First, let me say that I have made 12 transactions using Audiogon and have excellent feedback. All went without a hitch but, most were with local pickups. One advantage to living in such a large urban area, no problem finding local buyers or sellers.
On Friday, Oct 7, I had the winning bid on a Audio Research CD3 MKII at Audiogon. During the bidding process I received a email from the seller saying he would stop the auction and sell me the player if I immediatly emailed $1850 to his paypal account. Unlike ebay, this is against the Audiogon rules for auctions. Naturally that caused concern. Not only because of the offer to bypass the auction but the price he asked for was very, very low. He claimed that the unit was almost new. I couldn't believe that someone with a high end player wouldn't know it's value. This made me very uneasy. I wanted to pull out of the auction but, because I was using the proxy system offered at Audiogon it wasn't possible.
After winning the auction I received a email from the seller saying he wanted to use Paypal to protect himself. I emailed him back, giving him my phone number, and asked that he call me so that we could finish the transaction. I also stated that I wanted to use a escrow company and I wanted the serial number of the CD player and where it was purchased from.
The next email I recieved was the following day, stating that he had sold the player during the auction and that it wasn't available. This made me wonder had he really sold it and then tried to get two of us to send him money, or did he not want me to know the serial numbers and original dealer because it was stolen.
I emailed all the other bidders and all but one wrote back and said that he had made the same offer to them. I figured the one who didn't email me was the one who bought it.
I then filed a complaint with Audiogon so that they would look into the matter. Two days later (Monday) I finally heard from the person who did buy the player. He had sent the money to the seller and then the seller told him that his Paypal account was frozen because of my complaint and, asked for more money to be sent to another Paypal account that he had. He said he would return the other money when the dispute with me through Audiogon was over. The buyer was stupid enough to send more money! I asked him if he had asked about the serial numbers, he said no. I then asked if since he had sent the money, twice, did he have a tracking number. The buyer said that the seller told him that he couldn't yet ship it (since Friday) because Monday was a holiday. I pointed out that every shipping company was open SAT, SUN, and MON, except the Post Office and it had been opened Sat. Man, it really is easy to use greed to con somebody. In this case the buyer wanted this "almost new" $7000 CD Player for $1875 so bad he would belive anything.
Tuesday, the buyer emailed me again all distressed and said that the same auction was again posted on Audiogon. Looked like the seller was seeing if he couldn't sell it 3 times. We both emailed Audiogon and the auction was stopped. Then last night a friend of mine called me up and told me that the auction had started back up and there was a new buyer!
I have really lost faith in Audiogon as far as their willingness to protect their members. I would still use it to sell stuff and to buy but, only with local people that I can meet in person.
On Friday, Oct 7, I had the winning bid on a Audio Research CD3 MKII at Audiogon. During the bidding process I received a email from the seller saying he would stop the auction and sell me the player if I immediatly emailed $1850 to his paypal account. Unlike ebay, this is against the Audiogon rules for auctions. Naturally that caused concern. Not only because of the offer to bypass the auction but the price he asked for was very, very low. He claimed that the unit was almost new. I couldn't believe that someone with a high end player wouldn't know it's value. This made me very uneasy. I wanted to pull out of the auction but, because I was using the proxy system offered at Audiogon it wasn't possible.
After winning the auction I received a email from the seller saying he wanted to use Paypal to protect himself. I emailed him back, giving him my phone number, and asked that he call me so that we could finish the transaction. I also stated that I wanted to use a escrow company and I wanted the serial number of the CD player and where it was purchased from.
The next email I recieved was the following day, stating that he had sold the player during the auction and that it wasn't available. This made me wonder had he really sold it and then tried to get two of us to send him money, or did he not want me to know the serial numbers and original dealer because it was stolen.
I emailed all the other bidders and all but one wrote back and said that he had made the same offer to them. I figured the one who didn't email me was the one who bought it.
I then filed a complaint with Audiogon so that they would look into the matter. Two days later (Monday) I finally heard from the person who did buy the player. He had sent the money to the seller and then the seller told him that his Paypal account was frozen because of my complaint and, asked for more money to be sent to another Paypal account that he had. He said he would return the other money when the dispute with me through Audiogon was over. The buyer was stupid enough to send more money! I asked him if he had asked about the serial numbers, he said no. I then asked if since he had sent the money, twice, did he have a tracking number. The buyer said that the seller told him that he couldn't yet ship it (since Friday) because Monday was a holiday. I pointed out that every shipping company was open SAT, SUN, and MON, except the Post Office and it had been opened Sat. Man, it really is easy to use greed to con somebody. In this case the buyer wanted this "almost new" $7000 CD Player for $1875 so bad he would belive anything.
Tuesday, the buyer emailed me again all distressed and said that the same auction was again posted on Audiogon. Looked like the seller was seeing if he couldn't sell it 3 times. We both emailed Audiogon and the auction was stopped. Then last night a friend of mine called me up and told me that the auction had started back up and there was a new buyer!
I have really lost faith in Audiogon as far as their willingness to protect their members. I would still use it to sell stuff and to buy but, only with local people that I can meet in person.
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