Hi Bert,

For the small stuff (books, coax, replacement whips for my
HF mobile antenna, etc) I buy from our local store, Texas
Towers. For the big stuff, to avoid paying 8.5% sales tax,
I shop the 1-800 numbers and web sites. I generally end up
buying from Ham Radio Outlet (low price, excellent service,
and free shipping on orders over $100). I bought an Icom
756 Pro 3 earlier this year from Marc's Amateur Radio in
Florida for $2,850 (best price I could find that week). If
I'd bought that rig locally, the sales tax would have been
$242! I like to support the local shops, but the tax is a
killer. Besides, stores like Texas Towers do a lot of mail
order business from people like me in other states who don't
want to pay their local sales tax. They aren't hurting in
that regard.

73,
Dean K5DH


In article , says...

They all carry the same stuff, they all charge the same prices and
I assume they all have the same ability to stick an address label on
a box and hand it to the UPS guy.

So, other than the obvious need to minimize sales tax, what
contributes to your decision?

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

(-=H=-) wrote in
:

I bought an Icom 756 Pro 3 earlier this year from Marc's Amateur
Radio in Florida for $2,850 (best price I could find that week).

Now, that's an interesting piece of info because it's the 756ProIII
that I'm looking at.

I'd checked every on-line dealer that I could find and every one that
advertised a price on line (almost all do) showed exactly the same
price of $2999.99, although a few didn't explicitly mention free
shipping.

I'm in no hurry, so I guess I'll search harder :-)

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

Bert,
Wait for a hamfest to come around, find out what suppliers from out of your
state are supposed to be there, call them and give them your shopping list.
They should have it at the hamfest for you. no shipping, no tax, and the
"discounted" hamfest price. :-)

-n6ojn

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
(-=H=-) wrote in
:

I bought an Icom 756 Pro 3 earlier this year from Marc's Amateur
Radio in Florida for $2,850 (best price I could find that week).

Now, that's an interesting piece of info because it's the 756ProIII
that I'm looking at.

I'd checked every on-line dealer that I could find and every one that
advertised a price on line (almost all do) showed exactly the same
price of $2999.99, although a few didn't explicitly mention free
shipping.

I'm in no hurry, so I guess I'll search harder :-)

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |