[meteorite-list] Reverse auctions and their offshoots

Tue Apr 29 12:20:04 EDT 2008

Hi folks (and Steve #1) -

I really don't care what process is used to sell
the meteorite, as long as the seller is legit, the
piece has good provenance, and the price is right.

It can be a forward, reverse, side to side, up/down,
or quasi-dimensional Buy-it-Now auction classified
ad.  It really doesn't matter.

I trust Steve Arnold's integrity and I trust that
his specimens are what he claims.  That's good enough
for me.  Steve, please post a link to the goodies
if/when you decide to do this.  I'll play. :)

Any way to buy good legit meteorites is a good thing.
;)

Regards from the swampy, moist, meteorite-eroding,
Gulf-Coast,

MikeG

-----------------------------

Hey Guys,

I really didn't want to get into this yet, as I wanted
to  be the first
 to 
try this on Ebay.  Talk about it too much, and someone
else  might try
 this 
before I get to do it first!

But I will explain it so you  guys don't get too
confused.

Ebay has an Auction format and a "Buy It  Now"
feature.  

Yes, "Buy It Now" is NOT a true "auction," even 
though most people
 think of 
Ebay as an Online AUCTION Site.  With "Buy It  Now"
sellers can place
 items on 
sale for a fixed price.  As a seller, if  you want to
discount things
 for 5% 
or 50% or 90% off some of your items, you  can. 
Michael Cottingham had
 a 40% 
off sale for a few days, just  a couple of days ago. 
So I am sure most
 all of 
you are aware of  this Ebay feature.

Since, so many people seemed to enjoy my so called 
"Reverse Auctions"
 I had 
in the past, I thought "Hey, why not do it on  Ebay?"

The problem with doing it the old way was that there
was a LOT of work
 on  my 
end, lowering prices, dealing with an influx of emails
on people that
 wanted  
to buy it at the new lower price.  With Ebay, it will
be much easier to
 do  
this.

So that is my plan.  

My email earlier was simply an attempt to contact some
of you that have

previously bought from me, people that enjoyed the
process.  I wanted
 to  talk 
with you guys off line about some things.

Of course, in my description on the Ebay lots, I was
going to explain
 how I  
was going to progressively lower the prices, in my
"Reverse Auction"
 style,  
starting with my asking price, then maybe a day later,
putting a 10%
 discount 
on  the ones that had not sold.  Then maybe the next
day, putting a 20%

discount on the remaining ones.  This keeps going
until everything is
 sold,  or 
until I raise enough cash and decide I don't want to
sell some or all
  of the 
remaining at too low of a price. 

The opposite way of  doing this is with a normal
auction with a reserve

price, or at a starting  price.

Theoretically, a lot might get down to 99% off, before
someone  "Buys
 It 
Now."  If the lot was a $1.00 item at the start, then
it would  then be
 marked 
down to $0.01.  If it was a $1,000.00 item, then it
might go  down to
 $10.00.  

In fact, someone might not even pay $0.01 for some 
meteorites.  It
 happens 
that some "Normal" auctions start at $0.01 and the 
seller hopes that
 the bids 
go up, yet sometimes no one even bothers to bid once 
on them, so there
 is no 
sale at $0.01.

Is it a "scam" to start high and  then lower the price
until an items
 gets in 
a price range that someone decides  they want to buy
it?  I don't
 really 
think so.   

If I  think a 100 gram Goa is worth $1/g or $100, I
might start it out
 at 
$100.   If someone likes that rock, and agrees it is
worth $100, they
 can "Buy It 
Now"  at that price.  If not, I might drop the price
with a 10% of
 Sale, and 
it  is now $90.  If no one likes that price, and I
want to go lower, I
 can  
offer a 20% off price, and thus the "Buy It Now" price
is temporarily
 at  $80.  
And so on.  If I have 2 Gaos up, each 100 grams, and
one is  oriented,
 and the 
other isn't, someone might jump at the $90 price,
while  someone else
 might 
wait until the price gets to $50 to Buy the
nonoriented  one.

In fact, I think some dealers put "retail" prices on
their web  sites,
 but if 
you call them, or email them they are willing to lower
the prices  to
 make a 
sale.  Maybe the first day they put something up, they
might not  sell 
something too discounted.  But talk to them a week
later, or a month
  or year later, 
and sometimes buyers can talk a seller down.  No scam 
involved.

Is this a gimmick?   Well, I guess it depends on the 
definition of 
"gimmick."  I would tend to think it is  "marketing." 
 Of course, it
 being on Ebay, no 
one is forced to  participate.  Is Ebay a "gimmick?" 
Is "Buy It Now" a

gimmick?   Is offering a discount a gimmick?  Is "Free
shipping" a
 gimmick?  Is  
saying "hurry up and buy before I sell out" a gimmick?
  By a broad
  enough 
definition, about anything can be called a gimmick. 

AND having  said ALL that, I don't even know if I will
call this a
 "Reverse 
Auction."   My original email to the group only asked
if anyone here
 had 
participated in one  of my "Reverse Auctions" of the
past.  Maybe my
 previous 
"Reverse Auctions"  didn't fit the legal definition of
a true auction,
 but those 
that enjoyed  participating in them in the past, know
what I meant when
 I asked 
my simple  question to contact me off list.

Doug mentioned, this more as a "Going  out of business
sale" format.  I
 would 
agree, with the exception that I am  not "going out of
business."
  Maybe it 
would be best compared to a  furniture store that is
having an
 inventory 
liquidation sale.  The goal of  the store is to move
out enough
 inventory so there 
is enough room for the new  inventory coming.  The
sale gets better and
 better 
each week, until there  is the floor space for the
new, then the sale
 goes 
off.  You expect the  best stuff to go early, and real
bargains can be
 picked up 
on items that others,  for whatever reason, don't seem
to value.

Maybe if you have had a yard sale, you know that over
time you get to
 be  
more flexable on price, often lowering prices, maybe
more than once,
 over a  
weekend sale.  At the end of the sale a guy shows up
with a truck and
  offers you 
$20 to haul it all off, and you are happy to take the
deal!

I  had items in previous auctions sell for 80% off
what my first asking
 price 
 was.  In those cases, either I totally missed
guessing what the real
 value  
was, or someone got a real sleeper of a good deal.  

"Sniping" can  occur, but it happens EARLY instead of
at the last
 second.  

I have just acquired a lot of inventory some of which,
to be honest, I
  don't 
know what it is worth.  I could put it on Ebay, and
let the price go
  up, but 
that requires I sell it.  With a reverse auction,
someone could  offer
 me a 
trade for something, as the price is going down, and
if I wanted to
  take, I 
could tell them to "Buy It Now" and I could take
barter instead of cash
  or 
paypal.  With and absolute auction, you don't know
until the very last
  second 
what it will (or will not) sell for.

Anyway, my request of asking  those of you that have
done it before, if
 you 
enjoyed it, please email me off  list. I still want to
chat with you.

If you didn't enjoy the process in the past, I would
have to assume
 that  you 
didn't participate, or you were too greedy, hoping the
price would go
 down  
one more time, and someone else jumps in and gets it
before you do.

If I do end up doing this on Ebay, by all means, if
you think it is a
 scam,  
and you don't want say a 3mg crumb of Chassigny from
the Natural
 History 
Museum  in London for $100, or $90, or $80, or $70, or
$60, or $50, or
 $40, or $30, 
or  $20, or $10, or $5 or $0.01 by all means don't
bother
 participating. 

In  fact, there are a lot of people that might like
the Chassigny at
 $10 that 
would  hope you DON'T show up and "Buy it Now" at $20
and you get it
 instead 
of them  getting it.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that?  Now no one will
probably want to
  say 
anything nice about it hoping to run off all the
competition.  
 Drats...

Steve Arnold #1

.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Louisiana, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
Member of the Bayou Region Stargazers Network.
Website - http://www.glassthrower.com/meteorites
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fine_meteorites_4_sale
..........................................................

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