Zeroing back to opening post, imagine you go to a market and one stall has a guy offering something you want for $100. You tell him how about $50? He says “sure, done deal”.
you walk to the next stall do the same thing and the vendor goes berserk claiming you’re an idiot who doesn’t know how to read (the posted price).
we are dealing in a marketplace where each seller has his own idea of how transactions go down and what his item is worth. Likewise each buyer.
the greed factor makes sellers want to dump less than perfect equipment and not reveal what’s wrong. Same greed on buying side says “who cares if this thing MSRP was 10k in 1995, it’s value now is only what ONE individual is willing to fork over.
Then add in another factor- when I made up my mind I wanted a particular speaker, I scoured adds all over the country for months and finally landed on a pair at 70% of retail 6 hours drive away. Week after I got them 4 more pair hit the market at half what I paid in better condition.
these are all just examples of the complicating factors involved.
Simple conversation between buyer and seller sorts things out until one person wants to get the better of the other person.
early on in my business career I learned from a very successful man the golden rule (he who holds the gold makes the rules)of how to do business - if you are honest then make sure to keep the gold in your side and follow thru on what you committed. If you leave the gold in the other persons hand, then only blame yourself if you get cheated. This mostly applies to non face to face transactions where at a certain time one party is going to hold both the money and the product. As a buyer, YOU are responsible for inspection and evaluating the condition, nobody else. Never mind what the seller says. If you don’t make that effort, blame yourself. Buying something long distance? Ask a local repair shop near the seller to inspect the product for you, pay for it and get peace of mind.
