The "I Missed It by THAT MUCH" thread

[Darby Crash]

Couple weeks ago, my wife and I were having dinner with an affluent couple we've known for 30yrs. I know he has 3 sets of altec 19's, 2 sets in his office. We were talking stereo stuff and he asked if i could use a turntable. Said he had one in the rafters at his shop and has no interest in vinyl. Said its a Thorens or something, his wife said if you havent seen it in 10yrs you better give it to me.
Went to his shop and he dug it out.
Thorens td125 mkll with a sme arm.
Asked me whats its worth and i said the arm is worth more then what i was thinking. It was in ruff condition so i told him its only worth what someones willing to pay. I said maybe 200-300. He said ok how about half that, 150.
I said i need to talk to wife. Of course to her its just another turntable you really dont need so offer him 100. The next day he said he thinks hes gonna get it up and running again.
Now if i had 150 in my pocket it would have been mine on the spot. I knew the clock was ticking and if looked on line im done.

So close.....

 

[seacliffe301]

Just missed out on a Marantz 2130 and a Jbl Corner speaker earlier today at an estate sale. I was the first one to take a look, when some asshat, pretending to be an employee of the estate sale company, told me that both were not for sale. Of course, as soon as I walk off, he calls the owner of the company over, and starts making offers for both! . Guess thats what I get for being courteous. I think he paid $200 for both as well.

I’ve encountered similarly dubious practices before too at estate sales. In this case, I would have told the estate sale team what he did and, at a minimum, relay my max offer for it.
Many years ago, I went to a tag sale. This means the estate sale company put tags with prices on each item. By ripping off the bottom half at the perforated edge, you became the committed buyer. Just after I did so on a set of Tannoy speakers, an estate sale employee behind me says some guy just bought them. I ask how since I have the tags? She states he just came straight to the checkout table and bought them. So, I speak a little louder so others in the room take notice and say then that means I can buy anything else even if the tags are taken? Some of the other buyers start chiming in that wasn’t right (they had just relayed the rules a few min earlier), so the employee backs down, confirms I have the right to buy them. I pick one of the speakers up and check out immediately. As I walk to the checkout, the estate manager is now talking with the guy, she gives me an affirming nod and I quickly pay.

Oh man. That kind of shady move wouldn’t stand at sales around here. The companies are good about honoring 1-2 in line and the regulars wouldn’t allow for it either. And, Some guy just claiming that stuff isn’t for sale? I don’t think so. Next time that happens Shrugg, you need to not so politely tell him to get f’d.

These are certainly some outrageous examples of what some people will do.
While not as egregious, my wife and I experienced an equally frustrating situation many years ago. At a local estate sale, we are standing in front of a piece of furniture, quite valuable, that we have decided to purchase. We're standing there discussing where we're going to put it, what it will look good with etc. This woman walks up without saying a word, rudely reaches around my wife and snatches the tag off of the item and walks away. I said, "excuse me, we are buying that", and without saying a word she looks at me and just walks off. I am shocked, thinking what balls, and want to go and head her off with the folks that were conducting the sale. My wife, not wanting a confrontation, says just let it go. I said you have far more tolerance than I do.

 

[bigcaddy64]

These are certainly some outrageous examples of what some people will do.
While not as egregious, my wife and I experienced an equally frustrating situation many years ago. At a local estate sale, we are standing in front of a piece of furniture, quite valuable, that we have decided to purchase. We're standing there discussing where we're going to put it, what it will look good with etc. This woman walks up without saying a word, rudely reaches around my wife and snatches the tag off of the item and walks away. I said, "excuse me, we are buying that", and without saying a word she looks at me and just walks off. I am shocked, thinking what balls, and want to go and head her off with the folks that were conducting the sale. My wife, not wanting a confrontation, says just let it go. I said you have far more tolerance than I do.

Yup, i've seen many human shaped turds at sales pulling all kinds of sneaky stuff to acquire particular items. I've seen fist fights, shouting matches, keep away and the best/worst, (i was there in the morning but not for the excitement) a guy was run down in the street by a disgruntled competitor as he drove away. I'm pretty sure hes still in jail over that one.

 

[bigcaddy64]

During the whole state lockdown BS, i was actually doing quite good with a local estate company. She operated on the far side of the hill that my neighborhood is situated on. She would only take sales within a few miles of her home so i had to just look, call and pick up at my leisure.

Since she would upload pictures randomly throughout the day, i could check at 12 noon and end up missing a huge update if it posted 30 minutes later. I ended up having some free time to look and spotted a pair of AR-3 speakers in excellent condition, along with a pair of Infinity Quantum 2's, Jensen's, etc. Yup, all sold except the Quantums which i looked at and they were trashed. Too many broken parts with a client that was unwilling to lower his price

 

[Dazaa]

One of my recycling links sent me this picture a few days back. Long story short, he wanted £2500 for the lot of around 50 amps and wouldn’t sell any individually. I managed to buy the amp heads off the guy who bought the lot to export but had to pay a fair bit (by my standards) for them. He wouldn’t sell me anything else which included a Carlsbro cabinet which I could see contained a pair of Celestion Greenbacks, and a few other vintage british 4x12’s....i can only imagine a hoarder passed away and his house was cleared out.

 

[Lapslah]

Estate sale today, the last day of a 4 day sale. They had a Musical Fidelity A5 CD player marked $500 that nobody had shown any interest in. I got there 10 minutes after the sale started. You know the rest. I walked in and another guy was paying for it, at 75% off. Ouch.

 

[RossW]

Pair of Thiel CS2.7 (a dream speaker for me) posted for a very fair price and <20 miles from my house. Saw the listing a few hours after it went up and it was already marked as sold

 

[quiet]

30 foot deck plus 5 foot dove tail 3 axel goose neck 22k gvwr trailer for $2500, new tires, new brakes. Missed it by ten minutes.

 

[sslade43]

Saw these two pieces in an ad with some other junk. Unfortunately, someone bought them right before me and left the rest of the crappy stuff there. Based on the house condition, the Fisher and JBLs might have been in bad shape. At lest that’s what I’m telling myself.

 

[BF PIerce]

This one really hurt. B&W 804D which the seller incorrectly describes as 804S. Being the Diamond version they are worth about double what he was asking. Unfortunately I did not see them in time...

 

[Lapslah]

The perfect score... except.

If you're like me and regularly peruse local estate sale ads for gear, you're always thinking, "Maybe they'll have something really great, and they won't know, or care what it is. And maybe it will be hidden in a pile of junk in their ad so nobody else but me will even know it's there." Well, it finally happened. Yesterday I saw a McIntosh MX-110 tuner/preamp in a picture from a local sale. It was buried under and behind other unrelated items. It was not listed in the description. What's more, it DID have a note card sitting on top, and if you blew up the picture you could see that it said "McIntosh tuner preamplifier, $300".

Only one problem. It was Thursday and some of us poor schmoes have to work for a living! I ran over straight from work at 2pm and it was gone. I asked the guy working the sale about it, just to make sure they didn't move it somewhere, and he said I was about the 6th person asking. Then he says to me, "What is it, anyway?" and "I think we may have mis-priced it."

Ya' THINK?

 

[RossW]

Second responder on a pair of KEF 103.2 for $50. Not the greatest condition, but still a damned good deal.

 

[SteveAndBell]

Missed out on a pair of these corner 'TV Stands' yesterday...



Shot a message off soon after seeing them appear but heard nothing back. The Ad was still up the next morning so I thought I'd better take a screenshot because no-one would believe me. Funnily enough the Ad was deleted soon after. Still no reply to my messages Ah well, it wasn't meant to be. I've had my fair share of amazing finds so I hope whoever got these appreciates them. Would've been quite difficult to collect them due to state border COVID lockdowns here in Oz at the moment plus I don't even have enough room for my current hoard so maybe it was a blessing in disguise anyway

 

[TheJends]

Just narrowly missed out on a Denon POA-2200 power amplifier that was sold for $120. It is a monster amp by any standard and at that price would have been a great deal. The seller told me there was a guy before me and if he canceled he would contact me. Of course the guy didn't cancel..

 

[RossW]

Second responder on a pair of KEF 103.2 for $50. Not the greatest condition, but still a damned good deal.

Ugh, this one hurt double because a week later one of the local flippers had dusted them off and re-listed them for $499

 

[Yodathedog]

I passed this morning on a pair of JBL L-40s at Goodwill for $100. They needed surrounds, but otherwise seemed OK.

 

[teal'c]

Pair of Cerwin Vega UT12R for $100. Saw the ad at 22 hours. By the time I walked to another room and back to check I had the cash on hand, they were gone.

Anyone here get them? From Brighton.

 

[Jason Grace]

Exactly the one I was looking for last night pops up as a Sony for free to good home and I’m the second in line!? (Insert every good cuss word strung together here)

 

[Sharpstik]

I can’t give you a like.
Only sympathy.

 

[Saint Johnny]

Oh lord I have way way too many to list.
But maybe the one that still stings the most after many many years, was finding a pristine Sony TA-8650 VFET, the TOTL Sony integrated amp of it's day, at the local Goodwill for $50.00 IIRC.
And not ever realizing it was the TOTL, and just vaguely kinda sorta, knowing what VFETs were when I first saw it.
So, I figured I would run home, look it up here, and on the net, and if it was worth grabbing, it would still be there the next morning....

You guys know the rest of how this plays out...LOL

I could only hope that all the VFETs were dead, and I saved myself an expensive future headache,,, At least that's how I rationalize it now, anyway...

Though missing a free C/M Labs pre and power amp listed on CL by about 20 minutes, a couple of years ago, still stings as well.