2nd hand sales

It *seems* to me there is a lot more stuff appearing on the forums for sale and less seems to be selling. Even people selling off whole systems.

Is this a sign of the double dip as they call it, and we are going back into recession. Also how much new stuff is actually being sold. The last month I have seen a bigger drop back than the same period last year (summer always has a drop back) but it has suited me as I have a lot of new design work and stuff to prototype.

 

I think we have a real risk of a doule dip, especially as we've yet to see the impact of the government austerity measures which will kick-in end of 2010.

 

That was certainly the opinion of some Professor or other on the news the other day. But it's not just us, other countries are facing a similar situation.

I have a pet theory that if the media didn't blather on about it so much then consumer sales wouldn't be much affected by the recession, as it's only those who lose their jobs or who are in real danger of losing their jobs that are really affected.

 

and guess who are chosen to clear their mess one hundred fold. spain has over 5 million unenploid for now.

 

Just last night the news was trying to balance between scaled back growth forecasts/choppy waters ahead (according to the guv'nor of BoE) with a chirpy expert analysis that we are not going to double dip.

Whatever the figures say, however big industry reacts, for the average consumer there is less & less to get by on. I see it with my customers every time I visit (once every 6 weeks), and inflation is only going to go one way. I am glad my eggs are in more than one basket, though I am not immune.

 

The forecasts for economic growth have all been revised down "due to the events of the last 3 months" to quote the BoE. He cannot make the political connection but it is clear what he is saying, the decision to introduce the austerity measures early have had an impact on confidence. It isn't entirely national though. In the US the electioneering is mostly about economic performance and the Republicans are busy talking down the economic recovery. It should improve after their mid-term elections. 40% of our household income is from the Public sector so I can forsee a rocky few months ahead while my partner finds out her fate (she works in a PCT and isn't a clinician) but this was easily forseable so I can manage all the bills if required without selling the hifi or cancelling the cable contract!

 

Students of economics will know that it has been possible to talk markets up and down in spite of facts (on a smaller scale businessmen do this). In managing expectations - which itself is quite understandable - there is a genuine prospect of talking us into recession.

We contributed to kickstarting the local economy last weekend with all day in a Wetherspoons, after 12 rounds and a pile of cheesy nachos I like to think we'd done our bit...

Pete

 

It could just be that people no longer like selling on eBay due to the fees.

Ebay second hand gear is in very short supply these days!

Even so I've been surprised at the amount of Naim 500 series stuff thats just hung around for ages at what look like (in relative terms) fairly reasonable prices compared with new (ie less than 1/3 of new price).

If it drops a bit more I could be up for a 500.

 

Yes things are not the best world wide .WE are up for an election in a couple of week here in Australia same old bit promises and B/S. In my 85 years i have had the arse out of my pants to a new car thats the way the economy works. MY two kids have good jobs but it is the young like my Grandkids that might find it a harder row to hoe
Me i have lived my life i am very lucky still have a good wife after 60 years and my
HIFI to tinker with what more could you want. Think about it. Noel W.

 

I know one member of the forum who, simply, sold virtually his whole system and I don't think it was down to anything other than not being satisfied with the sound and wanting to start again.

I am a newbie but it seems to me that the value of forums such as this is that you get to hear a lot of impartial, informed and objective opinions on hifi products that have blown certain makes and products out of the water and it seems to me that it is those makes and products that fill the for sale lists.

I also seem to see a lot of people buying vintage gear who say the uncompromised quality of quite old products, simple over-engineering of quality products that can still deliver the goods, has not necessarily been bettered by the cost-cutting and profit driven mantra of more recent smaller companies who don't necessarily make better products.

The difference now is that we all discuss these matters amongst each other...before we buy.

 

I see some guys selling hifi because of the recession.

It is hard to believe (for me) that perhaps £1000 or £2000 saved in this way can be worth the pain of being without something you love so much.

Most people can re-mortgage, sell a car and buy a cheap one or raise money in some other way.

My hifi would be the last thing I would sell in such a situation. I would drive an old banger and be mortgaged to the hilt first..

.

 

I like Aussie politics at the moment. You have very civilised coups d'etat. It's a bit like the political shenanigans in those prequel Star Wars movies, only without the bad scripts. And Jar Jar Binks.

You should vote Tony Abbott in, if only to really, really confuse Glen Beck on Fox News in the US. A 'socially-conservative liberal' will probably make his head explode.

 

bottleneck, do you think it is about the recession or maybe that there is, possibly, a sea change in how some people are now listening to hifi?

The philosophy put forward by some dealers, and their products, was source first.

It now seems that the speakers are the product you should concentrate on and maybe have the longest life in your system and if they're active then all you then need to do is compliment them with dacs that are increasingly coming with preamps and then streaming music from your laptop.

There will always be the turntable fraternity but the future seems to herald a completely different approach and maybe people are clearing the decks, no pun intended, as the market provides different options to providing music than was the case before.

 

Hi Blueeyes

I certainly wouldnt be spending thousands on a CD player right now, especially if I expected to get most of my money back.

Whether you listen to LP, CD, music streamed from a PC, an Ipod dock, a wireless xblox360/playstation then you still need an amp and speakers - or as you say active speakers.

I strongly suspect cd players to go the way of the tape-deck in a few years (who would have thought I'd have a record player, a music streamer and no cd player, if asked in 1990?)

Im not seeing more cd players than other components in classifieds at the moment, that is my personal prediction for this decade to come.

 

Tried selling my speakers on Ebay but only went to a third of what i wanted for them. Glad i put a reserve on them.

 

i think i will keep my reel to reel, teac x-10r, no need to sell it for peanuts, bsides i have enough tapes, it is a buyers market now and it hurts when people offer you silly insulted prices on what you persoanally value as more,

 

Everything depends on which product you're talking about:
I sold my Stillpoints for half a price in less than an hour.
My Krell 300c was sold 30 minutes after I put the add on the web. Ok it was a very good price and it was during the first dip.

I'm trying to buy HRS dampers or plates but they go away in a few days after they are on the web. So often I came late.

 

from £1.00 to £5000.00, money is an issue so is the product, i agree as to what, like most sellers are penny wise pound foolish.

 

I think the future is that the cd player is now finished, as you say bottleneck, but as with the tape deck a lot of people still have them and so will continue to service the majority.

I see 3 camps.

In the middle the cd player still servicing the majority of people but not necessarily audiophiles.

On one side of the cd player I see the vinyl camp, from the past, with an increasingly move towards vintage gear and on the other side, the future which is the streaming brigade.

 

Maybe just the audiophiles or those who need the necessity to have in their hands something physical (the CD).