My list of seller red flags

I don’t know about buying on Audiogon, but a lot of sellers on other sites assume that people will offer them less than the asking price, just because . . . so they price the item higher than they will accept so they have negotiating room to come down.  I hear all the time, “don’t pay what they are asking for it . . get them to come down.”  I know people that will say to me, “That’s a good/fair price”, but then they offer less to see if the person will accept the lower offer.  Some people are not good negotiators and always end up paying the asking price (me) or end up selling the thing for less than it is worth.  That might be one reason for stating that the price is “firm” so they don’t have to negotiate.

I recently bought a 40 year old tuner from a local guy on Craigslist.  He wrote “price firm” ($20) and when I texted him to ask if there was any problem with it, he responded, “As I stated in the ad, everything is working good”.  That sounded unfriendly, but I thought I would go look at it.  When I arrived at his house, he and his wife were friendly.  He told me the tuner suddenly stopped going into stereo mode and he gave it to me for free.  I think he had tired of dealing with some of the . . Let’s say unscrupulous . . buyers out there and has attitude at the ready just in case the next buyer is a jerk.  Turned out he was a nice guy that gave me a toy to tinker with and get working.  👍🏻

I always want to know about the flaws. why would you not want that information?

Maybe we should also focus on the buyer who makes an offer $2000 less than  an already fair asking price, seller is frustrated and just decides to sell it but he has to get harassed about if there’s any scratch or Scuffs anywhere when you’ve already discussed that in the original description of the product if you want new by new Then an hour after the money has exchanged wants to know if it’s shipped yet. Really How about the golden rule we learned that in elementary school 

Using undue amounts of judgment and black and white as a substitute for intellectual capacity.

It is a common theme when the given animal underneath it all reaches it’s limits.

When the fight or flight and other associated underlying I/O filters - begins to openly step in.

Then we attempt a reasoned discussion of these part of us that are individually -- not up to debate.

Not gonna work.

You are going to do what you will. 
 But I will say this anyway. I have sold probably as much used gear as anyone in say the top .005% tier as far as numbers. All of it at least seen as "Decent" gear. Most would call the great majority of it, "Hi-end", or even, "Boutique" type. 
And all of it with the exception of a few pieces I sold as "Salvage" even though it did work was in incredible shape. Especially since I had each piece professionally serviced before I listed it. Not because any of it "Needed service". But because of my being an "Audiophile", myself. I felt obligated to do so.
 After the first month dealing with various "Knuckleheads", of dubious intent.. Many with seemingly nothing to do except to ask if I would cut the price by a ludicrous amount. I soon listed all of the gear I was selling with the pricing as "Firm, Non-Neg and NO Trades wanted" And also quit answering the messages and emails about the price and etc. Just ignoring them completely.
  That worked quite well for me!