Is Audiogon Representative of the Audiophile Market and Sentiment?
- Thread starter caesar
- Start date
I dropped Audiogon in favor of USaudiomart ~5 years ago, and I've had fine experiences both buying and selling reasonably high buck gear. It's nice when you can talk on the phone to gauge parties and arrange details efficiently. And you don't get funneled into PayPal, too.
I buy/sell only occasionally nowadays and always start out on USAM, then if it doesn’t sell there I will try it on Audiogon. I dislike the way their system intervenes when trying to arrange a face to face handoff with cash payment… they make it difficult for such transactions as it potentially cuts them out of the commission loop. I dislike it but I understand it.
Their forum turns up far more in Google search results than any other forum, at least on my devices, so if I’m looking for something specific I usually end up reading about it on Audiogon.
It’s still the most useful tool for research, and probably for buying/selling also. At least for me.
Their forum turns up far more in Google search results than any other forum, at least on my devices, so if I’m looking for something specific I usually end up reading about it on Audiogon.
It’s still the most useful tool for research, and probably for buying/selling also. At least for me.
Audiogon is a joke... Fees are ridiculousness poorly run. They think they're the eBay of audio and they're not.
I completely agree... I dropped Audiogon many years ago as well because of their silly fees and poor member to member communication. It is very advantageous to speak to the owner of a perspective piece of gear you want to purchase. The questionable folks audiogon do not allow that so I no longer frequent their site.
I was quite active on Audiogon between 2007 and 2012 in terms of buying and selling as well as posting and reading the forums. I very much enjoyed my experience on the site back then. I stopped frequenting the site mostly because there were changes to my financial situation and was no longer on an upgrade path. IMO, the current version of Audiogon barely resembles the site I enjoyed many years ago. Currently, WBF is my home for forums and canuckaudiomark (the Canadian version of USAM) is where I go for online used items. The classifieds are certainly more limited on CAM (less big ticket items) but some interesting products will become available now and then.
You are correct on all counts... The new owners of Audiogon have ruined the site with silly fees and unneeded rules. Many people are jumping over to USAudioMart because of their ineptitude. Hopefully they'll go under to learn a much needed lesson on how to properly run a business.
The cross section of forum participants is far more representative of the audio market reality. Unfortunately and depending on topic, same applies to high end audio. A v D threads come to mind. Subjective, egocentric "food fights" with no resolution.
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The Agon forums are the best thing about the company. And yes I said company as in for profit! They are fairly well moderated so a lot of nonsense as well as politics are generally kept to a minimum. However, because Agon is a for profit company, you are not allowed to buy or sell or give an email address or phone number on the forums or in private messaging.
Horrible policy, IMO. Makes getting together with other audiophiles in your area impossible. Greed, is what it honestly boils down to. It's just flat out greed.
Tom
Tom
First time i made a purchase trough the internet was a CD player on Audiogon, 20 years ago. I sent Audiogon $10K directly on their PayPal account. 
They promptly returned the money and informed me i had to send it to the seller.
They promptly returned the money and informed me i had to send it to the seller.
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Nowdays one is no longer allowed to simply post in their forums unless they have verified poster's actual tel number and physical address! Yikes....
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