QTH.COM Swap Chat

I recently purchased an amplifier on qth and it was a piece of junk. Not even close to the way it was described in the listing. Before I start naming names and call signs I will give the seller a chance. This is the first time this has happened to me and Im a little pissed off. I bust my ass for the money I earn. As far as im concerned this hobby has gone to s**t. I wonder if the people that do this have to look over their shoulder when they go out. I have no one to blame but myself, going to have to start buying things that I can look at in person, or really know the seller I guess.


Jeffrey
KD4LYH

Unfortunately, as "perfect a situation as that", good luck finding the sellers. Most use swap boards or Ebay....
Gone are the days of the dealers with their used equipment....

That's why, unless I am in a hurry, I wait for local swaps where I can see it. This Cochise County club has a barn full of boat anchors!
Tell me what U want and I'll see, maybe in April/May.

Found an old Marantz, I believe, free. Big rack-mount. One tube shorted--so were all the bias resistors! Some idiot had jammed a 30 Amp fuse in it. It was 75 W/Ch out, .001% THD. But too heavy to ship. Transformers alone had enough copper for a Hoover Dam generator!

I'd love to get some classy old rig, like Collins or National, just for that slide rule dial or the 10:1 vernier. For some, it's fast convertibles...

So far I've been lucky, all I have gotten email-order has been as described. Cross Fingers!

Or, how about buyers that commit to buying your item, you purchase packing materials and box it up and then they come with excuses why the "can't buy it, etc.". Look in the wallet first, ask mom first, etc., but stop treating sellers like lay away stores. I am never in a hurry but I know some of these types that as soon as the payment is in the mail, they expect the parcel to be in route....but to stiff someone in spending their money on shipping expenses and then pulling the rug out, its no wonder folks go to Ebay...

Watch out for the parts swappers, too. You send them your perfectly working amplifier or transceiver and they exchange your good tubes for their bad ones, or replace a pc board for their blown board. I solved this problem by purchasing some protective seals over the screws of the item I send them. We used similar seals at Rockwell/Collins for calibration tools and they were impossible to remove without breaking or tearing the seal. When they get the unit I ship to them, I warn them that any broken or removed seals voids their money back! I also put the seals on each of the power tubes because some amps make it easy to replace the power tubes without removing any screws. All my seals have a sequencal number for 100 seals so if they obtain similar seals and I doubt they were from my stock, i can check the number to be sure they were mine. Not all people are dis-honest but you have to be aware and keep ahead of the 5% that are.
Fred//N3QK

The last two items I purchased off of this type of web page both had issues. They were obvious issues the that seller had to know about. How they sleep at night I will never know.
For me both issues were easy fixes but that's not the point.
For the issues they had, all they had to do is tell me and I would have purchased them as they were for the price they asked for.

One hamfest I was at many years ago a guy was selling a vac vari cap that was trash. He wanted 100 bucks for it. I showed him it was trash. He said sorry he did not not that. It was obvious that it was no good. He put it behind him. 10 minutes later I walked by his table and it was back on display for the same price. What a shame people have to be like that.

My friend died this past summer and his stepson is selling his gear on ebay. He is posting all lies about the gear and posting as new.

Barry

Unfortunately in the last 10 years many Hams are not honest now. In fact even posting on Ham sites brings negative comments from other Hams such as you know nothing, you have no technical skills, etc. The few Hams have ruined the Ham sites. All that is left is on air communications itself. Also, buying new is a better option as the item comes with a warranty. Used is a dice roll.