Second hand price guide

Posted by: Dr. Exotica on 16 December 2001

Over the past several months, I've been watching and recording the prices for Naim equipment on Ebay, Audiogon, and AudioWeb. This was done out of simple interest in the subject. Over the course of this time, I ended up picking up a SNAPS, a Hi-Cap, and a CD3.5 for my home system at what seemed reasonable prices.

In any event, when another reader of this forum saw the list that I was keeping on this subject, he suggested that I put it up on our hobby web site as other Naim owners might find some utility in this information. I decided why not.

There are certain flaws as I see it with the listed prices:
1. UK prices are a lot less than elsewhere (with the money I could save on some items, I could more than pay for plane tickets to England).
2. Final sale prices at non-auction sites cannot be verified (i.e., obo's).
3. Equipment condition in nowhere factored in.
4. Accompanying merchandise (e.g., cables, cards, remotes, etc.) is not factored in.
5. Relatively small sample sizes (at present).
6. Demo equipment is not factored in.

I would appreciate it if some would review the material and provide feedback on the following:
1. Is this useful info?
2. How can I improve the presentation?
3. Is it appropriate to list the prices for used equipment in the first place (I can't think why not, but I am new to the game - maybe I'm stepping on someone's toes confused )?

If interested, goto www.swankradio.com and follow the obvious links.

Thanks for any insight/feedback/etc.

Erik

Posted on: 17 December 2001 by Mark Packer

Dear Dr Exotica,

A couple of points if I may:

1. your site doesn't specify currency, I assume US Dollars.
2. 2nd hand anything is a commodity market, so prices are dictated by supply and demand, consequently prices fluctuate across the seasons (at least this is my observation based on watching UK 2nd hand prices over the last 5 years. Good grief, I sound seriously SAD!)
3. auctions tend, IMHO, to result in inflated prices (perhaps I just mean somebody else paying more than I would ;-) )

This is truly a labour of love on your part, I do hope it doesn't end up as more of a labour than a love.

regards,

Mark