Change needed at Audiogon


Dear members,

I don't know how others feel about stupid inquiries from non-members about items for sale but I will no longer even bother to answer them. I take great care to word the ads as accurately as possible and include enough photos to properly show the listed item. I also try to be realistic with pricing.

I certainly don't mind being asked to soften my price or to do something a little special for an interested party. But when I list the item as being sold only in the U.S., including original box and manual, and the price is firm with the buyer paying for shipping and then an UNKNOWN person with a Hotmail account asks if I will ship to Canada, lower my price and inquires if the equipment includes the original box and manual I get angry. Can't these people read??

As a verified member I would like to see the owners of this website make two changes. We sellers should ONLY receive emails from registered users that have a REAL email address. I don't mind a buyer's real identity being hidden from me during the initial correspondence but feel strongly that Audiogon should know who they are. I would also like to see Audiogon institute a verified "buyer" service for a reduced fee. I know, as a seller, if a buyer were verified I would take even the lame inquiries more seriously. A verified buyer fee could be quite low and upgradeable to full verified status for the monetary difference.

The benefits would help everyone have a little more confidence with each other. It would provide an influx of revenue to Audiogon. It would save all the sellers the grief of crank inquiries.

I want to close this rant with expressing how much I value my association with the fine folks that provide this service and the community involved. All of my sales and purchases through this site have left me feeling that I have made friends. It's just a few anonymous jerks that need to be filtered out.

Feel better now,
Patrick
lugnut
I agree: I also think dealers that post or respond to forums under disguised monickers should be kicked off. I think it is unethical at best. I like Asylums approach where a D will be entered next to a dealers post letting the world know. I think it will add credibility to the site. Too many dealers promoting their products under the guise of consumer yuk. Other than that I love this site. I can't wait to read what's up:)
Patrick, I do not get how non-member can get your e-mail from your a'gon userid? I assume that you also have an ebay account and certainly there the non-audiogon ebay members can get your e-mail.

Audiogon has certainly huge number of "holes" of a different sizes in terms of security management. It does nearly nothing to prevent scums that sell brand-new stolen equipment or illegally acquired equipment with removed or altered serial numbers...
I basically agree with the core of your post. I do want to bring up the fact that MANY ( more than we think ) people are actually reading / posting / contacting through their computers at work and do not have computer access at home. As such, hotmail and yahoo accounts become a necessity for those that want to keep their jobs and be able to "play" on the puter while at work. Deleting those people due to their email account would severely limit the potential market for products marketed on A-gon and appear "snobby" since we no longer wanted to do business with people who weren't "approved audiophile A-gon members".

To get around this, A-gon might want to impliment something that Audio Asylum has had for quite some time. That is, the option of setting your email preferences as to who can contact you via the A-gon remailer. This would allow you to choose between receiving email from anyone that wanted to contact you or just registered members.

While i think that this might cut down on both legit inquiries and window shoppers, it could be done at the sellers own preference as they chose to do so. This would allow individuals to come across as being "snobby" or "elite" without casting all audiophiles and / or A-gon members into the same group as it would be up to the individual to decide what they wanted to do. Any comments or suggestions ? Sean
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