Items In The For Sale Forum

I see what your saying....I think it is more a sales tactic than fact. Burn-in is needed and if these "audiophiles" don't like the signature with little headtime then it may be a good deal for the buyer. I also like to cruise that forum and find alot of dacs for sale....I think alot of folks buy them and can't justify the cost or can't hear the difference. There are many great deals to be found and I for one have no problem buying used...especially here....never had a deal go bad or been disappointed with my buy.

There are definitely some people on the headphone forums who buy something just to find out what it's like (especially true when it's a FOM) and then flips them. So lightly used can be accurate, for most though, I think it's a sales strategy. Who's going to pay top price for something that says, "worn out" ?

The buysell forum is an affordable way to discover  "yourtaste"  of music.

Also to get a feel of how the dac/amps/cables mix n match to give u the best bang.

I tot i wouldnt like grado... n realised i dun like ATs. sponge on the head vs the lacqueredwoods. hmmmm.

 

There's been some nightmare stories of buyers getting stuff that had a pungent cigarette stench coming from them that wasn't mentioned, so it's not that surprising that people mention things like that to reassure buyers.

Same with pets shedding hair and the consequences from that.

You'll find a lot of people on the sales forums are running a similar routine to myself. "buy/try/sell" program. The sales forum here allow members to sample gear and move it on to the next person if it's not for them, this cures a lot of curiosity without breaking your wallet. I for one depending on an items popularity will sell for $10 less than I purchased, this way the next in line get's a better deal. There's excellent prices on our boards and you can save a heap of money, money that would usually go to online stores, sometimes double the amount. For example I picked up a Hifiman HM-601 for $115 recently, that's a $95 saving to any price I found online. I think the sales forums also show the true value of an item. Products aren't hiding behind advertising and unneeded push tactics.
Edited by H20Fidelity - 1/3/13 at 2:59am

 

What should also be mentioned is whether the previous owner used fragrances at all (including in their shampoo).

Certainly I agree, even the food they've eaten recently should be mentioned. This can perspire through skin.

I know with my dog, her shedding is enough that it could present a problem to various headphones (electrostats being a prime example), but I keep her out of my listening room (she doesn't actually go up/down the stairs anymore, so even if she were allowed, she wouldn't), and it has no hair in it (and I've never gotten complaints about that). Beyond the functional issues, if there's pet dander on the product and a potential buyer is allergic, that's really problematic.

With smoking it's a different story altogether - if you sit and smoke like a chimney with your headphones on, they will reek to non-smokers. But you probably won't even notice it. That said, I see a lot of "look at me, I'm selling a used car" tactics go on as well (I've seen a lot of "owned by a responsible adult and only driven to church on Sunday" type ads over the years), which I think is just the result of used car sales and people's experiences there (it isn't really bad, it's just an interesting "piece" that usually works its way into classified ads, even when it doesn't really apply (or isn't entirely true)).

But I agree with vid - things like fragrances, smoking, etc should be mentioned. For example I have an air freshener/oil diffuser thing in my listening area (I like it), and I try to remember to mention that when I've sold headphones in the past (it's very subtle, but I'm sure if you were sensitive, you'd notice it for the first day or two upon receiving your cans - again, I've never had someone come back and say "hey man, that obob guy sold me some cans, and they really stink!"). I think it's just the result of the personal nature of headphones - it's like selling a hat or something.

The one that always makes me giggle is "from a child-free home" or similar - really I don't see what children in the same general vicinity will do to damage cans or equipment (and if it's been legitimately destroyed in an accident, you have no business selling it), and I know there's at least a few head-fiers who have some majorly high end stuff (not just headphones, but big-rigs) and little ones, and I can't honestly say I've ever seen the "my kids just trashed my [expensive thing]" thread here - I've seen "rabbits have eaten my power cables," "my cat chewed my headphone cord," and "my puppy chewed my headphone cord" but never kids. I've seen it on other forums though. So I don't know what that says about children, but honestly unless you're handing your 4 year old the cans to use I don't think there's any difference (especially if you consider some Head-Fi'ers are only like 16-17 anyways, and ostensibly are taking care of their stuff).

As far as the original question goes, the whole "like new" thing - I think "gently used" would probably be a better term, but that's been so perverted by thrift shops (which are usually selling "trashed" stuff as "gently used" (I loathe double-speak)). I'm just thinking about my personal collection of cans - I'd feel fine declaring them all "like new" or "gently used" as none of them have ever been dropped, scuffed, scratched, etc - they don't have tears or runs in the pads, they don't have knicks or dings in the material (plastic/wood/etc). I keep things in cases and very gently and cautiously use them. And I think there's a lot of people who have that "listening room style" usage of headphones, and that's probably what you get with the expensive headphones most of the time. In contrast to "I take this on the train with me" - and to give you an example there, my IEMs (which have survived five years of that), have all of the lettering rubbed off, scratches in their aluminum outer shells, and the PDP has some scratches on it too. It isn't "zippo style" but it certainly is nowhere approaching BNIB.

I've unfortunately had to hang a couple of pairs of headphones I bought from members outside for a few days (in good weather, of course) before I could stand to put them on, due to the previous owner being a smoker. It's a huge issue in Japan where smoking isn't nearly as demonised as it is in Western countries.  The absolute worst, however, was a pair from someone who wore very strong aftershave or deodorant. Nothing would get rid of the smell. 

 

As for the classified forums themselves, there are quite a few guys who only read and barely post, but have gone through a couple of dozen pairs of headphones and who knows what else. I know of two members who have done this with just about all the top-end equipment available.