[Boatanchors] 20s-30s-40s Home Radio Market Collapse

[Bill Cotter]

Rob,

I am like you in regards to selling at a hamfest.

When I set up, I price thing to sell quick and not follow me home. 
If someone doesn't like my prices, I tell them to come back in an 
hour, and I'll half the price (if the item is still there). Midway 
through the hamfest prices come off, whatever is left is sold for 
"any offer". Near the last hour, I pull out the giant FREE sign for 
what ever remains. Rarely does anything go to the dumpster.

To me, the recovered real estate is is worth more than a few bucks 
from haggling. And, making someone's day with an honest 
bargain-to-good-to-be-true is worth a lot to me. Especially, if it 
is someone young, enthusiastic or new to the hobby.

73 Bill N4LG


At 07:55 AM 9/4/2017, Rob Atkinson wrote:
>I saw this coming a few years ago.  I was never in this to profit or
>break even.  When I haul gear and parts to a hamfest I'm happy to have
>cleared out some space at home--that's my pay, and I'm happy if the
>stuff avoids a landfill by going home with someone.  For that I'll
>even let things go for free.  Of course that means some of the
>merchandise gets swept up by eBay flippers or winds up on another
>hamfest table but then it's someone else's problem.  I don't like that
>but I can't prevent it and it still means that eventually the parts
>etc. wind up being used instead of sitting in my basement waiting to
>be thrown in a dumpster by my family after I go SK.
>
>Maybe the dropping prices will induce younger hams to give a vintage
>set a try.  What's interesting is what moves and what doesn't.  At the
>last hamfest I had a pair of HP 410Bs priced at 20 bucks each.  They
>had the RF probes too.  I thought they'd go right away but I took them
>home.  They weren't mint, but these are the Cadillac of VTVMs.  No one
>even made an offer for them.
>
>73
>Rob
>K5UJ
>
>On Sun, Sep 3, 2017 at 11:00 PM, David Stinson 
><arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> > For those of us who collect "home" wooden radios like the 
> cathedrals
> >
> > or those pretty "furniture" 1920s battery sets, this is either 
> time for
> >
> > you to cry over lost money or smile over inexpensive treasures.
> >
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