If You Build It, Will They Come? A New Audiogon

[treitz3]

While I appreciate your quoting me and subsequent reply on how the 'gone got started, kach22i. Did you perhaps post this in the incorrect thread? Not quite getting the body of your post here...

 

[microstrip]

I recently gave up buying something at Audiogon from an unknown neighbor of mine - I requested additional detailed photos and the seller could not figure how to send them. After three messages I decided to forget about it.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I still cant get into my systempage , anybody else can???

Mine has gone the way of the dodo bird. Gone forever.

 

[audioarcher]

I am able to but my system page is new. You may try creating a new system and erase the old one. It's worth a try.

Sean

 

[audioarcher]

Sorry I was replying to Audioandramadas post.

 

[andromedaaudio]

I dont know if i want to anymore actually , to much hassle , too unreliable

I think i am gonna start on here as soon as i have some interesting systemchanges i want to show .

hj

 

[silviajulieta]

Dear friends: I can't say if this is relevant or only an " unfortunate " coincidence. I just received this email that in theory came from Agon but in reality does not comes from Agon, Agon is already checking about and will take care about on a wide and deep investigation because the email is a fake/fraud one.

The email came or has an origin in germany, you can read the email address ( audiogon.de ):


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this is the second time in last two months I received this kind of email.



Anyway, take care all of you.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Dear Steve: It is only when I go through this thread ( by curiosity ) that I been aware that my post that I posted on the " Refund " thread appears here and not there where belongs.

When I posted I was unaware pf this thread, what happened?, I can't say for sure ????????

Even I though my post was deleted on that " refund " ( now closed. ) therad.


On the other side and more relevant to your thread is that maybe the challenge is to build a " site NAME ", Agon has/builded a solid NAME and if the new owners works fast to enrich in a new way the Agon site I think that Agon's RIP maybe never can happen.

Many of todays Agon policies are wrong, they modified with " no sense ". Seems to me that the new owners has no idea of what Agon represent for the Agoner's and obviously they don't care on what Agon was doing well and from there try to grow up before make any site modifications.

Build a NAME is the name of the game. It is not only dependable on do things good by needs time to achieve it.

Imagine Nike that was be sold it and the new owners decide to change not only Nike's name but the Nike's symbol too: could you think that this new " Nike " company with the same original Nike infraestructure/technology/customer support could run exactly the same?, certainly not and maybe never could even the success of that Nike's NAME.

The Agon's people must to retify fast if not they will disappear.

Several Agoner's now took a new forum temporary waiting for the Agon reset or a better site similar to Agon. This alternative IMHO is not ready working yet, at least I don't know it.


Steve, time ago I was posting here testing your forums trying to find out something better than Agon but unfortunately and even all your and your group effort I don't found out. Of course that there are no " perfect " sites/forums but yours as today Agon that restrict the human been liberty of expresion is not my cup of tea and I could say is not what an USA forum must be when USA as a country support the liberty of expresions on any human been.

Anyway, if what you try is to build the new Agon first than all IMHO you have to change your whole attitude as a site owner: freedom before anything.

IMHO you had the opportunity ( and losted ) to chaNGE it WITH THATnow CLOSED " REFUND " THREAD WHERE YOU WAS ASKED SEVERAL TIMES TO LEAVE OPEN AND YOU DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR site's MEMBERS WANTed AND DECIDED TO CLOSE IT. I don't care why you decided I care that you closed and like this thread other ones too.

Well only an opinion.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.


Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

 

[Steve Williams]

I appreciate your opinion Raul.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

the other day i posted an ad for my MM3 speakers on Audiogon. this was late on an afternoon. over $30k.

by the next evening the speakers were sold, with 2 other buyers also wanting them. the ad process and buyer-seller communications were flukey, i tried to show 'sale pending' on the ad and could not figure it out, so i deleted the ad instead to stop the inquiries.

if you want to sell something, it's priced right and in demand, Audiogon is still where buyers look for high end. i did put my personal phone number in my ad, which made it easy for buyers to contact me. i agree it's screwed up beyond belief, but for now it's the best we have.

i did try Audioasylum and here on WBF, but got no hits from either.

i'm planning on selling other stuff soon to help pay for my new speakers and stay married; and they will all go on Audiogon and i'll fight thru the fubar ad process and i'm betting it will all sell.

just a little bit of reality for ya.....

 

[mep]

Mike-I had a similiar experience on Audiogon when I just recently sold my KSA-250 amp. There is no provision for "sale pending" anymore. I had someone else click on "buy it now" after I made the deal to sell the amp. Because I wasn't asking for payment until I shipped the unit from Krell to the new owner, I didn't want him to pay me in full so I wanted to mark it "sale pending" but couldn't. And now, the second you sell something on Audiogon, they send you an email and tell you that your Audiogon fee is overdue. I got an overdue notice less than 24 hours after I sold the amp.

 

[Bill Hart]

I had been out of the audio circuit for some time when Audiogon got revamped and had a number of problems just logging back in. When I read about all the problems and long-time user complaints, it just reinforced my view that people who buy or run even successful businesses are often ignorant of what makes them work. Eliminating private messaging will not protect commissions, for the obvious reason that the seller or buyer can exchange contact information in the listing or in follow up queries. Frankly, I don't mind paying a capped commission for selling an expensive piece of gear. I do mind all the coding errors, repeated requirements to keep logging in for different functions, and re-submitting a request to back page, so that, i gather, it 'counts' as a fresh click.
Greed isn't bad if you can deliver the service. Look at Apple- their products are overpriced, but they consistently grow by offering what people seem to want (and yes, I own their stuff, resent some of the 'walled garden' approach to interfaces and think their customer support is actually second rate, as is their website if you really want information, as opposed to pretty pictures and ad copy).
The core users at Audiogon are largely still there, from what I can tell, because it is the only game in town.
There is probably a way to deliver a better service, but it would require a serious capital investment and would have to give dealers and private sellers confidence that they are going to see real traffic; many audio chat boards have a classified section, and from I can tell, most are moribund; Vetting of new sellers or buyers- take a look at 1st Dibs, it is largely if not entirely by invitation, and is only dealers, i think; I'm not going to sell or buy from someone with 'zero' feedback; the search functions are horrible on audiogon sales listings and don't error correct for mispelllings or even slight variations in the how an item is described; there should be the ability to link to discussions about a particular product in the for sale section, or at a minimum, reviews that have been posted as such; Audiogon enjoyed (and i think still enjoys) a powerful user community for discussion, totally apart from the product sales function; that has to be nurtured, with the ability to post photos, create reviews and have top line features on the front page. The vintage section on Audiogon is vintage only if you treasure Vietnam era receivers and cassette decks; there is a well-defined array of 'sub' groups in audio, including the DIY folks, the horn and SET gangs, the vinyl as the only source folks, japanese high-end, tube only, etc. who could be catered to with easy subpages that have real content, in addition to featured listings, etc. These could of course be cross-indexed or shown as 'related' for someone who is into Shindo or Kondo, but also interested in tube stuff more generally.
I could go on, but you get the point.
This isn't something that can be run off a vBulletin template.
I've been doing Internet law since 1994, and have seen the beast emerge from bulletin boards to slick magazine and audiovisual delivery mechanisms. 'Social' media is fine as long as there is something to communicate about. The banality of Facebook is telling because there is little common glue, unless you find what someone ate for lunch fascinating. Audiogon has a predefined user base and a constant potential market (people are probably even more interested in selling stuff when the economy is in turmoil and even more interested in buying used during such periods). Audigon has or had virtually no competition in this space so it was able to take advantage of that large market. It also has the benefit of inertia- even if it is terrible, it is still the 'go to' site, because of its reach and its differentiation from e-bay and all the small classified boards that are part of chat group sites. Mediocrity does not mean that it will crash and burn quickly though. Just look at how long GM lasted. Or, have you been to the post office lately?