[Milsurplus] Dayton Findings, Ebay Pricings

[David Stinson]

Re: Price and Markets
(originally posted on Boatanchors,
 reposted here in reponse (**) to Robert's post)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Russo, John" <jprusso at buffalo.edu>
>....And the Ebay prices on most of the cleaner fleamarket pieces. 
> I would guess 90% of the clean boatanchors did NOT sell because
> of the overpricing. ....
> I'm not sure I'll be able to sustain this hobby luxury much longer.

Hams are getting older- fast.
Many of us have indulged and carried our children far longer 
than we should have, leaving some short the assets to retire.
Others have been stripped of their assets 
by the "Big Medicine" mafia.
These folks dream that their collections- which are of value
to them and about .001% of people with money to spend-
are going to save them. 

They do not understand elementry marketing.
Ebay commands "ebay prices" because it offers a market of
literally millions of buyers. That gives Ebay "pricing power."
Even at a place like Dayton, your gems are going to be seen
by, at most, what- a couple of thousand? Double that number.
Triple it if you like; it's still a "fart in a whirlwind" 
when it comes to Ebay's pricing power.

**Second- as more of us join "the choir invisible" 
with no replacements coming behind us to soak-up the gear,
"supply and demand" drives prices down even more.
High prices on new "plastic computers with antennas" 
(I don't call them "radios" cuz they ain't one)
freeze-out many young people. 
High prices on "real" radios at places like Dayton keep them out.

Mathematics is a cruel mistress. 
She does not give a diddly-damn how we feel
or what we think is "fair." Her rules never change.
One can scream how "it isn't so" and curse and blame
and shake his fist at the thunderstorm but in the end,
he's still gonna get wet.

But hams are not only older- they are ever more stubborn.
We all know many guys who will haul that ratty R-390 
priced at "$1500 firm" back and forth, robbing themselves 
of the assets they could have deployed years earlier 
and which would have made them more in the end .
They will keep on doing it, red-faced and griping 
about "cheap hams" until The Almighty 
gets tired of the comedy show and their kids 
throw the receiver in the dumpster.

Don't be a chump. 
There is only one "fair price-" 
the one you and a buyer agree upon. 
Get your money out of that "thing" and into something else 
that will do you good. Sitting on the shelf with the 
"I'll never take less than this, by God!" attitude 
is costing you money and grief.
It's just a thing. 
You need liquid assets- not an albatross on a shelf costing you money.

73 DE Dave AB5S