[Don_S]

Thank you for the great insight into how Audiogon works with commercial accounts and how their traffic is shrinking.  The new owners of Audiogon made it more expensive and more difficult to sell equipment but brought nothing to the table in way of improvements.

Thank you for clearing up that Amazon did NOT purchase Audiogon.  I hate it when untrue rumors get started.

Amazon didn't buy Audiogon, they wouldn't have screwed it up as much as the guy who took controlling interest of the site from the original owner a couple years ago.  I believe he got a new webmaster who told him that he could make a bunch more $$ by having pay per click ads from other companies.

In the past, private party ads were $4 with a 2% commission due when your item was sold & seller or buyer left feedback.  Commercial accounts (dealers) paid $5 per ad with 1% commission due unless you had Audiogon bill your credit card for a minimum of $100 on the first of the month, then dealers didn't pay sales commission.  They now want dealers to pay $250 a month to be an "authorized" Audiogon seller, but you still have to pay for any ads separately.  Authorized sellers can put their email or phone numbers on the ads.

Due to their boneheaded moves and/or the slow economy, Audiogon is now getting 1/3 of their home page hits and only about 10% of total hits to ads, discussion forums, member lookups etc.  Before they launched the "new" site, they used to get around 35,000 daily home page hits compared to the current average 12,000.  And 80,000 total other page hits compared to an average of 800,000 to 900,000 before.  Recently they have about 250 new ads posted daily vrs 425+ in the past, their revenue must be down several hundred $$ a day.  Maybe they are making it up on the pay per click ads.  Does anyone know how those pay?  Maybe I will put some on my web site...

Here's a link to a tracking site with more info.  At the right side bottom of the graph, move the slider to go back to 2009 & move your mouse around to see the numbers.

http://www.quantcast.com/audiogon.com

[neobop]

Sorry about that.

As a noncommercial user, besides the email, it doesn't seem much different.

neo

[rif]

I liked audiogon back when it looked like videogon does now. Did all these other changes coincide with the format change?

[neobop]

Sorry about that.

As a noncommercial user, besides the email, it doesn't seem much different.

neo

I take that back, nothing to be sorry about.  I just spoke to a high end dealer friend of mine who used to have a banner ad, or sometimes had one, on Agon.  He said the price went up to $450/mo.  He sold a lot of an inexpensive item with the help of that ad, but it's no longer worth it. The pay per click ads have a reduced (I assume) monthly fee, but they charge every time someone clicks on your ad and it can run up the bill.  I don't know all the details and I didn't press him for information.  It was really just a BTW at the end of our conversation.

The guy that bought Agon a couple of yrs ago recently sold it to Amazon.  I don't have proof of this but my friend didn't seem to have any doubts about that.
neo

[WireNut]

 Someone from Audiogon has contacted me about purchasing my amp and they have stated that payment thru Paypal will take about 3-5 days. Does that sound right ?     

The last time I sent funds thru paypal it is there within a few minutes and the seller shipped me his item the next day. I've had several other offers on the amp and have put them all on hold.

[vortrex]

PP can put a hold on certain payments, depends on how it was funded on his end.  it's not abnormal.

[JohnR]

Someone from Audiogon has contacted me about purchasing my amp and they have stated that payment thru Paypal will take about 3-5 days. Does that sound right ?     

That happens with an "eCheque." I think that's when someone is paying with funds that are in their bank account - it takes a few days for it to be transferred to paypal and then paypal put it in your account.

[WireNut]

I made 3 counter offers on a component I’m selling on Agon. One of my counter offers was accepted.
When I went back to review my 3 counter offers only the one that was accepted was gone and so was my ad  .

I've been a member for 12 years and nothing like this has ever happened before 
Does anybody know why my accepted counter offer is now gone as well as my ad?



 

[Big Red Machine]

I made 3 counter offers on a component I’m selling on Agon. One of my counter offers was accepted.
When I went back to review my 3 counter offers only the one that was accepted was gone and so was my ad  .

I've been a member for 12 years and nothing like this has ever happened before 
Does anybody know why my accepted counter offer is now gone as well as my ad?

Look under the sold tab on your page.  It sounds like the accepted offer made it a sold item now and has been moved to the sold area of your user tabs.

[WireNut]

Look under the sold tab on your page.  It sounds like the accepted offer made it a sold item now and has been moved to the sold area of your user tabs.

Big Red Machine, anybody,

 My ad was moved to the sold tab but my original counter offer to him is gone.
I've got a bad feeling. I just now found out that he is shady and has negative feedback.

I contacted him one day ago and said to send funds via paypal and I have not heard a thing from him.

Can I back out of this deal now?

[audio.bill]

Technically once a listing is moved into the sold section, Audiogon considers that a deal has been agreed upon and expects you to complete the transaction and pay the associated fees. However I would suggest contacting Audiogon at support@audiogon.com to explain the situation, and they may reverse the sale's status for you. It's worth a shot, good luck!

[Ericus Rex]

Technically once a listing is moved into the sold section, Audiogon considers that a deal has been agreed upon and expects you to complete the transaction and pay the associated fees. However I would suggest contacting Audiogon at support@audiogon.com to explain the situation, and they may reverse the sale's status for you. It's worth a shot, good luck!

Audiogon has done exactly that for me once when a buyer didn't follow through and ignored my emails.  It was no sweat.  They just relisted it for me.  I don't remember them charging me their usual listing fees again...but it was years ago.

[WireNut]

Thanks guy's for your advise,

 This person said he's going to send me the money for my component via paypal tomorrow. Given his feedback, I don't trust him. How can I protect my paypal and bank acct after he sends the funds?   

I've heard a story before about someone getting their money back thru paypal but I don't remember the reason or how is was done.
I'm just trying to protect myself from a possible devious buyer.

I'll be taking a lot of photos of the equipment that he's buying before I send it to him just in case.
Next time I'll be a lot more careful using Audiogon.

[WireNut]

Taking a closer look at two emails this person sent me doesn't make me fell good.
Look at how audiogon is spelled in the heading.

AudiogonN

Notice the small and CAPITAL nN's

[SoCalWJS]

Taking a closer look at two emails this person sent me doesn't make me fell good.
Look at how audiogon is spelled in the heading.

Ken McDonald via AudiogonN

Notice the small and CAPITAL nN's

I've never used AudiogoN (other than checking used prices), but always thought the "N" was capitalized on their website.....


.... doubled "nN"?!!? - not so much.

[MaxCast]

What happens if you just back out of the deal?

Might me worth it if it does not feel right.

[WireNut]

What happens if you just back out of the deal?

Might me worth it if it does not feel right.

I don't no. I got a bad feeling guy's.

[PRELUDE]

Thanks guy's for your advise,

 This person said he's going to send me the money for my component via paypal tomorrow. Given his feedback, I don't trust him. How can I protect my paypal and bank acct after he sends the funds?   

I've heard a story before about someone getting their money back thru paypal but I don't remember the reason or how is was done.
I'm just trying to protect myself from a possible devious buyer.

I'll be taking a lot of photos of the equipment that he's buying before I send it to him just in case.
Next time I'll be a lot more careful using Audiogon.

WireNut,
Even if someone could get his/her money back from PayPal for any reason, I would not think PayPal would give your or anyone else info such as bank account and etc. to the third person otherwise then PayPal would not be a safe place at all. I am a certified PayPal member over 15 years now and for many times I transferred large amount of money with no problem. You never send your item before the money transferred to your account completely. Then how this person wants to get the money back when deal is over.
You can always bring up an excuse for a buyer that you have mixed feeling about them and ask for certified check only.
Good luck.
BTW. This is the shame that there is no reliable place for people to sell their stuff. I never liked eBay as well.       

[Big Red Machine]

If he does pay you and you do ship, he can complain via PayPal many ways including you misrepresented the product, demand a refund and the deal is he ships it back.  But you have to refund first and then wait for shipment which may never come.

Go on record with audiogon you are nervous about this buyer, keep all communication records, and only send the item with adult sig upon delivery.  Photograph everything so if there is an issue you seem like the more responsible adult with heavy doses of documentation.

[Ericus Rex]

I'll be taking a lot of photos of the equipment that he's buying before I send it to him just in case.
Next time I'll be a lot more careful using Audiogon.

I have also taken videos of the working equipment when my gut doesn't feel right.  I then send that video to the buyer through email so they then know that I have some  evidence the component worked on such and such day (you can film the front page of your local newspaper to establish a date).  This may not actually hold up in court but my feeling is they will have a harder time actually ripping me off and will likely not even try.

As for Paypal, I've had people contest purchases from me due to slow postal systems.  Paypal then pulled the funds out of my account and held them in escrow until the matter was resolved.  Granted, that was a buyer's protection but they do have seller's protections too.

My experience with Audiogon's system is that they want nothing to do punishing bad sellers/buyers or helping out the wronged.  All negative feedback I've ever left for anyone has never been posted to that person's feedback. Very lame.