In case you don't know what "Fair to good condition" means..

[doctorbongo]

Originally Posted by radio63

The opening bid is very fair. It will get bid up to whatever the market will bear for this set in this condition. Might make a good parts set for someone who already has one of these units, or else it will be an interesting challenge for a restorer.

Gilbert

So you think an opening bid of one penny is fair?
Jeez, fellas, back off on the accelerator a bit.
a) there's a photo, so you can see what you are getting.
b) the dude selling it, at 8.01, would be LOSING cash on shipping.
c) nobody is armtwisting. click somewhere else on your monitor, and the unit disappears.

However, I believe the original point was valid: fair means poor.
Just as semantic migration (and grade inflation) have pushed
mediocre to mean lousy, when it used to mean average.

Plus, for a lot of us on this site, we wouldn't know what "good as new"
means, considering we haven't bought anything new in a coupla decades.

[Jeffhs]

I wonder what the seller meant when he said he couldn't test the receiver beyond plugging it in and seeing that it powers on and the clock works because he "doesn't have the experience", etc. to test it further than that. How much experience is necessary to connect a piece of wire to the antenna terminal and check for reception on at least one band? I could see his reluctance to test it if there were some sort of problem with the line cord (e.g. dry rotted) or a short in the power supply that would blow a fuse or worse (the so-called "smoke test"), but if he is willing to test it as far as seeing that it powers up and that the clock is in working condition, I would have thought he would have been ready to find out if it received signals, if nothing else. Heck, he wouldn't have had to connect a wire to the antenna terminal; if there was at least one reasonably strong AM broadcast station in his area, a finger on the terminal would likely bring in enough of a signal to prove that the set worked at least that well.

The condition of the receiver could have been a factor as well. The seller may have thought that, since it looked so terrible from the outside, there may have been who only knows what internal damage to the chassis (corrosion, etc.) so rather than risk causing even more damage or starting a fire, he may well have decided just to run the basic power-on test and leave it at that. I've seen many ebay listings which stated that an old radio, TV, etc. being offered for auction has only been tested this far as well, because the owner was afraid of getting shocked from a dry-rotted cord or a hot chassis. Without knowing the seller or his circumstances, not to mention how much knowledge of electronics he may or may not have, it is almost impossible to know why he stopped where he did as far as his testing of the set was concerned.

[radio63]

Originally Posted by doctorbongo

So you think an opening bid of one penny is fair?
Jeez, fellas, back off on the accelerator a bit.
a) there's a photo, so you can see what you are getting.
b) the dude selling it, at 8.01, would be LOSING cash on shipping.
c) nobody is armtwisting. click somewhere else on your monitor, and the unit disappears.

I have seen sellers on Ebay selling total pieces of junk for a ridiculous opening bid. When I said the opening bid was fair, I meant that the final price will rise up to whatever someone will be willing to pay for this unit in this condition. At least the opening bid was not $100 or something unrealistic like that. If you keep looking on Ebay you will sometimes see items being auctioned off with unrealistic opening bids.

[outlawmws]

So its back with a slightly more realistic shipping tag...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hammarlund-hq-11...QQcmdZViewItem

Bill is on top so far...

[Fisherdude]

Originally Posted by outlawmws

So its back with a slightly more realistic shipping tag...

I was wondering why it was canceled and relisted. Now I know!

Btw, don't get me started on "minty".

[Fisherdude]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I wonder what the seller meant when he said he couldn't test the receiver beyond plugging it in and seeing that it powers on and the clock works because he "doesn't have the experience", etc...

It's pretty much a given on eBay that the words "untested" means "tested, and it doesn't work."

[Sandy G]

I'd hate to see this ol' gal get tossed, but again, I think you'd be better served by sniffing around & finding one in a little nicer cosmetic shape. But that's just me; some folks are handier w/a a spray-paint can than I am...I'm sure I could whine enuff to get Terry to get 'er talkin' again...

[Fisherdude]

There is no doubt that this is strictly a parts radio. Even if you can get it working just fine, the cosmetic problems mean this will never be worth more than $50. A repaint, even if it's done perfectly, will not raise the value.

[Sandy G]

If this was a VLF SP-600, or an SP-600 JX 21A, it might be worth doing a full-house resto on it. But it ain't. But maybe it has some parts that will allow another set to "live"...