Anybody Buying This Excuse/Reason?

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Alright, first things first-here is the link: http://app.audiogon.com/listings/tu...2012-12-18-amplifiers-10977-chestnut-ridge-ny

Here is the guy’s rationale for why this most awesome amp is up for sale:

I purchased this very recently from a local VAC dealer. It is brand new. Factory sealed.
It turns out now, a few weeks later that I need to redirect some money to help my kids pay for college. I am taking a loss on this, but it will be lucky for someone that it is up for sale.

Does anyone really think for one second that when this guy bought this amp that he didn’t realize that his kids were heading off for college and he needed to pay their tuition? Really?? Why don’t people tell the truth and say they are good friends with a dealer who dumps gear at their cost into their laps so they can resell it and still make some money? These types of ads where people buy expensive gear only to *realize* they had major expenses/obligations they had to meet that somehow they forgot about are an insult to people’s intelligence.
 
Either that or most people are too proud to admit they screwed up and have other financial obligations.

Maybe his wife caught him! :rolleyes:
 
There is a similar excuse blaming Hurricane Sandy. No flood insurance.
 
-- If everyone would be telling the truth, life would be boring, and there wouldn't be any more challenges, discussions, questions, answers, and all that jazz. :b :D
 
Either that or most people are too proud to admit they screwed up and have other financial obligations.

Maybe his wife caught him! :rolleyes:

Nah, I'm not buying it. These are the same type of guys who claim to be surprised when their mortgage is due every month. I think they are all wired in with a local dealer who dumps equipment at their cost that is not selling.
 
Nah, I'm not buying it. These are the same type of guys who claim to be surprised when their mortgage is due every month. I think they are all wired in with a local dealer who dumps equipment at their cost that is not selling.

---- That, or on drugs. :D
 
I'm with Mark on this. I don't buy the whole kids going to college thing either. I see he's also got some Stax headphones for sale.
 
It is certainly fishy. He says "I purchased this very recently from a local VAC dealer. It is brand new. Factory sealed.

It turns out now, a few weeks later that I need to redirect some money to help my kids pay for college. I am taking a loss on this, but it will be lucky for someone that it is up for sale."


How did it stay sealed for the few weeks? Anyone who buys an amp like this would open it the minute he got home. He would leave it sealed and a few weeks later remember that he needed the money.
 
It is certainly fishy. He says "I purchased this very recently from a local VAC dealer. It is brand new. Factory sealed.

It turns out now, a few weeks later that I need to redirect some money to help my kids pay for college. I am taking a loss on this, but it will be lucky for someone that it is up for sale."


How did it stay sealed for the few weeks? Anyone who buys an amp like this would open it the minute he got home. He would leave it sealed and a few weeks later remember that he needed the money.

Not necessarily Amir; I bought electronics in the past and I didn't open the boxes till a month or six later. ...Very true.

* What about if he was simply telling the truth?
 
Not necessarily Amir; I bought electronics in the past and I didn't open the boxes till a month or six later. ...Very true.

* What about if he was simply telling the truth?

You're stretching Bob! It's a VAC for heaven's sake. There is no way you're gonna let that sit unopened.
 
Not necessarily Amir; I bought electronics in the past and I didn't open the boxes till a month or six later. ...Very true.
He bought a $10,000 amplifier amp Bob. You would park that much money and not care for a few weeks?

* What about if he was simply telling the truth?
We are being asked by Mark if we think it is fishy or not. I am saying it is. He is selling that for a profit over typical dealer cost. So this could be the way a dealer is advertising a discount against his agreement with the manufacturer. Right now, a legitimate dealer in New York area that has spent hours if not days for a customer to audition that gear, may lose that sale to this other dealer selling things out the back door this way. How long do you think that dealer will stay in business if he keeps losing sales this way?
 
--Huh, I'm sorry Amir but I bought a $5,000 amp and preamp once and didn't even open the boxes til six months later (perhaps even longer than that, but I think that was about six months; I purchased them in the fall, and open the boxes the next spring).

There are a lot of different folks out there, than what we think.

___________

As for Audiogon, and this guy; I just stay away from.
 
Here’s what I think: I don’t think the seller has a dime invested in the VAC amp. I think the dealer gave him the amp to sell with an agreement that the dealer would pay for the cost of the sale (cost of the ad, Audiogon fees, and the PayPal fees, and pay a small fee to the seller in order to make it worth his while). I agree with Amir on this-had this buyer truly shelled out his own cash for this amp, he would have busted the box open as soon as he made it home.
 
-- Speculation, that's all there is; how can you be certain of the truth, the ultimate truth?

In life we all make our own assessments, and from that we judge; we acquit, or condemn.

And in forums even more so. ...And very often, the judges are wrong, plain & simply wrong!
...No use to defend ourselves, to prove anything, but accepting the wrong judgements.
Why? Because it is much less aggravating to accept injustice than fight over it and not sleep well for many years.

I know, it sounds real stupid, and it goes against the true justice in the world.
But on the Internet the games some people are playing are sick to the core of their own belief, misunderstanding, not being able to put all the dots together, incomprehensiveness, hatred feeding, and all that jazz.

Who knows; that guy might be a jerk perhaps, but he could also mean well, and not be a jerk at all.

_______________

I can give you a lot of examples, but I simply won't. It is up to each individual to differentiate the good from the bad.
And more often than not, the big complainants are the ones with the biggest issues of their own.
 
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Most of the time people selling will tell you only half the truth and will try to show that they have a decent, non audiophile reason for selling. I have advertised some excess of my equipment recently and 90% of the time the first question is "Why are you selling? What didn't you like in the sound of this device?". It is not an easy question, perhaps sellers want to avoid it by listing a sales motif. Besides, referring to kids education suggests a more trusty person ... ;)
 
If you're fully convinced of that (uncertain about the truth, and not totally sure about the seller), why deal with him then? :b

See, that's the thing; we much rather say Good or Bad, but we can't be in the middle, it seems like. We have to judge; it makes us feel good. ...And even if we're not sure.
 
Most of the time people selling will tell you only half the truth and will try to show that they have a decent, non audiophile reason for selling. I have advertised some excess of my equipment recently and 90% of the time the first question is "Why are you selling? What didn't you like in the sound of this device?". It is not an easy question, perhaps sellers want to avoid it by listing a sales motif. Besides, referring to kids education suggests a more trusty person ... ;)

The honest answer most of the time is that you simply bought something that sounds better. I’m personally suspicious of anyone who sells a brand new still sealed piece of gear at dealer cost and has some funky reason for why they are selling it. Your realization that your children are going to college doesn’t hit you after you just shelled out $10K.
 
I don't really care how he describes his motives, as long as the price is good and the product is described accurately. He could have taken it on trial, his wife caught him, and he agreed to sell it for the dealer because the impulse buy was thwarted. Doubt he came close to paying retail, and he may be fishing for a profit.

Ever ask a real estate agent why the owners are moving from a house? BS at least two thirds of the time.
 

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