1. Determine what it is that you really want to collect.  With literally thousands of transistors to chose from, you could never collect them all.  The earlier you can narrow down what you want to be in your ultimate collection, the less money you will waste buying radios that you will just end up unloading later.  
         
2. Once you identify your passion, learn everything you can about them.  Gather information from the internet, service manuals, books, and contact other collectors so you can learn from their experiences.  The goal here is to avoid the expensive lesson of learning by making mistakes.  Hopefully, if you collect Zenith transistor radios, you will find the detailed information on this website helpful.  But for general advice, the next section “What to watch out for when buying a transistor radio” will help.  Another good way to learn is to join a radio club.  Search google to find one that meets in your area.  
       
3. Patience is a virtue so try to practice it.  Don’t jump at the first example you see or you are likely to have radios that you will want to upgrade later.  There is no shortage of radios out there, but there is a limited number of collector quality radios that get offered for sale.  Therefore, it is much smarter to save your money and be ready for that collector quality example when you find it. 
       
4. Get to know the seller.  Is this radio being offered by a fellow radio collector who has a reputation for being knowledgable, fair and honest, or is the seller a vendor who picks up all kinds of items cheap with the intent of turning them over quickly at a profit?   
           
5. Try to understand the criteria the seller uses to determine condition.  If it is described as an excellent example, be sure that you know what that means.  Too many times it means “excellent for how old it is”.  Not the same!    
           
6. If you still need more information, ask questions.  This is tough to do in an auction format where there is a time limit.  Usually it is ineffective as well because many auction sellers state ”I know nothing about radios so feel free to ask questions”.  To who?  Certainly not them! 
           
7. Realize that transistor radios in truly excellent condition are the exception and not the norm.  Most excellent radios have resided in collections for many years and are seldom offered for sale.  Once in a great while you will run across the unused set that was “found in Grandpas drawer unused”.  Therefore, the supply of collection worthy radios is drying up.  However, some collectors are starting to sell transistors from their collections now that transistors are technically antiques.  So be ready and don’t miss your chance to get the one you want when it does get offered for sale. 

Now you are ready to start to build your collection by making smart decisions for yourself.  Have fun and happy collecting!