AEROMARTS, E-BAY & CHANGING TIMES.
From an article in the Victor Association Magazine Dec 2007 but still as relevant now in 2011
We need your support to continue these events – if you all just sit at your computer to buy & sell eventually the aerojumbles will die.
Don’t let the net (& E-Bay in particular kill off “face to face” trading…… Your Aeromart needs you!
AEROMARTS: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES
From the very beginning of getting back into aviation in a big way after my mother died in 2002, aeromarts/aerojumbles were at once amazing and enjoyable events. Here at a stroke you could meet like minds while finding actual kit of all kinds and at affordable prices. It became, along with visits to a number of scrap dealers, a way of life. Deals could be made while perhaps showing shots of a current project. Just talking alone could often bring a comment of “I’ve got one of those!” and a deal would quickly be struck. Whittick Aeromart organiser David Farnsworth wrote the following in 2006:
Browsing a stall will always be so much more fun than browsing an internet site – and prices are usually cheaper, too. As Shoreham has now been & gone I thought I ought to remind you that the aeromart/aerojumbles season has not yet ended! Now in its 12th year, the Whitwick Aeromart caters for the collector & enthusiast with a wide range of stalls offering everything from aircraft components, flying clothing & equipment, uniforms, badges, aviation art, posters, models, books, general militaria & wartime Home Front memorabilia. We attract an average of 60 dealers. The event is held in a modern, warm, dry sports hall with good lighting & toilets! There is good onsite catering & licensed bar facilitiesâ€.
It may be of interest to those who only attend Shoreham or Popham that we do get different dealers up here in the grim north. Why not come & give it a try? Yes, its north of Watford but we do get at least one hour of daylight each day & most of the natives will be down the pit or in the factories so you could almost convince yourselves that its not so bad after all. Responding to fellow and former Shoreham organiser Andy Saunders enquiries , he remarked “Bookings are coming on nicely thanks & are still likely to increase over the next few days (why do people book so late……. Interestingly we also have a few new dealers. It is always good to get “new blood” into the show as you never know what gems they may bring with themâ€.
“To all you collectors out there remember this is basically your last chance to get an aerojumble “fix” until Andy’s bash next March. I am sure Andy would agree with me that we need your support to continue these events – if you all just sit at your computer to buy & sell eventually the aerojumbles will die. Come & see what there is, talk to the seller in person, see exactly what you are buying & have a haggle over the price. A safer buy than on eBay? I think so….. see you there!â€
WHITTICK FEEDBACK
The event in question caused David some disappointment at the turn-out : “We had a reasonable number of dealers, although well below our maximum turn-outs. I thought the variety of kit & equipment etc was good & people seemed to be having a good time? On a personal note as a dealer I had a very good day selling which would suggest that the folks who do attend are “serious” buyers & actually spend money rather than sightseers. I found it was a moderately good day for buying. We haven’t had a chance to review the figures yet but assuming we didn’t make a catastrophic loss there will be more events as usual next year! Thanks to all who attended as dealers or buyers – your support is genuinely appreciated. Give us your support – don’t let the net (& eBay in particular kill off “face to face” trading…… Your Aeromart needs you! 🙂
Another reviewer commented on the end of season Whittick in 2006 that he noted that some dealers in certain regions cannot make long forays ‘down south’ which is why die-hard buyers still go ‘Up North’. He wrote: “I thought it was a good event, if still a bit quiet compared to previous years. I missed one or two items (one was a Hastings control column-Ed) but still picked up some interesting stuff. As we’ve already said, most of the stall holders are from the North or Midlands and would never be seen at Shoreham or Pophamâ€.
One buyer remarked “The Hastings column was a complete bargain at £105!!! I missed it by 15 seconds!!! Arghhh! I found that there were less bargains and less buyers, but it was worth my while. Glad to see that everyone had a good time at Whittick, long may aerojumbles continue!â€
EVENTS ‘UP NORTH’ – WHITTICK/ NEWARK/ AEROVENTURE
General favourable comment was flowing, and Dave’s event really deserves better attendance from both traders and the buying public. One comment everyone would concur with was “I cannot say it too often, but there are traders at Whitwick that you will never see at Shoreham. The same can be said for Newark’s Aeroboot which is always one of the most enjoyable events of the year, being linked at the summer event in perticular, to CockpitFest. Aeroventure at Doncaster also deserve an honourary mention for hosting the wireless and avionics fair at the end of October – that event also needs better advertising to bring in more folks on both sides of the table top.
E-BAY & CHANGING TIMES: KILLING OFF ‘FACE-TO-FACE’ TRADING?
The various comments published already by various people put forth some of the reasons for the notable decline last year of aeromarts. Chief of these is E-bay. While its true that E-Bay keeps rightly popping up as the main culprit there are also other factors such as today’s youngsters getting into football, music or computer games, while many people are too far away from an aeromart or can’t make it, or don’t want the hassle of travelling to shows etc. This is half of the fun though as a whole way of life is being threatened, with person-to-person meets being vital in learning of current news and private items for sale or swop. And one-off or occasional dealers will always surface with a bargain to be had as already mentioned. It dosen’t all happen electronically – and nor should it.
REAPING THE M.A.S. EFFECT
Shoreham’s ending wasn’t helped by the airport’s financial demands and it wasn’t just a continuing drop in kit for sale, though many say there is sometimes enough WW2 material but not so much now, of jet-age spares and collectibles. We are also now feeling the after-effects of a decade of disastrous scrapping by the original government sponsored M.A.S. concern. This saw a while multitude of fast-jet kit scrapped forever instead of finding its way back into tax-payers hands via invited tender bids, either privately or through established dealers. We highlighted this over a decade ago now after dealer Nev Martin warned and prophesized its effect. MAS found it more cost-effective to scrap even surplus paint besides the regular kit that established dealers had previously been allowed to bid for, and sell on to collectors.
E-BAY PRICES
Returning to E-Bay, people who have bought E-Bay items from day one and who haven’t been to an aeromart in their lives when buying aviation kit are being deluded into thinking that the prices being charged are what the going rate is – it is the going-rate of E-Bay only and not aeromarts, but this higher costing mentality is starting to leak out into some events I have been to.
Q: How do we educate people interested into buying aviation spares and artifacts at more realistic prices? Short of running ads on E-Bay itself pointing out many comparison prices of E-Bay as opposed to Aeromarts, I am open to suggestions – and I’ll publish them in our own small way also.
SUPPORT NEEDED
Unless people regularly attend and support aeromarts then things will carry on like this and deteriorate further – and in the process drive up prices to such an escalated level that it they will make it impossible for ‘regular’ or beginner aeromarters to buy kit at realistic prices, unlike the excellent and more recently established ‘CockpitFest’ at Newark Air Museum.
NON-CLASHING EVENTS
Aeromart organisers have a role to play too, as I was told that the notable drop in kit for sale at CockpitFest 2007 (unlike 2006) was down to a rival event being staged elsewhere. Due research by aeromart organisers to ensure that a rival air-show, antiques show or steam rally isn’t also running on the same day as its own show, will ensure that it has the best possible chance if attracting the general public alike as well as collectors. I appreciate this isn’t always possible however.
SELLING TEMPTATION
The E-Bay problem is that it is a two-edged sword – when collectors themselves put stuff up for on-line sale then they succumb to the temptation also – I can perfectly understand this but cannot see a resolution of it – of course it only serves then to join forces with the escalating dealer on-line prices to drive everything up further. I’ve only ever bought stuff myself on E-Bay through friends, so far I’ve tried to steer away from contributing to the escalation personally.
The aviation kit prices charged by one business in particular are criminal to regular aeromarters – I fully realise that its a business , but unless a way is found to show how inflated (not all) but many aviation items are on E-Bay, then a whole new era of buyers of all ages will carry on paying through the nose as standard – that said, I have noted that the business mentioned has had a fair number of items re-posted along with some other collectors also, who are not seeing buyers for some of the prices they are demanding. Remember postage & Pay-Pal is extra too.
We can only hope the latter trend increases, but ultimately the danger is that the convenience for too many buyers will outweigh the higher costs involved, with a consequent loss of general socialising and face-to-face dealing that is so much a major part of what aviation collecting/preservation is about, as supported by them at aeromarts down the years. ED
UPDATE
The matter is indeed a ‘two-edged sword’ with reference to E-bay and traditional Aeromarts. I can only argue that good deals and swaps can be accomplished by people if they meet each other at a mart and ultimately could lead to more contacts, while doing away with incurring escalating postage, commission and PayPal fees. At the very least a better redress to the loss of major events as experienced last year would be very welcome and timely. By all means use e-bay for those hard to get items but for regular and affordable projects, aeromarts/boots are the only realistic and affordable way of collecting and encouraging preservation.
I will let a friend have the last word before updating below. He wrote to me after reading my points saying: “Everything you say is absolutely correct but £50 additional profit outweighs the other benefits and costs. Don’t forget that most dealers are greedy buggers who can’t see beyond the end of their nose. Their best friend is the person with the fattest walletâ€.
POSTSCRIPT
Since this article was first published in 2007 Whittick Aeromart is sadly no more, while Shoreham Aeromart has resurfaced (for March 2011) after at least a 3-year lay-off. There is still negativity from some quarters at this latter event however, where there is a feeling that reduced prices for outside sellers should apply as opposed to the marquee area, while lesser fees in general are still wished for. One dealer said he would not attend as fees were still too high (£62.50 per stall). Another trader I know already feels the organiser is ‘killing the goose’ again before it has had a chance to re-establish itself, saying that high pitch fees had contributed to its original demise, while his own fuel bill would be around £100 alone before paying the pitch fee (cost is for a 10 x 6 table, £11.00 for an extra one).
Many sellers need more space so that they can bring many varied items to ‘cover’ themselves in attempting to realise a reasonable return, and though this can still be achieved outside with some goodwill, the resurgent event has dubious appeal for many sellers under or even out of cover, with one saying “for that money I would expect a hall with proper parking and not the feeble toilet facilities that the event originally dwindled down to at the end. I’d have to sell a lot of stuff to make it worthwhile and I don’t feel like taking the gamble along with all the effort involved too, I can boot sale and e-bay without a lot of the hassle and I’d like to see a cheaper aeromart at somewhere like Byfleet Hallâ€. Schools and any other council premises can be just as dear elsewhere of course but I know that the marquee is always compared to bricks and mortar, but I’m sure the organiser has looked at this in the past.
Another contact said “Why the marquee still, why not make it an ‘open’ event or won’t sellers of a ‘certain age’ attend without cover? There are varied items for sale at Newark and its left for sellers to bring their own protection if an outside event – and the cost is at least a third of what Shoreham is costing, at other times the aeroboot is in the main hangar and all facilities are at hand while you’re in a great aviation environmentâ€. Certainly the airfield authorities at Shoreham seemed intransigent over fees themselves after Shoreham Aeromart’s 1st demise to judge from stories circulating in the aviation fraternity afterwards, and the marquee cost has always been the major Achilles expense in holding the event – it remains to be see how prices and things pan out.
No pre-admission and normal admission prices for the public seemed quotable some months before the event, while the recession in the 1st year of cuts still worries millions financially (a recession still extant for many in the UK despite official denial), notwithstanding our politician friends’ comforting assurances that we are ‘all in it together’. This on-going climate alone, along with the tentative existence of aeromarts and the general rise in boot sales and e-bay (despite its many silly prices) would suggest that any Shoreham prices are made as judicious as possible, while allowing that some profit has to be made on both sides – or perhaps a new non-maquee approach will be looked at after March if everyone is to feel that the event is OK, not OK, or could be made viable again in the current climate; we shall see. Ed.