AEROBOOTS V E-BAY 2 – The Final Countdown (ish) Part 10.5

Right, thanks Gary for the response.

In summary, the times, they are a changin’. I enjoyed the aerojumble, and enjoyed the face to face selling aspect of it, but I have noted, as have others, that the quality of stock has gone down a lot in recent years. ebay is not a panacea, and never will be; if anything we need a further step change down the line to encourage selling of collectables in an affordable manner. The problem is that most of the sites that have tried this have so few users that it just isnt practical.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

I kept the last part of your response to remind people of your whole article and where it left off as my reply is lengthy again so didn’t want you to think I was editing it out.

ASDA have some very quaffable reds inc those from Chile, I won’t buy French as it only encourages them.. Thanks for the reply, not sure how this gets repeated into another link as I’m still newish to all this, so I’ll post it here anyway and I’ll let the ether do its magic.

I accept that you set yourself up to support the enthusiast sector and not to hinder it, I also wouldn’t place you in the same category as the company that draws ‘all the flack’ that you allude to and the quoted excerpt you found unfair was another contributor’s comment and not my own of course, but the overall quotation had some interesting points to make in general. I note the various client streams you have listed.

As I wrote in one of my articles ages ago though, people paying silly money for items (for that’s what an established aerobooter would regard it as being in many on-line offers) is a non-starter when previous avenues still remain for them to acquire their kit at more affordable prices. While the increased accessibility of collecting in general as prompted by e-Bay’s impetus has undoubtedly increased prices, many people still look to the boots even if in decline. At least for the immediate future I can only see these working, with undoubted peaks and troughs as supported by private sell-offs and other kit caches coming onto the traditional face-to-face market to bolster things.

Price variance is down to individual financial considerations just as you have to consider them yourself of course and I also appreciate that some of the other buying streams that you cater to, do expect to pay more – many people doing panels or cockpit or panel/instrumentation restorations at projects at home however don’t require flightworthy instruments or bits from them for use on other off-shoot applications, but they may of course still buy if they don’t want to wait for the next aeomart/boot/jumble to some along, or if they can’t see themselves getting it anywhere else other than on-line.

Someone who might pay the kind of online prices, for say the Vulcan trim adjustors you mention is either new to the preservation movement and unknowledgable of prices, or is not prepared or socially unable to go to, an aeroboot to buy them for the usual boot price of £10.00. Certainly you would class a person paying £220 for such an item as being (a) totally unknowing as to realistic values or about the existence of aeromarts in general, (2) An Arab or (3) A footballer. I picked two trim controls up this year at Shoreham and at the Newark aeroboot and I’ve never seen them any dearer than £10 at a non-online event.

FEST FIT-OUTS
Consider this: How many people do you think who display at Cockpit Fest, and especially those with the fascinating interior Cockpit Panels/Sim/ASR/Uniform/Helmet displays in hangar 2, have actually bought the majority of their instrumentation or kit online? The guages in the majority of my panels have either been bought substantially fitted at aeromarts over the years, or I have sourced the majority of missing guages/switches etc at aeromarts almost exclusively, or done private deals to obtain them thanks to meeting people – I have bought a few on-line Phantom instruments like a vertical climb indicator and a few small panel lights plus 2 grips, but these were targeted items that I didn’t have time to wait around for.

As Tony D concurs: “Get something cheap face to face at an aerojumble and count yourself lucky. Pay a bit more for something you really need for your project on Ebay that is rare and you will fill a gap.” Having said THAT, I am perfectly prepared to accept Pagen01’s own experiences about e-bay that “personally I have never had it so good for actually finding bits” though this is not the case for everyone as you will see below. Pagen 01 goes on to say “The downside are some of the prices” but that “it’s surprising how much stuff comes around again if it is listed too expensively first time around. The bargains are still on there.”

Conversely I was also interested to hear that despite what I have also said about using e-bay to obtain rare or awkward items, the friend who made the 3 para comment on online selling in my first write-up has told me that almost all his rare items have come from aeromarts/boots and one-to-one buying.

His own boot finds include a TSR-2 u/c indicator £5, TSR-2 Display & Attitude Ind £20, Avro 504 control column £70, Pre-War dark blue flying suit £5, brass Lucas multi-switchbox for heated clothing re Vickers Vimy for £10, Blue Steel launch box, mint £20, Vickers Virginia Tailplane Incidence Indicator £2. At the same time, where prices are too high at aeroboots then they are soon identified, and I think I know the people Firebex is referring to who were charging non-boot prices at the Fest. I didn’t see them selling to too many people.

I appreciate that you wouldn’t get the above as a specific shopping wants list as per the other stuff I’ve quoted already and would agree too that general bargain hunting dosen’t float everyone’s boat, but it has always been an undeniable attraction – for at a boot you have that pleasure of unexpectedness in that you might well find something that somebody else wants as a swop or that you can make a tidy sum on, and are then able to afford to buy something specific on e-bay or elsewhere – this happens mainly from placing yourself in a real field early in the morning, instead of looking at a colour monitor, and its a lot healthier to me as a townie.

MoD DOLDRUMS
I agree the MoD policy changes which have contributed so much to the kit losses to the aviation preservation movement, and one of the biggest scrappers of our aviation history was the disastrous M.A.S. concern, who often didn’t know (or care) what they were scrapping when it came to disposing of kit that our taxes had already paid for.

A certain amount of stock bought 10-15 years ago is being sold for higher prices on e-bay and while we will not see large stocks of Tornado or Jaguar parts coming up for disposal it will be to the mart or boot or private trade that small restorers and collectors will look to, as they try to achieve their aims on a budget during a long period of austerity for so many. Only face-to-face trading can do this for so many of us in the majority (though not all) of our restoration projects, because it is affordable besides its other advantages.

I agree the museum funding scenario you describe, though it is more than surprising what museums actually scrap too, with one private collector relating to me years ago that he spotted Duxford allegedly dumping 2 lorry loads of Mosquito spares and being refused the opportunity to let him buy it from them before it left the airfield. With finances always a problem for UK museums, you have to wonder at the thought processes at work here if true, as it would obviously have brought in financial returns to assist in funding or mutual swops. Yet another renowned dealer told me in the 90’s that they allegedly skipped Lancaster cockpit glass and refused any offers again of buying it on-site for selling on elsewhere. Is this misguided museum policy to make things rarer?

WHY NOT A BIG INVESTMENT?
1) To answer your question as to why a Vulcan panel fit-out shouldn’t be a big investment, it is because as I demonstrated on the centre panel example alone, many of the guages can be bought far more cheaply at aeromarts. And as Sopwith.7f1 comments: “it’s up to the buyer to decide if it is worth the price that is being asked, or how much he is prepared to bid for something.” This applies to aeroboot prices too as well as those on-line.

2) To answer your statement on another post that “No-one has yet told me why an instrument shouldn’t be worth the prices asked”, I would say again that its because I’ve pointed out that many of the same items can bought more cheaply at aeromarts.

A regular at Popham has been selling boxes of 4 thrust guages for Vulcan/Bucc etc at £20 for at least 8 years now and I have bought them regularly for future panels to be fitted out with. Completed projects can be valuable depending on market forces at the time a collector may decide to sell a particular project on – but getting to the finished restoration prior to selling it on, is still cheaper by searching and buying what can be found at aeromarts or through private deals, and then exploring more online options as necessary, many of which can be more expensive – though again, as Pagen01 has stated, he has had many good deals also, and we have also heard how it can be useful to dispose of perhaps more specialist items that prove unwanted at aeroboots, but which can find a buyer thanks to the exploded audience, of the e-bay offer.

I know that things may decline further as to what is coming onto the market, but the basic economic reality is that if many of the instruments are still to be found more cheaply at aeromarts then people will still look for them at the shows and will defer to a later date, if they have to bite the on-line bullet and pay more, or will just leave things as they are, in order to meet other realities such as their Council Tax obligations.

LIVING REALITIES
Without wanting to go too far off the beaten track here, besides the plethora of taxes we are crippled by in the UK, C-Tax has been a major problem for so many of us now that some people when considering moving house have to check first if they can afford to live in another area – it certainly affects my thoughts in moving out of the smoke or elsewhere – some even have to factor it in when applying for a mortgage.

The reason being of course, that it was jacked up by the disastrous Labour free spenders and immigration-experimenters at above-inflation increases, to more than double over a decade. It’s been a major burden to people being able to live more comfortable lives, and you only have to look at its implications from day one – when it first came in I was paying £225 under the old rates system – in the first year alone, it more than doubled.

Tony D has made some good points too – “Generally, I try to place stuff with collectors. However, sometimes I need to make a good return as that is what the seller wants to charge me for my trade up! A bit like the house buyer and seller in a growing market.” This supports my obvious point that collectors feel they have to keep up with dealers charges so that the unhelpful on-line escalation of price continues in too many sales.

SOURCING
To Sopwith.7fi’s question “Does it really matter where parts are bought or sold, as long as we can get hold of the parts we need ?” I would say it does matter. For without an aeroboot’s immediate advantage of many parts at affordable prices we would also not behold the unforgettable sight of Bill O’Sullivan (just) riding a bicycle in the evening whilst talking at the same time; we would not see so many other special people that we interact with as at the ‘Fest and seasonal marts in general also, and we would thus lose out on the vital social inter-action which combines with accompanying network deals and arrangements, which are the lifeblood of aeroboot culture via its one-to-one contact.

If we abandon all this to digital sales solely then we lose too much; broadening of appeal is one thing, but many projects would become unaffordable and aviation preservation will diminish, not just in our time but for the future debt-inherited generations that have been handed such a lousy financial legacy, by all the sharks and inadequates in banks and government – the frustration for me being that it was so soon after we had finally paid off our WW2 debt to Uncle Sam.

AFFORDABLE-BAY
E-bay has its undoubted advantages as we have seen also, but its not the complete solution as you say, nor should it be so I think; you can still struggle to get items on e-bay, and it has had many times when nothing of great interest is available, with lots of mass-posted filler items like t-shirts offered. Reduced offerings see the aeroboot not alone in this regard therefore, but yes, the application of a change to encourage on-line selling in an affordable manner is absolutely desirable – this is the reason I first wrote in.

COMPETITION
However, quite how this can be achieved after the failure rate of other sites you have mentioned does give cause for concern, and for a lot more thought on direction in future by such operations. I think e-bay has got to where it is by the generation of considerable and effective marketing activity (allied to an aggressive, some would say merciless, strategy) to the point where it is unfortunately almost a generic for online auctions.

Other sites do not do this well enough, or have ‘clunky’ interfaces. If they could learn from the e-bay rise to preeminence on matters like this then they would stand a better chance of success – besides refraining from many of the maddening and arrogant rules, constraints and hikes that as market leader, it has exploited through its position for many years now which continue causing such offence to so many customers.

I wouldn’t be too despondent if there are things you feel we can’t see eye to eye on as I think there is enough that we are agreed about, which has contributed towards making this an interesting discussion. We are drawing from our own experiences and all you can do is call it how you see it. This includes other forum commentators also, and raising issues like this has been a long time coming as I’ve been tied up with too much other rubbish over the years while I join as few digital things that involve a password as possible. Until recent years many of my preservation issues have been confined to the previously limited audience of our newsletter, but our website together with forum discussions like this will hopefully be of use in stimulating debate and being referred to along positive lines in the future. So just send me that Vulcan powered surfaces indicator for £5 and I’ll be on my way…

Rich & Max’s excellent feedback also agrees with others, that there is room both for E-Bay and Aeroboots, especially in those dim and frustrating winter months when we used to have to wait until the trad events started kicking in come March (though there was the Saturday boon of Hanningfields for some of us) whereas these days you can go online in search of missing bits or whatever else when you fancy. And its been good to be reminded that Forum appeals help too, and that we are lucky, as people ‘up north’ don’t get much in the way of marts as we have done over the years.

These are indeed different times but once again, times that I personally hope will see aeroboots prevailing regardless, as rightly encouraged by perceptive museums who actively support preservation and as supported by other private events, which can co-exist with the unfolding options offered by the digital age. Press on with Shoreham 2 on 1st October Andy!

Cheers

AEROBOOTS v E-BAY

Hi Bruce,

I thought I was too heavy for that but I’ll try and pick you up on it too. Regardless of what a business feels it has to sell an item for online, if I can buy that item at an aeromart/boot for £5 instead of £25-£30 online then most people would regard the online item that is selling at £25-£30 as over-priced, leaving aside any fuel considerations. I’m not sure what you were selling at the ‘Fest as I’m surprised you didn’t do well with the reduced stock you mention but there will always be dealers who don’t have a good day, though the reasons for this can vary.

I appreciate the problems if you’re doing it for a living, but many who have bought and created aviation projects for many years now will always refer to the benchmark legacy of aeroboot prices firstly where affordability is the key word for many people, and never more so than in these cash-strapped inflationary times where cash is king. Dealers can talk to me until they’re blue in the face about market forces, but many high prices are avoidable – I remember e-mailing an online dealer years ago who was selling a Tornado control column and stick for over £400 with the wiring loom intact. I asked why it was so expensive when I had just acquired one at an aeroboot for £120. I never received a response.

While selling might work adversely for yourself at aeromarts/boots I can only speak from my own point of view and experience for nearly 20 years, which tells me (and that’s why I say it) that the aeroboots at Popham, Newark and Shoreham still work well for myself and many others, and I have always come back with many or even a few items items, that have made it worthwhile for my projects and collecting aims.

This applies to the former Whittick event including other collectors/restorers who benefited from it also, and believe me, that was a trek to get to from my neck of the woods – how about a Phantom throttle box in later years for £110, a TSR-2 moving map £10.00, Javelin radio £75, Valiant control grip £85, complete HP Hastings control column/grip £105?

Other friends can attest to the efficacy of aeromarts/boots too and in these e-bay times of greater variety that you have mentioned, here are a few examples in favour of the former.

At Popham alone this year I sourced for some contacts a reasonable condition Mk 1A helmet with a lovely interior £5, a brand new Beaufort life jacket totally complete £5, helmet oxy clips £5, A restorable Mk.4 helmet £5. For myself another better exterior Mk1A helmet for £10.00, pair of old-style leg restraints £10, helmet oxy clips £5, mach meter £5, rate of climb £10, ind, minty Green Satin black box £30. Nick Parker swooned at the Gnat instructional poster that I bought along with other ephemera, for £10. Amongst my Popham buys last year was a mint throttle box for £80.00, a hand-painted Lightning 56 Sqn memorabilia skin for £35, a complete Mk.4C helmet for £40.00 and partially fitted 1957 Meteor panel for £25.

N.A.M. RECOGNITION
You can see some bought Popham examples on the Popham thread I contributed to recently and thank God that the Newark organizers have had the sense and nous to recognize the importance of this facility not just at the ‘Fest but in their general aeroboots over the years also, which have helped collectors and preservationists alike greatly, especially when Shoreham was defunct – while by coming along buyers and sellers act as supporters of such events also. I didn’t pay £60-£80 petrol for Popham or Shoreham while some people do share fuel costs of course, and there will always be a fair amount of people who live nearer to an event, as opposed to those who don’t, and that can even out for some of us over the course of a year.

CRUX
While I hear what you say about the superior variety of goods on e-bay, prices seem too high for some of the prices or ‘buy it now’ demands that we see quoted, and especially for many standard items that ARE still available at aeromarts despite the declining quality of aeromarts you mention, like standard thrust guages for Lightning, Vulcan, Bucc etc (see further on).

The crux of your variety argument in commending e-bay’s offering of more stuff compared to aeroboots, is this: E-bay sellers DO often ask a lot of money for their wares. As such, you cannot pick up a lot more stuff on e-bay than at an aeroboot as you claim, if the e-bay kit is unaffordable in itself, and when compared to aeroboot prices, as inspired or driven-up by commercial concerns or copyist private sellers and collectors.

That’s one reason why some online dealers won’t sell stuff if they mainly go to an aeroboot for a chat, though again, I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t have more success with your reduced items this year. I would have liked to have seen those and we want to see dealers doing OK at events if they’re offering affordable kit.

If you want to quote petrol at £60-£80 quid that’s fine, but equally you might save that on one or two instruments/items alone if the day smiles on you – that’s part of the aeroboot attraction too and I’ve picked up many other items by talking to people who also have kit for sale or a project that they don’t want any more, or who couldn’t bring all their stock with them but are still selling it at non-e-bay prices if you contact them at home – networking is an essential complimentary in tandem with having a chat amongst friends, good though the latter pastime is to do – and what a great laugh we had at the Fest on the Saturday night this year too, incidentally.

E-BAY AERONAUTICA / CHANGING WORLD ETC
If for example a buyer really wants to pay 3-4-5 times the price of guages alone on e-bay while the seller gets screwed by the latest insultingly ridiculous commission fees, shop fees and pay-pal charges on top + images then I would strongly advise that online buyer to be absolutely sure that he/she intends to keep what they are buying or restoring for some time to come – because a lot of collectors or preservationists may not be buying it off them a little further down the line if so offered.

I agree the world has changed, and e-bay is fine if you need something either quickly, or which is specialist, or that you CAN’T get at an aeromart anymore, and you ARE prepared to pay the much higher cost for that convenience. That said, there are undoubtedly bargains to be had too however which I wouldn’t deny, and again, where prices are affordable I know of museums who use it also, as many members are too old or don’t have time to attend aeroboots while so busy working on-site.

The trouble however is that a lot of expensive e-bay instrumentation/kit etc is still reasonably available at aeroboots as I have mentioned, and at prices which are clearly far cheaper than their e-bay rivals – that’s why a number of dealers go there to buy it up and then put it on their e-bay shops or projects for sale, as collectors and restorers are not slow to note.

Items like Jag thrust guages, Lightning gunsights, radio altimeters, Vulcan trim adjustors, Buccaneer panels etc have all made their way from aeroboots like Newark and onto dealer online auctions, besides those of private collectors who have to keep up with business prices or just feel like some quick money for their projects. This is human nature and though understandable the inevitable impetus just adds to online escalation and expectation.

COMPARISON EXAMPLES
A Mk3 Artificial Horizon was £34.99 on e-bay+£12.99 p&p when I looked some time ago. Put 2 of those across two pilot’s main panels and you’re looking at £96.00. At the ‘Fest this year I bought a used Mk.3 A.H. for an affordable £15. This is the average price I’ve paid for them in later years, while many were £10 in earlier days and sometimes can still be found at this price. The Mk.3 wasn’t boxed but it was perfectly presentable to put straight into its panel. Across a dual purchase comparison that’s £40 saved plus £26 p&p unless its possible to post them together a little more cheaply. Still a good help towards fuel though I would suggest, and in these cash-strapped times, an appreciable cost saving.

NO BARGAIN EITHER
Take next a Vulcan engine panel for a really telling saving on multiple instruments. I think the e-bay thrust guages for this a year or so ago (when I wrote about it in the Victor Assoc newsletter) were an astonishing £25 each. These still go for £5-£6 at aeromarts from what I’ve seen. Multiply the £25 as a general unit cost across three rows of 4 – (thrust/temp/oil pressure) and that’s £300 excluding the postage – again, totally unaffordable.

As you have already said in support of e-bay, so would I also respond, that that’s no bargain either. I sympathize with your position and don’t envy some online instrument/kit sellers doing this for a living, but you are also selling to many people who know what they are prepared to pay as based on their previous aeromart experience, and are having to do it in recent times, in the increasingly hard climate we are all aware of.

I’m afraid its also very unhelpful when e-bay sellers like yourself are being screwed by a bunch of cynical Yanks who calculate precisely when they can turn the fee screws more and get away with it. Some sellers are not accepting this though, and rightly so. Some have no choice in the matter either way. Many sellers have to stay with e-bay as the necessary evil, but for others, it simply isn’t viable for them anymore as we have heard because the numbers don’t add up, and e-bay dosen’t give a jot about them.

CYNICAL-BAY
A friend some time ago gave up his site ‘shop’ when they last hiked it, and he now uses his wife’s ordinary account while I believe the shop fee has gone up yet again in recent weeks. The derisory (and as usual cynical) excuse from the e-bay baron’s in their irritating wisdom, is that they had also decided on a fee increase to 10%, as this apparently makes it ‘easier’ for people to work out what their fees will be.

How astute of them to have uniquely identified this apparent world epidemic, whereby the global populace has until recent times been afflicted by severe mental difficulties whilst working with odd numbers. And then make a killing from it. I wonder if they’ll win a Nobel prize of some sort for their unique cure, which had obviously plagued the planet’s struggling e-millions until its introduction?

Applying equal cynicism back to the e-baron’s mindset, I suspect the baron’s just found it ‘easier’ also I would suggest, despite a time of continuing recession and rising inflation (despite what the official govt line may be), to simply extort even more money from a captive audience, at a time when they should be lowering prices to encourage existing sellers and more new sellers, to sell more online via more competitive rates.

ADMINISTRATION & FEES
I think on this very thread you had a chap mentioning that he sadly found selling his die-casts impossible now as the numbers didn’t add up and he had no option than to set up his own site to make a living. The whole concept has moved away from its original premise of allowing ‘ordinary’ non-business people or small concerns in particular, to sell and buy things for an affordable charge and with minimum hassle on the paperwork and legal side.

Add to this an officious, patronizing, infuriating and often illogical administration that winds up so many sellers, while favouring buyers who often abuse and blatantly seek to exploit sellers to silly levels themselves. And you’re left to sort it out in the main because e-bay couldn’t possibly infringe on confidentiality or customer’s rights could they? No, but they’ll just take the money regardless and walk away after a non-committal pronouncement while you settle things yourself (or not), thank you.

I understand there is a limit now as to what postage cost can be added to books alone, with a maximum of £3.25 chargeable, so a book costing £4.50 to post gives more loss to the seller, but 5% fees still apply on the pay-pal postage regardless. Some people now refuse to sell books above a certain weight as a result, or don’t sell them at all now, which amounts in effect to a tax on learning – and a general reflection some might say, on the stateside attitude and oversight towards basic education, which already affects the many millions in the U.S. who can’t read and write properly.

MEANNESS
Many are astonished, angry and frustrated at this blinkered and arrogant meanness – the biggest shop in the world which in effect has no goods itself but moves peoples goods around by using their windows, has decreed to its many unhappy customers’ detriment how they have to operate within a crippling and unjustified fee and regulatory structure, or its no go guys and good bye.

And this has become the ‘necessary evil’ which can’t be fought against with success. A friend who turned over £427 last month had fees of £78 deducted excluding Pay-Pal fees, costing another £21.35. His total deductions worked out at over 20% which is expensive, being he said, the ‘necessary evil’ as endured by many others, who have to keep turning over paper sales to exist. He wasn’t allowed to sell a photo of Hitler at a map table.

KEEPING IT ALIVE
You can’t even sell a small painted figure of Hitler for chrissake without infringing their strange moral guidelines or codes on this or that. Phoning e-bay to complain isn’t exactly an option either, and so you have many good reasons for keeping aeromarts alive and promoted. Paperwork at an aeroboot? Hand over some notes or coins and walk away with affordable goods after inspecting them firsthand, while making contact with real people. That’s why I continue to champion aeroboots wherever I can, whether its writing about them, designing posters and publicity to show they’re still around while still offering great proven value in this online age, in addition to attending the events as much as I can.

While this year’s ‘Fest boot didn’t have as much on offer as last year there was still enough kit for friends and myself to make it worthwhile again including an immaculate mach meter £8, height limit selector box £10, survival pack £5, 1962 naval PEC £5, VFI Indicator £6, Sarbe 5 with aerial £10, RAF green flight gloves £10, Mk.1 Cutter £10, 2 station boxes £10 ea, and pair of F4 ejection garters £15 (£49 on e-bay).

There was a similar lull about 3-4 years ago too, but it bounced back and in total there have been many good buys and many more excellent ‘Fest boot sales that people have been extremely happy with, than poor ones – Tonka man Simon Pulford still got 6 console boxes alone for £30 in a job lot regardless this year so I think he will vouch for the boot side of things also, while Dave Taylor was chuffed to get a long-sought item for a Harrier project – he couldn’t get it on e-bay.

COMMENT
An old collector friend of mine also has this to say on the current state of affairs: “Most successful companies either have a niche market with buyers willing to pay large sums of money for rare desirable items or else pile it high and sell it cheap. Both have strong marketing and presence to bring in new custom and keep existing custom. Using Government figures, the majority of Companies that go bust are in profit with good stocks that have high margins but have no cash because they aren’t turning stock over.

Aeronautica isn’t price elastic. By pricing items high eBay sellers are putting themselves in the position of companies that go bust. Their customers can’t afford to buy many items so they complete existing projects and don’t start any new ones. Potential new entrants to the hobby see the prices being charged on eBay and so don’t even begin to collect, therefore an increasing number of dealers are trying to sell in a decreasing market so they increase prices to make more money per item and so sell less.

This is a repeat of what happened to militaria a few years ago, prices increased to the point where no one was buying and dealers were left with stock that they couldn’t sell. Prices plummeted, people started buying again and things picked up. Just look at the number and size of militaria fairs compared to aerojumbles and militaria dealers still sell on eBay too. eBay aeronautica dealers need to go on economics and marketing courses, then they might see the error of their ways.”

SUPPORT
As ex-Whittick Aeromart organiser David Farnsworth appealed in 2006, “Give us your support – don’t let the net (& eBay in particular) kill off “face to face” trading…… Your Aeromart needs you!” E-Bay cannot begin to replicate the unique atmosphere of one-to-one dealing at aeromarts/boots, and someone else contacted me this week to comment: “The trouble with e-bay for serious aero booters is that the personal networking element of the live shows is absent and the whole thing will degenerate into a catalogue rather than a movement. We see the same thing happening to our high streets.”

If all major aeromarts died off then private deals would undoubtedly increase along with kit appearing more at general boot sales(as it sometimes does now) while some collectors might possibly try to organize their own events on a smaller scale – I used to co-host one at Norwich in the mid-90’s at a British Legion hall with plenty of tables and a sensible hire fee. Some E-bay sellers in such a scenario would still find it hard in any attempt to clean up though, if continuing to apply comparatively high unit prices to collectors and preservationists undertaking projects.

Some museums undoubtedly have an important role to play in continuing to support the aviation preservation movement through aeroboot hostings, aside from co-existing with other independent events like Shoreham by picking their dates accordingly.

If the two arms of aeroboots and e-bay also also remain co-existing together then things will continue for some time yet, though for many collectors and restorers any online purchases will continue to be monitored on pricing and convenience. This is along with using online services where they see fit as mentioned, to target and buy specific kit while using it to fund their own projects, by selling unwanted kit also to take advantage of certain items which have been driven up by changing MoD and market conditions besides online business interests, we shall see.

Cheers