I enjoy perusing the Barter Town ads, occasionally will do some slumming on marketplace, ebay, audiomart, there are often descriptions of condition. Well “descriptions” might be giving too much credit especially when reality is compared to the description.
So what is “mint”? Is “minty” like the made up word “melty”?
I think we need to have a consensus on some of these flipper/seller terms.
New: Never sold, original packaging, unopened.
New Old Stock / NOS: Never used, never left the box, likely the box is still sealed.
Open Box: Has been opened and out of the box, but never powered on / used
Mint: As it left the “mint” or factory. Should be the same as NOS or New.
Like new: Used, but no wear, damage, signs of use, dust inside, age-related degradation.
Minty: Flipper
Recapped: Flipper, doesn’t know how to restore or properly service but does know how to look up a list of capacitors or buy a kit, might be decent at soldering, crap-shoot. Some or all capacitors have been replaced sometimes with values that are not original.
Restored: A level above Recapped, hopefully has more than just capacitors replaced and is tested, operating to original specs.
Professionally restored: Someone was paid for the restoration, by definition if one is paid then he is a professional. Vague without references and a receipt, and test results.
Good condition for its age / defects “due to age”, etc.: Beat up, but you are supposed to presume that gear beats itself up and damages itself on a shelf when properly cared for, not that it was neglected or abused.
One owner / original owner: This seems to mean “I bought this at an estate sale, probably from the original owner’s family, so that makes me the original owner by proxy because of my assumptions”. No, one owner means you bought it new and you’re the seller and anything else is just used gear.
Untested: I bought it at Goodwill, took it home and plugged it in and it doesn’t work, but I’ll get more money if I pretend I don’t know that.
Re-rated / upgraded: I put bigger power supply caps in it and guys on the internet believe that it will have more power and sound better.
This is mostly “tongue in cheek”, but there’s a lot of BS in descriptions out there, … anyone have better ones to share?
So what is “mint”? Is “minty” like the made up word “melty”?
I think we need to have a consensus on some of these flipper/seller terms.
New: Never sold, original packaging, unopened.
New Old Stock / NOS: Never used, never left the box, likely the box is still sealed.
Open Box: Has been opened and out of the box, but never powered on / used
Mint: As it left the “mint” or factory. Should be the same as NOS or New.
Like new: Used, but no wear, damage, signs of use, dust inside, age-related degradation.
Minty: Flipper
Recapped: Flipper, doesn’t know how to restore or properly service but does know how to look up a list of capacitors or buy a kit, might be decent at soldering, crap-shoot. Some or all capacitors have been replaced sometimes with values that are not original.
Restored: A level above Recapped, hopefully has more than just capacitors replaced and is tested, operating to original specs.
Professionally restored: Someone was paid for the restoration, by definition if one is paid then he is a professional. Vague without references and a receipt, and test results.
Good condition for its age / defects “due to age”, etc.: Beat up, but you are supposed to presume that gear beats itself up and damages itself on a shelf when properly cared for, not that it was neglected or abused.
One owner / original owner: This seems to mean “I bought this at an estate sale, probably from the original owner’s family, so that makes me the original owner by proxy because of my assumptions”. No, one owner means you bought it new and you’re the seller and anything else is just used gear.
Untested: I bought it at Goodwill, took it home and plugged it in and it doesn’t work, but I’ll get more money if I pretend I don’t know that.
Re-rated / upgraded: I put bigger power supply caps in it and guys on the internet believe that it will have more power and sound better.
This is mostly “tongue in cheek”, but there’s a lot of BS in descriptions out there, … anyone have better ones to share?