[meteorite-list] EBay analysis (preliminary)

From: Mark Ferguson <mafer_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:37 2004
Message-ID: <00f401c39f44$94c46fc0$6701a8c0_at_vs.shawcable.net>

One item not mentioned about this survey of yours Jamie, is the tax angle,
which may be the biggest reason anyone would be against it. Public knowledge
is a powerful tool in the right hands.
Personally, I think its a great idea. It will reflect trends and help
marketing strategies. It will also point those using meteorites as an
investment, like precious metals and gemstones, to which are the best to
invest in.
The legal angle about bots and data collecting is often a gray zone. Much
like the ability to build a receiver for any kind of transmission, but the
minute you disseminate any information you've received, you can be charged
under law. So is it illegal to make and own a receiver? No, but the use of
that receiver is where it gets gray. So to would this use of a bot. Its
kinda like recording a movie and later selling it at a garage sale. You can
watch the movie, they usually don't beef if you watch your recording. But
when you sell it, or even loan it, for some reason they call that pirating.
The other point is gathering information from a website. Is it copyrighted?
Even when its an auction and changing often? Curious stuff in the least.

Mark


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jamie Stephens" <j.stephens_at_morphism.com>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] EBay analysis (preliminary)


> Listees,
>
> Thanks for the many comments.
>
> As I warned, the results are preliminary. One prominent seller
> pointed out important omissions in my data (items sold via "Buy
> It Now" in particular). I'm debugging and rerunning.
>
> Since there is sufficient interest and since the reports are not
> small, I'll set up a little Web page for future results. Stay
> tuned for a pointer.
>
> It'll be fun to look at data over time.
>
> --Jamie
>
> Jamie Stephens wrote:
>
> > Listees,
> >
> > On the dealer/collector spectrum, I'm at the collector end.
> > I haven't yet sold any meteorites (but I do need to thin
> > out my collection a bit). Anyway, I am interested in the
> > meteorite market dynamics. It's fun.
> >
> > Targeting Ebay, I exercised some software tools I have. I
> > looked at completed "Meteorites, Tektites" category completed
> > sales from 2003-10-10 to 2003-10-25 (the data that Ebay
> > keeps easily available). Here are some interesting stats:
> >
> > [CAVEAT: I haven't thoroughly validated these results. Please
> > consider them preliminary.]
> >
> > Items ended: 2036
> > Items sold: 1035
> > Number of unique sellers: 169
> > Number of unique winners: 413
> > Number of unique bidders: 815
> > Total sold: $57,951.60
> > Most expensive item sold: $6,736.00
> >
> > More data below. I plan to start collecting data over time to
> > see trends. If you're interested in the result, let me know.
> > I'll post if there's sufficient interest. I'm mostly interested
> > in the "demand side". Are more people bidding on meteorites?
> > What else are they bidding on? Etc.
> >
> > Of course, I'm only looking at EBay -- as opposed to the large
> > number of direct deals that I can't see.
> >
> > Some folks might gripe that I'm invading privacy. Yes? If
> > so, lemme know. I can obfuscate identities. But folks can
> > still figure out the identities from the EBay data.
> >
> > Please remember the caveat above, and send my any comments
> > or questions.
> >
> > --Jamie Stephens
> >
> > Top 20 sellers making the most money:
> >
> > seller | # trans | usd
> > -------------------------------+-------+-------
> > cometshop | 47 | 10634
> > finmet | 70 | 7436
> > meteoritehunter%40comcast.net | 80 | 4584
> > meteoritemarina | 17 | 3619
> > a.chondrite | 6 | 2145
> > mr-meteorite | 6 | 2132
> > flattoprocks | 30 | 1956
> > meteoritelab | 108 | 1937
> > katy2kary | 35 | 1710
> > meteoritehunters | 47 | 1374
> > 17jack-anthony | 10 | 1141
> > meteoriten | 8 | 1044
> > illinoismeteorites | 12 | 1025
> > paolo2000 | 7 | 1018
> > 3281958 | 2 | 1005
> > meteoriteusa.com | 22 | 940
> > meteorflash | 79 | 808
> > svassiliev | 18 | 736
> > meteoritesandmore | 63 | 628
> > litig8nshark | 6 | 516
> > (20 rows)
> >
> > Top 20 bidders spending the most money:
> >
> > bidder | usd | wins
> > ---------------------+------+------
> > nickelironmonkey | 6787 | 2
> > dbgbogey | 2065 | 2
> > cat_berlin | 1848 | 3
> > peterutas%40aol.com | 1630 | 1
> > aggiemwd | 1525 | 1
> > pangeogem | 1447 | 3
> > meteorpassion | 1032 | 16
> > meteoritoeg | 1009 | 21
> > pat11260 | 978 | 7
> > tdaulton | 961 | 2
> > pema9 | 824 | 11
> > 17jack-anthony | 817 | 10
> > starsandrocks | 795 | 4
> > sandro1921 | 770 | 1
> > alwaysdreaming.com | 760 | 1
> > 3281958 | 732 | 6
> > illinoismeteorites | 632 | 14
> > centrosaurusred | 585 | 1
> > wols1 | 580 | 2
> > newforwu | 547 | 9
> > (20 rows)
> >
> > Top 20 EBay "traders", those buying and selling on EBay:
> >
> > seller |net usd| wins | sells
> > ----------------------+-------+------+-------
> > meteoritesandmore | 593 | 3 | 63
> > docdavev45%40aol.com | 429 | 1 | 1
> > illinoismeteorites | 393 | 14 | 12
> > 17jack-anthony | 324 | 10 | 10
> > 3281958 | 273 | 6 | 2
> > jacinth2 | 248 | 2 | 14
> > phenomenologist | 22 | 3 | 4
> > birago123456 | 9 | 2 | 3
> > tigeroakantiques | 0 | 2 | 2
> > mi-meteorites | -51 | 2 | 3
> > jnbran | -52 | 1 | 6
> > driveahumlv | -60 | 2 | 2
> > pardelmops | -449 | 3 | 1
> > meteor4911 | -469 | 1 | 3
> > nickelironmonkey | -6738 | 2 | 1
> > (15 rows)
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
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Received on Thu 30 Oct 2003 07:18:54 PM PST