Posts Made By: Jim Miller

Concern #1: Anacortes buying power, along with the
ability to monitor the ads much moreso
than the average amateur astronomer
(they ARE on your servers, after all)
will give you an unfair advantage.

Concern #2: As you buy up the better value items,
and resell at higher prices for a profit
the overall prices of used items on
Astromart will be driven up.

Concern #3: Well, this is probably just an extension
of #1, but there will always be the
perception of you using your position
and buying power to unfair advantage, no
matter if it's true or not. When we
start seeing popular items selling in
minutes, it's going to cause some hard
feelings.

None of which should matter much, I guess. I think
it's good of you to put this issue up for our
opinions, but ultimately you're not answerable to
us, and have to make the best decision for your
business.

Astromart is sort of free, but they are always
soliciting donations, and if you use it some
number of times, some folks have been cut off
and told to pay dealer rates.

I've sold a handful of things here, and bought
more. I've paid at least $60 in donations that I
remember as a supporter.

I just feel that they should either elicit donations
or buy and resell, but not both. It just doesn't
feel quite right to me.

I've never been ripped off by anyone on Astromart.
(Or Ebay, for that matter)

The ratings system that both have adopted make
it much safer to deal with sellers.

However, I think astromart is inherently safer
than ebay due to the amateur astro community
who use it.