[meteorite-list] Frustrated over some sellers pages

From: Gary Fujihara <fujmon_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:13:20 -1000
Message-ID: <9A9EB82A-B049-4BBA-87B3-3AA73F28C3C0_at_mac.com>

Aloha Michael,

I will try to answer your question. Here are my reasons for keeping specimens up on a webpage after they have been sold:

1. The webpage documents a particular meteorite that I have acquired/analyzed/classified, along with its subsequent cuttings or components that were offered to the collecting/science communities. Marking a specimen as sold and keeping it on the webpage serves as a record for all of the pieces I have sold. I have had numerous inquiries from clients who had questions or issues with their purchased pieces and without the images and information documented on the webpage, it would be difficult or impossible to recreate.

2. Although I am not an active hunter like Michael Farmer, I do have a day job in addition to running a business. I don't have time to update all of my webpages, as I typically sell 60-100 meteorites a week. I also acquire new meteorites on a semi-regular basis and must create new pages for them.

3. The webpage documents market value or pricing for a particular specimen. It is interesting to see how prices have remained fairly stable despite the steady rise in pricing over the years. By not keeping the sold items and their associated prices on the webpage, there is no public record of these specimens (of course I have business records).

4. Showing the sold items along with the available ones gives the website peruser the ability to gauge the popularity of a meteorite. Visiting a website over a period of 24 hours after a specimen has been offered can show a great deal of activity in sales. And many meteorites I have offered have sold out within 24 hours.

5. I do not compare meteorites with clothes. I do not buy clothes in the same manner as I buy meteorites, and do not expect others to do so either. I don't care whether a particular size or color of a garment is available or not. I do care if a particular inclusion or chondrule is present in one slice or another. A prospective buyer would not be able to do this if I took down a specimen immediately after selling it.

6. Provenance. Maintaining a webpage with its sold items is a documentation of specimen provenance. Of course each item sold comes with a Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) from my business, but the images on the webpage are invaluable for authenticating a particular slice or piece in addition to, or absence of said CoA.

7. For Mike at Satwatch.org, all specimens offered are available or marked SOLD on the same page. It is not an inconvenience to the prospective buyer because he is not redirected to another page. I am not going to create another archive page because that is more work, and would be more confusing to navigate than the system I currently use.

I hope I have explained appropriately and clearly, the reasons for maintaining sold specimens alongside available ones on my webpages. I have done so not to make your lives more complicated, but to offer documentation of all meteorites sold that I have had analyzed and classified. Some dealers don't do that, but rather than think I that I am making it more difficult for buyers, I like to think that I am offering more value added information and provenance to buyers and prospective buyers.

gary

On Mar 5, 2013, at 6:41 AM, Michael Mulgrew <mikestang at gmail.com> wrote:

> Mike,
>
> I asked the same question in spring of 2011, please refer to that
> thread for some discussion:
> http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com/2011/apr/0507.html
>
> -Michael in so. Cal.
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 8:33 AM, SatWatch.org <contact at satwatch.org> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Sellers on the list,
>>
>> I have been looking to purchase a number of different meteorites, so I
>> have been going to the webpage links under some of your seller messages.
>> What I find on some pages are a bunch of items that appear to still be for
>> sale, but when I go to the meteorite linked page, it says SOLD.
>> I ask... if you have it listed on one page for sale, then when you go to
>> the item page it is sold, and you have posted it that way... why keep it on
>> there?
>> It makes it more difficult to shop around, and I will probably not shop on
>> that site any further. I see something that appears to be for sale, and I
>> think I might want it... only to find out it sold, over and over on that
>> site.
>>
>> Okay, I know you are proud of your past finds and sales, but think of the
>> shopper.... Maybe you should put together an archive section of items
>> sold....
>>
>> Just a thought...
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mike
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
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>>
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Gary Fujihara
Big Kahuna Meteorites
PO Box 4175, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 640-9161
http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/
http://www.ebay.com/sch/fujmon/m.html
Received on Tue 05 Mar 2013 12:13:20 PM PST