Anyone else receive low offers right away ?

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.

Phd, I agree with you that prices have been going up lately. Maybe it's due to the lowballers, maybe it's due to Audiogon's high fees, maybe it's due to the weakening dollar, I don't know for sure. It makes me wish I had held on to some gear so that I could sell it now for more $$$. :)

As for Bigby and Invenio78, I see that you are rather new here, welcome. That being said, maybe you should be on the sellers side of the fence for a while before you start seller bashing. As I tell my adult children, it is easy to tell someone on the other side of the fence how they should be living, especially when you have not been on that side of the fence. As someone who has been both a parent and a child, a buyer and a seller, I am able to understand what it's like to live on both sides of the fence.

There are good people and bad people on both sides of the fence.

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.

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Yes I notice low ball offers a lot. What kills me is guys who make plenty of money and can afford to pay market price or there abouts still make stupid low ball offers. This happened to me about 3 years ago and it turned out to be a Doctor who lived in my hometown. It was my understanding he does this ALL the time. I refer to them as bottom dwellers but its part of buying and selling online I suppose.