no body is buying anything on audiogon

dssman certainly put a sense of fear in us all. for some reason the prices of what I have been looking for are much higher lately. (BAT 5i) these were selling for $1600 several months ago, now, nothing under $2300??

I would have to agree, in fact, I was actually looking for a thread to this effect. I have been a member for over a year, and only in the last 3-4 months, have I just plain old NOT BEEN ABLE TO SELL something. I have taken a BATH on interconnects and other items where before (from about 12-99 to 12-00) you were pretty much guaranteed even money when you decided to sell (assuming you know how to buy at a good price). I guess it is just a barometer to how the economy is showing some weakness vs the .com fueled spendfest of the last couple of years...

I just purchased something this past Friday (from a seller with zero feedback and I pre-paid). The deciding factor was that he has a good last name (right up there with O'Leary). Based on this I may qualify becoming a member of Bush's cabinet (I do need a job).

The ecomomy must be sluggish. Even the housing prices in Silicon Valley is dropping. My friend bought a 2 bedroom condo for half a million last year. His neighbor is currently selling his condo for $430K. I also saw 3 local dealers putting all the gears on sale. Even the popular products were on sale (Levinson, Krell, B&W, and etc..) If sellers really want to get rid of their stuff, all they have to do is to lower their prices. Our capitalistic economy will fix itself.

*If sellers really want to get rid of their stuff, all they have to do is to lower their prices.*

This is really the point, right. It's not that things aren't selling, but just that the asking price has been lowered. From my vantage, reatailors across the country are lowering (mostly through almost perpetual sales) their prices (and hence dropping their margins). Perhaps agon sellers should consider doing the same. Especially those who are trying to sell Oracle turntables, Rega arms, and AES phono preamps (heh).