RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect"

I used to be a dealer selling and promoting on Audiogon, in fact all the way back to just a few months after the site began. around a dozen or so years ago, until the big surprise in January. I don't even want to boil my blood again with all the frustrations that hit me then - I'm sure many of you experienced at least some of them.

Unfortunately, the way Audiogon got to be by far the dominant online marketplace for audiophile goods, their change in policies severely affected my ability to earn a living, right at the peak of this already terrible economic recession.

I did try hard to make a go of it, but their new treatment of dealers became almost impossible to function within. Get this: On top of wanting around $300 per month to be a most basic level commercial advertiser with very little benefit over just running conventional ads, they would also take down my ad after the close of just a single sale. Say I was selling cables, which is my biggest speciality. I'd pay $30-40 for decent placement and exposure, then one single sale of a $300 cable, and I'm having to pay another $30-40 to do it again. For $300 a month, they couldn't just let your ad run and collect their 2% all month long?

I don't know how many of you understand the overhead cost of a small business, but wen you give up $40 on an item you've already discounted say 10-15%, and receiving payment with credit cards or PayPal eating up about another 8% of your net, there's really not much left. Never mind the months an ad didn't create a single sale yet cost the big bucks to run just ONE item.

Also, cables are needed in SO many different lengths and configurations, yet they went so tight at monitoring rules so strictly that I could only advertise ONE length and configuration - eliminating the potential to serve more people needing the right length for them. Just nuts. Very greedy. Impractical. Unworkable. How little value they offered us anymore.

And yes, I agree with the previous comment that their fee collection on the sale really changed things a lot as well, in exactly the way he described. Just a note - dealers are required by manufactures to advertise no lower than a MAP price (minimum advertised price), often at retail. MAP is a healthy thing for the industry. It prevents a small few internet advertisers from squeezing out almost all the profit from a item. Dealers are dependent on profit for a living, and good ones make the service worth paying for. When there is not enough to be made on a product or manufactures line to make it worth bothering to carry and invest in, we just drop it. All the hard work a manufacturer puts into building his network of dealers dissolves. Not enough dealers will carry for the manufacturer to stay in business, and the industry becomes that much weaker and less able to serve the community.

Audiogon used to be such a free, open place and a beautiful community that offered a market for individual sellers as well as an opportunity for dealers to reach beyond a narrow local market of audiophiles.

Any good alternatives yet?

Regards, Jeff

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - I #%*=ing hate hate audiogon - ejlif 21:51:47 07/08/12 (30)

just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect" - nsgarch 10:30:48 07/15/12 (3)

RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect" - Jeff Delman 05:23:28 10/13/12 (1)

RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect" - hifinutt 16:17:53 10/15/12 (0)

RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect" - stanwal 21:47:54 07/18/12 (0)

RE: I #%*=ing hate hate audiogon - dmailer 06:56:44 07/14/12 (1)

and besides the noticable increase in scammers, - nsgarch 14:55:28 07/14/12 (0)

Before I post on Agon I read their Operations Manual - Des 15:56:25 07/13/12 (0)

Me, too - Trelja 17:47:51 07/10/12 (1)

RE: Me, too - nsgarch 06:38:51 07/14/12 (0)

. . . . and here's another reason: - nsgarch 10:05:44 07/10/12 (6)

RE: . . . . and here's another reason: - Br3098 21:13:57 07/13/12 (2)

I'm not so sure . . - nsgarch 06:25:23 07/14/12 (0)

RE: . . . . and here's another reason: - byegolly 04:23:52 07/14/12 (0)

and another reason (on it goes ;--) - nsgarch 13:19:22 07/10/12 (1)

Thank you nsgarch from many thousands (?) of us - robss 17:59:50 07/10/12 (0)

RE: . . . . and here's another reason: - John A. Casler 12:59:39 07/10/12 (0)

I can't understand it! - Mechans 09:35:41 07/10/12 (0)

Frustrating true but...... - JayG 23:08:04 07/09/12 (0)

It's different but I don't hate it - AbeCollins 17:28:43 07/09/12 (0)

headfi.org has free classifieds - mbnx01 10:32:26 07/09/12 (2)

RE: headfi.org has free classifieds - nsgarch 16:11:16 07/10/12 (1)

RE: headfi.org has free classifieds - goldeneraguy 16:54:00 07/10/12 (0)

RE: I #%*=ing hate hate audiogon - kgturner 06:56:29 07/09/12 (3)

I have found the same thing ... - reelsmith. 07:21:52 07/09/12 (2)

RE: I have found the same thing ... - kff 13:17:06 07/09/12 (0)

RE: I have found the same thing ... - kgturner 07:24:15 07/09/12 (0)

Maybe ebay is better? * - Mike K 06:46:14 07/09/12 (0)

I've sold a few things - driver 06:26:26 07/09/12 (0)

yup agree with you 100% Audiogon sucks for buying and selling. Pity. nt - Elizabeth 23:08:14 07/08/12 (0)

RE: I #%*=ing hate hate audiogon - sudz1234@yahoo.com 21:59:46 07/08/12 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect" - Jeff Delman 05:23:28 10/13/12 (1)

RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect" - hifinutt 16:17:53 10/15/12 (0)

RE: just in: " . . . . . . a long way to go before we are perfect"

Post a Message!