Seiche wrote:how do you "put miles" on a stompbox? When i buy something and never use it, isn't it new?
Maybe it's different, culturally, across the pond. Here, if you buy something from a store and take it home, it's considered used whether you actually use it or not. It might be in "like new" condition, but it's still not new.
"Used" has as much to do with point of sale as it does with condition. Without being an authorized retailer or distributor, very often any warranty that was attached to the product is now void. Also, if you see a guy selling brand new *widgets* (whatever) and he doesn't work at a store or have a shop, the stuff is probably either cheap knockoff or stolen.
Side note: there's nothing I hate more than buying a "new" item from a retail store only to discover later that someone else had already bought it and returned it, leaving their stupid fat American greasy fingerprints all over the item and not repacking the contents properly. Used is USED, damnit!
It's pretty hard to come up with a good analogy actually, as I don't quite think I've ever seen anybody do exactly what this schmuck is doing.
Seiche wrote:If i get a car delivered by a tow truck and pimp it without ever driving it, is it not new?
Not in America. The second that a car leaves the dealership lot, it immediately loses value and is considered a used vehicle. Once there has been a title of ownership issued to an individual buyer (which is required in order to take delivery), it's a used car, even if it's never driven.
Also, hot-rodding a car generally voids the manufacturer's warranty. Any car without an original warranty intact cannot be sold as new. It's no longer in original, new condition. Now, maybe the changes make it "better than new" in terms of performance, but that's a separate issue.
