[Boatanchors] Craig's List

[Rob Atkinson]

I think Craig's List is a waste of time for hams.  Firstly, as has
been pointed out, it is always regional--there is no way to get a
listing to go national or international.  I think that's idiotic but
that's what the Craig's List people want because it was first
developed for one city, San Francisco, and has always been intended to
be a place where stamp collectors, minivan mommies, and Joe Suburban
looking to unload his golf clubs could find a version of the local
newspaper classifieds.  I know hams use it; I think they are usually
in-active or shack on a belt types and not seriously interested in
selling to the genuine ham market and placing an item in a competent
ham's hands so it gets used.  In other words, if I wanted to unload a
rice box to some CBer with no one knowing, I'd probably put an ad in
Craig's List.  The few times I have looked at ham gear there, it was
usually junk, or obviously listed by someone ignorant of the ham
market, often some family member selling uncle Elmo's radio--"I don't
know what this is, a receiver maybe?  It belonged to my dad's brother
and it turns on..." [groan] (photo shows a Ranger).

Besides the local nature of Craig's List, how many hams regularly
search for ham gear there?  The idea of even considering it due to an
aversion to eBay when there are other actual national and
international ham targeted print and on-line swap sites is stupefying.
  There's QTH.com; eHam, ER gives a free print ad to subscribers,
there are collector email lists such as this one, amfone.net, ARRL has
some kind of on-line swap/sell thing on their website if they have not
shut it down...the last thing the vintage market needs is
balkanization by hams selling on 50 or more different local general
interest swap/sell sites.

73

Rob
K5UJ