Items for sale here and on ebay without remotes....

@almarg "One reason a seller may not have the remote, at least in the case of an older piece, is that at some point in the past he or she may have left its batteries in too long and they leaked. Which might have created such a mess on the terminals and elsewhere inside that it was thrown out."

That's truly an excellent point, Al.  How many of us haven't been there?

@uberwaltz...………………………..

lol, you are quite welcome.

@stereo5 
at least we all now have the answer as to where all the missing remotes disappear up into  😳 hand sanitizer anyone? 😂 

I’ve been lurking on this forum for about six months and this is my first post.

I have to agree with the OP. Not so much on Audiogon but as far as Ebay is concerned I believe that a good percentage of items with missing remotes are stolen. Note: I did say "a good percentage". That doesn’t mean ALL.

Most thieves "smash and grab". They’re not wasting time looking for the matching remote. I’ve been burglarized several times in my lifetime. Three home break-ins and three automotive thefts. I know, I wasn’t living in the best neighborhoods at the time but nowadays that’s irrelevant. Thieves aren’t picky who they steal from.

I also agree with the posters who have left batteries in too long and they leaked. I either had to replace or repair a few due to that.

But, in all my years I’ve never "lost" a remote. I always keep the original box, manual and remote. I don’t carry the remote around the house with me. All my remotes are on a small table next to my listening position.

Yeah, some folks may have lost their remotes during a move or they have children who may wander off with one but if you really care about your gear you would treat the remote the same as the main piece.

If I swap a piece of gear out and it’s not going to be used for awhile, I remove the batteries (so I don’t have any more leakage incidents) from the remote and put the remote with that piece of gear so it doesn’t disappear.

Just my opinion, but when I was looking for a relatively inexpensive Universal DVD player on Ebay I noticed the same thing the OP did. NO REMOTE. After awhile, I couldn’t help but think, "C’mon, ALL these people couldn’t all have lost or trashed their remotes."

Remember, for a lot of today’s gear the remote plays an integral part in the operation. DON’T LOSE IT!

My phone on the hand ... that’s another story all together. :-)

I don't know what kind of area you guys live in but to me the whole idea that a significant percentage of items sans remotes are stolen is bizarre. I've picked up a large number of receivers for instance at garage sales. Very few have remotes. Are they therefore suspicious? Get real.

Before you sneer that I mentioned garage sales, I did find a nice set of Quad ESL 57's on custom hardwood Levinson stands for $300 once in the Haight by the Panhandle. Yes, I did. No, I didn't think that somebody
had broken a window, grabbed the speakers and gone a running to then sell them at a garage sale.
Ever been to a thrift shop and seen a bin full of lonely remotes? No?Seems like all Thrift stores have a bin like that. Because of all the thugsthat are too lazy to hunt down the remotes?
I just don't see it.

Think I'll check some conspiracy websites now...