sheltie
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 982
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Post by sheltie on Jun 20, 2013 14:31:56 GMT -5
You mentioned that many of the slabs were of average quality. For this I infer you polished them as part of you hobby, and they had extra meaning to you because you had cut them. I further infer that someones polishing material to sell at a show would have chose to spend their time polishing a more exceptional (i.e., more sale-able) slabs. I do agree that many sales here just try to recoop cost and do not consider time. Members giving other members deals, hobbyists (who do not have to recoop their time) unloading material ... etc. I think this is why listing here is free, because it is seen as a win-win benefit to all. It is also why someone coming here just to sell, and trying to get full retail is often called out as a jerk. The bottom line is that you have polished a lot of material that ordinarily would not have been polished, or which could have been polished overseas for pennies. Now you want to sell not only the material but a fair price for you time. In that regard, except for the occasional lucky sale, I think you are screwed. There is no business model sense to what you want to accomplish. Get what you can for the nicer ones you do not want to keep, sell the rest cheap now, (or your estate can sell it even cheaper in the future.) I think if you look at my response in posts after this, it will clear things up a little - I hope. But just in case, yes I polish because I enjoy it and I've "cherry picked" those that I've already polished as I thought they had something special that I'd enjoy. In some cases I was wrong (I have a Chinese piece that is lacquered on the outside that I thought would polish great - no way!), but in most I've been right. Since I'm still relatively new to this hobby, I've had to learn as I go and generally from people on this and other forums as there is no one near me who I can ask for help. So I'm trying to learn. You haven't seen me trying to sell here - or anywhere - nor do I expect to. I agree that on THIS forum that can be scorned. As far as getting screwed is concerned, how can I get screwed when I'm doing something I enjoy? I hadn't planned on selling my polished slabs at an increased price because I wouldn't know what to ask for them. I was simply going to put some on eBay and see what the market would handle. I'd take those slabs that are already on there as a guideline for a starting point and see what happens. What I DON'T like about eBay is that so many of the slabs are mixed in with the rough that it wastes my time when I'm looking for rough, find something I like only to find out it's 1/4" thick yet listed as rough. I suppose technically it is, but... Does this clear things up a bit? I'm always open to any suggestions that will help me in the future.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2013 14:34:16 GMT -5
BTW, Sheltie, I noticed you felt the prices here were too low. For the most part I understand your point. These folks are well connected and can get what they need at great prices. But if you have something REALLY nice do not hesitate to offer it here. Some of us will spend what seems like a lot on the right stuff.
For instance, I have never seen charoite for sale here, but I have noticed some of our members do work with this material. I promise they did not pay cheap prices for that stuff. I also noticed Judy sold some really nice slabs recently for $25 or more. They were nice stuff and the price fair. Members here paid it. So, I guess I am saying if you have something really nice, give us a shot at it. It costs you nothing and saves you the ebay/paypal fees.
Best wishes!
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Post by roy on Jun 20, 2013 14:52:55 GMT -5
i dont think that when we sell box'es here for a lower price is giving it away! its called sharinhg with friends and only getting what you paid for the rough and shipping! if you want to list slabs put them up on here with the price you want and see what the reaction is there are a lot of members here that buy on ebay aswell you might be suprized how well they will go I agree with you about sharing and I do it myself on occasion. However, if one desires to profit from the sale of "X", this forum is generally not the place to do it. I don't think the forum is designed for that although there are some that do. I'm a rank hobbyist and do this to please myself and my family. Others here do this for a business or are much more professional about it than I am. Good for them and I support what they do. AND I have no problem with that. As I mentioned earlier, if anyone wants something from me, I'm always willing to help. Many times I do it for free, including shipping. Other times it is a routine trade. I don't plan to use this forum as a place to sell for profit. I'm still in the learning process about this hobby and have a LOOOOONG way to go before I understand even 1/2 of what may of you do. So until then, I will just rely of you folks to make suggestions and recommendations about what I should and shouldn't do. Does that clear things up?[/rqute] it was clear before however it is ok to list slabs here to make a profit i have bought rock here manytimes and payed good money for it to my point is if you dont list the item and charge what you need to get they will ethier buy it or they wont personaly i would like to see what you have to offer!!
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Post by deb193redux on Jun 20, 2013 15:13:49 GMT -5
I never implied "screwed" generally, because I agree that pursuing what you love is its own reward. I meant "screwed" only in the difficulty of having to sell polished slabs in competition with unpolished ones. I think that was plain enough in my posting. I'm just trying to help you sort out options - freely giving my time and knowledge. I don't need words put in my mouth. You had said "I feel that I have a lot of time especially, and money invested and that I should expect a fair price in return" - so it was fair and natural for me to infer that you wanted more for the polished slabs because you had more time in them.
No reason you can't sell your unpolished slabs on ebay and do as well as other sellers there. Price similar to them, offer to combine shipping, ... etc. Be prepared to have things slow initially if you do not have established feedback as a seller and/or some following of past customers. Give good descriptive titles to your listings. ID are important. If you want, you can even offer them here first for 10% less because that is what ebay charges.
I would go crazy listing each individual slab on RTH and tracking who had bought what and putting boxes together for folks. Ebay does track multiple purchases for you, and provides invoicing system .. etc. You may want to offer "small lots" of several slabs that would fit in SFRB. You can designate some lots as "premium", but make sure they are. Some RTH folks want cheap material, and will buy a box with only ordinary color/pattern. Whenever nicer (better than average color/pattern) material was offered some RTH do buy. For example I bought several of Judy's slabs.
If you also have some polished slabs that you are ready to part with, and which you think are as good or better than slabs other ebay sellers are offering the "Display Specimen" section that I pointed out, I think you might sell some at "polished" prices (like 2x or 3x higher) which could offset any lack of profit margin on other listings.
All points seem to have been asked, addressed, re-asked, re-addressed. Good advice has been given about what lapidary buyers want, and what might be accomplished in polished specimen sales.
Respectfully, I am going to leave this conversation now because it is starting to bore me, and I too only want to do things as long as I am enjoying myself.
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sheltie
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 982
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Post by sheltie on Jun 20, 2013 18:07:29 GMT -5
Good advice, I'll use it as part of my learning experience.
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sheltie
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 982
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Post by sheltie on Jun 20, 2013 18:19:46 GMT -5
BTW, Sheltie, I noticed you felt the prices here were too low. For the most part I understand your point. These folks are well connected and can get what they need at great prices. But if you have something REALLY nice do not hesitate to offer it here. Some of us will spend what seems like a lot on the right stuff. And perhaps, herein lies some of my predicament. What determines what is good/high quality and what is not? In some cases it's pretty obvious but I suspect what I may think is one type of quality, others may disagree. For example, my favorite is Mexican Lace. I have some slabs that are beautifully laced and banded, well colored and very smooth on the surface. I have others that are...not so much, yet I like them very much anyway even with all their warts. I haven't bought any expensive rough, generally keeping my top price at $20 per lb and I limit my buys for that amount. That's why I mentioned earlier that I have a lot of average slabs. Too bad there isn't a chart or something somewhere that would allow a person to establish at least a range of prices for both rough and slabs/cabs. I love agates yet some of the least expensive agates I've slabbed have also been the prettiest to me. I think one of the reasons why I haven't posted pix of my slabs on this forum (as opposed to another forum I'm on) is because I was intimidated by the knowledge and experience of those on this forum when I first joined. While I've never been made to feel uncomfortable here, my other forum fits me like an old T-shirt. I'm becoming more comfortable here but as far as being in a group of equals, I have a long way to go. Rarely here have I seen anyone say that they are looking for a particular type of rough or slab. Have I not been looking hard enough? I also need to be clear that I have appreciated the advice and suggestions I've received here.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 20, 2013 18:37:23 GMT -5
Why don't you try putting a few of your slabs on here as an auction ? You could set the bare minimum price you would accept, and let it go from there. State up front if you or the buyer pays shipping. You might be surprised at how high bids can go if more than one person really wants the slabs you're offering. I know that I for one have gone well above what certain material is worth, because I really wanted a certain piece.
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Post by helens on Jun 20, 2013 21:31:47 GMT -5
Well, I understand where you're coming from... if you have a definite price you want for a given piece, you can put it here and see if people want it.
As others have said already, more expensive rocks are worth more money:). If you had pieces that you thought were special enough to polish, then sell them for more... if they don't sell, no skin off your nose, put em on Ebay afterwards:).
What Don said... not long ago, someone put up a fossil several people wanted and the bidding got up to hundreds of dollars if I recall correctly (Don won it as I recall... Mammoth Tooth?). When you have something really interesting, you may be surprised at what people will pay. If it's fairly common, maybe a newbie who wants it and has no source but ebay would be grateful to snag it, because they don't have one yet. You don't know til you try:).
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