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Another Look At Classified Advertising

Created by Rick McCallum, KC7MF on 2022-03-30

"Editor's Note: Due to the popularity of some of eHam's older articles, many of which you may not have read, the eHam.net team has decided to rerun some of the best articles that we have received since eHam's inception. These articles will be reprinted to add to the quality of eHam's content and in a show of appreciation to the authors of these articles." This article was originally published on: 07/28/2016

 

Another Look At Classified Advertising

 

Well I guess I might just start a little flame war, so before you read this mellow out and take a deep breath. Try to put homeowners associations and no-code extras completely out of your mind.

I recently posted a couple of ads in the classified section. I made a lighthearted attempt to poke a little fun at what some of us write in these ads. No I am not talking about typos or gear that is priced well above retail. I am talking about some of the clich's, which have become common in Ham Radio Classified ads. So here goes.

Look, if the Icom 7800 that you are trying to sell is "your backup rig" then you have way too much money and ought to just give the thing to me. But it seems that about 9 out of 10 radios are "my backup radio." Well, I understand this. I have a backup radio. It is an Icom 756 PRO (delightful radio by the way), which I can honestly say is, only used a couple of times a month. That is if you start counting (as I suspect most people do) from the day it became my backup radio. Before that I used the bejesus out of it including the time it spent doing a couple of nets a week as the net control station. But it is just my backup rig now. I must confess, the same with a couple of amps. They are just my backup amps too. Sure they are. Now.

I never ran this amp over 500 watts. So let's get this straight. You bought an 800-watt amp rather than a cheaper 600-watt amp. Why? So you could never run it over 500 watts. Right. My name is Rick and I have a confession to make. I ran my 600-watt amp at 600 watts. I know. It is a miracle it still works but there you have it. Confession is good for the soul. So before you put down that this or that was your "backup" or that you "never" ran your amp at its rated power, please consider that those of us who are reading your ad are about equally divided between those who do not believe you and those who do not care.

I completely understand wanting equipment that does not smell like smoke. I do not understand not wanting a radio that has been in the room with a goldfish. What is with the "no pet household" thing anyway? Two things come to mind. If you don't like pets then I am suspicious that you are not that nice and do not have a rich inner life. I have a cat. My cat is not allowed to operate my radio. I can say with some assurance that the cat does not know how to tune an amplifier. (As I write this I realize that the same could be said for a considerable number of hams. I mean really folks. For those of you who like to tune up on top of my net, I could tune a piano in less time.) Candor requires that I admit that I do not know what the cat does when I am away from home and I am not going to set a video camera to see.

OK. I get it. You claim to be violently allergic to dogs. Sure you are. If you are I highly recommend (and I think this is good advice for all of us by the way) do not attempt to snort or lick your radio. Oh I know. A hair might get into the works. Right. I am sure Kenwood has a tech note out covering fish scale removal. I loved one ad that said the radio was used mobile but was never around pets. Look. I asked a doctor. If you are so allergic that nano-particles of goat hair send you into anaphylactic shock, I think we can safely say that you are perhaps a good candidate for a new radio rather than a used one. But if you have the aforementioned Icom 7800 and it has been around dogs, cats, gerbils, hamsters, fish (gold or tropical) or your parakeet named Mr. Chops please do not despair. I am willing to overlook this devastating flaw and give you several hundred dollars for it anyway.

So I really saw this. I am not making this up. A guy was selling a meter for $15.00 or best offer. He said, "PayPal add 3%." I see you all doing the math. That's right folks, this wise business man was not going to lose his 45 cents. But it was not a deal breaker. If you, Mr. Buyer, are worried about that 45 cents you can always make that "best offer" for? Well you get the point. Ok. I get that you want $1000.00 for your mint-in-the-box Flashbang Territorial Motengator 6000a but would you let it go unsold for $30.00? As we used to say in the Army, suck it up soldier. I can understand that you might not want to take PayPal for one reason or another but to try to charge the fees is not only a violation of the TOS is makes you out to be the cheap bas... ahem, ham that you are.

I sold a Tempo 2020 one time. For those of you who do not know, this is one of the most contumelious hanger queens that has ever urged it considerable bulk into a ham shack. It is perhaps the only radio I have ever seen where the power cord is worth more than the rig. In the second sentence of an eHam review, one owner boasted that he had both power cords. -- Now that I stretching for a compliment. A guy wrote me and asked if it had any scratches, "even if very small" on it. He was offended when I replied, "it is 40 years old and it's an absolute miracle it does not have a bullet hole in it." (Well now I have offended the fine Tempo owners out there but you of all people know I am right.)

Here is a good rule of thumb for sellers. If someone writes you more than three times about the item you have for sale, run. You may sell your radio but you will wind up adopting this ham. I know. There was the time when a guy bought a 40 year old radio from me, used it for a while, took it apart, and then wanted me to pay for the parts and labor to put it back together again.

Shipping. What a pain in the behind shipping is. But please consider that you are advertising on a worldwide publication. I totally get that you do not want to ship overseas. I understand that you can't put a stamp on that Henry Console. But, and I am not making this up, here is a shout-out to the guy who had a used 6146 tube for sale and said "local pickup only." Ok. So he is arguably the laziest man in the world but just for fun I checked out his QTH. This guy lived so far back in the woods that they had to pump sunshine to him. A suggestion? Do not ask for local pick up if there is no local. This guy did not want to sell a tube he wanted to be rescued. Or at least company.

Then of course there is the highly prized "original box." I will never understand the almost pathological quest for cardboard boxes that some hams display. It is a microphone OM. It is not an original Justin Bieber doll never opened mint in box. I live in Arizona. It is dry here. Stuff we store lasts for eons so boxes stand up pretty well. Not so much in Hotlanta. I am not sure I even want a box that has been stored in a basement in New Orleans for a couple of decades. These days packing shops do a great job. But Icom 7800 guy. If you don't even have the box, on top of the horrible other issues that plague your radio I will still give you a few hundred dollars for it.

If it does not put out rated power it is broken. You need not tell me that your radio puts out the rated power right after you told me it works as it should. For that matter you do not need to tell me it works as it should. If it doesn't you should put the fact that it is "broken" in your ad and reduce the price accordingly. Maybe this kind of comment is what passes for "powerful advertising script" in the ham radio community. But I guess that even if it is broken but you have the original box you may be better off. -- Maybe they sort of counterbalance in some way. Shout out to the guy who, and I am not making this up, said he was looking for the box for his radio. Just the box. If he likes the radio and wants to keep it then he doesn't need the box and if he wants to sell it then...oh well. Math again.

If you can't take a cell phone picture without looking like you were drunk at the time do not post it with the ad. Take another one. Or get your 12-year-old son to do it. He is sending clear selfies to half of the girl in his junior high school class. I mean really. You can work the world on one watt using a sardine can for an antenna. You have passed a test that is so difficult that you have to know what a millihenry is. You can climb a tower, tune a Swan and rotate your antenna to the heading for Pitcairn by memory. But you can't take a clear picture of an antenna tuner? You are bordering on overspecialization I think.

I guess we have to talk about "as is." OK. We get that you don't want it back. (Tempo owners I am looking at you.) What does this really mean? It is the ham radio equivalent of "kings-x or crossed fingers." We have all seen this one: This radio works as it should. It looks brand new, comes with all the accessories, has never been around a parakeet, or a cat who smokes, it puts out full power, the cord has never been cut, still has the plastic on the screen, the manual has never been opened, and has its original mint box. -- Sold as-is, no return. Why not? If I had that radio I'd buy it back myself, jack up the price and sell it again.

This is supposed to be a fun hobby. We are supposed to be a band of friends. Yet when we set out to buy or sell something we sound like a cross between nervous nellies and barracks lawyers. I have heard the horror stories and I guess they do make one a bit timid but in all of the things I have sold I have only had the one bad experience. I like ham radio and I like hams in general. But talk about money and we are an anxious bunch.

Can we all relax a bit and go with the flow? Be careful and honest. That is all that really matters when you get right down to it. But Icom 7800 guy? If you want to pay the shipping to send that dog-smelling, no box, no manual, couple of scratches, used as your main rig at full output power machine to me I will still happily give you a few bucks to take the thing off of your hands. Heck. I might even travel a considerable distance to pick it up. Like maybe even to Maine.



W4ANE2022-07-15
Another Look At Classified Advertising
What about, “Excess to my needs”. (Sounds like the title to some unknown Hemingway novel).
K1WMT2022-05-18
Re: Another Look At Classified Advertising
My first thought about the guy who wanted the seller to pay for post sale refurb is that the fellow is a flipper. Wonder if he reposted it for sale later.

I always taught my kids, "it never hurts to ask." Then against some folks are either
-A dreamer
- A predator trying to take advantage of a buyer's naievite
- a fool

I'll bet none of those folks would make such requests face to face.

Reply to a comment by : K6CRC on 2022-04-04

When I was buy/selling more, I finally just said 'works, normal wear... Sold AS-IS'. Only problem I had was when I sold my previous rig. The guy got it, then emailed me about a 'small crack' in a knob. No problem, I bought a knob and had it shipped to him. A week later, he sent the rig into manufacturer and had all the controls replaced, they were fine for me. He then sent me copies of the bill expecting me to pay. Oh, and the case screws had small chips, sent a bill for new screws... on and on for weeks. I blocked his emails, problem solved. The world is full of strange people. For some reason, Ham Radio gets more than it's share.
WA8MEA2022-05-09
Another Look At Classified Advertising
>>Here is a good rule of thumb for sellers. If someone writes you more than three times about the item you have for sale, run. You may sell your radio but you will wind up adopting this ham.<<
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He nailed this one! I was in retail ham sales for 30 years and no truer words were said. I finally figured out the game of these "orphan hams" and started refusing sales to them. Same now goes for my private sales. They will email you, phone you and even sky-write over your house until suicide starts to look like an option. Finally, they contact the payment method and tell them the product wasn't as advertised.
K3RW2022-05-07
Another Look At Classified Advertising
My favorite are the dreaded and much feared 'parts swappers' lines in the ads. Maybe in the tube days someone would have been bold enough to swap and try to take it back, but with all the surface-mount and cost of shipping, is this really a problem?

I've had more handshake deals at hamfests go bad after I got home on supposedly great working equipment than ever suspect a parts-swap situation over the web. I can't vouch for how package handlers operate, but I suspect that's the risk we take on used equipment.

Just say as-is, sales final, and your reputation is your bond.
N1WT2022-04-09
Another Look At Classified Advertising
Do you know what it feels like to snort grapefruit juice out your nose? Think twice before making people laugh that hard again! ????
VE7ABC2022-04-07
Another Look At Classified Advertising
Thanks for the chuckles, and all my equipment at one time or another has had a pet in the same room as it.
K9FV2022-04-04
Another Look At Classified Advertising
That's as funny - and true - as it was the day it was written. Thanks for reposting.
K6CRC2022-04-04
Another Look At Classified Advertising
When I was buy/selling more, I finally just said 'works, normal wear... Sold AS-IS'.
Only problem I had was when I sold my previous rig. The guy got it, then emailed me about a 'small crack' in a knob. No problem, I bought a knob and had it shipped to him. A week later, he sent the rig into manufacturer and had all the controls replaced, they were fine for me. He then sent me copies of the bill expecting me to pay. Oh, and the case screws had small chips, sent a bill for new screws... on and on for weeks. I blocked his emails, problem solved.

The world is full of strange people. For some reason, Ham Radio gets more than it's share.
KT4WO2022-04-04
Another Look At Classified Advertising
The ones I like are when the item
is listed for more than HRO/Gigaparts
has it priced NEW.
See it all the time.
There is not any radio I will pay more for
used vs new. Do folks not check prices before
listing?!?!?
K1ASA2022-04-01
Another Look At Classified Advertising
My biggest gripe is people who post items for sale and then never answer the emails I send saying I want to buy the item. I even send a second request both thru the classified ad and their personal e-mail. They're either just too lazy to mark the item sold or they're just trolling.
K0UA2022-03-31
Another Look At Classified Advertising
I got more than one chuckle out of that one.
WB8VLC2022-03-31
Another Look At Classified Advertising
QUOTE:I sold a Tempo 2020 one time. For those of you who do not know, this is one of the most contumelious hanger queens that has ever urged it considerable bulk into a ham shack.


I know exactly what you mean, Who ever designed the Tempo 2020 should have been tarred and feathered. Nothing else needs to be said about this POC radio.
KD7MW2022-03-31
Another Look At Classified Advertising
Thanks for the chuckle. Some of the ads I’ve seen make me want to respond “My dog does not have her ticket (yet), and if you don’t like dogs, I don’t like you.”
WI4SS2022-03-30
Another Look At Classified Advertising
Good read and entertaining. You hit on many items that I've seen and often thought.

Many times - I see an Ad and want to reply with "and your price is? can you post an actual picture? LOL

Again - good read.
WB0FDJ2022-03-30
Another Look At Classified Advertising
This is actually pretty funny. I'm pretty lucky, the radios I've purchased have arrived working as advertised and been useful additions to the shack. The thing I hate is the stuff from non hams. They take a radio that hasn't seen the light of day for 30 years and write: "plugged in, lights up". Very useful information.....