Has anyone noticed a slow down in sales?

The problem with blue book, at least when I had it years ago, is it seemed to average the prices over all time. Unfortunately, the vast majority of components drop steadily in market value as their release date ages. And given the nature of our market, there often isn't nearly enough sales data for a single model in a relevant "last 3 months" window. So blue book prices were usually well above actual "market" prices. Maybe I'm misremembering that, or it's changed. Anyways, there is little use for it today when you can check hifishark for recent SOLD listings. That should be your starting point. 

Everything slows down this time of year.  In my former life years ago I was a carpet installer.  January into Feb. was by far the slowest time of year.  Nothing new.  

I think the pricing on used gear is off base for the most part.  The local Craigslist has a fair amount of decent gear that just sits there - mostly McIntosh stuff priced way high, at least for me.  Just saw a listing for a pair of Vandersteen 2 asking $800.  I looked it up and they originally sold for $890.00.  I know Vandersteen is desirable but WTH.

Yes there is a slowdown across almost every sector (except free money for Ukraine and what it buys- politicians and military hardware).

I have noticed something interesting:  In October there were a number of good deals available (under 10K for a set of Ref 250SEs which I'm in the market for).  I waited for sellers who needed money to sell in the 8s.  (Dealers pay less than that for spec. purchases  BTW)  All of a sudden around Christmas there were 11 listings on HiFi Shark all looking for 15-18K !   I surmised that it was opportunistic sellers hoping to catch a Santa Clause rally.  

Now it's late January and lo and behold Ref 250s are back under 10K. Whoda thunk it? 

I expect more price reductions in older AR equipment for 3 reasons: 1) the new 150 Monoblocks are coming out and guys with no budget are lined up waving cash at ARC dealers.  Many will trade in older high end pieces which will be sold off at a good number once the dealer gets sick of dead inventory. Before then expect stupid asking prices by dealers looking for the greater fool. 2) There is a global recession. It touches all but the very wealthy- the Billionaire class does not price shop for used audio gear. and; 3) Winter is the time we tend to listen to our systems the most. Once Mr. Sunshine warms up the land people spend more time outside and not in their listening rooms. 

It's the slowest time of the year for Retail....following the hottest time of the year for retail...and it has nothing to do with funding Ukraine's army to save democracy.

for me, these prices are wildly out of my budget (anything over 4-500 bucks for a component)
so when used prices come down, I welcome it