ebay vs audiogon

I will agree with Sogood51. I too went on E-bay one time & bidded on a vintage ARC preamp. I thought for sure I won the auction. Last 5 minutes before the auctioned closed I was bidding against a fellow from Japan who obviously was willing to spend much more than I for this product. But despite that I was so determined to win this auction I found myself bidding much more than what this piece was worth, things reached a fever pitch, whew. But in retrospect I'm glad he did win the auction because he ended up paying much more than I would of been happy with. No more E-bay auctions for me.

I've done over 100 deals on ebay, and only 5 (so far) on A'gon, mostly because I didn't find out about audiogon sooner. I've had good experience with ebay, but you really do need to be careful what you're bidding on and who you're dealing with. Things seem to sell quicker on ebay, and for more money if you structure your auction carefully and clearly. The thing I've noticed in my limited classified adds on a'gon, is I've had some real knuckleads submit lowbal offers, and in a way I fealt I was on the local used car lot. Frankly, I prefer the auction format over dealing with that kind of silliness.

Yes its true, there are some lowballers on Audiogon but consider this. Some sellers are asking such ridiculas prices for their gear, as if they were intending on retiring right after the sale. Everyone likes a good deal & I'm no exception but I always treat the lower bidders with respect & just politely say your too low. I myself am guilty from time to time asking the seller to include shipping but if I think the piece is worth the asking price I just simply agree with the sellers terms.

No matter where you trade it takes some common sense to trade happily. Hobbyists can be identified easily on either site.

Audiogon has auctions but most of the good things I see have reserves. To me, reserve spells non-serious seller. Guessing games just don't do it for me. That leaves the other listings which are basically variable buy-it-nows, assuming you're willing to endure the cascade of email necessary to set price, payment terms, shipping method and cost. Experienced Ebay sellers list all the details up front. This frees the buyer to do the one thing expected of him -- pay.

Ebay works better for me, mostly because nowadays I'll only bid on things where the guesswork has already been eliminated. Once an Ebay seller double burned me on a digital cable. It was supposed to be mint and no shipping cost was specified. The seller took $15 shipping, spent $2.50 to send it in a crumpled shirt box that arrived wet in the rain AND sent me a cable with a loose connector. Did she know the XLR was filled with hardened hot glue? I'll never know, but I learned my lesson.

Here's my Audiogon story: once I listed a nice $850 power amp on Audiogon and got the usual gang of lowballers, tirekickers and others seeking a general education on the brand and power amps in general; basically lots of interest but no genuine commitment of any kind. I renewed my ad for another 30 days, dropped the price $50, even emailed the most interested parties. The amp still didn't sell. Over to Ebay it went with an opening bid of $9.99 and no reserve. Seven days later I shipped the amp to a USA buyer at $300 MORE than my Audiogon listing. Go figure.

Another difference: lots of Audiogon listers persist in offering Paypal at the buyer's expense. These cats ignore the covenant each voluntarily made with Paypal. No matter how you feel about the fees themselves, these sellers' lack of scruples erodes my confidence in their deals. Ebay has weeded out most of the non-compliers, but one still pops up here and there.

To close on a positive note, my last major purchase was on Audiogon. I saw the listing early, rushed to answer it, we worked the deal on the phone, wrangled a little and everybody was happy.

I agree with Rockvirgo on his point regarding the seller charging the paypal fees (3%). He is right as rain. I contacted paypal one time myself by phone & they specifically said it is illegal for a seller to charge the paypal fees in their ad & said if you see it, it can be reported to them. I never knew that before.