Previous Ownership...does it matter to you?


I'm curious as to how others feel about knowing the previous ownership history when purchasing used audio equipment. Not necessarily who specifically owned as that's usually not possible but how many owners.

It might give you a glimpse into whether the item has been shipped back and forth from coast to coast in the US, Canada, or another country and if there's something not as advertised with the item since it continues to change hands too frequently.

I recently exchanged messages with a seller of a previous set of very nice speakers I previously owned. I knew the complete history, the buyer listed himself as the third owner when in fact he was the fifth owner. When I shared the details, his response was "could care less about ownership and how many times it's changed hands....".

I was surprised by the response. The obvious reason to understand ownership it's one of the listing rules from both Audiogon and US Audiomart in regards to the rating scale. Both Audiogon and US Audiomart are specific that anything a 9 or above must be single owner. In the case I reference above, the seller lists as a 9 even knowing he's the fifth owner. 

What is your approach to knowing ownership history? Does it matter or not to you?

128x128jcoehler

Simply put:

- BIG TIME IMPORTANT,

- it is driving contributing factor two ways;

(A) it impacts my decision tree on whether I move forward on the deal, and

(B) then it impacts on how I formulate a fair offer.

- Liars are a recipe for a shite-show in the making. Gear Flippers and flippant arrogant Sellers in general are a must-to-avoid. The forum audio preowned market is predicated solely on a member honor code trust, which in turn is predicated on Seller AND unit past history…full stop.

- ya hafta wonder and be highly skeptical in the extreme , as to why would a piece be changing hands many times before? Is it defective / damaged and being overstated for its condition, or is it a harbinger that its audio performance is a POS?

would anybody buy a car without its CARFAX true history disclosing its complete history? No diff here IMO.

- Original owner from new is where 99% of my pre-owned purchases are made, it provides some anecdotal assurance that what is now assessed and reported is a fair and accurate summary of its true condition . These Sellers have a very high probability of being extreme care stewards of the piece and forthright of listing it’s strengths AND disclosing its warts,

- Lying about its history is a hard line litmus test for me to bid the unit adieu as I quote to Seller the profane slang pejorative embodied in GENESIS 9:7. The only reason to hide it is to lie about its state. Unfortunately, these bottom feeders do walk among us.

- Simply put, a 5+ sold history is going to trigger a large haircut off a FMV asking price when compared to a single-owner history unit.

- Prior positive feedback follows in lockstep. If they don’t have a solid 100% positive feedback…. Fuhgeddaboudit.

-

Sometimes when you buy used you don’t ask if there was a previous owner, therefore, when you go to sell, you simply don’t know. 

Lying is not right, but I’m far more concerned about the merits of the piece itself, condition, function, price, and availability.