Books & publications etc.

[Jeffrey Herman]

On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Warren D. Anderson wrote:

> Everybody is quite aware of the high selling prices on eBay

Yet we hear of gear going for incredibly low prices, too.

> is why I chose to use those prices to illustrate how ludicrous the
> seller's asking price is.

I've never run across anyone who wasn't willing to bargain; a
prospective buyer is free to make a counter-offer. What we don't
need is a price-cop making a commentary on each and every ASKING
price he sees on here. (And just about every price is an *asking*
price; I did not see "firm" accompany Brian's price.) If you feel
Brian (or anyone else) is asking too much, a nicely worded PRIVATE
email would go a lot further than committing defamation of character
in a public forum.

> Citing a freebie is hardly germane; there are lots of no-bids on
> eBay and there are many more "not interesteds" on the private side.
> I have never been comfortable with taking free radios.  I prefer to
> trot out Osterman's latest book and show his estimation and then tack
> on some more for market inflation.  Its called integrity.

I prefer to give away a radio and accept nothing in return. I recently
gave a way a Globe Scout xmtr. Someone else gave me a DX-60.

> Except for "preying on newbies," which is an opinion,

"Newbies," too, are capable of making counter-offers. As consumers,
they have gained a lifetime of experience in shopping around, doing
their homework in researching the value of an item prior to purchase,
whether it be a car, washer, refrigerator, furniture, computer. Some-
one interested in buying BA gear wasn't born yesterday in regard to
radio equipment; usually a BA'er has been licensed for quite sometime.
They might have entered the hobby in the solid state era (and thus,
have experience shopping for a bargain), or were licensed as a young
pup and want to rebuild the station they had decades ago -- those in
that category surely know the range of values of a rig.

> If the seller believed in his prices,
> he has the ability to put pictures on eBay and find out what the
> market value really is.

Again, eBay is far from being the "blue book" of BA gear.

Always keep a copy of the "Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual"
next to your keyboard so you'll know just how far you can go in regard
to public name-calling without getting yourself in trouble. You really
do owe Brian an apology.

(My apologies to the rest of the list; this topic has created over
2,000 mailings listwide [433 mailings per post]. This will be my
final comment in this matter. Please, no more price cops!!)

Jeff KH6O