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LOGIN & REGISTRATION QUESTIONS
Login / Register / Password Problems
                                 Don't worry! Any problems here are usually easily solved. We created a special page just for
these questions. CLICK HERE to open that up.
Why do I have to register, get a password, and jump through those hoops?
Well, you do not have to if you do not want to. Just click "browse as guest", agree to the
terms of sale, and you can see everything on the AGM catalog. However, you will not be able
to take advantage of any of the website features.
Is there any benefit to browsing the catalog as a registered user?
Yes! As a logged-in registered user, you can place orders through the website which reserve
items instantly for you, rather than waiting for us to reserve them on your behalf and possibly
loosing them to someone else in the meantime. You can also view your invoice, make payment,
track your order status, download item records for your purchases, etc. Also, if you wish to
be a part of AGM Insider, you will need to be a registered user.

ORDERING QUESTIONS

What is the fastest way to order? I don't want to miss the item that I want!
The absolute fastest and best way to order is to login, and use the online ordering system. The
second you confirm your intention to purchase the item and press "buy now", the item is marked
SOLD online, and is reserved exclusively for you. We still accept phone orders, and if you do
not want to login online, you will need to call in your order. 1-800-233-1918 or 573-243-1833.
Can I send my order by FAX?
Not anymore. We no longer have a FAX line. It is outdated technology... and to be quite candid
I hauled our last FAX machine out behind the building, shot it full of holes with a .45 automatic,
then tossed it's worthless carcass on the burn pile. We spent $100 on that machine, and never
could get it to send or receive a fax. Got $100 worth of stress relief out of it in the end, though!
Due to unforseen circumstances, I only want part of my order - can I put the other items back?
This is unfortunately where we have to be complete jerks. (No.) We have given our customers
the ability to reserve items live and in real time on the catalog. The items are instantly marked
"sold", and after a few hours, they disappear. In exchange for yielding that control, we ask that
they only reserve items when their intent to purchase is sincere.

75-80% of our sales are on the first day of a new catalog. If we allow customers to develop the
habit of reserving items on Day 1, then 'putting back' a portion of their purchases on Day 2, 3, 4,
etc., the catalogs will collapse and that will be the end of AGM. We really need to prevent that!

We cannot actually force anyone to complete a purchase. However, we can discourage this by
maintaining universal enforcement of this (unfortunately rather draconian) policy: If a customer
decides not to follow through on the purchase of part of his order, the entire order is
returned to stock, and that customer's ability to place online orders is restricted. Yes,
we can flip a switch and prevent specific individual customers from placing online orders.
(Muahhaahahaha!)

This of course does not apply when we have erred. If we stated in the description that an item
is dated 1943 and it is actually 1948, then YES, of course we will be glad to remove that from
your invoice.
I placed my order, but haven't received an invoice yet.
Sorry about that! This is part of our operation that is still rather clunky, as it depends on us to
be here in the office, making invoices, calculating postage, updating the website, etc. On Day 1
of a new catalog, we open at 3:00 pm and it can often take until 10 or 11pm to get everything
ready and send out the first big batch of invoices. On subsequent days the traffic is lighter, and
we will get 2 or sometimes 3 updates done in a day. After that, we are normally busy wrapping
packages, and we typically update once per day. Check the news article on the home page that
announces the most recent invoice update time and date. If your order was placed after that,
your invoice will arrive as soon as we get the next website update done.
I sent you an email that says "I'm interested in item A100." Why is that not yet reserved for me?
Because we have learned that "I'm interested in" and "I wish to purchase" are two entirely different
things. We typically do not reserve items based on unspecific inquiries. Best way to ensure that
the item is yours - register if you have not already done so, login, and buy it on the website.
Can you hold an item for me while I think about it?
No. We used to do this when we had control of the ordering system, but that control is now in the
hands of the customers. The first person to press the button buys the item.

PAYMENT QUESTIONS
What forms of payment do you all take?
All major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover), PayPal, personal checks
drawn on US banks, and money orders.  We accept cash (US Dollars, Euros, or British Pounds)
if that is the customer's preference.  We also accept wire transfers for international transactions
over $1000 USD.  We do not take Western Union wire transfers.
Do you charge a fee for PayPal or Credit Card payments? 
  No, we do not.  Doing that violates the user agreement and can result in big problems.  Any seller
who charges you extra for accepting these forms of payment does so at the peril of loosing his
ability to use those services.
   
Does waiting for a check to clear delay my shipment? 
  It used to, but not anymore.  Checks clear pretty fast these days.  And.. to be honest, after a
catalog opening we are normally so swamped with credit card and PayPal payments from the first
batch of orders, that we will not be getting around to mailed payments until they have had
sufficient time to clear, anyway.  It is not a problem - checks are quite welcome! 
   
How do we go about arranging a trade deal?  I want to buy something, but I would rather trade than pay.
  Let's not.   To be perfectly frank, I absolutely despise trade deals.  When someone says "I want
to trade", what I hear is "I want to pawn off some junk that I no longer need or want in exchange
for a good item that you could just as easily sell for cash to someone else."  We have had a few
good trades in the past, but 99% of them really are just a proposal to offload somebody's
sickly orphans and cripples in exchange for better items.  (No offense to cripples and orphans.)

Yes, we need more stuff.  We're always buying stuff.  However, I like to choose what we buy, and
I am pretty good at spending every last dollar that we take in on collections and other cool stuff
that I hunt down on our buying trips. Whenever we have been roped into one of these trade carnivals
before, I always end up in a situation where I am forced to waste time and energy evaluating and
negotiating over items that I would not even stop to look at if I saw them on somebody's table at a
show.  I am just sooooo not interested in playing this game.

Now, if you want to trade me a pile of original German WWI field gray uniforms in exchange for
the 1980's BDU's that we have in the workshop rag bin, then sure!  Let's do it.  Anything less
rediculously one-sided; fuhgeddaboudit - not interested.
   
Just bring that to the militaria show - I'll pay you there in cash. 
  Ahhh, cash.  Yes, you are singing my song.  However, we do not make show deliveries.
Why?
1) There have been some shenanigans in the past that turned me very sour on this idea.  Not going
to go into specifics, as some rather good friends would recognize themselves as central characters
cast in an unflattering light, and I do not wish to embarrass them.

2) Frankly it is also really inconvenient.  Normally packing for a major show here is a last-minute goat
roping exercise, and the very last thing I need or want is more stuff on the list of items that I must
remember to bring along.  I'm always forgetting something, and I would rather that be something that
I needed and not an item that you were counting on.  If anyone is going to suffer from my failings, it
needs to be me - not you.

3) It seems so reasonable to say "just bring my one little item to the show", but multiply that out
across 30 or 40 people, and suddenly our truck is half full of deliveries.  We're normally quite tight on space already - both in the truck and under the table - so compounding that unnecessarily is not welcomed.