The Music Room

I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with TMR.  I have purchased 5 items from them, each of which was exactly as described, and I sold my tube amplifier to them. One thing to keep in mind is that, if you can happen to find something they have for sale, they will give you much more money for the item you are selling to them if you use the money to trade towards another item they have for sale. For example, in my case, I found a pair of amazing, truly one-of-a-kind speakers on their website and discussed with them what they could give me for my amp if I used the money towards the speakers. They ended up giving me roughly what I could have sold the amp for on my own, plus they covered the shipping of the amp to them, which was NOT cheap, as the amp shipped in its own custom Pelican case. When I received my speakers, they were packed far better than the factory would have done, on a large pallet, carefully wrapped and padded. They packing was so robust, I think if they had fallen off the delivery truck, they probably would have emerged unscathed. All in all, I could not be more pleased with every interaction I have had with TMR over many years.

Chris

I've bought from them once and they seemed very professional. Unless you are selling used gear for gain (then please write a book about how to do that so we all can!), you shouldn't worry about 1099s from Paypal.  They are reporting revenue, not income, and I am assuming you aren't actually making profit from these sales relative to your acquisition price.  

Personally, I think all the hyperventilating over the IRS is unnecessary.

I've tried to sell both ways- here's my conclusion:  TMR is reputable. Used gear wholesale is about 1/4 of retail. They will need to be lower than that if they're tying up their cash and taking risk on someone else's probable problem unit. 

Selling to a HiFi buff is hard. We are a demanding lot and require a LOT of hand holding to get a deal done. After all that time spent (often enjoyable BTW) I've only been able to get about 40% of retail on the best sales and more often 1/3 of retail. 

When all the variables are shaken out I have this conclusion:  Use my old gear as trade-in on new gear to achieve a "better" sale price. Since you don't want to buy more gear you have to ask yourself: "Can I deal with the kind of buyer who will actually pay for my used gear?"  If no;  wholesale it and don't look back. 

As far as the IRS is concerned you bought your gear with after-tax dollars and sold it for less than your basis. This is not an income event. Nor is it deductible.  Your CPA can easily account to the IRS for the PayPal "income" on your 1040. I don't see risk there for you.

I have nothing but good things to say about TMR.  I have sold them several pieces of equipment when I either didn't get any interest here or USAM, or wanted to move the piece because I had another waiting in the wings.  Yes, you will not get what you could selling it yourself, but they always quote what I considered to be a fair price and it is the lowest hassle sale you can imagine.  No flaking, weirdness, etc. and you get instant payment.  Plus, since I have purchased almost all of my equipment used anyway, the difference between what something would actually sell for on here and what they would pay is not a dramatic difference. I would highly recommend them, and especially if you want to move your gear quickly.  Ask them for a quote . . . It can't hurt.