame.

As a seller it is sad, as a buyer I have gotten some good deals!
So...anybody have a cheap Esoteric N-05 they want to sell?

elizabeth... I've used some real price examples and don't think the stuff I've tried to sell has been overpriced (not that you are implicating me).  If something has sold several times on eBay at $1900 I think I should be able to reasonably expect $1700 here - taking into consideration the potential problems with eBay sales and fees, etc.  That is a fair expectation in the tight knit audio loving community that we are - lol.  And conversely I'll gladly pay 50% for an item that is as new and is still current.   You don't (typically) get anywhere near that type of price from a dealer .