[meteorite-list] Re: Blood Auction Results

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Feb 18 11:14:42 2005
Message-ID: <6c4c11dptvkgirgeqvrjf6l54kl4lfhe3e_at_4ax.com>

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:31:57 +0100, "Meteoriteshow" <meteoriteshow_at_free.fr> wrote:

>However I agree that the price of a meteorite is definitely what someone is
>ready to pay for it at a certain time. When we found our first meteorites in

I think it's a somewhat ironic collision of cultures. I've (sadly) never been to the Middle East,
but I would assume that it is at least similar to what I've seen/read-- in that haggling for price
is the rule, not the exception, in making private deals (though I'm sure that the actual stores,
say, Abdul-Mart, has fixed prices). So the seller of anything starts out with a higher price than
they expect to get, hoping to have a sucker, and the buyer negotiates until you reach a price that
both can live with. But when you get back to the US with it, you are in the land of "if you don't
want to pay what the sticker says, go away". If you try to get a lower price than what is asked
for, you are thought of either as cheap, or a jerk, or maybe a cheap jerk. I see web sites with
items listed there a couple of years ago still listed there today, and Ebay auctions for the exact
same item being listed over and over for the exact same price. It would seem to me that the reason
the items in question have never sold for those prices over that lenght of time is because nobody is
willing to PAY that price. But, having settled on sticker price x, the seller would prefer to keep
the item in storage until the sun burns out rather than change the price.

I'm not saying that one system is better than the other, just observing.

>To my opinion, there are so many parameters that interfere with the price of
>meteorites, that it is almost impossible to find a 'market price' for them.

I think that sellers on Ebay such as the Hupes have found the perfect way to determine the true
market value of meteorites. Start the auctions at 99 cents (or so) with no reserve. What someone
ends up willing to pay for the piece will then turn out to be what someone is willing to pay for the
piece.
Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 11:20:35 AM PST