[meteorite-list] eBay Likes and Dislikes

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:04 2004
Message-ID: <20030714063051.29763.qmail_at_web12701.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_comcast.net> wrote:
> Dear List Members,
>
> Since eBay is here to stay as far as meteorites and
> every other type of collecting goes I will offer an
> analogy.
>
> When Wal-Mart moved into town about half of the
> small business owners complained saying they would
> have to close down because they could not compete
> with Wal-Mart's prices. The more informed shop
> owners looked at more than just pricing and did not
> worry much realizing that Wal-Mart could not
> possibly give the one-to-one service a small
> business that specializes can. Only the storefronts
> that were in it for a quick buck, no real customer
> support and a lack of product knowledge died off.
> Wal-Mart did the town a favor by weeding out all of
> the cheesy dealers with no long term business plan
> or solid customer support. I am not calling anybody
> in meteorites cheesy so do not take offense,
> thankfully Wal-Mart does not sell meteorites!
>
> Business is survival of the fittest and eBay
> represents a part of every successful dealer's
> portfolio whether it be coins or cars. Dealers who
> do not embrace technology will be left in the dust
> complaining about it. The days of huge profit
> making in meteorites for dealers is over for good.
> Several auction houses like eBay serve to regulate
> and keep profits in check. If a product is priced
> too high it simply will not sell. The days of a
> captive market are thankfully over. If it were not
> for the help of eBay in clearing out 2000 Kilos of
> ordinary chondrites that came out of Northwest
> Africa to a huge audience there would be no sense in
> looking for them in the first place, there would
> simply be too much material to move any other way.
>
> We recieved a few emails from two dealers
> complaining to us about our auctions on eBay telling
> us to get married or something becuase we had too
> much time on our hands and we are helping to destroy
> a lucrative market. Lucrative is a realtive term.
> When we were manufacturing thousands of interent
> appliances and servers, 11% was considered an
> awesome gross profit margin.
>
> There are dust makers and dust eaters. We certainly
> do not want to be left in the dust!
>
>
> Wishing everybody well,
>
> Adam
>


Adam,

Meteorites have never been a "lucrative market" for
me. When I first started almost 45 years ago, it was
a hobby, albeit a very strange hobby, and until well
after a man went to the moon, there was very little
interest in meteorites, other than those interested in
academic institutions, and or positions.

There are times I make money at it, and there are
times I don't.

But I keep it up because it is still and always be a
hobby for me.

I do not, nor have I ever considered it a true
business, nor will it ever be, so my interest in
meteorites will remain regardless of whether dealers
new or old catch on to modern (Ebay) technology, or as
you say "bite the dust."

I almost "bit the dust" recently, for physical reasons
other than Ebay's impact on the meteorite business,
and what I went through has impressed me with the fact
that meteorites are not as important as I once
thought.

But they are and always will be my main hobby, in
addition to whatever job I do for a living, which is
up in the air for now.

And you know what?

Lord willing, and if he so allows, I will still be
around collecting meteorites or thin sections of such
long after all those dealers, who feel Ebay's pinch to
their so called "lucrative meteorite market," bite the
dust.

If one is really in it for money, then they might as
well find another thing to make money with (if they
feel the pinch and perceive that their "profits" are
down).

It is the collectors, the hobbyists that keep it
alive.
And if Ebay does not perpetuate the trend to reduce
samples to ever smaller samples and ever greater
prices for these samples... down to dust, then
collector-hobbyists stand to really enhance their
collections with fine pieces when the "meteorite
market" really falls hard, and those dealers that are
in it for money alone, do as you say, "bite the dust."


Steve Schoner/ams

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Received on Mon 14 Jul 2003 02:30:51 AM PDT