[Boatanchors] Sniping et al

[Grant Youngman]

On Feb 12, 2010, at 2:06 PM, Singley, Rodger wrote:

> 
> than I would walk into a auto dealership and write out a check for sticker price.  But to prove that I do have at least some decent human characteristics several years ago I won an SPR-4 that went for a very low price because it was not working.  When I received it I found the reason was the muting plug was missing and I further discovered it had the optional NB and calibrator installed.  The receiver was sold by a school raising money and I sent them an additional check more in keeping with the true value; but I admit I would not have done this for a regular seller unless I knew it was an estate sale.
> 
> During some of the recent ebay changes the comments on the ebay boards were interesting to put it mildly and to many of the sellers buyers, in general, are the scum of the earth.  I guess an ebay civil war wouldn't be too difficult to start.
> 


I'm really surprised this thread hasn't been cut off with all of the respondents banned from the reflector :-)

There is the once famous story about a well known amateur paying over $4000 for an SX-115 some years ago.  He just put in a bid that he thought wouldn't be beat, and he was right.  Of course, even that price was likely to pocket change for this particular individual.  Use to be, when the site actually let you see who was bidding, if I saw his ID, I'd just move on, knowing there was no way I would have the stomach to try and outbid him.  Makes me wish I'd taken guitar lessons as a kid :-)

There is the usual shill bidding, and other nefarious stuff on the site.  And if you don't know how to recognize scams there, send me your SSAN, credit card numbers with expiration dates and CVV codes, drivers license number, birthdate, and a certified "original" copy of your birth certificate, and I'll tell you how to avoid them -.... 

But any time the price for something goes above the "dumpster diver" rate for something, there are screams of "foul play" by some guy who bid $20 for a 30K-1 and got outbid, and so on.  And there's no doubt -- sellers want the price up, buyers want the price down, and buyers tend to feel that if they've been outbid -- especially at the last minute -- they've been cheated by some guy who just didn't realize how much the fellow who bid $20 wanted that rig for his Mother, or something.

It's all a pointless argument.  It is what it is.  You want it, pay for it.  You want it cheap -- talk to the guys who boast proudly of their $25 75A-4s and "found it sitting in the woods along Highway 20 in mint condition" KW-1s and ask them to tell you the locations of the dumpsters and the forests that are the most productive :-)  I'm really irritated by the guys who, when someone asks for a reasonable market value for something, respond with -- "well, I bought my mint round emblem S-line station with 30S-1 for $200.  More than I wanted to pay".  

Grant/NQ5T