What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

Good point about the "5%'s". 

Sorta related, I remember last time the economy was good like this, "vintage guitars" were a thing, going up in price, and many buying driving up the price, even thinking of them as commodities, and paying money as though the price would always increase. 

Then, the housing crisis, and it was a wake up call as to what are actually commodities. Turns out, no one really NEEDS guitars. The market for guitars tanked back to where it was. 

The point: what someone pays is definitely not an indication of what something could be worth.

vintage audio sales ROCK non-stop -- that's why. It's a very competitive industry to home hi-end that has a possibility to purchase restored components that are substantially better in built quality and performance. population ain't lying compared to audiophiles -- that's basically and practically why.  checked my math and everything adds up to my statement quantitatively. 

Venture capitalist bought a lot of the high end companies.  They really are not audiophiles. Overpriced gear that doesn’t perform. Then there is a lack of knowledge on how to put systems together. Guy spends 50k on a rig then hears a 8 to 10k rig that blows his stuff away. I remember blowing 4 k on a underperforming  CD player. After I bought it the guy who sold it to me didn’t want to replace the remote when the numbers started peeling. Wow then I wanted a warm sounding player he sold me the bright sounding player. Just didn’t give a damn. That was in my early Audio years. I’ve learned so much in the last 10 years. You have to know what you are looking for. There are less physical places to listen now. The guys who do it for the love of it are leaving.  I love audio. I couldn’t sell crap to a guy just to sell it. We are losing those who love this obsession to those who are obsessed with only money!

The guys who do it for the love of it are leaving.

We are losing those who love this obsession to those who are obsessed with only money!

Amen

I had an Auralic Vega listed recently here for $1950 (it had an original price of $3495).  It was less than a year old and almost mint.  2 sold on  on eBay for about/above my asking price.  Most of the offers I received (here) were in the $950 to $1250 range.  I had one legitimate/reasonable offer but buyer was Canadian and shipping/customs was prohibitive so it didn't pan out.  Other than that offers weren't fair. That is second audio piece within year that I ended up selling locally because I couldn't get a reasonable offer here on Audiogon.   On another note, I have noticed that listings on Facebook Marketplace get much more attention than Craigslist.