Auditioning Used Equipment - Am I crazy ?

If a dealer will not audition the equipment he has for sale, then why bother having a brick and mortar store? The customer does not rely on the store to make a living, therefore, it is incumbent on the dealer to develop relationships. 

…….I always love those responses ; “ just buy it and if you don’t like just re-sell it “ . If you subscribe to that mentality then technically you are the third owner if that is disclosed and the seller is honest ; that does make a deal as far as the selling price . So with that attitude you could lose a lot of money on that deal. I don’t know about you but losing a couple of grand on a whim does not work with me . Not to mention the hassle of boxing it and paying to ship it to the next buyer . Have you looked at shipping costs lately ….. So, not a prudent option in my opinion.

So maybe it is already boxed and the dealer doesn’t want to go all through that just to demo it without any guarantee of sale as there are a lot of tire kickers. Also have you looked here as well as on US Audio Mart , there is a lot of used gear and we are entering the summer months. You can’t blame the dealer as most of them are purely transactional and don’t care .

I would move on if the dealer does at least try and work with you and as was previously noted ; find a dealer who will work with you and buy from them.

I think it would be reasonable for the dealer to charge a fee for the audition, which would count toward the purchase price if you decide to buy.  20 years ago I would have thought that to have been absurd, but times have changed 

The dealer may change their mind if the amp sits on his premise for months without a bite.  

@mahler123 I actually wouldn't have a problem doing that depending on the fee. The only reason I purchased a pair of speakers from them a year ago was because the salesperson spent some time (30 min) with me evaluating amps for a different rig.