[Milsurplus] ebay V rallies

[Military1944 at aol.com]

>>Subj: Re: [Milsurplus] E-bay farce   Date: 16/06/05 01:50:29 GMT Daylight Time From: mstangelo at comcast.net 
One other alternative to ebay... Don't forget you local hamfest. It's good to support your local amateur radio club and it's nice to meet your fellow hams face to face and share stories. It also frees you of the hassle of packing and shipping the bulky boatanchors. Load up the trunk or pickup and sell it or give it away.<<
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Unfortunatly Mike, it does not work in the country. You strain and hump heavy boxes, load up the car, drive 2 hours (a lot in the UK) to get to some cold windy field, strain again to unload and then you have to contend with punters walking around, hands in pocket muttering "I can't take that home, my wife would kill me" or "I remember when you could but that for 3/6 (about 50 cents) back in 1952" or "I'd like that but I've bought no money with me" etc etc etc. Whinge and whine all day long. Plus you get the constant question "Whats that?", my reply is usually "if you don't know what it is then you don't want it".

Dont get me wrong, like Dave I too have found items on ebay for the collection and sold a lot of spare stuff, its far easier to sit at home and do it rather than in that cold field. As for meeting and chatting to folk, well, best to say this hobby ain't what it used to be and getting a decent conversation these days at rallies is nigh impossible at times.

One drawback of internet buying is the post/packing some charge. There was an item recently, by weight it should have been about £5 to send, the seller wanted £12 to post it. As someone else said its one way to get back the ebay charges but sometimes its taken too far. 
 
So yes, rallies are one way but are a great deal more work for very little return.

Ben G4BXD