Anyone else receive low offers right away ?

Getting low offers are more frequent than ever. Maybe that could explain the inflated prices you see on Audiogon lately.

What's the big deal - if you don't like the price just don't sell it and ignore the offer!

Can't justify a buyer offering hundreds less, especially if the seller is asking a reasonable price for his item. If you truly want something, just offer the full price and you have secured it for yourself. On the other side of the coin I have noticed that some sellers are asking a ridiculous amount of money for their gear as if they were trying to retire tomorrow. Right now there is a McCormack DNA-1 with silver upgrade, the seller is asking over two thousand dollars for it. A few years back I was selling those for $900.00 to $1200.00 plus shipping.

This is just an observation on my part and truthfully a seller can ask any price he or she wants, don't mean you will get it. Or possibly as I stated above the selling price was inflated so when low offers come in the seller will get exactly the amount they secretly had in mind.

If someone is selling a second hand, 10-year-old amp that they used for 5-years for 50% off current list price, and I offer them 70% off current list price is that a low-ball offer?

I'm guessing they paid 50% list off when they bought it used. They must have gotten some use out of the amp over the past 5 years they owned it. Obviously my assumptions could be wrong, but I think they are pretty close. In any case, if they think my prce is too low, they do not have to sell it to me.

The truth is that Audiogon sellers "relative to other online auction sites" give very high starting prices. If you really want to sell something and want to see how much it is worth, put it in for $1 and see how much it goes for. I don't know what the non-selling auction percentage is on audiogon but it has to be quite high. I think this also has to do with the fact that many high end audio stores essentially use it as their online outlet. Meaning they are not offering "deals" just listing their inventory. We're in a recession, it's a buyer's market. It's not outrageous for a 10 year old piece of equipment to go for 80% of list price. You may think it's worth a lot, but when the market is saturated the price naturally should go down. I think people simply overvalue the worth of their equipment (which is natural) but if they were not afraid of the true value to the public they would just list if for $1 and see where it would sell (and it will sell this way) vs having the majority of auctions on this site simply time out.