What frustrates you the most about seller’s for sale ads?

Mine is a basic one:

It bugs me when sellers don’t say why they’re selling an item. I always want to know and sometimes lose out on an item whilst waiting for a reply.

Are you “upgrading”? That’s useful to know because maybe the item isn’t as top of the line as I think. Does an amp not work with your speakers? Maybe I have the same ones. Etc, etc.

They don’t have to write their life story, but it’s nice to know the motive behind the sale.

larshepping said:
"It bugs me when sellers don’t say why they’re selling an item. I always want to know and sometimes lose out on an item whilst waiting for a reply."

That never bothers me. It used to when I was new to the game, but now I realize that just because the seller wasn't happy with it doesn't mean that I won't be. Now I'm only concerned with the condition and the price.

Another thing that bugs the hell out of me is when I see an ad that claims it’s only a few months old, but they don’t have the original box. This is so common with speakers. Why in the hell would get rid of the original boxes or crates for a 30-60k speaker. If you can afford them and don’t have the room put them in storage for $50 a month for at least a year.

Dealer in an Audiogon ad has done it again. Listed a piece of gear as having a 20k retail when it's actually 16k. He must think if it looks like it has a higher retail he can sell it for more. I'd hope most people looking for any piece of current gear will know the true retail price. Yes this does annoy me. 

A few things I really hate: When item for sale is the original version of a product, which is now on Mk IV, and the seller lists the original price as that of a new Mk IV as opposed to the original one from 20 years ago, which he’s trying to sell.

Another thing I hate is when a seller says something like, "Six month old...blah, blah" when he actually means "I’ve owned the amp for six month" but the original owner bought it in 1982.

I find it sort of funny that so many sellers appear to get offended if they're offered something less when they list the price as "firm".  IME as a buyer, the price is normally only firm for a certin period of time.  After that it's amazing how many sellers are willing to move on their price.

Whenever I'm interested in buy something, I always ask the seller this question:  What are you willing to let this go for shipped to the 98367 zip code?  I do this because I know each seller has a certain dollar amount they're willing to let the item go for and 99% of the time, it's not the asking price.  

Sometime I'll get a snoddy comment in return.  I choose to not purchase from those sellers.  But most times, sellers are pretty cool about that question and they'll respond with the lowest they're willing to accept at "that" moment in time.