Note: Anyone can make a claim that they have found or own an authentic meteorite. It is entirely another matter to offer satisfactory proof of verification or classification from a Meteoritical Society approved institution. The photos below link to suspect meteorites. In the opinion of this author, these auctions may lack either proper verification, credible history or photo, or reasonable supposition to qualify. This does not mean that they are not meteorites, only 'suspect' in the opinion of this author.

eBay seller 'michaeteged0' responds

Ebay auction # 162000292835

Questions to Seller:

Why are you unable to recognize magnetite?
You have NO meteorites for sale!
Are you that bad at identification or are you a con man?

First of all who are you to make accusations against me. You know nothing about me and obviously you know very little on the subject of magnetite and and the properties magnetite E has. Let me ask you a question Mr. Know it all what do you know about carbonaceous stone meteorites? Let he tell you something smart guy old stone meteroites streak a brown color any true meteorite collector or enthusious should know that. Which all of my meteorites streak brown and produce brown powder when cut.
Also ores of the earth do not have chrome metal grains or flecks in then and true meteorite guru would truely know that all such native iron and the like has since oxidized and no longer has a chrome look to it and none of my meteorite have ever when cut produced black powder.and almost every one of my meteorites are super magnetic anybody who knows anything about meteorites knows that the imitations are slightly magnetic at best.look st my pieces many of them have iorn nickle grains anflecks pres [end of first message]

Well from my dealing with a couple of the so called leading scientist in the field they seem to be bought off by who knows who but I imagen money is in volved because I was told to send my sample act labs and the lab tech I spoke with petty much told me by the picture of the inside sawn plain of my thin slice that it was a meteorite so I spent over 300 dollars the lab tests came back and the percentages came back man I wish I had took more math in school because doing the conversions on the parts per millldion are forien to me but I did go through each element and which came back as a metal called vanadium, samarium, lanthium, nickle,high content of iorn nickle alloy of 59% Fe/Ni alloy. There s like four or five weird metals that are silver in appearance even gold was in there. But when I tried to get him to clasify he brushed me off. So I went to another scientist and I thought to my self I need to go through my collection and start cleaning these things up so I can find chrome metal [end of 2nd message]

Then I made the mistake of telling the second scientist after he told me that my pictures I sent to him looked like definet meteorites to send him three samples I found some huge flecks of chrome metal in several of my pieces so I sent him a good sample with a ridiculous size easily seen metal fleck on the outside of the stone piece well he was on vaction at the time before he made it back to inspect my samples saying that sorry but my samples were not meteorites and I immediately emailed him and asked him what was going on and he never answered me back ever again. Ive been waiting to make it to a major meteorite convention close to me I can take my find there and I figure with every body there there is no way I can be brushed off and I m ready ive been ready for a while no just getting the funds to go is the thing I have many children and frankly cant afford to waist my time unless I can get this settled once and for all so I m saving to make a major show soon. But as far a calling [end of 3rd]

Them carbonaceous is because if you slice them you can see that they are made of carbonized material cut and dry no doubt about it and the only way something found on top of the ground and not mind from deep in the earth that is that carbonistic has to be a meteorite espicially that has flow lines regralympths and really dense in composition not to mention have chrome metal grains and flecks on the outside and inside has to be a meteorite [end of 4th]

Thanks for your reply. Your story is not new to me. I wish you would have included the names of the experts. Why am I interested? My name is ........ I have been assisting new collectors for 12 years. I have a web site that helps with ID, (meteorite-identification.com) I was a board member, officer and founding member of IMCA Inc.

I truly want new specimens to be found and proper ID established. Science is solid ONLY if it can be verified independently. eBay has an Authenticity Disclaimers Policy to protect eBay and its sellers from fraud. For example, if I found what I truly believe to be a diamond and sold it on eBay without having it properly verified even though I was convinced it was authentic and the buyer discovers it is really glass - I would have opened myself up to fraud charges.

That said, I feel you have put yourself in a very precarious situation. Google "Steve Curry - Meteorite Man" and you may understand what I mean.
Best wishes,

Can you help me with my dilemma friend. I have some beautiful specimens that nobody has ever seen. Beautiful pieces that I do not want to cut up some of them are several pounds in weight I'm so glad to hear from you the first expert is Dr. Randy kortev of Washington university and Dr. Alen Ruben of UCLA I don't want to cause problems for anybody but I do feel that randy kortev needs not be in this position he is very rude and when he told me to send my samples to act labs he told me just to send the sample and not call them or tell them that he referred me but the person at the lab when I describe my sample knew what it was especially when I sent a photo of a sawn plain of the sample my dad found he immediately said oh you want our meteorite litho 4 test like he know what it was from a simple photo [end of 5th]

I am trying to help you but you have meteorite blindness. I can help only if you listen. First, cancel all your auctions before more unsuspecting newbies purchase your wrongs and leave the hobby thinking meteorite dealers are crooks. This is a TRUST BASED hobby, you cannot self classify and verify. Cancel the auctions.

Did you send the ACT results to Randy? If so, what did he say?
If not, why not? Did you send any samples to New England Meteoritical Lab? ( its only $20 for 3 samples)

I'm going to send a few samples to new england soon and I'll break out my streak plate and streak test everyone I have listed. I'll and the home test I performed and I'll list them as probable until I get the results back from new England meteoritical services that should be with in the guild lines[ ,] correct [?]

Short answer: "NO"
From eBay: "Policy overview
Sellers should make sure that their items are authentic before listing them on eBay. Sellers may not disclaim knowledge of, or responsibility for, the authenticity or legality of the items they offer in their listings. If a seller cannot verify the authenticity of an item, it can't be listed on eBay."

"Make sure your listing follows these guidelines. If it doesn't, it may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including limits of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account."

"Sellers are not allowed to: List items that aren't authentic
List items if they're not sure if they are authentic
In addition, sellers can't disclaim authenticity of their item by stating, for example:
"I cannot guarantee the authenticity of this item, so please bid accordingly."
"I got this from an estate sale, so I have no idea if it's real or not."
"The autograph looks real to me."
"I'm no expert, so look at the pictures and decide for yourself if it's real.""

You can't put 'meteorite' in the description even if you disclaim that it may not be real ..., Do you understand?

[No further response from michaeteged0]

CONCLUSIONS: Seller ignored TWO meteorite authorities of his choosing. When his "meteorites' proved to be terrestrial, the experts now became "corupt" or "rude". He then, self-classified his rocks as "Rare Carbonaceous Meteorites". Others meteorite dealers have also tried to reason with him but to no avail. Seller continued to add suspect auctions.

Initially, I asked the seller if he was "that bad at identification or a con man?" What do you now think?

MORE 'michaeteged0' Auctions

Do not purchase suspect meteorites or meteorites from China.
Buy from IMCA members and established dealers! Caveat emptor!