Just a hypothesis here, but because of the lack of new ham radio gear available with most amateur radio vendors as of late, I am thinking that the price of used gear is going to be somewhat on the rise at the Dayton Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio, in two weeks. If you want it, and new isn’t available, well, someone may just have it slightly used, but maybe for the “new” price in the tailgate area. Anyone have thoughts on this? Have you seen anything like this at other hamfests in the past few months?
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If you have tried to buy a new or used car, you understand that scarcity raises the price of things. I wouldn’t expect to see greatly slashed prices when everything from shipping, hotels, food gas, etc. went up.
It is a hobby for us, It is a business for all the vendors at the event. (Yes, the swapmeet is a business too or they would just give it to you free)
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I’m headed there next week and I will report back!
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Unfortunately, or perhaps I should say fortunately, the price of new gear, especially the most popular radios such as the Icom IC-705, 7300, ID-52A, etc., are highly controlled by the manufacturer, and you won’t see much deviation from one dealer to another. If there is new equipment you want, and the new gear isn’t available, you may very well pay more for the rig as used. Case in point, some of the Alinco tri-band HTs that include 1.2 GHz or 902 MHz are commanding as much as two to three times the new price that was charged by dealers because they have been discontinued. I bought two used ones and a new one before the gouging began. If you want, you will pay!
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