Wow, everything posted for sale is ''light use''??

"I will share this with you that the best items I have received have this somewhere in their ad- "You will not be dissapointed"."

Thanks for the tip Mark, valuable info for buyers and sellers! I think another reason might be the fact that some components really don't work well in a given system, not that the product is bad but it just doesn't pan out for what ever reason. Often the owner may keep it around for a while with little use before finally deciding to sell. I myself have done that and it seems there may be hoarders among us that maybe want to clean out the closet especially in a depressed economy.

Huh especially used phono cartridges. Without going into deep details, multiply low-hundreds of hours by 10 to get the actuals.
I only buy new or retip contenders.

Audiopiles usually don't keep things long enough to use much.

Schubert,
So far I kept Totem Forest speakers over 10 years.
Can't say anything about light use though.

I tend to believe most on this site keep their gear in good shape and these represent fair values used for the most part.

Of course always exceptions.

And sure, sellers always look to put the best spin on a product no matter what or where. Exaggeration is a fact of life, especially when there will be no evidence to the contrary.

Best to deal with those with a good reputation and history of being accurate and reliable whenever possible. I always ask lots of questions before buying used to help gauge. It has worked out pretty well. I have probably participated in a couple of dozen audio related transactions between here and ebay over the last 5 years or so. Only one bad experience on ebay, involving a deadbeat buyer, though that one was a couple of years back and helped tame my enthusiasm for ebay.