[Milsurplus] Fwd: Scarce Items and the Coming Demise of Ebay "Hobby" Selling.

[Mark J. Blair]

(Oops... I meant to send this to the list yesterday, but accidentally replied directly to David.)

On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:46 PM, David Stinson wrote:
> Ebay has made many scarce and even rare items available
> to collectors and has saved thousands of pieces from the dumpster.
> However- those days may soon end.
[...]
> "Hamfests" are no answer.


Perhaps ironically, it seems to me that eBay has made hamfests a less attractive place for sellers to market their wares. I've attended all but two of the annual West Coast Military Radio Collector's Group (MRCG) meetings over the last 15 years, and the swap meet has always been one of my favorite parts. It used to be that ham and surplus sellers would come from far around just to sell their military wares in the swap meet. As eBay became more popular, the "outside" sellers mostly stopped bothering to come to the event, and the swap meet shrunk substantially in size and variety. Now it seems that the folks who used to sell in swap meets instead sit at home and market to the entire world, rather than driving from one swap meet to another to sell to locals. The annual MRCG swap meet is still fun and I still trade interesting and sometimes rare toys with the other event participants there, but I've learned that I'm better off watching eBay for rare stuff year round rather than accumulating a pile of cash to blow at the annual MRCG swap.

So, if hamfests have been stifled by eBay, then what will be left if and when eBay becomes unattractive for selling surplus toys?


-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
Web page: http://www.nf6x.net/
GnuPG public key available from my web page.