[meteorite-list] AD: Video Footage of our trip to Oman

From: Rob Wesel <nakhladog_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jun 5 22:33:56 2005
Message-ID: <00a801c56a40$2f10ab80$998caa43_at_robewcufk0z2s3>

You don't need to explain a thing Steve, the price is the price and I am
looking forward to my copy already with the belief that my money was well
spent.
I wouldn't have sold the PF vids for $20. A book on meteorites is worth more
than the paper it's printed on, this documentary is no different.

Rob Wesel
http://www.nakhladogmeteorites.com
------------------
We are the music makers...
and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
Willy Wonka, 1971



----- Original Message -----
From: <MeteorHntr_at_aol.com>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 7:18 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] AD: Video Footage of our trip to Oman


> Hello list, and not just Darren,
>
> Maybe I should have explained this more in my first post, but it was long
> as it was, and I didn't feel that it was necessary at that time.
>
> First off, I am a very strong "Supply and Demand" type of guy. I know
> that what a meteorite (or anything for that matter) is worth retail has
> virtually NOTHING to do with what it costs wholesale, but rather what
> someone (the market) is willing to pay.
>
> I also know that information, can be worth a fortune. For example, in the
> last 14 years I have met quite a few people (mostly farmers) who are still
> sitting on meteorites that they found. For some reason when I talked with
> them, they were not willing to sell them to me then. But maybe they would
> be willing to sell them to you now? What would you be willing to pay for
> their contact information? Would you only be willing to pay for the cost
> of the paper, envelop and stamp to mail it to you? Some people wouldn't
> even pay $0.40 for the information. For others, they might be willing to
> pay $40,000 for the identical information.
>
> I also know that people will pay big bucks for entertainment. While I DO
> sport an "Indian Jones hat" in much of my DVD, I don't claim my DVD is on
> par with the "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but I would venture to say most
> people will like it better than they liked "Temple of Doom." (I think
> Wal-Mart sells the Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD for $55)
>
> When we were planning our trip to Oman, we felt that one way we could "add
> value" to the specimens that we would find would be to not just document
> each find on video, but to actually film the trip in a very amateur
> "documentary style." You don't just "name" a trip "The Arnold's Awesome
> Arabian Adventure '05" unless you are planning a marketing angle to the
> trip! ;-)
>
> As those of you who have ordered the DVD will see, the very first morning
> in the desert, as the sun is rising, we stop and take precious daylight
> time to film a "Hello Message." Much of the 8 hours of actual footage we
> got, and the time we took sometimes to set up the filming, and the added
> distractions, did legitimately take time away from hunting. Not to
> mention that we may have drove by a lunar while we were fidgeting with
> changing the battery. No one will ever know what it really costs us to
> make recording this part of the mission, not even us.
>
> But it did cost us.
>
> Then what could it have cost us?
>
> While we were there, all of a sudden the Omani Government decided it
> wanted to start enforcing some supposed obscure law (that up until that
> time they cared so little about they didn't even make the law publicly
> known) and they arrested some other meteorite hunters that might have
> literally been just over the horizon from where we were at the time. What
> could it have cost us if we would have been arrested with video footage on
> us of finding meteorites?
>
> Needless to say, if anyone is crazy enough to sneak into Oman to go hunt
> there in the future, they won't be video taping their adventures to sell
> to anyone, at any price.
>
> We did take footage of every meteorite we found as we recovered them (one
> disc did not record for some reason, so some specimen recoveries did not
> get recorded). But, beyond the actual recoveries, we did a lot of extra
> coverage.
>
> So the purchase of the brand new DVD recording camcorder (and dozens of
> extra discs, and several extra batteries and such) went for 3 purposes; To
> record each recovery, to make a good DVD about the trip, and save memories
> for ourselves. 2 out of 3 were for profit motive.
>
> Now at first, I was not going to offer the video to anyone unless they
> bought a specimen. Then as I said in my first email, I thought others
> that did not want to order a specimen might like to see it, so I opened
> the sale up to everyone.
>
> Having said ALL that, I fully realize that NONE of that matters.
>
> The only thing that matters is what the market feels it is worth at least
> the price I am charging. Now while some people would order the video just
> to support me, and not really care what is on it, that is NOT what I was
> going for here. Unless I HONESTLY felt the video was not worth the asking
> price, I would not ask the price, because selling shotty merchandise only
> hurts ME in the long run.
>
> Now, on the other hand, unless I feel it is worth it to me to make them, I
> am not so inclined to do it. To me, the situation made me decide that I
> wanted $15 each for any extra I would make AND if I really dive into it, I
> will want $20 for a better version.
>
> If I don't sell any more than what I have sold now, really it is fine with
> me. But I also know that for many people it really should be worth $20 or
> MORE. However, to sell more than a couple dozen, I might have to not just
> add more value, but I might have to advertise and promote it more, then of
> course, that will cost even more. If the feed back is that people don't
> think it would be worth $20, then I might not go any further.
>
> Michael Blood hit on a few good points as to why it is worth it for HIM to
> pay $20. Others may have their own different reasons. I will tell you
> this, honestly, if someone else would have made the exact same video, and
> I could have bought it BEFORE my trip into Oman, it probably would have
> been worth at least $500, because of the information on it. For example,
> we would have SLOWED way down driving at night and we would have saved
> almost hitting the camels in the road at 75 MPH. While our lives were
> spared anyway, our one $100 tire wasn't.) Remember Eugene Shoemaker was
> killed on a meteor(ite) expedition, so there are some risks involved in
> these adventures we often don't think about.
>
> Now I realize that probably no one else is going to take the information
> in this video and use it to go to Oman, so I decided not to charge $500 a
> copy. :-) However, IF ANYONE is thinking about doing it, they are
> probably some of the ones that replied the first day and ordered it in a
> heartbeat just incase they do later decide to go.
>
> So at $10 or $15 or $20 will I break even? Maybe, maybe not. I do hope
> so, but it doesn't matter to the customers. To them all that matters is
> it worth the price THEY pay, not what price I paid. But if we are all
> lucky, the price will indeed fall in that sweet spot where we ALL get more
> than what we want from the deal, and we all end up happy, except maybe for
> those who decided not to buy a copy! :-)
>
> Steve #1
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Sun 05 Jun 2005 10:33:54 PM PDT