[meteorite-list] Meteorite Pricing/Values

[Thomas Uza]

Steve,

There is no "justification". Meteorite sellers offer a
commodity and of course add hype as they see fit. A
buyer has to be informed. My rule is to NEVER buy a
meteorite when I want to. New falls in particular are
the worst buy.

Collectors need to buy like dealers and there is no
reason why they can't. Patience always pays off.

My father, a life long stamp and coin guy, always
said, "It's only worth what you can get for it." Not
profound but to the point.

JUST my opinion,

Thomas


--- MeteorHntr at aol.com wrote:

> Dean,
> 
> Great post.  There are so many factors to the value
> of  any particular 
> specimen as you pointed out.  
> 
> One thing I think  people selling meteorites should
> do is take a little more 
> time in justifying the  price they are asking.  This
> means justifying why the 
> price might be  particularly low (as you do so well
> in offering low NWA prices 
> - yet you also  put the twist in that you feel that
> soon the prices 
> justifiably will go higher  later).  That is
> marketing.
> 
> On the other hand, if someone is asking  a
> particularly high price for 
> something, that too needs to be explained.   Again,
> that too is marketing.
> 
> Without the explanation offered by the  seller, all
> to often as a buyer it is 
> easy for people think you are asking too  much, if
> not for the simple purpose 
> of positioning yourself for a higher value  in a
> trade or so that you can 
> come way down making the person feel like they got 
> a great bargain.  Or possibly 
> people might think you are indeed trying to  rip
> people off by overpricing 
> your material. 
>  
> And if one is asking what most consider is a normal
> fair price, justify  that 
> too.  
>  
> Whatever the case, help prospective buyers at least
> understand where you  are 
> coming from.  
>  
> I remember Mike Farmer seven years ago posting about
> how hot it was in  
> Portales hunting for PV and how cows were dying and
> blaoting in the  heat.  I am 
> not sure it that was a legitimate justification for
> a market  price on PV, but 
> at least we knew where he was coming from.  We knew
> in  part why he personally 
> valued a specimen at say $18/g rather than maybe
> $17/g.  
> 
> I think as buyers (or on the list - as critics) we
> should  acknowledge 
> legitimate qualities in particular specimens and
> justify why he or  she agrees or 
> disagrees with a stated price.  Without such
> justification,  the critic looks 
> even more foolish than the seller.  Instead of
> replying  with a statement, why 
> not respond with a question as to why they think it
> is  worth such and such a 
> price.  Put the responsibility of justifying a price
>  back on the seller rather 
> on yourself to justify why it is not worth it.
>  
> And if a buyer doesn't accurately justify why they
> don't buy (albeit only  to 
> themselves) then they are likely to miss out on some
> great bargains thinking  
> they were making a good decision.
> 
> Remember, if we all agreed to the value of all
> meteorites, we dealers  would 
> be out of a job, and this list would be very boring.
> 
> Steve Arnold  
> Arkansas
> 
> 
> 
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