First Our Disclaimer....
- There is no charge for placing classifieds ads on this site.
- There is no charge for purchasing items listed on this site.
- ChuckMartin.com is a free site, and assumes no liability for transactions on this site.
- Any and all transactions are strictly between the buyers and sellers using this site.
- Buyer and Seller beware!
- We do not collect information of any kind for any other site!
- There are no paid advertisements, no pesky banners, no flashing ads for credit cards with low introductory interest rates. This site is just for your ham radio enjoyment and it's 100% FREE.
Welcome Aboard, Enjoy!
Now, here is the scoop on buying and selling ham radio equipment through our FREE classified ads. Buying and selling on the internet is easy and has little risk if you take a few simple steps to make yourself aware of the circumstances of the transaction. Benefit from my many years of experience by reading on!Although most buyers and sellers are honorable, sometimes disputes may arise, and sometimes the items listed may not be what the buyer is expecting. Be certain that you can trust that what the buyer or seller is offering you is what you are expecting. Ask lots of questions, e-mail is still free. If handled properly, mail order shipments and internet related buying and selling should not be problem. I've purchased ton's of boating items, and even my most recent boat, a 25' 1985 Grady White Trophy Pro, over the internet and never had a single hitch. Now that the subject of boats has come up, you might want to check out my very successful www.BoatSports.com website. Page Top
Include a Price in Your Ad
Always include an asking price in your ad! I have learned over the years that placing a reasonable price in my ads will bring a much greater response than an ad with no price. I usually don't respond to ads that don't have prices, I figure the price must be pretty high if the seller doesn't want me to know what it is. When you're placing a free amateur radio equipment ad on ChuckMartin.com be sure to include a selling price in your ad. If you place an item on the auction page with too high a price your chances of getting a bidding war going are slim because you will have trouble getting that first and second bid. It's better to start off with the lowest possible price to get some bidders interested enough to bid. If you have ever been to an auction you know that most items start off at whatever the audience will offer, and the item being sold will invariably be bid up to a fair value. Page Top
Privacy Policy
We don't collect any type of information for any other purpose than it's use on this free, non-commercial site. We are not in the business of information collection, so don't be surprised when we don't ask you a lot of personal questions when you place an ad. When you place an amateur radio equipment ad the only information we ask for is your state, zip code, and email address (phone numbers are optional)that are needed for buyers to communicate with you. For auctions we also ask for your name. When your items is sold or your ad expires (or is deleted by you) all related information is deleted from our site at the same time. Page TopOur Ad Format
You'll really appreciate our ad format! Instead of wading through hundreds of "one liner" vague and poorly worded links to ads that you may or may not be interested in, we display a list of entire ads with a bold "grabber" introduction line. If you answer three simple questions on our Search Page you'll only get ads that are of interest to you. After 30 years of advertising I know how to write ads and get results, and I've used that experience to format the ChuckMartin.com ads the way the shoppers want them, fast and easy to scan, and easy to read.I'm constantly frustrated by ham radio equipment sites that try to jazz up an age old and well perfected process with tons of useless and time consuming linking and slow loading image tricks. This complicates and slows down what should be a very simple process. Our ads have the perfect format, it's not fancy and complicated, and it works. Check your Sunday newspaper's classified section. Can thousands of newspapers be wrong? This is the format that works! Page Top
How to Write Your Ad
Rule number one is NEVER!, EVER, write your ad in all caps.Studies have been done on this and it has the reverse effect of what you might think. It makes your ad more difficult to read! If you don't believe me try scanning the content of several ads, and you'll immediately notice that the ads with all caps are impossible to scan. Just look at the first line of this paragraph. Irritating, isn't it? Try scanning these two lines - NOW TAKE MY BOAT, PLEASE! or Now take my boat, please! See the difference? If you're like me you have to slow down to read the first example, and our users don't have that kind of time when they're scanning lots of ads.
Most readers just mentally skip over poorly written ads because their brain doesn't recognize any familiar patterns. We take care of the attention grabber by using a bold introduction line to your ad. This is what shoppers are looking for. And we don't make the reader sort through a long listing of single line headers that have to be clicked to see the contents of each ad. That can take forever to see only a few dozen ads. Our ad format is perfectly tuned to the shopper, if you don't believe me just check your Sunday newspaper's classified section format.
Along the same lines, don't try any fancy formatting with indentations, bold type, headliners, etc., in your ham radio equipment ad. Again, it makes the ad more difficult to scan. People don't "read" classified ads, they scan them for pattern recognition. This is a learned skill that most people have developed after years of scanning classified ads in newspapers. That's why our ads are so easy to scan, they are patterned after what the readers are accustomed to. In any event, we've screened all our ads to remove any special formatting. Why not put in lots of details instead, that's what the shopper is looking for. If the grabber line tells the shoppers your item is of interest then they want to know a lot about it.
Don't make the mistake of being lazy and using one line ads trying to get shoppers to go to your personal web site, or some other web site. That only slows them down, and a large percentage will just go on to the next ad. We don't discourage linking at the end of your ad, but you're going to have to convince the shopper that it's worth the interruption and download time before you show them the link. Put in the details and add a picture, remember, it's FREE so why not use it! Why not give shopper's the link to more information after they responded to your ad? Now you're really selling amateur radio equipment your stuff like the pros!
I'm not suggesting that you "bait and switch", I'm suggesting you only want qualified responses that are really interested in buying what your selling and are prepared to pay a price equal to what your items are worth. Put in that price. Don't try to fool shoppers, it wastes their time and your time. If you want to get top dollar for you stuff let shoppers know up front that your items cost a bit more and are worth the price. Tell them why in your ad.
Put in lots of details about the item you have for sale and how it can benefit the buyer. You may be very familiar with what the item is used for, however, the person scanning the ads may not. Tell the buyer what the item will do for them. If your selling a bilge pump you should tell the buyer how dry their boat will be, or how fast the pump will clear out the bilge, or no more bailing with a bucket, etc.. This is called selling the sizzle and not the steak. Page Top
Verify your Buyer/Seller
For a nominal charge you can call (area code)555-1212 and verify the seller's (or buyer's) name and address. Even better, you can use www.555-1212.com. I always verify the name and address of the seller or buyer if I am making a purchase or sale through a classified ad! It is not a 100% guarantee that nothing will go wrong, but you will at least know that your not talking to a pay phone or cell phone! If the other party has an unlisted or unpublished phone, and you cannot verify the name and address in some other suitable manner, there is a substantial risk in that you do not know who you are dealing with! In this case you have to be much more careful about accepting checks, or shipping COD, for example. If you're the buyer and you cannot reach the seller by phone then your risk is much higher that something might go awry in the transaction and you will not be able to reach the seller.Page Top
Verify your Checks
Sellers receiving checks for ham radio equipment can verify personal checks and bank checks by calling the bank listed on the check. Ask for bookkeeping or accounting and tell the bank that you want to verify that there are funds to cover the check you have received. I usually wait 3-5 days to make sure the check clears my account, and, if the check is for a substantial amount, I will verify with my bank that the check has cleared before I ship any items.Bank checks, money orders, certified checks and other such utterances, can be just as suspect as personal checks, I always verify them, and/or I wait for them to clear my account.
If you have ever wondered why COD shipments are frowned on, here are some reasons. First, if the recipient refuses the shipment, the seller is stuck paying the shipping charges. Second, you have no control over the funds collected by the shipper, you can specify cash only, but this will only work with some shipping companies. Third, in the process of going to and then coming back from the shipping destination there is a substantial risk of damage to the items shipped and you are stuck with the cost. I never ship ham radio equipment COD, it almost always comes back unclaimed or refused. Page Top
Shipping Hints
Shipping does not need to be a problem! However, if everything about the sale is perfect and then the item gets lost or damaged in shipping, there is always a question of responsibility. Here are a few tips on how I personally handle shipping.- I suggest using UPS or FedEx, and insuring every item for full value.
- If you use the US Post Office, use a service that requires the recipient sign for the shipment, and always insure for full value of the item. I have had very poor results with the post office because they will not leave items that are not signed for, meaning a trip to the post office.
- If you do not have experience at packing items for safe shipment, then you should take the item to a local packing and shipping depot, for example.. Mailboxes Etc., and have them pack, insure and ship the item for you.
- Always determine up front who is going to pay for shipping. The person paying for shipping usually assumes the responsibility for loss or damages during shipping.
Product Research
This one doesn't take a lot of thinking. The internet is the ultimate source for product research. When I'm buying on the internet from a classified ad I go to the Ham Radio Outlet website, or the AES website, or any of the other large chain store sites that sell amateur radio equipment, and look up the product to see what it sold for new and what the features are. Because many of the sites do not have complete catalogs, I keep a few catalogs on hand, especially ones that are a couple of years old. This gives me a library of what things are worth. Page TopPictures in your FREE AD
You may include a picture in you amateur radio equipment ad. When placing your ad click "yes" on the "image?" selection and watch for instructions on how to send your picture to us by e-mail.- Maximum file size allowed is 100 kb.
- Image files must be in JPG or GIF format.
- Only one picture per ad. For multiple images use your photo editors "montage" to create a single image file with multiple pictures.
- Include your ad number when you submit your picture.
You may forward a picture for your ham radio equipment ad at any time. E-mail it to admin@chuckmartin.com. Include your ad number so we don't have to sort through all of our ads to find yours, the ad number is a three or four digit number that was sent to you in an email along with your password. You can find your ad number by searching the classified ads for your ad. Your ad number is displayed with your ad.
You can add or remove a picture in your existing ad by clicking the Edit Ad selection on the menu to the left (enter your ad number and password) and changing the image box to yes. After you have edited your ad, e-mail the picture to us. Our email address is in the previous paragraph and at the bottom of this page. Be sure to include your ad number! Page Top
Mission Statement
All classified ads submitted to this free site should be for amateur radio products only. This site is dedicated to ham radio hobbyists!
BoatAuctioneer - FREE Trail Period Now!
This site is not ready for Ham Radio Ads, perhaps in a few months it will be available.You must register before you can list items or bid on auction items. Don't worry, we only ask for your email address that you will be using for bidding and your name. This is a non-commercial web site and we're not in the business of collecting information of any kind. All information is deleted if you cancel your registration. You can view auction items that are listed without registering. There is no charge for buying or selling items on our auction page. Go to BoatAuctioneer.com or click on the Auction Page selection on the menu list to the left. Page Top
