[Milsurplus] Selecting auction winner?

[Tom Norris]

Continuing the discussion --

I have sold several high dollar BA items at auction in the past
and most have stayed here in the US, though I know a couple
of times I sold to folks whom I found out later were just a
drop-off for collectors in Japan.

I don't have a problem with selling to Japanese collectors,
but many folks do, especially if the item is historically important
in some way. My main concern is with a lot of my newer military items
I have auctioned there - If the paper trail to an item leads to me,
and I sold to a US address, and the item ultimately was shipped
elsewhere, am I still liable? Luckily I have pretty much traded
sold and auctioned all my collection of green radios. OK, not
so luckily, I had to do so to help cover medical bills a few months
back. :-(

Tom

>Hi,
>
>Equally important how do you distinguish between onshore and 
>offshore bidders in the first place. Email addresses are not much 
>help. Mine will show up as New Zealand and not Connecticut if you do 
>a basic lookup on it. A bit more poking will get you to Columbus 
>Ohio. A bit more will eventually get you quite a bit closer to home. 
>That's a *lot* of work just to track a very normal email address. 
>The "registered in" information for a user on the auction sites 
>isn't much better. I see a *lot* of buyers and sellers who are 
>registered in the US and obviously reside in another country. I also 
>see quite a number who live outside the country but at least ship 
>to/from a location in the US.
>
>An awkward approach would be to run a "private" auction. The bidders 
>first prove to you they are in the US and then you let them in to 
>the auction. I don't particularly like this approach because it 
>generates a lot of work for each auction you do. It is about the 
>only way I can see with the current rules that are in place to be 
>even close to sure of what is going on.
>
>Not an easy task - Good Luck!
>
>	 Bob Camp
>	KB8TQ
>
>
>On Apr 18, 2004, at 10:15 PM, Hue Miller wrote:
>
>>I am thinking about putting up a couple items or so, on auction,
>>but i am having some concerns - i do NOT want these items to
>>leave the USA, silly me. I am concerned that one overseas bidder
>>may circumvent my wishes. Are there any countermeasures i can
>>take, practically, or should i just forget the "public auction" ?
>>*
>>If you feel this topic is inappropriate to this list, this is my only
>>post on the subject, and respondents may choose to reply to me
>>off-list.
>>Tnx, Hue Miller
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>
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