Not quite out of the hobby...

Gosh Ed, too bad yr leaving. I have left this hobby about 10 times since I started in 1954. Various reasons; Boredom, marriage, full size fun, location etc. Funny thing is, I always come back. My wife says she is going to order a larger than normal size coffin so she can pack all my stuff in there with me, just in case I change my mind again. Gord Schindler MAAC6694

Well, I'm not leaving entirely, just yet. Recent improvements in legs circulation are making it a little easier to walk a few more feet than before. I've lost 34 lbs. of water (mostly) since January, due to my refusing to take a certain medication that my FORMER doctor had foisted upon me.

As I said, I couldn't stand to part with my Fun One or unassembled Global Ultimate Bipe ARF just yet. Maybe I'll stick to owning just one or two small models for a while. But the remainder of the larger stuff and unbuilt or unfinished kits are going to be sold off. I need the room in the garage for my new amateur recording studio.

Thanks for the kind words.

Ed Cregger

Hang in there Ed, stick a couple of models on the wall to remind yourself of what you are doing all this healthy stuff for.

Thanks for the good advice.

Ed Cregger

Ed,

I have come to know you as someone who is available when help is needed. Why don't you do more electric planes if you have not already been doing?

They are quiet and clean for the most part.

Wan

Thank you for the kind words, Wan.

I do have a couple of Wingo kits, a small radio and some electric accessories that I do plan on keeping and flying. I even have a small color video camera/TX that I bought just for a Wingo. They will be a lot of fun to fly.

My neighbor and good friend, Tom Austin, across the street, might be available occasionally to help me with them. For some reason, I have this obsession to fly over our community with a model and take lots of aerial footage. Darned if I know why, but my intution usually proves to be right.

There is a lot of development going on in this area. Businesses have trebled during the six years that the wife and I have been here. Maybe that has something to do with my feeling. Anyway, the airborne video pack will be fun to use.

We do have some predatory birds of decent stature in the immediate area. They look large for a hawk, or the kind of hawks we had in NJ. I don't think any model would fare well in an encounter, but particularly a tiny Wingo.

Ed Cregger

Sounds like you live in a neighborhood much like that depicted in 'American Beauty' then Ed :-)

Ive had a few clse ebcounters with cormorants and herons myself.

RE: Shipping.

I dont see any RC stuff listed today, but flat fee shipping does not make sense on anything over 1 lb. Shipping rates vary with distance for UPS and USPS. You will have better sales if your shipping rates are seen a fair and reasonable.

Shipping by USPS Priority Mail is MUCH easier than UPS. All you need to know is the weight of the package (and for big kits maybe the size) Print and pay for your shipping labels at the USPS website (Click and Ship) or through the Ebay Print Shipping label option. Print the label out and slap the label on the package. I then hand it to the carrier or run into the post office (do NOT wait in line) and hand them to any clerk at the counter or on the loading dock. NO lines to stand in, free Delivery Confirmation, FAST Airmail shipping (some of my items have gotten there coast to coast next day!), and they arrive in excellent condition (All unlike UPS).

Ebay even provides a Shipping Calculator feature in the ad now. Add a buck or two handling charge for your time and materials.

Just my experience at finding an easier way to do things.

"earle" wrote

As I have stated before, I am not a business. I am a private citizen that is liquidating many years of R/C gear. I am losing money on every transaction that I make.

In a perfect world, what you say is true. However, if it were a perfect world, I would not be selling my R/C stuff because of illness, would I?

My standard answer to people that bitch about the shipping costs is simple. If you do not like the terms of the auction, simply do not bid.

Whenever I buy something, I take into consideration the total cost of buying the item. What does the item cost, how much will it cost me to have it delivered to my home? I set a price that I am willing to pay - all up - and then I either stick to that price, or I have to adjust it according to how much I need the item.

Same thing with my auctions. Figure out what the most you will pay for an item is, including shipping, and then make that amount, minus my shipping fee, your max bid. It really is simple.

I just received an email from a guy that was bitching over an estimated two or three dollars overcharge on shipping. Of course, the fact that he would probably buy $400 worth of NIB goods for less than $200 did not seem to sink into his head. After some heated discussion back and forth, I finally got a chance to use an unfamiliar eBay programming function. The block bidder function on eBay works quite nicely, thank you.

Oh, around here boxes of any reasonable size cost $7 a piece. When you ship a lot of stuff, you rapidly deplete the area's stores of empty boxes. Especially now that many people are selling via eBay. It is getting really tough to find a free box these days. Tape is expensive. People should use their heads before complaining about something which they know nothing about from contemporary experience.

One last thing. I apologize for having an attitude about this issue. You would not believe the mail I have received from people trying to tell me how to do this or that to increase my sales. I am sure that they mean well, but the sheer volume of it all is making it a real chore to deal with. Later.

Ed Cregger