"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...
running dogg wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote:


Make no mistake, the talk on this newsgroup is closely
monitored for
any hints as to trends of interest in product lines.

Start a thread, about looking for Galaxy SW receivers for
instance,
and watch them pop up on e-Bay.

Is there some Black Hole of Radios into which Martyn and others
can
reach in and magically pull out like-new 70 year old sets in any
brand
and model desired? Is there a radio store owner on the prairie in
1939
wondering why anybody would want to steal his stock, and how they
could
do it without waking him up? I suppose we're dealing with
technology
taken from the crashed alien ship at Roswell, used not to better
the
world but to find mint condition old radios to auction on ebay.




Sharp buyers acquire radios that are hot tickets, at low prices,
and
spin them quickly. But other buyers will speculate on items with
popularity that ebb and flow. Galaxy radios are such. So, buyers
like
Martyn acquires a Galaxy when they're not particularly interesting,
hold's it until Galaxy's become hot, then puts it on the block. More
than one vendor I know of has done this.

One goof on the newsgroup, when R-2000's were suddenly the rage,
came
up with a pair of them, with a tale of acquisition that made no
sense,
and when they didn't sell at the expected price, hammered the
newsgroup
with them, lowered prices, until he claimed they were sold.
Actually,
one was sold, returned, and then they both went to e-Bay, but he
didn't
publish that.

No, there's no black hole. But there are a lot of rigs out there
forgotten on shelves, or in shacks, that suddenly find themselves
listed
for sale when there's an interest in them. Oddly, they all seem to
come
from the same group of sellers.

This isn't a phenomenon limited to radios. Or electronics, for
that
matter. Sellers of car parts and memoribilia do this all the time.
10
years ago, I stumbled on a box of Studebaker carburetors. Two were
used,
one was rebuilt by the Carburetor Shop, and 5 were new old stock. I
bought them all for a pittance, and held them. One of the new ones I
put
on my Champ. The rest...went to e-Bay about 2 years ago, when action
Stude carbs was up.

I did pretty well with them, too.

Martyn's close enough to a couple of major cities
(Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville) that if he scans
for estate sales online (like you can with the
Cincinnati Enquirer), he can target sales that might
yield results with a minimum of drive time.

--Mike L.