Is Agon becoming the eBay of audio?

Bought quite a few items here pre-’09.

Great sellers and priced fairly! I still have *everything* I bought, albeit in the closet. Got into other interests since then but making a comeback, and window shopping again. It seems like prices are a little high, just like the ’bay and I don’t really hassle with selling (not a flipper) so I try and buy sensibly.

I hate dickering so if something’s priced unfairly (to me) I SMH, RMEs and move on, something else always comes up somewhere. I’m thinking either the fees or hedging against low balling clowns have something to do with it.

"Buy the seller FIRST!" I’m more comfortable making offers knowing the seller did like what they have up for sale, so if I didn’t have to haggle or maybe just a minimum, I bite. If it’s something they paid too much for, live and learn, it’s the reasonable thing to do.

Can’t believe the slimy low balling I read about. What a waste of time and energy, trying to take advantage of whatever situation they perceive the seller is in.

Might a "who’s who" section help the Agon community track scammers and lowballing clowns?

Happy hunting all!

I always grade conservatively,   and appreciate the same of other sellers.   I actually have better luck buying and selling locally, whether its from an ad here or other forums when buying or more commonly Craigslist ,especially when selling.  Sure there's a lot of junk on CL but seeing and hearing before I lay down the cash is worth it.  No shipping to worry about or PayPal hassles,  cash.....  There are occasionally some great components advertised locally.   I bought a really nice Thorens 160 on CL for $60..... that doesn't happen on sites like this....

@trelja Thank you for pointing that out I suspected the same thing in my post above that there is a glitch thank you for confirming it.

While there may indeed be some "slimy low balling " that is hardly a corruptive issue. Negotiation is part of the game here.  The proverbial sliminess from the other direction is more of a concern with too many (but by no means all) I think. Those that well understand that it is time for gear to go out of their life & move on, resisting it in self-sabotaging ways that also pollute AG in the process. Basically, a deliberate misunderstanding that money is only & always 3 things, time, effort & energy & intense willingness to waste all 3 in inappropriately wasteful amounts to get a fixed, chosen & arbitrary no. of dollars. A typical example being an individual that ruefully exclaimed that he wasn't honouring the auction because the bids were obviously (to him) far too low - with no accompanying explanation that if they were too high by the same amount, he would've returned the excess. We all have some irrational, control issues but AG can certainly exacerbate them. 

Does anyone have any enlightening stories as to how US Audiomart compares in any of the criticisms made here by anyone? 

@jond  Good eye there!  You truly sussed it out