OK, I have a little pet-pieve and I am wondering what the rest of you think about it.
I have this unwritten, and perhaps naive, rule for myself that when I sell an item on this forum to a fellow head-fier, that I would not do so for a significant (or any) profit. I like the idea of a relatively small community that is trustworthy enough to make monetary exchanges and trade around quality headphone gear. More experienced listeners can "hand-down" their older, yet still perfectly usable, equipment to newbies while they trade up to better, more expensive equipment. Unless drastic market changes have occured, or significant time period has passed, I would not sell items at a price significantly higher than I had recently purchased from another benevolent head-fier.
I have been witness to such an act first hand. Someone here purchased an item I had for sale. He negotiated a price lower than my original (already reasonable) asking price, mainly under the pretense that he was a starving student and could not afford more. I was happy to do so and thought I was "passing the torch", so to speak, so that another person could enjoy a finer listening experience. Then, not a few weeks later, he has turned around and sold it to another (relatively new) head-fier at a significant profit.
Now you all do not have to educate me on capitalism, free trade, etc. And I guess I will chalk this up to another of life's inevitable lessons, which will undoubtedly not be the last. But I still feel more than a bit slighted, even betrayed. I was wondering what the rest of you feel about buying and selling things here to fellow head-fiers?
I have this unwritten, and perhaps naive, rule for myself that when I sell an item on this forum to a fellow head-fier, that I would not do so for a significant (or any) profit. I like the idea of a relatively small community that is trustworthy enough to make monetary exchanges and trade around quality headphone gear. More experienced listeners can "hand-down" their older, yet still perfectly usable, equipment to newbies while they trade up to better, more expensive equipment. Unless drastic market changes have occured, or significant time period has passed, I would not sell items at a price significantly higher than I had recently purchased from another benevolent head-fier.
I have been witness to such an act first hand. Someone here purchased an item I had for sale. He negotiated a price lower than my original (already reasonable) asking price, mainly under the pretense that he was a starving student and could not afford more. I was happy to do so and thought I was "passing the torch", so to speak, so that another person could enjoy a finer listening experience. Then, not a few weeks later, he has turned around and sold it to another (relatively new) head-fier at a significant profit.
Now you all do not have to educate me on capitalism, free trade, etc. And I guess I will chalk this up to another of life's inevitable lessons, which will undoubtedly not be the last. But I still feel more than a bit slighted, even betrayed. I was wondering what the rest of you feel about buying and selling things here to fellow head-fiers?