What is meant by the term "B stock"?

I once remembered "B" stock = cosmetically blemished unit,and 'Refurbished' was a seperate designation for a factory repaired item with a reduced warranty. "B" stock could have reduced warranty as well. Now "B" stock can mean many things;refurb,blemished,returned rechecked functional item,or even a maker clearing excess inventory by classifying as "B".This method can keep maker from upsetting established dealers.It can also give a dealer good stock to sell at reduced pricing with less chance of lowering product lines value.If it really works I do not know.It can be a way around signed dealer/seller agreements.

Sid42 – I believe that if you are selling an item that was originally B-stock, the fact should be disclosed. I have an old HK cassette deck that I purchased as a B-stock item (some 18 years ago) and, like you, I could not find a mark on it. If I were to sell it today I would disclose the B-stock designation even though it would hardly matter at this point. I wouldn’t want to be accused of attempting any sort of deception.

I can imagine how I would feel if I arranged an A-gon purchase and then unexpectedly received an item with a “B stock” label on the original box – I would be a little irritated at the very least. Naturally, anyone advertising a used B-stock item will probably not get a blue-book price, but the unit didn’t start out at full retail anyway.

Just MHO.

Ekistler,Would you check the serial number and check if an additional letter was stamped for "B" stock? If it is stamped on the box you would think it would be tagged on the unit. Just curious.

Thanks Jim

Jea48 - Sorry this took so long...

I checked the serial number on the tape deck and it appears to be original/unmolested. If I remember correctly, the box had a rather prominent B-stock label (or two) on it.