Thursday, June 10, 2010

Caveat emptor? Not on Audiogon....

Ok, I've had it with Audiogon. I hate to rant on my own blog but two apparently well-rated Audiogon members both left me in the lurch this week after bidding on my item and when I accepted, promising me the money was 'on the way'. In both cases, the money never arrived (thank you PayPal). Consider the following excuses both issued:

[Member name close to a large breed of dog]"I didn't realize I was so close to maxing out my credit cards"

Wow...you bid on $2k worth of gear and only then realize you don't have the money? And this after you make me measure the parcel size to get you an accurate shipping quote?

[Member name close to Oz value] "Sorry for the late reply. I'm out of the country due to my job and I have no return date yet, so I'm unable to continue with deal."

Oh, you bid, accept my counter-offer price, make arrangements for drop off, and THEN find out you are in another country with no planned return date. You must living in a movie!

Audiogon to the rescue by protecting the seller? Not so. Cleverly, Mr'Ozl' (positive feedback 24) had confirmed the final deal by emailing me directly, not via the 'Gon's mailer. So A'gon feel it's just bad protocol rather than failure to comply on a binding deal (even though for 24 hours I could not mod the ad or update other offers as a formal deal was pending). My attempt to offer constructive feedback on these 'members' is subject to their acknowledgment that I am telling the truth. Now, how likely do you think that will be? I have the full email trail which I'll happily share here if either party feels this is inaccurate but really, when did people become such plonkers?

Meanwhile, if you are in the market for a gently used component or two, and have the funds to back up your promises to buy, please watch for my listings from now on here or on Audio Circle, where there is a better breed of audiophile. And if you are buying via A'gon, congrats, simply following through on your offer might make you that rarest of creatures, a normal buyer. Mr Dane and Mr Oz.....you really should get to know each other.

3 comments:

Mark Wieman said...

Lame! I've been lucky so far with my Audiogon transactions. No bad deals to date. I'm thinking of listing a few items in the coming days, however, so we'll see. Thanks for the heads-up.

PatrickD said...

Item ended up successfully sold -- the best advice I can give is to ignore any or all emails from potential buyers that don't come through the A'gon system. An offer is not an offer unless the protocol is followed. No doubt some will try to play around the rules but as a seller, that's your only protection.

Unknown said...

It's always a "challenge" to buy/sell equipment. I've; received a turntable basically smashed to pieces, sent an iPhone4 to Uruguay, made a mis-offer (not knowing the rules) and lectured by a holier then thou type. Funny thing I have never really been stiffed, that's a good thing for sure. But, as we know, dealing with people and their money is always a pain.