[ARC5] How Fair Radio Live Auction Went

[robert meadows]

 What large level of whining.  You had the opportunity to visit Fair Radio before the closing date and purchase all that you wanted one piece at a time, and pay a fair "we're closing price", but no, you waited until the LIQUIDATION auction and went to purchase a $50-100 value item for a few bucks at "the auction".  Based on the notation of what pallets of equipment were selling for, why didn't you just purchase all the 390 chassis, take what you wanted out, at $40 per pallet, and sell the rest to a "scrapper"?  
I doubt that "scrappers" were purchasing good R390 components, but, more likely a forward thinking person with a few bucks and space to store the parts for future sale.
A close out/liquidation sale/auction does not deal with individual items, unless they are either rather large, or quite costly.  In that Fair Radio had probably in excess of One Million line items in stock, just how long do you folks think that auction would have taken?
Do not bemoan the closing of Fair Radio, it has been around for a long time, and has always provided good products at reasonable and fair pricing, hence, FAIR RADIO, specifically so when one considers the cost to store and maintain surplus radio and electronic equipment for such a long time.  There were triwall boxes of equipment and tubes, that's right, just tubes that had not been opened since purchased in the late 1950s-60's, as the folks running the place knew where the "spares" were located, And it was all stored properly and kept in good condition for eventual sale.
Those who are so sad about one of the last good sources of vintage radio and electronic equipment should have "stepped up" and purchased the entire inventory.  But, I think most would rather whine and complain instead of taking the risk, long hours to catalog and inventory, as well as expense of moving and storing that which you now miss so badly.
The net result is those of us with smaller inventories of those things we just had to have/collect have suffered a great increase in value of our little inventories if in fact the "scrappers" purchased all the R390 parts and pieces.  
RobertW4RRDBeen bidding/buying Govt surplus since about 1957..
    On Thursday, August 29, 2024 at 06:55:54 PM EDT, David Stinson <arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:  
 
   For those who might be interested-
 One participant's view of the live Fair Radio auction:
 
 Re: Fair Radio Sales Closing   
  Post  by Barry H Bennett »  Aug Fri 16, 2024 7:28 am 
 I went to day 1 of the auction yesterday. What a total disappointment. The auctioneer was selling entire pallets, sometimes a stack of pallets, in bulk. There was no opportunity to purchase one of an item on that pallet, so if you wanted one Collins 390 chassis, or one power supply, for instance, you had to buy the bulk lot of 30 or more of them. 
 
 Of course, the only ones doing that were the scrappers 
 (I think there were 4 of them there.
 
 Overall attendance was pretty low... about 30 or so, so disappointing all around. The auctioneer changed up the order of the sale, so the items I'd waited to bid on all day did not even come up; probably Friday or maybe Saturday he said when asked. I'm not going back. I might want a scope tube or three, but not the room full of hundreds of them <sigh> A very sad ending to a very sad story. At least I was able to pick up a few things last month when I went out there to take a look at the place.
 
 If anyone attends Friday and Saturday, I sincerely hope, once they get further into the main building, the offer individual items rather than an entire row of shelves as a bulk lot, and I also hope it's better attended. I'm not going back, so otherwise I"ll never know.   
 Re: Fair Radio Sales Closing   
  Post  by dougmc »  Aug Fri 16, 2024 10:00 am 
 What kind of prices was the pallets of equipment going for?          
   -  
   Barry H Bennett     
      - Member
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      -  Nov Wed 30, 2016 6:35 pm
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      -  Contact:   Contact Barry H Bennett   
 
 Re: Fair Radio Sales Closing 
 
  Post  by Barry H Bennett »  Aug Fri 16, 2024 10:34 am 
 All over the map. From $4 to $300. Military comms gear at the top. I’d say average around $40 
 
 
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