[Milsurplus] Selling at Hamfests vs. ebay etc.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 12:03 PM, Ken Kinderman <scr274 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Question: has anyone ever run afoul of state taxing watchdogs who are said
> to prowl the grounds of hamfests and other swap meets? Maybe it's just urban
> legend.
>
> But I don't think many of us carry a state business registration and tax id
> number in our back pockets, not to mention accurate books showing cash
> receipts and sales tax payables.

Boy, it's been a few years but I think the incident you refer to took
place at Gaithersburg or Timonium maybe 10 years back? I spoke with
someone who was at the event, it did happen but I'd say it's more the
exception than the rule (though in today's 'economy' anything is
possible). I've never run into this in some 20+ years of attending
hamfests up and down the east coast.

Some of the "hamfests are dying" hype is related to the large number
of small events that had sprung up over the years. In the 80s/90s it
seemed like every club out there was having a hamfest to pay for new
repeaters or whatever else. Some of these actually grew into yearly
events but many have gone as a result of ebay and fewer hams looking
for the stuff.

This seems to be benefiting the bigger venues like NEAR-Fest, Shelby,
and Timonium at least slightly. Shipping and ebay costs no doubt help
as well. Rumor was that attendance and vendors were actually up a bit
last year at Timonium, Shelby was huge, though it was my first visit
so nothing to gauge it against. There seemed to be a lot of good stuff
and a lot of selling taking place. NEAR-Fest took the place of
Hosstraders in NH when those guys retired and is by all accounts the
biggest 'fest in the northeast, spring and fall. Rochester NY is one
of the large events that seems to be falling by the wayside, though
venue issues and club politics seem to be the main reasons.

At the end of the day, such events will only be as good as we make
them. If I need to clear something out between events I'll use ebay,
but much prefer selling at a hamfest for potentially less money but
far fewer hassles. My time is worth something, after all.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4