Written by Octavia Wang, 2021 Cohort
As one of the most long-established yet niche hobbies, mineral collecting has a very special market system. Differing from the normal merchandise, each mineral specimen is unique, which makes them hard to put a price tag on. In the past, the price of a mineral specimen often depended solely on the seller’s promotion. After five decades, nowadays the price will be determined by the rarity of the translucency, color intensity, aesthetics, location, associations, and uniqueness. Although pricing has become more systematic and reasonable than in the past, it can still be very vague and unfriendly to buyers. In recent years, this situation has begun to ease further with the participation of digital media software.
Commonly used software for mineral selling
eBay, Instagram, and Twitter are the three most wildly used software for international mineral sellers, they offered a trustworthy platform for mineral merchants to post the specimens and widely distribute their ads in a very simple and inexpensive way, and the large user base that has accumulated in their data base. become perfect potential customers. Also, the buyers could benefit from it as well. With the high spread of platforms, the prices for collectible specimens became more and more transparent to the public. People can simply price match on the internet and then build a basic idea of their value.
Different software used in the Chinese market
Based on our recent interview with some Chinese mineral sellers, Chinese mineral merchants used to sell minerals on different apps. Instead of using eBay, Instagram, and Twitter, they are more commonly using WeChat as their main selling platform. Compared with international buyers, Chinese buyers are more cautious. To sell minerals, sellers need to carefully build basic trust with their customers. Next step, sellers will use the share feature called “friends circle” to exhibit their Commodities, once the buyers see their ideal minerals, they can directly talk to the sellers about further trading.