Another day, another hamfest...

Today was the BRATS hamfest in Howard County, MD. I came, I saw, I sweated, I came home somewhat disappointed.

Today was hot and humid. Walking outside my house at 5am to leave it was like a steam bath. Made a point of parking facing away from the sun, but it was still hot.

I can survive the heat - before I got my cat and started worrying about the effect the heat would have on her, I would regularly not turn the AC on even when it was 90 or so. BSOM, however, is a bit of a heat pussy. I'm guessing so were a lot of people there, because sales were slow, and the crowd seemed to go away pretty quickly. By 10:30, BSOM was complaining about the heat and ready to call it quits. While I hated the thought of leaving money on the table, there appeared to be few people left roaming the isles, and I figured I was better off getting BSOM to help me pack up than waiting around in the hopes of selling a few dollars more stuff.

I had a fair number of lookers, but not a whole lot of buyers. I did sell a couple of large items, but I didn't sell much, and I can't remember the last time sales were so slow, especially with a fair amount of new merchandise. I ended up making $221 after all was said and done - about half of what I usually make. I don't know if it was the heat, or the economy, or because it's later in the season and people who wanted to buy the stuff I'm selling already bought it.

I've got one next month in Westminster - I'm hoping that the weather and sales are better. I really need to move some merchandise and make some money.

On the buying end, I made two purchases - a TI-86 from BSOM that he didn't want to bother eBaying, and a Picturetell video conference camera for $20 that I hoped would net me the same profits I made from selling Polycom stuff, but appears to go for, well, about $20 on eBay.