Selling gear with TMR

I have sold a number of pieces to TMR and they are great to work with. As far as getting the best price, no they have to turn around and make something to justify their existence. But the price you don’t get is the trade off for not selling it yourself. I have been using them on most everything and am happy. YMMV

Easy to work with, they take on ALL the hassle. Ultimately you need to decide what that is worth, realizing fees, shipping costs, headache factor etc etc. You can also consign through TMR as well. I’ve done both, super easy and overall have done ok.

I've sold a handful of smaller pieces through TMR and been very pleased.

I've consigned items with them and some items I was surprised how much I got and others a bit disappointed.  You can get more doing it yourself on USAudiomart  since they have no fees.  I have used TMR because they are easy to work with and take the hassle of dealing with byers out of it.  

I’ve sold gear to them.  Very easy to deal with, though if you’re expecting top dollar that won’t happen.  As geof3 mentioned it’s hassle free for you.

As others mentioned you are not going to get the top dollar but you are getting hassle free experience and a quick quote. As an example: I tried to sell one year old PS Audio integrated with 3k MSRP. TMR offer was 1400 cash or 1500 against used product or 1800 against a new product from TMR. The integrated sells between at around 2k on Audiogon and Audiomart.  

I've found TMR to be very professional and pleasant to deal with, whether buying or selling. 

I hadn't even thought of that. I have a few things for sale now. If they don't move soon, I may go that route. Thanks for the reminder!

As a former buyer/seller with them, make sure you do your own research on the historical sales of any product you are attempting to buy or sell to TMR. If you are willing to take less and want convenience, it's one option. The other option is list it yourself, be patient, and pass along savings to the buyer directly.

They seem to try their best to learn the market values on mainstream stuff, however if you are dealing with less known, custom, or boutique products they are not familiar with, and have no data on yet, keep your expectations in check. 

Have worked with them on some buying and selling and find them very responsive and easy to work with. Definitely provide a good service  to make selling of big ticket items in particular more hassle free. 

I have sold items to them a number of times walking into the transaction knowing  that I am leaving money on the table so to speak ; however they are absorbing the hassle of listing, the time waiting for a potential sale, etc. It all comes down to what's more important to you, immediate money in hand, most dollars you can realize, hassle free transaction,  ....

I really love TMR for buying things. I don't expect to get top dollar and realize that they're taking a lot of the hassle away for me. Ultimately, everyone has to decide what's worth *their* time or money, so I'm really just probing different opinions.

Markets are funny things. When there's a lot of data out there -- say, selling a brand like McIntosh or Klipsch, things are easy to price. Then, it comes down to whether one is good with their "cut." When there's not a lot of data out there, then it can get hard to price things, and so whether the "cut" winds up seeming reasonable is a more speculative affair. 

Yeah TMR provides a good service to help sell used gear. Whether that service is worth it or not to you is a totally personal decision.  Nobody provides a good service for free.   

I used TMR to sell several items and have also purchased Items from them.  All transactions went smoothly, and I had no issues.  I use TMR because I want a stress-free transaction and do not want to deal with shipping issues, buyers that are not happy or buyers that want to return an item they purchased.  I do not want the hassle of handling low ball offers or dealing with buyer price negotiations, etc. 

The Music Room sometimes offers cash for my item and sometimes accepts it for a consignment sale.  They pay the shipping cost from my location to them.   I include a full description of my item describing all including components.  

The Music Room is very professional, helpful, and friendly.  TMR is Highly recommended.  

I traded in an amp to them to purchase a more expensive one.  The amp I traded in was bought for $2900.00 and trade in price was $2500.00 and I used it for 4 years. I am very satisfied.  A top shelf dealer.  

I recently sold two items to them and declined to sell three more items. The three I declined were way too low. One of them was DAC I bought from them a year ago, they offered less than 40% of what I paid them for it. Of the two I sold, one was an ok offer, it was a transport which has flooded the market so lots for sale and few selling. The other piece was a 30 year old tube amp that worked great. They offered $500 which I thought was probably about half what I could get for it and I did not have original packaging so I thought, oh well save me the trouble. They listed it for $1500 and it sold in a few days from their website, never made it to Audiogon. I’m pretty disillusioned with them right now …

If you have to send the product to them why not sell it yourself and send it to someone else? I don’t know how it makes it easier. They seem like a great company though.

If you have to send the product to them why not sell it yourself and send it to someone else? I don’t know how it makes it easier. 

@bubba12 Because they carefully describe, test, and guarantee what they sell, they take the risk out of the sale for buyer and increase the likelihood of a sale. They also can ensure it's packaged professionally. Take a look at their site, and you'll probably see why it's so popular for buyers.

@pmotz ...They offered $500 which I thought was probably about half what I could get for it and I did not have original packaging so I thought, oh well save me the trouble. They listed it for $1500 and it sold in a few days from their website, never made it to Audiogon. I’m pretty disillusioned with them right now.

They offered you 33% of selling price, and 200% profit for them in two days.

Accepting their offer and determining "Value Received" is a learned experience,

Now you know more, and can sell it yourself if that makes better sense next time.

I recently bought from The Music Room and was impressed with their support when FedEx became a problem. I was totally impressed with their packaging. They went beyond anything I've ever seen. They use a liquid foam packaging process that completely pads the equipment. They seem to be a good company that cares about customer service. Would I sell my gear to them? Probably not. I'm not interested in selling at 33-50% resale value. I've been selling gear for many years. Talking to the person on the phone always fleshes out any questions in my mind. I haven't had any problems with transactions, but it does require time to take photos, package things up, list the ad, respond to replies, have that phone call, deal with PayPal, go to FedEx, UPS, USPS. Then wait for confirmation that everything is okay. I don't mind doing those things, but some might not. 

decooney, I've sold quite a few pieces here on Audiogon in the past and they have all been good transactions.  Of late though, I've heard of sales going bad and now there are significant fees for selling so I have procrastinated on selling things.  This particular amp has been sitting in a box for about four years.  I tried to find a use for it but wasn't successful.  It was time to move it.  I had bought a couple of items from TMR and thought I should try selling.  TMR will pay to ship the items you sell to them, but this amp needed better packaging than I had so I was still hesitant.  By coincidence I was going to be in Colorado last month, so I arranged to drop the two items off (I actually had another box of misc stuff I brought along).  I would assume I saved them over $100 in shipping, the amp alone weighed about 70 pounds, but I got no credit for that.  Further, trying to arrange a drop off was overly complicated, they insisted I bring it at a particular time.  The drop off took less than five minutes and involved no paperwork.  The whole process just left me annoyed.  I will not sell to them again, not sure about buying.  It's good to hear others have had good transactions, it just didn't work out for me.

@pmotz

You think a 2% fee is significant? Seems pretty reasonable to me!

Every experience I've encountered with TMR has been fantastic.  Buying, selling, consignment, or even declining an offer.  Always quick and professional communication.  I've used them 50+ times over the past few years.

For someone like me, short on patience, they're my go-to.  I still sell gear here and the other site, but if something doesn't sell in a couple weeks I'll use TMR and then kick myself for not doing it initially.

yogiboy, let's just say I haven't checked the fee schedule lately ...  2% is very reasonable, of course at that rate you pay whether you sell or not.  The alternative is almost twice that and more in line with what I was thinking.  Still, not bad.

I’ve bought a few things from them over the years and the experience has been fine. I don’t like that you don’t complete checkout on Audiogon, you get routed to their website and, in my case, they slapped on sales tax which I hadn’t seen mentioned up front.

The one time I requested a quote from them on a $3000 item they offered me $2300. So I wouldn’t bother selling anything to them unless it was a part-ex deal.

 Since you have to pack it and ship it to them anyway, I don’t see why you wouldn’t just sell it yourself directly and pocket some extra cash. 
 

@pmotz ..."I will not sell to them again, not sure about buying. It’s good to hear others have had good transactions, it just didn’t work out for me."

Just to clarify, as a buyer and seller, 2/3 of my experiences have been fair. I regret one of the components I sold, and another odd transaction they later apologized for. When I followed up that buyer was gone. Mistakes happen. Live and learn.

I lost interest in TMR after my first attempted transaction.  I wanted to sell a 4-month new Parasound A21+ in absolutely perfect condition.  They offered me about 1/3 of what I had paid for it new several months prior.  When I asked why so low they said because they could only expect to sell it for $xxxxx.  I passed, and a month or so later saw them sell an identical A21+ for significantly more than their expected selling price they previously mentioned to me and almost twice what they offered me.

I listed and sold it on Agon for a very fair price to myself and the purchaser.

I believe that the individual I dealt with was a new employee.

These are helpful reports; it seems a reasonable process to embark upon, especially if one is doing a lot of selling and they’re getting reasonable offers from TMR. In one case I’m currently investigating, they don’t have much comparanda for the item, so I’m getting a pretty low offer. I’m going to stick it out on my own -- via USAM and perhaps Audiogon -- and see if I can’t do a bit better than TMR. At the moment, I’m more inclined to keep the bespoke item then let it go for their proposed offer. 

I have sold a number of units to them over the years and the experience has always been very good.

1. You get an offer
2. Accept or decline
3. If you accept they will send you shipping labels
4. Ideally you have the boxes so pack it up an put the labels they sent you on the box
5. Drop off at shipping point or have the items picked up
6. Wait for the deposit into your PayPal account

Easy every time. I dod agree the price is a bit lower than what you might get selling yourself. it is a trade off between ease of a transaction fro ma trusted source and the unknown of random buyer. I thought it was easier just working with TMR.

@hilde45 I know they can sell it but if I've safely shipped it to them I can risk shipping it to someone else. They are a great company. I agree,

I sold my Yamaha A-S3000 to them over a year ago and the transaction was flawless! I got a great price on the unit, more than I was expecting! I noticed that they never put it up for resale.

I’ve had my PrimaLuna EVO400 Power Amplifier for sale a month now. In January, I submitted the unit for a quote to TMR to test the waters and it was very low. I re-submitted it to them for a quote in early June and their quote came up $600. I called to speak with the rep to see if we could get closer to the price I was looking for and they didn’t move off of it. They did tell me that the price they would resell it for was several hundred more than what I hope to get.

Currently, its listed on US Audio Mart.

Like others, I got a very low quote on stuff I submitted. Maybe just think if them as the last resort.

I just sold them 2 pairs of headphones and a phono preamp, and I am totally pleased with the transaction, which went very easily and smoothly - highly recommended! Sure, I could have gotten more if I waited for an offer on Agon or USAM, but I'd rather just get somewhat less and get it done with when I want to.

Had a really good experience with TMR recently on a sell and buy situation.  Fair price on a trade-in and a fair price on a secondary purchase. Fifth transaction so far over the past few years.   

One of the buyers there was very helpful, and sharing there are like three buyers and forty employees running the place. They can't overpay and sit on stuff either, and you are paying for the convenience on trade-ins yet it can be helpful if you are trying to move stuff along.  

I think it depends on what you want to trade in, and if they are actually aware of the value.

To me, in the last couple of years there offers have been extremely low. 

ozzy

@ozzy Totally agree. My Salks were in pristine condition and their offer was low and then my cut of that was really, really low. Salk is not like a KEF or Focal, but they're not unknowns, either. Selling it on my own put $1k easily back in my pocket. Again, they have their formula and best practices, and I don't question that, but if an offer for good gear seems low, it probably is. It becomes a question of what amount of time and hassle you will put up with to get what you think the fair market value is.

@ozzy agree with you and @hilde45 if the items are we are trying to sell to them are (boutique) not mainstream or regularly bought/sold, there is less appreciable market data available for them to go off, and (more perceived risk) to make a reasonable offer. I did talk to them about this some, and the main buyer there said they buy a ton of stuff and watch market and buy/sale values continuously trying to keep up, and working to not get stuck with something they don’t have much data on or have no personal experiences on within their teams. They must be doing something right with up to 40 staffers now. Not a 10 person operation any more.

I have had nothing but great experiences with TMR.  I made 3 separate purchases and one trade in with a purchase. Everything went flawlessly and I got a better price on my trade in than I got trying to sell it here.   My last dealing with them was in Feb 2019.  

Had one selling transaction that went as expected … completely easy and hassle free … I got maybe 75% of what I could have gotten on my own, and they sold it for maybe 10-15% more than I think I would have. I think that sounds reasonable to me anyway. In the right circumstance I’d participate with them in either direction.

I’ve declined a few other offers I’ve deemed too low, and they’ve declined to take in a few more items.