What is the second hand value of a WAD amplifier

[LGarfirth]

You would have thought that the prospect of owning your own pair of WAD 300b PSE for a fraction of the commercial market would have every Hi-fi fanatic falling over themselves from 'ere to China.

- it seems I can't even give them away with recent bids on my EBay auction only just crossing the £500 mark barely enough to cover the cost of the recently replaced 300b and two spare (6x JJ 300b total) .

The really sad thing is that after all the time I spent getting them "just right" may never get enjoyed by somebody else because they will be worth more as scrap, spare parts for a hobbyman's kit box than to a resale market.

Are these amps really viewed as being so bad that you would probably get more money for a Retro Amstrad Boombox.

Currently relisted, although i'm not hopeful - it really does feel like I might be having to administer soldering-iron euthanasia before the week is out.

So the question is, after buying a kit amplifier does it have a resale value at all.

[Mike G]

Hi,

I saw your amp's on Ebay, owning several WAD kit's myself, I like to keep an eye on second hand value's. Most WAD amp's are snapped up for fairly reasonable prices, I might be wrong, but typically reaching at least 50% Of their original purchase price.

If i remember correctly - I don't think you actually mentioned World Audio Design in the title of your first listing, maybe this reduced the number of people seaching specifically for "World Audio Design" - although I see you have now changed this.

Try adding a link to your ebay listing here, or posting your ad in the for sale section of this BB.

I'm not sure reducing the kit's to "bits" and selling off seperatly will be a good idea. - I know postage of heavy items is a problem, but I suspect that as collection is prefered - it could put people off.

It's a pity - i'm sure these amp's are not at all bad (I've never heard them so can't comment) - If I had the space or cash, i'd certainly be interseted. For now, i'm biding my time to see what WD will developing!

Good luck with the sale.

Mike.

[Paul Barker]

You must have just suffered a bad auction, they are fickle things. It only takes two interested parties to get the best price at auction, if you only attract one you will never find how much that person would have paid.

Unscrupuless sellers have methods to eak this out, both in real life auctions and ciber auctions. In real life auctioneers often bid up against the wall or a phoney phone bid one of their stooges is pretending to be receiving. It is well known in the car trade that if you are selling a car at auction which doesn't qualify for a reserve you get a friend to bid it up and slink out of the door if he wins it. At our local auction there was an item in every week with no true bidders. One week I looked behind the filing cabinet to see who the mystery bidder was, nobody there where the auctioneer was pointing and looking. A local second hand shop dealer pointed out to me, that at this particular auction if you can't attend and put a price on for them to bid for you, you are often bid up by the auctioneer against the wall to your price.

If you want to make money at auction it is not as a one off seller. If you are a one off seller you must take the market of the day on the chin.

[LGarfirth]

I believe the main problem is not that they are bad, because they are not infact they are very good is that the build instructions were terrible with a destinct lack of support leading to people thinking that the amp could not be made to work properly without endless tweaks and modifications.

Poor Audionorth is a testament to this, who purchased his amps about the same time as me but has still been unable to get them working right and with only the BB to help him could be playing for some time yet.

Any perspective buyer is bound to check out the BB, no doubt to discover the enormous amount of problems people have suffered at the hands of their monoblocks. I'm lucky, I built them, got them working right and was happy with what they delivered - but I do wonder, if I had encountered the BB before purchase whether I too would have run in the other direction.

Maybe a suitable catch phrase or statement "WAD 300b PSE kits, not so much a project as a Way of Life"

Lincoln

[LGarfirth]

Tut, tut Paul - are you suggesting that peope carry out shill bidding on EBay, surely never. Me personally would never do such a thing

However in recent times this activity has been made more difficault because you are now able to see what percentage a bidder has activity with a certain seller making shill bidding much easier to detect, the penalty for getting caught is the loss of your account and whilst you can easily setup a new account it will be sometime before you earn enough feedback to effectively sell.

Lincoln

[Mike G]

Hi,

I'm not sure many people originally discover this BB before they buy their Kits. Although I spoke with Nick Lucas back then, and read HFW, I had no idea that the old WAD bb existed until i'd built my first kit (just me being niave maybe??)

There was alot more information posted back on that site, to maybe alert people to the possible difficulties in owning an amp such as your's.

Equipment such as this will generally only apeal to enthusiast's - non DIY minded people will probably only be interested in buying ready built commecial products.

Paul is quite right in his post - it really is possible you had a bad auction, and the right people were not watching and bidding.

I'm sure the people that will search out your amps on Ebay, will be perfectly awear of what they are, that's why they want them - but guess we all want a bargain!

Mike.

[LGarfirth]

I had no idea the BB existed either Mike. It was only when I rang up with various problems that it was suggested to checkout it out - and personally I hadn't used a BB on the internet before.

And I am sure you are both right, just a bad auction and everybody does want a bargin, including me - after all, I did buy one of the cheapest 300b PSE amps in the business.

[Paul Barker]

AFAIK John Caswell is the official troubleshooter you don't have to come on the forum to qualify for his help. He is extremely accomodating and capable.

[Mike G]

Well good luck with your new listing, but remember cheap doesn't = poor quality or performance.

The WAD and now WD kits are priced as such, as they are just that - Kit's. Commercially built product's of a similar spec would cost far more.

I see also you have published your reserve price of £1000 - maybe that put's people off. If they want to know the reserve let them ask. If they don't know the reserve price, they maybe tempted to bid higher!!

Going on previous WAD amp's auctioned £1000 might be a little ambitious -in my opinion, i'd of thought £700 to £800 maybe more realistic.

Sadly people are only wanting to pay for the amp. Spares, mod's and tweaks, boutique component's etc, don't often increase the resale value.

Mike. (just my opinion)

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Paul Barker

AFAIK John Caswell is the official troubleshooter you don't have to come on the forum to qualify for his help. He is extremely accomodating and capable.

Paul,

You are right, - Nick Lucas put me onto John back then, it was John that also suggested that I seek out the WAD BB (as it was then) and check the advice on there before I went any further.

Having not seen the build instructions for a WD amp, I'm not sure what is said about troubleshooting / the BB / Dr John.

I do know that WAD did very little to promote either the BB or Dr John's services back then.

Personally I've found the help and advice on here invaluable. I don't currently scratch build kit's as don't have the time or space, but maybe one day. However i've picked up on loads of tweaks / mod's to my existing WAD kit's, and at present researching idea's for a return to vinyl! So for me this BB is essential! - It keeps me inspired if nothing else!!

Mike.