One factor that can and does throw the numbers off center is the emotion of
the auction process. Recently I saw where several shells sold on e-bay for
more than I was offering them for and under the list of bidders I saw a very
good customer of mine bidding. I asked her why she offered so much for a
shell that I could provide her for less money and a better quality. Her
answer was very interesting. She got caught up in the emotion of the auction
and wanted to beat out the competition. She forgot about other options.

People who run auctions will tell you that the emotion of the process often
leads to people paying more for an item. Now those that want a deal will
sooner or later get one. I asked several people who were bragging about the
deals they got, if they always got such deals and they said, Oh no, usually
they drop out of the bidding when it gets to a certain level. When asked how
often they scored, it was usually once every eight or nine times. Boy that's
a lot of time on the Internet to get a deal on one shell. I would guess that
if you checked most dealers lists, you would find at least a few real deals
to rival these Internet deals. The auctions will usually have shells that the
individual got real cheap. Usually from an old collection. The chances that
the real hard to get shells (not just rare) won't end up on the auction.
Being sold as singles makes an auction even easier. Most dealers try to have
an inventory of 10 or more shells and if the have a store, even more. Keeping
cost down are important. Everyone keeps hollering that dealers charge too
much, but believe me there is an awful lot that goes into overhead before
anything is sold. We would all love to have photos of all our shells for
review, but the cost can be a real killer.

It just does not seem that the auction market is stable enough to base values
on, one way or the other. Based on what I've seen, I would love to use the
prices I've seen for my price lists, but it is just not proven.

No one ever said Rice's Prices is a list of sold shells. It is a very good
guide and is based on input from many dealers across the country. The
customer will do better in the long run using this guide.

Oh, who would police all these auction items, and list them in a catalog for
other to review? I don't think you'll have 1/50 of the shells listed with
Tom's book.

Frank Walker

Gems From The Sea
Visit Our WEB SITE: www.shellgems.com
New Shells Arrive Every Week - [log in to unmask]
New posting every week under BULLETIN Board
Shell Trips - Herbal Therapy - Aroma Therapy
    BUY - SELL - TRADE - CONSIGNMENT
"Quality Specimen Shells For Every Collector"
(508) 481-7491; Fax: (508) 624-9778; out-of- state 1-800-497-3601
<A HREF="http://www.shellgems.com/"> Welcome to Shell Gems: buy and sell
shells from around the world</A>