Been getting a load of calls lately…”Please give me a price quote for such and such equipment.” Basically, tire kickers, window shoppers, comparison shoppers, etc. Some sellers have communicated with other stereo buyers or so called companies they have found on a Google search. Many are hardened, bitter due to the price shoppers who waste their time for an estimate. Some have very smug, uncaring, plain nasty attitudes like they are doing you a favor. I am not like that and am courteous and respectful even at times when I shouldn’t be, lol. I even try to steer people in the right direction when there is nothing in it for me. I like helping others, especially nice people. Many who call never even plan to sell their equipment, they enjoy hearing that it’s worth meelyoons, lol. Unfortunately, those people who just do a search on the interweb to find electronics buyers are usually disappointed. I pay more $$$ then most of my competitors but still it’s never enough. Reasons being: I paid this and that forty years ago, or most commonly I saw it on ebay for blank, blank, blank. No you saw an asking price, you don’t even have an ebay account to see the completed or sold auctions so you have no idea what your talking about. Or maybe a relative or friend told you it’s worth a fortune. Or my wife loves it…yeah sure. There are many reasons for overly inflated prices. I gave up trying to explain the apples and oranges comparison to callers. One thing I do know is that they will never list it on ebay. Reasons being #1 ebay has a tremendous learning curve especially for seniors. #2 It’s hard work, taking decent pic’s, writing an accurate/truthful description after testing out the gear, posting the auction with set parameters, answering questions from less then sweet people, packing where it’s bomb proof and shipping. Also, you have to pay fees to ebay even on shipping. What about waiting for payment with a paper trail? And something few talk about…taxes. That’s right taxes. Are you paying taxes on your sales? Do you really think it’s not going to catch up with all the weekend ebay sellers? Don’t bet on it. Most of the sellers don’t even have a tax ID #. Now after the sale, what do they do when the “item not as described cases start rolling in? Hey I stated “as is” yeah it means nothing in 2018. Refund time after you receive your beloved Mack-in-tush preamplifier back. Strangely enough the face plate is cracked and there are Chinese tubes in place of your Mullards and Telefunens. What ya gonna do? Small claims court from NY to CA? Nope, you lose. They take the refund money right out of your bank account or CC and do it for you if you refuse a refund. So you see…you ain’t sellin nuffin on the bay unless you have someone to do it for you and they will want a cut of your profit. A big cut. You also have esoteric websites to sell your hi fi treasures, if you have the gut for that. It’s more stress, time, and work then ebay. Your using paypal many times and that means you are forced into a 180 day money back guarantee. No kidding, six month money back if your buyer doesn’t like the way it smells, etc. after a half year. I wonder how that works with wedding gowns and nostril hair trimmers. I pay what I consider a fair price for pre-owned equipment. I am easy to deal with and don’t even plug the equipment in before I buy it. What’s the point? It’s old, yes it might work today but may fail tomorrow. Old is old, and old is undependable and unreliable. Just because diamonds are forever and wine gets better with age doesn’t mean electronics improve over time. Quite the opposite. Why do I buy vintage stereo and hi fi equipment? I have a true intrinsic love for old time electronics. I enjoy tinkering, experimenting, restoring, looking at, and just using equipment from the past. My initial statement is that I am receiving many emails and calls for price quotes. My new line is ” the only place you can get 1/4-1/2 ebay price is on ebay. It’s a true answer to an often disappointing question. People who want to sell their equipment for top dollar don’t like to hear that. But…it’s the truth unless you find the one sucker in your vicinity who doesn’t care about money or the security of a guarantee. If you want ebay price go to ebay, if you want a Lexus you go to a Lexus dealership. I can save you much time…don’t even bother calling around getting price quotes. Your going to get pissed off and think nasty thoughts of buyers. Wait, there are some unscrupulous characters that will give you a great price quote. When they come to purchase your equipment here are a few of the lines they will use: Oh that’s trade in value, come to my damp, dirty dungeon and trade up to better old crap equipment. Or, there is a pin sized nick inside on the power supply transformer, everyone who buys these amps know to look for this, now it’s only worth 1/100 my quoted price. Or here is $250.00 for your Thorens turntable but this Krell amp is only worth $20.00 in its present condition, same for the Mark Levinson. And the Mcintosh is worth $55.00 because it doesn’t have the wood case. But I will give you that price for your Thorens. Also, your Marantz has some lamps out, that decreases it’s value to near nothing. I think you get my drift. Me, myself, and I rarely drift from my quoted prices. Yes, it’s happened a few times when dishonest sellers state a dishonest description of the cosmetics of their items. I am not that picky, as long as all the knobs, switches, and other parts are there and complete we are golden. Basically all I require is very good and complete, cosmetic condition. I have had instances where the seller stated the condition as very good. When I get there, it’s missing knobs, has salt water damage, looks like it was shot out of a cannon into a hand ball court, totally rusted or oxidized, etc. Banged up, smashed, water damaged, burnt up, gash type scratches, dents, etc. doesn’t work for me. Working or Not I am ok with, but cosmetics have to be at least very good and we have a deal. No need to play the price game to the highest bidder with me. I pay what I pay with cash, no drama, and seal it with a handshake.
To sell your old stereo equipment, please contact us at cashforstereos.com, or call 718 698-2428.
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