[meteorite-list] Question for dealers re: displaying sold items

[Michael Gilmer]

Hi Gang,

In my case, I offer mostly micromounts, so keeping dozens of redundant
photos of small crumbs doesn't hold any value in terms of keeping a
record.  For larger pieces, I'll keep the specimen online for a couple
of weeks - long enough for the buyer to receive the specimen and
compare it to the listing on the website (if they desire).  Then, I do
periodic "prunings" where I delete older sold listings, rotate items
in/out of the "brand new" category, add new content (articles), etc.

I use a hosted ecommerce service that is "turn key".  I pay a set fee
per month that is not based on sales like eBay is.  Instead, I pay
based on how much server resources my online store consumes -
bandwidth, disk space, etc.  One of the criteria used for billing is
the number of items in a store.  If I exceed a certain number of
items, I pay an increased fee.  So, I keep my overall number of
listings trimmed down to a limit.  If I kept a long-term record of all
sold items, I would have exceeded that limit long ago.

I do keep a permanent record of old photos of sold/traded specimens on
my hard-drive and on back-up storage media.

Best regards,

MikeG

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Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites

Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
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On 4/12/11, Bob King <nightsky55 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just to make us drool over the ones we missed! I imagine that they're
> left up to build interest in the specimen. Kind of a 'better get it
> now' or soon they'll all be sold approach.
> Bob
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 6:22 PM,  <fallingfusion at wi.rr.com> wrote:
>> Because we're to lazy to update our websites. Simple as that.
>>
>> Take a look at mine - I don't think its been updated in nearly 3 years!
>>
>> Ryan
>>
>> Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Michael Mulgrew <mikestang at gmail.com>
>> Sender: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
>> Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:21:29
>> To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Question for dealers re: displaying sold items
>>
>> List,
>>
>> I am curious why almost every meteorite dealer's website displays
>> specimens that have already sold right along side specimens that are
>> in stock and available for sale?  I do not know of any other market
>> that does this; it is unique to meteorites in my experiences.  As a
>> collector/prospective buyer I do not see the upside to this practice.
>> It does nothing for helping me find what I'm looking for; in fact it
>> is counter productive when I am shopping for a specimen as it makes it
>> more difficult to see what is actually available for sale.  It's
>> synonymous with looking for clothes in your size and every store has
>> displays showing your size but not actually selling any clothes that
>> fit you.  Maybe a separate page for "Sold Specimens" would be more
>> appropriate if there was a need that I am not aware of to display
>> pieces that have already been sold?  I look forward to becoming
>> educated on this matter.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Michael in so. Cal.
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