Mike,
>From 30 years experience (going back to my teenage days as a Novice) with
hamfests and ham auctions...
Yes, many of the items for sale should have gone to the dump or other
appropriate recycling facility. The percentage may vary, but it's always
been that way. But remember: Some junk are treasures that simply need TLC,
some visibly beautiful items are totally trashed inside.
Yes, misrepresentations take place on-line. And in person. As it has
always been. Unfortunately, it is a myth that all hams are honest. My
experience is most, the vast majority are -- but there have always been
those few.
The advantage to a hamfest, or swap-n-shop, or whatever, should be that we
can get "hands on" experience prior to buying. Sadly, too few sellers take
advantage. When I'm at a 'fest, I try to make sure that I have power at my
table(s) so that any rigs and/or computers I have for sale can be tested and
checked over. Saves aggravation for me, and that way, the buyer should have
no complaints. Only time I had a complaint, turned out that the buyer had
dropped the CPU on his way to the car, damaging the hard drive. But since
everyone knew that the machine had been running on my table most of the day,
he couldn't legitimately claim that I sold him a lemon.
Caveat Emptor indeed!
73, ron wn3vaw
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Melland" <w9wis@yahoo.com>
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Burned at the bay. The real story.
> My observation of hamfests in my area has resulted in
> several hypothesis.
>
> 1. Many if not most of the items for sale at the
> hamfest are there to avoid recycling fees at the
> landfill. 50% of the items are used computer
> monitors,associated 20 year old computer parts and
> beanie babies.
>
> 2. Just like some sales at eBay... I've seen
> rediculous pricing, outright scams and untruths about
> equipment.
>
> Bottom line.... unless buying from a reputable dealer
> or someone with a reputation they care at all about,
> it doesn't matter where you buy used gear from. Cavet
> Emptor !
>
> Mike, W9WIS
>
>
>
> --
> Michael Melland, W9WIS
> Redgranite, WI USA
>
>
>
> Discover Yahoo!
> Find restaurants, movies, travel and more fun for the weekend. Check it
out!
> http://discover.yahoo.com/weekend.html
>
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