[meteorite-list] Fwd: How many meteorite dealers are there?

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:02:11 +0200
Message-ID: <009701c8e27c$67c03150$177f2a59_at_name86d88d87e2>

Maybe a more practical distinction?:

Someone, who fully or partially makes a living from selling meteorites, is a
dealer.

Someone, who sells meteorites to refund and to enlarge his collection, is a
collector-dealer or dealer-collector.

Someone, who has meteorite, but isn't selling at all, is a
collector

Someone, who has no meteorites and doesn't sell,
can be a happy man too.

Best!
Martin


-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Norbert
Classen
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 10. Juli 2008 01:55
An: 'Alexander Seidel'; 'Timothy Heitz'; mlblood at cox.net;
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Fwd: How many meteorite dealers are there?

Hi Alex, and All,

A very good question, and I believe there's an answer to that. But let's
start by asking some more questions:

If you sell a T-shirt or a pair of Jeans on eBay from time to time, does
this make you a commercial dealer, or even part of the textil
business/industry? If you sell a used book once in a while, does this make
you a book seller? Surely not.

If you have a registered business for selling meteorites (or minerals) you
might consider yourself a commercial seller (dealer), if you don't you are
probably no "dealer", but just a private person/collector who sells a
rock/meteorite sample once in a while. So, do you have a commercial eBay
account, or a private account? It's that simple.

I don't know for other countries, but in Germany there's a clear distinction
(set by the tax authorities): if you are making a profit with it you have a
business and you are considered to be a "H?ndler" (commercial seller). If
you are spending more on a hobby than you earn with your related sales you
are considered a "Liebhaber" (hobbyist), and they won't even tax your
related income because you are making zero profit with your once in a while
sales.

So I guess some people need to re-consider the real meaning of the word
"dealer" in a social and economical context. If we are talking of commercial
sellers, and people who make a real profit by selling meteorites there are
probaly not as many "meteorite dealers" as you might think.

Just my two cents,
Norbert
Received on Thu 10 Jul 2008 07:02:11 AM PDT