It is a sad day in the household. All of this time my listening room had been shared with my office. Due to a job change for both me and my better half, it needs to become more of an office. This means I need to downsize my Hi-Fi. The good news is there will still be Hi-Fi, just a smaller version. Good things can come in small packages, at least that is what I keep telling myself.

This also means I start the unfortunately process of selling off my current system so I can afford new stuff. Again there is an upside. Since I will be significantly downsizing I should have money left in my pocket to buy some nice office furniture. Who knows, if I have enough left over I can buy something for the misses and she will be double happy, first to get rid of my space consuming setup, and second to get a present out of it.

Now to the ugly part. I really hate selling stuff. Not so much that I have to let it go, but more the process. To attract the good buyers on the used market you have to have everything. This means all of the pieces parts, paperwork, manual, and boxes. It would not surprise me if some of these people also want your first born child. Luckily for me this is not my first time around. I knew this and have kept all of this stuff and have it for almost everything.

Next you have to deal with a flood of low ball offers. The sales person in me forces me to respond politely to these offers. Deep down inside, I really want to respond telling these people I would rather drop the equipment off the top of my roof and light it on fire than let them get it for that amount.

Now comes the serious buyers, most of whom are really high maintenance. They need to know everything about everything. I am not exaggerating when I say one potential buyer wanted:

- To know where I bought the equipment when new

- If I would provide them a copy of the receipt

- If I would call the original purchase store to facilitate a transfer of records

- And finally, if going forward I would help support them in case warranty work was needed

They flat out told me they wanted a used price, but fully warrantied item. Luckily someone else came along with money faster.

Then there was the down right schemers. I had sold one of my pieces to a local person who was driving a couple of hours to pick it up. I had someone else who wanted the piece suggest I lie to the person on their way to pick it up and say I dropped it and broke it and then sell it to them. Another person said they would buy my equipment if I helped them sell theirs first, by referring my buyers to them.

Finally when you do complete a transaction, you get to see the PayPal, Audiogon, and other fees come out, thus making your once good sale look like crap.

Today the final piece sold and was boxed up and shipped out. The powers that be must have felt bad for me, because while I was at FedEx, USPS dropped off the first of my new equipment. When more arrives, and I have something to listen to, I will update.