Audiogon Community:
It’s been a few day’s now since we launched the new Audiogon and we hope you are enjoying it! We have heard back from many of you letting us know how much you like the new site and what areas also need more work.
We intend to have ongoing improvements to the Audiogon website. Your input is invaluable since we consider our membership feedback as our most powerful guide in moving forward.
We are currently working on and planning to roll out in the next few days and weeks, Editing capabilities for your listing, Want Ads, Auctions, and much more. We are listening and know you have asked for more work on, site search capabilities, member look-up, zip code by radius, color improvements, larger fonts and fraud protection.
Many of you have asked WHY did we update the site?
The main reasons we updated the site was to bring you New Features, Increased Security and Increased Capacity to support our growing community. For the past 14 years Audiogon members have asked for dozens of new features and additional functionality. The computer language that our original site was written, forgoes any opportunity to make changes easily. Thus we have embarked on a journey to start fresh with a dynamic and comprehensive overhaul for Audiogon. Our goal is to be responsive to this wonderful audiophile community and provide state of the art solutions to what we all want this site to become.
Although we have spent months working with select members to test and tweek the new site, we realize some of you are still having challenges. Please be patient with us as we are working to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. If you are still experiencing difficulties you may contact us at http://support.audiogon.com. We currently have a backlog of open issues and we are working to resolve them. So that we may better assist you we ask that you provide us with your User Name, email address, and as much detail as possible regarding your issue.
Once again your loyalty and support is greatly appreciated and we will continue working hard to enhance the site in 2012 and beyond.
Audiogon Blog 
The site is useless to me without a bookmark or watch items feature. I find it unfathomable that you would leave that out.
Honestly, I find this post insulting to myself & the whole community.
“We have heard back from many of you letting us know how much you like the new site and what areas also need more work.”
How about acknowledging the reality that almost everyone who really USES the sight and makes it happen and pays you money, IE: sellers, are mainly emailing you to say that they don’t like the site at all.
It doesn’t work and that it’s been and still is a nightmare.
I can’t fathom how you could put a site out and somehow FORGET about including the ability to edit an auction or pictures and not have the auction listings working.
This above post to me speaks in nothing but arrogance & denial.
Not one iota of real culpability that serious mistakes were made, no apology.
Nothing at all.
If you were honest about how things were and acknowledged major mistakes
I’d be complimenting you & offering my support. But your not being honest about how things are.
The “We’re listening” quote sounds exactly like the kind of denial you get in an ebay letter, but worse.
I recently turned on 2 friends to selling on audiogon which they had started doing with good success, making major changes & investments in their business’s based on a good working platform. Now they basically have been rooked. Well, I guess its my responsibility, at least
I can own up to when things are my fault.
I totally agree.
There’s maybe 2% of positive opinions on the new website, the others 98% are NOT happy at all, and the Audiogon staff do not care ???
Can’t believe this.
I also can no longer edit my listings. I had one item actually sell just before the changeover, with all statuses updated in the old Audiogon marketplace tracking system, and now it still shows as available. I’d like to at least be able to mark it as sold so I don’t have to keep telling everyone who asks that it’s sold. I don’t want to simply Close it because then it wouldn’t count as a sale.
+1 on Decola – reinstate the ability to edit / ammend listings!
Really want the customizable search feature back. Why would you delete functionality? For instance, can’t search within a targeted price range. I would think i could search by brand, type, AND price range
a-freakin’-men
it’s no as easy as before!
Great job so far folks! I especially like when you click to expand a thread in the discussion forum it expands all the threads, that is great!! I look forward to see what other features become available. One suggestion; maybe a way to add equipment to a “watch” list. Sometimes I lose something I looked at and have to hunt it down again. Anyway, great work s far!
Thanks so much for the update guys. So basically what you are saying is you are in complete denial of the communities response to your terrible new website.
Again: Please remove the “Classified” column, it is totally useless as is time remaining for classifieds. It is not an auction, it’s a classified ad. It is much more valuable for us to know what type of item ie amp, preamp, ac cable etc….as has been stated numerous times.
Please put ‘Other items by this seller” back in the ad’s, not just the 3 you show. You have replaced them with your sponsor ads which is not appropriate. Also please put back the ability to click on the sellers.
Please create a way for members to communicate. You are taking away the sense of community!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As well as making buying/selling VERY difficult.
Your new site is awful and a huge step backwards. It also barely functions although the portion where Audiogon accepts money seems to work just fine.
Agreed. Category is needed in all listings, particularly in search results. And the ability to sort (preferably the default, as previously) the list by category.
I only see reduced functionality. I’m sure the designers had something else in mind, but I sure don’t see it.
I would like to know if you will be reinstating the link to look up the zip codes.
I second the previous message, just without the angry tone.
Thanks for 10 years of helping us with this hobby/passion of ours.
Why not just have sellers list their location, like it’s done on every other classified in the world? The zip code lookup was a bad idea that didn’t even work half the time.
From Audiogon:
“It’s been a few day’s now since we launched the new Audiogon and we hope you are enjoying it! We have heard back from many of you letting us know how much you like the new site…”
Sadly, nobody really seems to be listening.
Every day you continue to try and “fix” this new site is another day you lose members who will never return — and judging from the (slow) progress you’ve made so far, it could be weeks, if not months before the new site is anywhere near as useful or as easy to use as the original. Asking for your members’ to wait and to be patient while you rectify this situation will not hold people for more than a few days. So why don’t you do the obvious, and put up the original site in the meantime? And when you feel you’ve addressed the many functional problems and ALL the suggestions for restored content you received (just to this point) then you can put up the new site ALONGSIDE the the original one — a practice that many website employ when they are making a changeover such as this. At present, you are just digging yourselves a deeper hole.
Is there any chance of restoring the “advanced search” functionality of the old site? As a buyer the new site is virtually useless to me. I won’t be buying anything from anyone on Audiogon until the previous level of functionality is restored.
I have never heard so much boulderdash in my whole life. Not even the Cisco Kid would believe this garbage.
I can completely understand that the old site had limits but its common sense not to roll out an inferior product. Actually its irresponsible. The tone of the above update is insulting. Its been 9 days since the release and less than 5% like it. Many of us here could buy this site 1000 times over. Know your customers, they’re the reason your here.
Correction – above should read 100 times over (too many zeros)
Dear Audiogon,
Here’s the thing, your members are actually fairly bright. We can read the comments you are receiving about your new site and they do not seem to match the ones you are referencing in your latest blog post. Not sure if you remembered that they are visible here, on Facebook and every audio forum on the web. What in the heck are you talking about?! It’s extremely insulting, disrespectful, ungrateful, arrogant and most of all counterproductive to the task.
Beyond the near consensus of unhappy members, there is the actual performance/site data. My last ad listed has a total of 39 views, that pretty much says it all. It’s quite obvious that this model does not work so I have followed suit with the many who have migrated their listings over to Ebay.
Again, the saddest part of this whole decline in Audiogons working ability is the loss of community.
Ironically, sites like this are some of the purest forms of the free market but you guys are about to experience the harsh side of that very same free market.
The new site appears to be a LARGE step backwards. I liked the old style where one could upload only one photo to an ad that would remain large when ad was viewed in place of the small thumbnail photos you now have implemented. Also, the initial “feel’ that one gets form viewing the home page is – way too busy – too much text.
But let’s see how this works before judging, reflecting from my own experience I used to visit your site many times daily, now I’m looking for a new place to buy and sell audio. You are/were the number one audio classified website, if there is a need for a new site one will emerge.
While I can understand your desire to have a more modern site, i.e. one that allows you to place more ads and charge more, you should have remembered that driving your users away is a bad business. Please don’t tell us that you have solicited opinions from the “experts” from our community as the results obviously show that you have not done so.
Having said that, in my opinion the biggest failing of this endeavor was the way you have implemented the change. As any IT pro will tell you, you must make changes in a test environment first, then move them to the pre-production environment, debug, run UATs (User Acceptance Tests), debug again, UAT again, and so on. Only when you have things cleaned up, should you move to production. I’d be fired had I done what you did!
If I were you, I would restore the old site, continue debugging and improving, and not be in such a rush.
I am beginning to come to the conclusion that the Audiogon site has been sold to another group…
and will NEVER be close to the way it was….
The original owners cannot be this blind and deaf and disconnected to what they have done to this site…..
Wow – what a disappointing and dishonest post. This just keeps getting worse.
The ‘We’re Listening” title is a lesson in irony. If you were listening, you would notice that the vast majority of your membership hates the downgraded site. If you were listening, you wouldn’t keep obstructing our efforts to communicate with you. If you were listening, you would notice that your traffic is less than a third of what it used to be.
We are the ones who are doing the listening, and we don’t like what we hear.
Ditto on some of the replies. Just make the site work just like the old one with a few new features. Taking features away is no way to gain new customers. The site is very hard to use and has lost almost all of it’s allure. We still love this hobby and Audiogon is a very valuable site so let’s work together to get something usable again.
I just tried to close an add from 3 years ago it said now the buyer needs to send shipping info that’s from a cable I sold 3 years ago I have all kinds of them like that and there’s no way to get rid of them I contacted audiogon and they said just close them out you cant close items you have already sold out that asks for shipping info all of them asks for that , they are pretty stupid about all this mess which leads me to believe they are just the buyers of the software and some idiot ..aka super computer programmer they hired is the one responsible for the software and this big mess of a wanna be ebay web site probably someone that isn’t even interested in high end stereo and could care less for anything but his pay check.I used to get on audiogon every chance I got but now I hardly ever get on audiogon except to try and fix my page that they managed to mess up very well or I am trying to email them which half the time the emails are returned unsent.Congrats audiogon good job!
Oh man you guys are running ruby for your site, that’s horrible. Good luck with that debacle of a mess you decided to embark on. It’s time for someone in the community to step up and replace the pile that audiogon has instantly become.
Nice default rails error on every other page:
Application Error
An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served.
Please try again in a few moments.
If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.
I have surveyed a number of individuals, including those who have commercial accounts with Audiogon and I have not heard a single comment that was complimentary of the new site. It’s hard to believe that you are receiving positive feedback on the changes. All Audiogon members, I’m sure, would like to see some minor improvements in the site, not an evisceration of it.
We all hope that post beta will be a marked improvement.
I do applaude you for posting some of the negative comments you have received. Hopefully, you will take them to heart.
i posted an ad today and insteaad of taking $’s from the balance in my account it asked if i wanted to use a cc or paypal. have i lost my balance?
This is a temporary issue. Your credits are still there.
the Audiogon response sounds just like something a government agency would reply with. We hear you….blah blah blah……we are doing it for you…….blah blah blah…….it’s just want you are asking for…..BLAH BLAH FREAKIN BLAH! Insulting and pathetic. Hopefully another alternative to “AudioBay” will emerge.
Also, I don’t think it’s VERY UNFAIR (at the least!) to collect an fee from us to place an adl and then for you to resell some of our ad page to commercial advertising.
If you want to display Google ads or whatever at the top of the webpage itself, that’s fine, it’s your website.
But it’s ABSOLUTELY NOT OK to make me to share some of the space that I PAID FOR, with commercial advertising frames! It draws attention away from my ad, and competes (in a visually unpleasant way!) with my carefully prepared pictures showing my item.
You people seem to have a really difficult time putting yourselves in the place of your customers — or maybe you thought we’d just accept it without question. But I for one will not accept it; and will not pay for advertising space on your site if I have to share it with other advertisers.
Looking forward to see a competitors website. I’m all in with a site that recognized the community that supports them, not to mention having the technical and managerial capability.
The new site sucks. Hard to load, incomplete, yada yada yada..
some equipment sold, I cannot even get back to the buyer, since now I have to go thru your site to do so, unlike before with direct email to email address capability.
Are you pulling an EBAY here?
Also you should have just shut this site down for a week or two instead of collecting money on a non finished product.
Not happy thus far
You keep blocking negative feedback. That is not “listening”.
I agree with what most are posting above. The new site is brutal and Audiogon stating that they are receiving nothing but positive comments is insulting to those of us who know differently. Remember…we talk and I have yet to come across somebody who is universally praising the new site.
Change always comes with reservations and I get that but to ignore what most people are saying is down right arrogant.
Why the heck would you guys launch a site that is incomplete in the first place? Get it 100% done then make it live, not before. Brutal. The increase in fees was one thing but this is over the top for me. I sincerely hope that some of your members finally take a stand and look for alternatives as I for one have grown tired of Audiogon’s arrogance towards the people who pay the bills.
It appears that older parts of the site like the forums are not communicating with the new parts that were directly impacted by the upgrade. For example I can log in to look up a member and send an email to them,, but not through the new home page.
As others have said in various ways, it is horrible. Why fix something that was not broken? I have no intentions on using this site any more. The fees are outrageous now, the ads are obnoxious and the owners of Audiogon just revamped this so they can sell real-estate on it to marketers. Shame on you.
I will look to other sites such as eBay and some other new audio selling sites. I have no interest in wading through your ads, terrible layout and You people ruined what I considered one of the best sites on the internet. Congratulations, I hope your sponsors are paying you a ton of money b/c I am sure you are losing a ton of users daily. Enjoy!
Honestly, it is getting worse, not better:
(I saw this line pops 40~60 times a day, please help!)
An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served. Please try again in a few moments.
If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.
Hey y’all
I know you don’t want issues posted here, but you might want to make this visible in case others are struggling with the same issue. A few days ago I found my self unable to log in. I tried a password reset and it did not work. I have worked in IT, so my problem solving kicked in. After some experimentation, I found I could log in through portions of the site not touched by the upgrade. However, when I tried to log in through the main page or to see my page I got invalid password/ logon message. I googled Audiogon logon issues and was taken to another site where a person had the same issue. What he discovered was that on the new pages, his password did not work with the uppercase letters he had in it. When he changed the upper case to lower case, it worked. I tried it and it worked for me as well. That means that depending on where you enter the site to login, you might need to alter your password if you used a combination of upper and lowercase letters. The new app seems to be converting upper case letters to lower case letters in passwords.
I hope this helps.
Not happy.. I’ve been planning to advertise on Audiogon, I made my plans based on the Old Audiogon now I’m not even sure if my ads will show up.. You guys really didn’t need to change a thing it worked about 95% before, now it’s at 50% or less.. I just don’t get it..
“We have heard back from many of you letting us know how much you like the new site…”
That’s insulting. The vast majority of users DISLIKE the new site.
I really enjoyed the old audiogon. Personally this has been a struggle for me to see the new one starting off so terribly. First bring back the search feature for zip code. That made it so easy to deal within a certain area. Second the way the items are listed is terrible. Before it was logical to have them all in the same area, ie amps were all together, pre amps, cdp, etc. Now it just makes it annoying. Still getting ads from other products showing up in searches is annoying.
I think there has been several people that have been more than upset with the changes. It seems like the site was not tested very well when it was put out which IMO you make the user the beta tester and then go and fix problems. We should not have to have that burden to have to sit here and wait for a new site to come up that works. It was your job to put that together prior to the release.
Please bring back the features that we had from the “old” site that made buying so much easier. You can change programs without having to change everything. It shouldn’t be that hard to bring back the stuff you had before or at least try it out before it was released.
Really? Someone offered to buy my item, I responded to them, and now I don’t know who it was or how to contact them.
What is going on…seriously. Your customer base is sophisticated and savvy. You’re not.
Please bring back search by zip code! I no longer visit the site every 5 hours because of this missing feature. Why is there not a category for network audio players like the linn ds or the transporter?
Enter the zip code in the search bar and it will pull all ads from that area.
Sign In always brings you back to the home page. C’mon agon, now you have to go thru a search to get back to the item you were about to make a offer on …………….
We need “Other items by this seller” link in the ad’s as before, not just 3 other items.
“We have heard back from many of you letting us know how much you like the new site”. Really??? Why not telling us that you’ve heard from many of us are yelling about the new site.
The link is at the bottom of the list of 3 items.
You are not listening very closely I would say.
Please listen. We want our old Audiogon back.
Survey your customers if you dare. The VAST majority want their old Audiogon back.
Decola on January 15, 2012 at 12:27 am said:
Honestly, I find this post insulting to myself & the whole community.
“We have heard back from many of you letting us know how much you like the new site and what areas also need more work.”
EXACTLY how I felt when I read it. I cannot believe you ignore most of us!
Please give us back the old site, at least it worked. It has been many week since I can buy or sell, with no access to the money in my account.
I was previously very optimistic for the changes, so far it looks like it’s been a month of disorganization and chaos. Evolution of this site should have been done by professionals, not the audiogon staff, they are too close to the project and are stuck in their previous ways. There should have been alpha testing on a dev server by as many A’gon’ers as possible, get feedback, integrate changes, test and then release the beta version. This project was clearly rushed and not managed by people who have experience with seamless evolution of a web application. I am 100% for evolution and development, with that said this seems more like a small teams pet project who were too proud to listen to what the masses wanted.
On a positive note the new server seems pretty snappy, it’s just a shame I have no desire to use the site.
I gotta say, I used to love to browse listings but the new site design makes browsing a chore and not enjoyable. A few things I might change:
— Allow me to choose how listings are displayed – I’d like to have a way to see thumbnail images, and other details possibly, in the main listing area.
— Ads. They are really distracting and honestly it’s annoying to know how much prices for listing items have gone up over the years (astronomically!) and yet there are these very distracting ads. This is a huge reason why I’ve abandoned browsing.
This site is nowhere close to the old one. I can’t look up a member to see if they anything posted. Before when I would open Audiogon, I would see 4 choices w/photos to start with. Staff picks, Featured Auction, 1$ Auctions and finally Virtual Systems. If I found something that I wanted to watch, it was very simple to bookmark that item. At this point this “new” site is boring and cumbersome. This site is very much like Yahoo with all the adds and little substance. If I want to see a new product, I’ll look for it at their web site. Audiogon is or was for high end used equipment. Please do some repairs before Audiogon is simply gon
You moved to this platform so that you can SELL ADVERTISING on classifieds listings. By now, I think we’ve all seen the ROTO ROOTER ads, among others.
Everything, and I mean, everything, is worse than it was before. Just look at the “offer” process – I agree to pay *whatever shipping the seller tells me to pay*? I almost made an offer on something last night until I saw that!
Something else is going to come along, and when it does, Audiogon is goners.
Could you please restore the zip code search as it was. We understand you had this deep desire to “upgrade” that just had to be satisfied. Now that you’ve satisfied yourselves it would be really nice if you satisfied the people who actually use the site for its intended purpose, an audio community!! In a little while your programmers will have moved on to their next “upgrade” and this fiasco will just have been another paycheck to them. We the audio community will still have to live with the product of an annoying union of Ebay and Autotrader, This site is and was a part of our daily lives, a familiar place of simple comfort and relaxation. I remember times when I would be on vacation in foreign countries and just being able to view A’gon at night or whenever was a way of keeping me grounded. I know this is nothing but a business to you new or recent owners of Audiogon and it’s your right to do with it as you please. Unfortunately for some of us it has become more than just a hobby but a passion and way of life! Please at least give us who actually use it some satisfaction and peace of mind as well.
Regards Will
I just checked out the new site. I don’t like the change. I need to see the equipment category shown in the search result listings so I don’t have to look at every single one if I’m just looking for, say, a preamp. Also, “time left” is not a useful thing to display unless it’s for an auction.
The seller’s feedback needs to be clearly displayed, as well. The zip code thing is kinda screwy too… I do a lot of local pickup purchases and I’d like to be able to see where the item is with one click, like before.
I really miss the manufactures index when looking for items for sale. It was a great way to browse. Now, I need to enter the name of the manufacturer in the search field. Just give me the list of names and let me click on my prefered manufacturer. It’s a lot easier that way. It also enables me to see what items are for sale under a manufacturer name I have never heard of.
Great job! I no long can target a search by zip code to find great buys in my area or am I missing the link? This new site is absolutely dismal.
You can enter the zip code in the search bar and it will pull all ads from that area.
How about adding a HEADPHONES section for ‘phones & related equipment instead of having the numerous listings (20-40 at any time) scattered all over the place? The status quo is fine if you know exactly what you’re looking for, i.e. Grado, but otherwise completely useless and frustrating. I – and I’m sure many other – have felt this way for YEARS. This is a really simple solution, guys! R U listening???
I sent an email about this to customer service at least a week ago. No response. I know, you’re really busy.
We are working on adding a headphones category.
I just noticed if you are in the “Learn” section of the forum and click onto a members name you use to be able to send them personal message, this is no longer there.
This makes no sence and you should put it back, you are not allowing interation.
The site as a whole “the way it has been carried out” is very disappointing and your page comments are most anoying suggesting blah! blah!
I have actually tried to purchase and was unsucessful in the end finding out the seller never received my initial emails, this site really is messed up.
I use to enjoy it but not now!
Shame on you Audiogon, you should have beta tested this site and kept it side-by-side with the old site until such time all the bugs were worked out and it was ready for primetime.
I second (even third) other’s complains about the sad state of your “new” website. It doesn’t appear that you’re even making this a site for the members, rather you’ve just made more room for advertisements (ads) placed for other crap within our classified listings.
For starters, why don’t you fix the blue-book? I’ve watched how items get sold over time and never get updated on the blue-book, which I paid good money for. Little did I know you would only update it once a year (or worse never for some items). For example, I’ve seen several McIntosh C48, C50, MX150 and MC601’s sold on Audiogon and you don’t even have them listed in the blue-book. They’ve been available for a couple of years by the manufacturer and they’re always being listed on Audiogon…why not update the stinkin’ blue-book?
Also, why don’t you fix the search function? It really stinks that I can’t sort the results of a search for “McIntosh” by item type, like preamp, amp, etc.
You’re going to go bankrupt if you keep this up…I can hardly imagine how many ads you’ve lost potential revenue from. Heck, I’ve got a McIntosh C48 I’ve been thinking of listing for the last month, but now think I’ll just list it on eBay rather than deal with the nightmare of a site you’ve created.
I’ve felt for years that Blue Book was so totally outdated and poorly maintained as to be virtually useless. Used it for a one year subscription and dropped that. What a complete ripoff.
This could be true, however it is the only available tool I know of — and more importantly the only tool incorporated into the website — that has at least some info on new vs used price and trends. I assume it’s based on sales tracked by Audiogon, which as you know, many are handled outside of Audiogon.
I find it to be a valuable resource for both buying and selling. However, I am not arguing it could be updated
The new site sucks! I have stopped looking at it – my guess is that sales and postings must be way down…. Someone one should lose his/her job over this mess.
3 weeks and I cannot place an ad although you have 446 of mine! Give me back my money!
If you are having difficulty placing an ad please submit an email at support.audiogon.com.
When you start accepting comments on your blog again? It has been over 2 weeks since you accepted any feedback from “The High End Audio Community”.
AudioGoN has finally achieved it’s own level of incompetence. Congratulations.
Used to visit daily and have bought several items. Do not like the new site. The previous version was more comprehensive and easier to navigate.
Wow! I am so glad to see that it is not just me that dis-likes the new site so much. It is really a mess of a site now and I enjoyed the old site for many years. As an old computer and Information Technology (IT) guy, I have launched a number of bad products. This new website reminds me of Windows Vista. It is a real stinker and I am not sure that you can polish this turd. You might consider rolling back to the old look and feel within the new architecture.
Audiogon, you really have to seriously consider the OVERWHELMING negative feedback regarding all aspects of this new site — including the totally amateurish way it was rolled out. When are you finally going to give us what we REALLY want — which is, as sad as it may be, the old website made in the 90’s. Unbelievable.
what a disaster first they cant fix my login had to make a new user name now they keep bumping off my posts here thanks guy’s