The Classified AD swamp.
The ground is sticky for sure.
I regularly peruse / troll several online listings. If I won the lottery I would be a collector. I would have a few cool preamps, but mostly turntables. Some are sculptures. Some are amazing mechanical devices. Many actually play records well.
In the last week I saw two that made me twitchy. One was way under priced and while I was still seriously thinking about it was sold. A Bang and Olufsen 8000. Gorgeous sleek and high performance. The description was it had a function problem, but the fix was obvious to me. Cheap at under 200 bucks. But like I said it got jumped on.
The other one was today. A JVC turntable. The price was pretty much what it was worth at just under 800 bucks. It was one of a very rare breed with electro-mechanical tone arm damping and tracking force. Sony made something similar called Biotracer. They go for a lot more. Technological tours-de-force at the very end of the first Vinyl era.
I keep looking as my Big Sony fails to sell at what I thought was a fair price. I see another of a similar but not quite as good model selling for $1300. I started out at $1200. Dropped it to $900 then still no joy. I want to keep my finger on what these things go for. That $1300 listing is a specialist store. They can wait I guess.
Still if my expectations are of the "what is he smoking" type other people are far more crazy. Dual was a big name in the 70's and lasted until the 90's intact. They made some good stuff. My first turntable was a Dual. I saw one listed locally at $800 bucks which is far more than the best one they ever made I think is worth. Typically they run around $200 bucks for a good one. Perhaps there are serious collectors out there, but they must be smoking something.
I often see a listing in one place like Craigslist for a thing and another wanted listing in another place. Sometimes its in the same listing. I suspect some people list a thing for sale then use a burner account to put a wanted listing up to create demand.
That JVC TT is being looked for in Ontario while it is listed for sale here on the West Coast. I am thinking about telling the guy...maybe.
I have three TTs and really need to rehome two of them. I cannot use them all. The Phazer is boss. The Sony is very good, but not as good. The Harman Kardon is really good, but I have space for only one TT in the steam powered system. I have about $500 bucks into it and it works well. They are listed on Ebay for about $300 bucks for a "parts" unit and $1300 bucks for a nice TOTL unit. Mine is not TOTL. I would take anything over $700 for it, but.... There are lots of parts around. They are rare as fully operational units.