Pics with ads?

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.....

MY 2ND POST ON THIS ISSUE,HAS ANYBODY EVER BEEN DRAWN TO A PEICE OF GEAR JUST BY THE WAY IT LOOKS? THEN STARTED TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER,CASE IN POINT,I HAD A ALL MCINTOSH SYSTEM & NEVER THOUGHT OF TRYING ANOTHER CD PLAYER TILL I SAW A SHANLING THEN IT WAS OVER,I HAVE SOLD BOTH OF MY MCINTOSH PLAYERS & I WILL VERY SOON BUY THE T-100 & S-100,THE START OF THAT CHOICE STARTED WITH A PICTURE,THE PURPOSE OF PICS ISNT JUST TO KEEP THE EMAIL DOWN THE PICS HELP EDUCATE & PAY OFF FOR ALL IN THE LONG RUN.

No doubt about it Bigjoe, pictures sell products. You have a valid point. Those who don't make the effort may often have a more difficult time selling their product than those who do. There are some products that can sell themselves by reputation alone, but even then, there are those who are unfamiliar with them for whom a pic would be a good selling tool. I care more about what the gear sounds like than how it looks, but that's not to say I'd ignore the latter altogether. No, I don't think I've ever purchased an audio item on looks alone. Sometimes it does not relate at all to how that item performs. Some of the most outstanding DAC's are pretty plain. My AudioMagic Stealth PC is the kind of thing you might think was more likely produced by a toy manufacturer than for high-end audio use, yet it does the job beautifully and I don't care if it is just a lightweight plastic black box with a blue light on it. I do admire products that have it all together, beauty and brains in one package, but but I wouldn't base a decision to buy solely on one criterium or the other. There's nothing wrong with having different priorities......whatever floats your boat.

Marco

PS What's with the all-caps posts? Is your caps-lock key stuck, or are you doing your impression of Owen Meany ;-)?