----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2001 3:01
PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Ebay, Selling,
Quiting, etc. Last Word!
Hello Everyone,
First, my apologies to Charlie and Michael.
I re-read their post with a less defensive attitude. I have now calmed
down enough to explain what happened at ebay.
I had some meteorite and non-meteorite auctions
ended by ebay a couple of days ago. Ebay sellers take note: my
auctions were ended because (1) I provided a hyperlink to my website (that is,
a clickable banner) and (2) I stated in my auctions that anything can be
returned for a refund minus shipping and auction fees. Ebay apparently
interprets this last statement as requiring the buyer to pay these fees and
this is against their policy. I have made references to my website and I
have stated this refund policy for literally years (though I have never had
anything returned).
This business of not being able to link to a
website really irritates me. If anyone has been to my site in the last 6
months or so, you would have seen a 99% educational site, which is what I like
mostly about meteorites. I have not had any new material for sale in
months because I simply have not had the time. I have gotten email from
educators and school kids, CNN science reporters, people researching the topic
of meteorites, etc, most of whom found my site via ebay.
Now ebay is saying they won't allow links to
external sites.
Umm, interesting. I just tried to change my
ebay id from wbranchsb to branchmeteorites.com and ebay would not let me do
it. Nor would they accept branchmeteoritesdotcom. Looks like
dealers such as Jim Strope (sikhote-alin.com) and Steve Arnold
(meteoritebroker.com) and others got theirs in time.
In case anyone follows my auctions, I did just
successfully change my id to branchmeteorites, so now I have to shades to the
right of my id.
Speaking only from my experience with the
commercial side of my website, I can honestly say that few people actually
bought from my site. It seems that most collectors prefer to bid at
ebay. Funny thing is, most of these bidders bid up the price of
something far beyond what they could have gotten it for at my site.
Amazing.
Well, I have decided that my New Years resolution
will be to spend even more time with my family (not to mention my telescope
projects) by just quitting to the commercial side of meteorites. I will
do away with the commercial side of my site and focus more on the educational
portion. For those of you who do not do this, I takes a lot of time to
fully process new material for sale at a website, including preparing
specimens for auction at ebay. In the past, whenever I would post new
material at my site I would also enter for auction one specimen at a time at
ebay until it was all sold. As I previously noted, most of my material
sells (sold) at ebay, so posting at my website and ebay becomes somewhat
redundant and time-consuming.
As with any collecting venture, specimens fall in
and out of favor and whenever one falls out of my favor I will offer it for
sale here or at *gulp* ebay but I will no longer list the quantity of items as
I used to.
BTW, I have recently developed an interest in
astrophotography and I will be spending more time with this. My initial
efforts were on Christmas eve, December 24. I used a 70mm scope and my
digital camera, which was held to the eyepiece. Here is the best of a
series I took of sunspots:
and here is an image of the moon, same
setup,
These were untouched, unprocessed, straight from
the camera images. I would appreciate any critical comments from those
of you who might do astrophotograpy.
Okay, the length of this post has to be a record
for me so I will end it. I want to thank everyone who has supported my
efforts at branchmeteorites. I have tried to offer good material at
reasonable prices, often at cost. You can follow any auctions I might
have by searching on my (new) user id: branchmeteorites but before I re-list
it at ebay, I have a 2263 gram sculpted Canyon Diablo for $550.00. Here
is an image:
Best wishes and Happy New Year to every one!
-Walter
-----------------------------------------------
Walter Branch,
Ph.D.
Branch Meteorites
322 Stephenson Ave., Suite B
Savannah,
GA 31405 USA
www.branchmeteorites.com
