[Boatanchors] Craig's List

[J. Forster]

I don't much like Craig's list, although I've bought two good used Jettas
from there. To me, the pickings are just too slim to warrant the time
spent searching.

eBay, although much maligned, casts a global net, so vastly increases the
probability of finding just that item I need or want. Yes, they are
imperious and I especially hate PayPal, but IMO it's really the only game
in town.

Actually, the same applies to ham fleas. The chances of finding just that
special something you need is very low. They are a lot of fun for other
reasons.

If you are looking to buy or sell something big, heavy, or very common,
Craig's list works.

If you are looking for a control cable for an ARC-5, you may have a
lifetime wait.

YMMV,

-John

==================





> 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
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