buying used speakers

It is just as risky as answering a classified ad in Sterophile or TAS. Although there are some preditors out there, most people on Audiogon appear to be extremely honorable. I have had many dealing and have only had one incident with a gentleman named Bob Roles who took me for $65.00. It happened to be the least expensive of all my transactions. I will still buy on Audiogon. There is something called i-escrow which protects both parties. The buyer has a pre-determined amount of time to inspect the shipment and upon his approval, i-escrow pays the seller. If it is denied, buyer has a limited amount of time to send tracking info to i-escrow for return.

I have bought spent over $3K on used electronics bought on-line in the last year. Worth every penny and each transaction went smoothly. Gear in at least as good condition as described. You can definately get a flavor of how the product is by the type of communication you have with the seller by email and over phone. However, with speakers there certainly is more risk (shipping, bad driver, etc.) Then there is the risk of incompatibility with system. Certainly sticking with a known product would reduce that risk, but then how do you find out what that known product is. Some would audition at local dealer; I do not recommend that. Its dishonest and you are wasting their time and money. So knowing what will work in your system is a problem. However, if you stick with well known products, there would be little if any loss on a resale. Also with speakers probably most important to have original boxes. Escrow service certainly is good protection for both parties, but so far have not had any problems. I would recommend watching this or any other site for a few weeks first, you can start to see patterns with sellers over time.

Jsbail: Your questions are too general for may taste. I will say that loudspeakers bought used, are one of the "less sure" things you can do. I've done it, but only directly from the manufacturer, and I also sort of got lucky. IMO, People are much less likely to "go through" speakers for the sole purpose of trying several to see what they like, than they are to do so with electronics. That said, I have NO generalized impressions of "how the buying of a loudspeaker 'works out'", here at this site. I have purchased other items thru here with no real problems at all. However, I feel that trying to SELL something through this site is a real pain, you get tons of lowball offers and harassment, much of it from persons not in the USA, or even in an English-speaking country. I prefer another audio site when I advertise something for sale. Maybe that's just me. You want that troublemaker's name? I don't know the real one, but he called himself "chnupa". Anybody else hear of him?

Thanks to all for for input. Let me be a little less general. I am seriously considering buying a pair of speakers listed for $4000 on this site. List price for the speakers is $7200, and checking around this is what they sell for. They are nine months old and said to be in absolute perfect condition. There is no feedback listed on this seller. If I do this I will use an escrow service so I can inspect speakers before the seller gets paid. Seller will send me close up photos and original sales slip proving age and ownership. I have had great luck buying and selling on this site so far, but have had no transactions this large. Am I insane?

No you aren't, and it sounds like you are just asking this out of curiousity only, and aren't really torn about what to do at all. Good luck, whatever you decide. What speakers are they, btw?