Saturday, Sept. 9th marked the first time I have set up to sell at a hamfest in more than 10 years. Eight of those years I spent as an elected official of the ARRL, and officials are generally prohibited from selling at sanctioned hamfests (understandably so), so let’s just say I had 10 years of accumulated “stuff” to sell today. The morning went too quickly, but sales were about as expected. After a 10-year lapse, I thought I might share my observations of the current state of hamfest selling (with tongue planted firmly, in cheek, of course).
SELLING TO WHO OR WHOM? I was struck by the realization early this morning prior to the start of the fest that I have three tables piled high with radio gear I wish to sell — including half a dozen HF rigs and an even greater number of VHF radios — and the market I’m selling to are mostly hams who are likely to be in the same shape I’m in: They have more radios at home now than they can possibly use in their lifetimes. Where the hell is my market? Who the hell am I selling to?? Despite that moment of clarity (and recognition of the fact that most hams are borderline hoarders — including me), hams can’t resist a bargain. KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 4: “PT Barnum was right. Nuff said.”
NO DEAL LIKE A GOOD DEAL. One thing never changes — hams like to get a deal. It doesn’t matter how cheap you price something, if you want to sell it, you have to be ready to accept less than the marked price. KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 21: “If you’re interested in actually selling something, the reality is there’s no such thing as a ‘firm’ selling price.”
SUSPICIOUS PRICING? Yep! It is possible to mark something for a price that is too low. Such a price makes buyers suspicious … you’ll hear “what’s the real story about this radio?” or “what’s wrong with it?” KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 8: “Mark it high, sell it low.”
ZIP IT TO SELL IT. Hamfest buyers don’t like to be talked to — even if you’re begging them to make an offer. Early this morning, I finally quit reminding passers-by that I was willing to consider all offers and made a sign that read, “Reasonable offers considered … unreasonable offers contemplated. We’re here to SELL — NOT pack it home!” KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 92: “Don’t volunteer information” and KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 2: “Don’t speak unless spoken to.”
BE PREPARED IF YOU WISH TO SELL. Don’t be offended by low-ballers, but give second thoughts to those offers. If you’ve got some big-ticket (i.e. $400 and up) items for sale like HF rigs, you should expect exploratory offers to see how low you will go. Before a hamfest, you may want to think long and hard about how low you’ll go on each item. You have to ask yourself if you would rather have the cash in hand or hold out for a better price … in some cases today, I sacrificed $75 to have cash in hand rather than another rig to carry home. Only you can determine how low can you go. KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 52: “A man has to know his limitations, even at a hamfest.”
FOCUS ON SALES. Don’t leave your tables during the hamfest. Even if you’re sharing them with your brother or your XYL is there to help, never leave the table. The biggest reason: if you’ve been successful selling some of your items, you’ll be tempted to convert some of your newfound coin into more new “stuff.” Stick to the job at hand and only stray from the course if there’s a vendor who has exactly the item you need. Do NOT look around. KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 37: “If you window shop at a hamfest, chances are you’ll bring home a window.”
“BACK WHEN SPARK WAS KING … ETC.” Hams enjoy telling stories about their exploits in hamdom from the days when they owned the same model rig/wattmeter/microphone/logbook/etc. that you happen to have for sale. One gent seemed to want to tell me stories of the ham radio days of his youth, and I accommodated his story-telling with the hope of making a sale. The story he told was about the time he ran 19 times the legal limit through the same model dual meter Heathkit wattmeter I had on my table, and how he smoked that thing six ways to Sunday. Eight potential buyers were crowded around my table at the time and they listened in wide-eyed awe and amazement to his colorful tale of dual flaming D’arsonval meter movements and the pungent smell of instantly vaporized carbon resistors. As the acrid smoke of his verbal description of electronic Armageddon dissapated, so did the crowd browsing the stuff at my table. Thanks a lot, OM. Hamfest Rule No. 47: “No good deed goes unpunished.”
SUSPICIOUS MINDS. Don’t make the mistake of trying to give away something for free. I did that today. I had a heavy-ass box of 1970s QSTs — 1972,73, and 74. I bought them 10 years ago, looked through half a dozen of them and never opened them again. I only ran across the box while hunting for something else in the bowels of my shack. I wasn’t going to bother pricing them. FREE. Several people didn’t believe me so they asked. One man’s wife was with him, and you could actually hear her eyes rolling when her OM told her, “… but honey, they’re free!” Her response was something expected, along the lines of, “Like you need to add to the piles of old QSTs you never read?” Women! Phffft! Which brings me to KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 63: “The price of “FREE” is incalculable.”
ZEDMAN’S XYL POLICY: TRUST BUT VERIFY. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you leave your table and allow your XYL the opportunity to take over sales — unless you are willing to return to find an empty table. HINT: In the event this happens, unless you’re ready to fire the first salvo of World War III, under no circumstances should you ask her the prices she sold the items for. Chalk it up to experience and move on. This happened to me more than 10 years ago at this same hamfest, and the story still lives on. Today, I had at least two hams point to my wife and say they wanted to deal with her rather than me. KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 12: “For the sake of avoiding marital conflict you must accept that even if ignorance isn’t bliss, its still preferable to all-out war with the XYL.”
BUYERS DON’T ALWAYS LOOK LIKE BUYERS. Do not underestimate potential buyers. First thing this morning a young man — young as in perhaps 18 years old, dripping wet — came to the table to inquire about the dusty and dirty G5 Macs under my set of tables.
I had 4 older Mac desktop systems under the table; they had spent the past couple of years out of the environment but in my barn. And they were covered in barn dust. We got to the venue so late I hadn’t had time to clean the cases prior to the start of the hamfest. This young, well-dressed man walks up and asks the specs on the Macs. Hells bells, son, I don’t know. The only spec I know is the bastards are heavy. They were given to me; they work; they’re old; they’re computer equivalents of boat anchors. End of story. OK, Mr. Zedman, how much?
Did he want a price for one, or all of them? “Either way,” he told me. So I shot him a price to move them the hell out from under the table, and sure enough, he snapped them up. The last I saw of them he was pushing the cart out the front of the building. KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 7: “You never know who is carrying cash.”
Sales-wise, I did pretty well — just over $900 in sales, and that barely scratched the first layer of the archaelogical site known as “The Zedman’s Shack.”
Prepping for the sale was hectic, but it helped me out in a number of a ways. For starters, I found my FLEX 3000 transceiver still in its box. It was in a box I didn’t recognize (I thought my Kenwood TS-50/AT-50 was in the box the Flex is in). Looking forward to getting the Flex on the air soon.
CART BEFORE THE PROVERBIAL HORSE? DEPENDS ON WHO OWNS THE HORSE. Well … yes, I’m guilty of putting the new radio cart before the hamfest horse … last week I purchased an RS-918 HF SDR QRP transceiver in anticipation of the sale of a significant amount of radio gear today. Truth is I was going to buy the rig regardless of the results of the hamfest … the fest sales just give me some marital “cover,” if you will. But even with the fact I sold a bunch of stuff, the one thing my wife gets away with that I can’t is that she successfully claims how much money she saves our family when she buys a $125 pair of shoes for $110. Not complaining, mind you, just an observation that leads me to KY4Z’s Hamfest Rule No. 8: “Never lie to the XYL about your hamfest purchases — unless you need the practice.”
-30-