IS EBAY YOUR ONLY SOURCE?

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The answer is "of course not". While it's true, if you want to get the best price (as a seller), or find that oddball oldie that you've been pining away for, EBAY is number one. As a seller, you "give" EBAY about 9% of the total sale price, and then Paypal takes about 4% of what is left over. EBAY has a feedback system which should give you warm fuzzies when buying from someone but I've been ripped off at least a dozen times from people with good feedback.

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There are other HAM (and CB) related websites that offer free postings, and as a seller, you benefit from keeping that 9% while still being able to accept Paypal. It's a bit more risky when you are the buyer because you are making your purchase decision by the description/picture of the item, and faith that the HAM won't rip you off. It's a tough decision as a buyer, especially when your talking big bux ($1,000+) and a no-brainer for the seller (no 9% EBAY payout), but you don't reach as many people as you would via EBAY.

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2m weekly nets. Yep, they're alive and doing well thank you, and locals are still listing what they want to buy, or to sell. It's a local sale, you get to check the equipment out, no surcharges or shipping, but it's an even smaller market share.

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Tailgate Meets. Ditto, ditto, and ditto. Unless power is available, you won't have the option to test it (faith-in-fellow-ham), and pricing isn't much better than EBAY because they've usually checked the site to see what their rig is fetching, and price it as such. I don't go to many of these any longer, but I listen to the repeater traffic and usually hear the same thing: "There was a good crowd, and some nice equipment, but it seemed like no one was buying much of anything". Too bad; I used to enjoy going to those.

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CRAIGSLIST. Occasionally you'll find CB and HAM gear listed on CRAIGSLIST in you locale. I've never bought nor sold anything from it, so I couldn't tell you how successful it is - have you?

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CB IS DEAD - LONG LIVE CB

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If you're a regular reader of my Blog you know very well that CB is not dead. Many people who got caught up in the CB "FAD" of the 70's have assumed that CB went the way of the "PET ROCK" but we know differently. Because licenses are no longer mandatory it's hard to keep track of the numbers, however if you look at the amount of CB Radios being sold each year it's easy to estimate several million users (and that's not including those who are still using their 20-30 year old rig!). This proves that Citizens Band Radio was not your typical "FAD" that fades out quickly, but an inexpensive means of communication that will be around for many decades to come. Long live Citizens Band Radio, 'Nuff Said.

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Woody