Pics with ads?

Most of the above excuses are NOT valid. If the ad says, "E-mail for pics", then the seller has pics. Post them in the ad and you won't have to be bothered answering requests for them. IT'S FREE!

To Mt10425, I disagree that, "pics of cables are almost completely usless," as I have recently sold 4 pair of self-made and/or self-terminated speaker cables, and wouldn't have considered asking someone to purchase them without letting the prospective buyers see pictures of the terminations and cables. I have also purchased several used Cardas cables, and realize the importance of whether they have the factory termination, and whether the lettering is visible, as it relates to the past usage of the cable and its potential value for future resale. With the ready availability of digital cameras, and the ease which Audiogon facilitates posting of photos, I would not buy anything of significant value without seeing pictures of the actual item.

Mitch, I said "almost". There are exceptions. To me the bottom line is that buying used gear on Audiogon is a Crapshoot. There is no guarantee that a picture provides any assurance of of any kind of performance. I find pics to be a matter of convienence for me, not necessity. If I really need to see what an item looks like, I have other options. Buying and selling on Audiogon is about trust and I believe most members to be trustworthy (again there are exceptions). Pictures are generally useful to the curious, but to the bulk of buyers who already are familiar with most of the items, not really necessary. Agian, IMHO.

Mt10425 and Broubin - I can relate one exception where pics of cables may have made some difference, as well as an accurate desciption. I recently purchased some speaker cables that I ended up winning for a pretty good price at auction here. The seller, with much all-positive feedback had advertised them as-new having bought them only six months prior and gave them a 10/10 rating. He also used photos from the manufacturers website to advertise them. Well when they arrived they smelled of cigarettes, the terminals had been bent and rebent many times and looked like hell. The terminations used were not the same as in the photos he used, nor was the casing on one of the wires. I actually liked the way the wires sounded though and it was a good deal, but completely misrepresented. Whenever I sell wires I do a shot of the overall set, and a closeup of the terminations, or simply just describe their condition very accurately. How difficult is that?

Marco

I agree Marco. I mentioned in my first post that pics are only useful if they are of the actual item. I stand by that and may even hedge buying from someone who uses website pics for the very reason you mention. As far as how difficult is it to provide accurate info, we all hope that honesty is the standard, but.....