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Re: The Infamous Meteoritecentral P***ing Contest



Again our prediction was quite precise : "Many will agitate us ... "
Dear Mr.Mike Farmer !
We were only referring to the issue that many collectors already went out
of their hobby frustrated by 
dealers who tried to get as much advantage as possible of limited supply of
these "stones from heaven" !
It is nice that you want to donate some meteorites to a school ! This is
great !
We hope others may follow your sample !
Even more helpful could be some cash donation to elderly people or those in
need!
By no way we wanted to offend the dealer we think you are referring to -
(We know with whom you are working together with )! Don't worry about : We
like your buddy ,too.
 (especially since he makes us unwillingly so much more successful in our
philanthropic marketing strategy! ) ; It is 100% O.K.  for us if anybody
continues to do business with him. 
He has nice things in his catalogue ! (see also our reference later on this
page!)
We were referring mainly to 2 other dealers !
Thanks to the many requests of list members (those addressed their
meteorite wishes directly to my private e-mail address) for our offer: a
free gift (Hammada Du Draa resp. Museum quality Moldavite) ! Do not
hesitate to order your gift ! There is enough for everybody !
Those who  might think they only could loose by our " keep prices down
strategy" be aware that this will be to your own good , too (in the long
run) : Many customers who left the market (disappointed by roller coaster
prices) in the last 5 years will return again. Also they will tell others
that prices became realistic again ...  and such will be a chain reaction
initiated ! Lets awake before the whole market crumbles - it is 5 minutes
before midnight ! Do - like  Mr.Mike Farmer intends to do ! Give freely
donations,too (if done out of love and not out of calculated self-interest)
while you are getting a fair exchange of your endeavor.
Here are some samples of meteorite members of the last year which show that
it is not our sole interest alone to keep prices reasonable:
Mr.--- stated:" What we all need to be aware of, however, is that
meteorites are a small market with 
less of a buffer to absorb or minimize any large swings. There are some, 
however, who may see that as an opportunity to manipulate the market to
their 
advantage. "
Our honor Ron Baalke even wrote:" In the case with the Ibitira meteorite,
one particular dealer was selling Ibitira for $2500/gram, and then 
dropped the price down to about $200/gram"
You can find at least half a dozen of member postings last year which show
discomfort with  too fast price increases (and also with a few sudden price
drops). - We don't mention the many unsuscribe posts ( which had a
complexity of reasons -verbal attacks and nearly endless ego-games  as we
all know )
One of so many ex-collectors wrote to me just recently from Germany:
I am teacher by profession and as such my salary is not bad , but with wife
and 2 kids and all the
 payments each earned German mark has only a value of 20 pfennig .
That's why I have to pass on " tiny samples" of meteorites I would have
liked
( I don't want even to risk to talk of samples in face of Ibitera or EH3 
("Ich bin Lehrer von Beruf und verdiene somit nicht schlecht, aber mit Frau
und
zwei Kindern nebst Hausstand, etc. ist die D-Mark eben nur noch 20
Pfennig wert und so muß auch ich manchen Meteoriten, von dem ich gern
ein ‘Pröbchen’ hätte (ich wage es schon gar nicht mehr, angesichts
Ibitira und Sahara EH3 von ‘Probe’ zu sprechen) an mir vorbeiziehen
lassen.")
Could somebody on the list donate him a reasonable sample?
I will forward your e-mail address to him !

Let's start this new month in harmony and lets "march" to a new attitude in
meteorite marketing:
There will only be winners and no loosers (as we said - in the long run)

We appreciate very much if the wife of a specific dealer takes very strong
position for the interest of her abd her husbands business but some facts
are very funny:If the wife of the dealer wants to state that she didn’t
receive CO3 this is hard to believe for us because of following reasons::
Her husband stated earlier yesterday on a special sale attempt that he
would offer CO3  from Sahara for a special price (No wonder he can do this
special sale - since there seems a new rule now in America : that
merchandise of friendly looking europeans is free and doesn’t have to be
paid). Also we were told we couldn’t get back this pieces since they would
have been 
sold already). After we heard always changing stories - we finally heard
what really happened:
Our CO3’s were sliced up and offered 
on his catalogue late summer as “ DAR AL GANI 023-A, 023-B, ... Found 1995.
Stone. Carbonaceous chondrite, type III (CO3). Partial slices available @
$50.00 per gram.”
Since beginning he was playing around endless games with us . We are
realistic enough that this man will never pay his bills !
We have a whole folder what he did (to us and many others) and still does .

We even forgive him because we believe in cosmic justice in life .
In Austria we say " Gods mills grind slowly - but they do grind ".
We lost a lot of money  .To us personally he was always charming and
friendly. (although he is playing games financially with us nearly
endlessly)
It is interesting that the same person often makes badmouth about other
dealers in a hidden but  very explicit way!  
We also don’t argue “that he is the biggest of all , that he can do what he
wants, and that he is always right “ ! even when we have more Sikhotes
.Note : Due to our large Sikhote (AAA-grade) stock we don’t need to buy and
didn’t buy in Tucson (this is ridiculous) at highly overpriced $’s 
(- although we were browsing there to be surprised by the high prices
Russians asked)
; but it explains why  above mentioned dealer didn’t have money in Tucson
for old debts when he bought so much of overpriced Sikhotes there .
By the way : Anybody who is interested in joining us for a collecting trip
to Sikhote Alin shall send us a note . All finds would be split up equally
under group members . Even above mentioned dealer is invited for this trip
( he would save a lot of $’s and could finally pay his bills and be
competitive in prices)
Thank you for you precious time.
Regards Sylvia + Erich H. Haiderer
********************************************************************
  Erich H. Haiderer  Erich_Haiderer_5@compuserve.com
  (meteorite dealer - in business since 1977)
  Phone:++43 (0)1-368 1888 or ++43 (0) 676-388-1888
  Fax:  ++43 (0)1-368 1880 or ++43 (0) 676-388-1889


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