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Hi guys, in my city of Hamilton, Ontario, there is a shop just a walk away from my house that is selling Vinctifer comptoni specimens. One of the specimens being sold right now i will post pics now. How much of this fossil is tampered or repaired? Im asking as I am not familiar with the Cretaceous Santana formation fossils and I know these fish fossils are sought after.

Hi everyone. just wanted to ask on here regarding the popular auction/ selling site. Im currently looking for more dino material to add to my small collection. However, after browsing through "reliable/ famous" online fossil websites/ retailers, it seems that those websites either: only supply common fossils or, when they do have rarer pieces, they are priced very high and are sold very quickly. So I tried the popular auction site. Looking at the profiles of the sellers on that auction site, most of those sellers dig their own fossils and sell those fossils themselves without a "middle man" seller. The only thing im concerned about is whether those sellers on the auction site are legit (though I doubt they aren't). As most of those sellers Im looking at dont have items for sale as often, as opposed to other popular websites as they are more established. Where more established websites wouldnt necessarily be one to sell you a fake or take your cash and run. I also think that the dino material im currently looking at on their page is too niche of a product for scammers to take advantage of (except in the case for if the product were a trex tooth. and I also doubt that the sellers are fake as they have been on the auction site [many years] and have all positive feedback. i think they would have been reported if they were a fake). Would just like to ask if you guys have had any experience at purchasing with diggers at that popular auction site to have more access to rarer pieces? Thanks for the help!

New member. I did post in an old question too. I’ve been legally collecting surface finds from an area where I know others have collected too. I mostly find small fragments and want to see if anyone else has fragments from the area they don’t want so I can take them to the small schools near me and show to the kids and out of curiosity see if any fit with what I have. I want to note I know the laws about collecting and have met up with some folks from U of A when I’ve found anything for them. It’s just junk stuff I’m wanting. Like to show kids what they are more likely to find. Anyhow given as we cannot sell, how can I try to acquire from others similar fossils? Can I trade?

Hello, I've recently started collecting fossils again--it's been a long time. Anyway, I've found a couple of footprints I'd like to add to my collection, i was wondering if anyone on here has bought from [name redacted] and [name redacted]. For people who have used them, are their fossils authentic and correctly identified? Many thanks

Hi all, a friend of mine has lost a fossil of almost $1,000 in value because the parcel was delivered to a different address (in the same country) even though he had a tracking code. The local postal company claimed that they delivered to the address as stated on the parcel and the tracking code. They refuse to tell my friend which address they sent to as that is confidential information. The seller meanwhile stated he wrote down the address exactly as my friend specified, and that he checked my friend's online and Paypal as well to triple confirm that was the correct address. Right now, the seller claims he wrote the correct address. The postal company claimed they delivered to the address they were given (which isn't my friend's address). Neither side is giving in much to my friend's horror. This headache would be solved if the seller had only taken a picture of the address he claimed to ship to. It only takes 10 secs to snap a picture, but it could save you a $1,000 disaster. Sellers, please take a picture of the box. Buyers, please request for a picture.

I don't know to what extent this topic has been discussed before, but maybe it bears revisiting. Can we all agree it is bad practice for anyone to sell each half of a split pair separately? But to what extent is it bad - just a shame, or a travesty? Depends on the fossil, I guess, but who can say which fossil matters more? I think most dealers on our favorite auction site and elsewhere keep such pairs together, but I sometimes come across parts and counterparts being listed separately, and I usually suggest to the seller that they should sell them together. The response varies. Today I got: "You know what they say about opinions? To be honest with you, they WERE listed together and I dropped the price to list separately and offer them that way. Really this is a conversation not worth my or your time." Of course, money trumps everything - It appears that he had the pair listed together for a given price, and then split them into 2 auctions and lowered the price on each but not by a full half - so now they are more affordable individually, but the total, if sold, will come to more than the original combined price! Is there something we can do? I'd like to suggest to ebay that they at least recommend -if not require- sellers to keep split pairs together, but I would need some form of backup. It could be an uphill battle if they think it's just one lone guy with this nitpicking opinion. I could direct them (or individual sellers) to this page if I get enough supporting comments, especially from professional scientists and collectors who buy fossils. There is also a mineral/fossil dealer here on Vancouver Island who I've noticed sells split pairs separately, such as Eocene insects from the BC Interior. I tried to suggest he keep them together but it fell on deaf ears - I don't think he's really a fossil guy, he's more of a mineral guy and I don't know how to explain to him that it's bad practice with fossils. I guess I could explain that you wouldn't sell 2 pieces of a broken ammonite separately, and it's the same with compression fossils such as insects, worms and fish. They may appear to be mirror image duplicates but there are details that are different on each half if you look close enough. They are two halves of the same organism. I try to explain my concern, when I get the chance, that it's things like these that cause people (esp. professional paleontologists who are concerned with the science more than having an extra 'stamp' to add to one's collection) to advocate for restrictions or bans on the commercial fossil trade. I'm sure it's going to be a factor that will hurt all of us amateur collectors someday. So how universal is my opinion and to what degree do collectors and scientists agree with this and worry about it? I have reason to suspect it was this same V.I. dealer who found and split up a rare ophiuroid cluster that he found not far from me in Maple Bay, but I can't prove it and I won't mention his name. There is a piece of it being sold by a seller in France, with slightly incorrect info - I messaged him with the correct info, he said "thank you for the information" but still has not corrected the info in the listing. Here is the piece (not a good photo but I'm confident of its ID and provenance): I have a smaller piece of the original plate - this one appears to be somewhat larger than what I've seen so far, but if my piece is representative, there could be many of them floating around out there. A jigsaw puzzle that will never be reassembled. This incident is well-known in the Island paleo community and has been cited as an example of why fossil sales in the province should be restricted or banned. It should have gone into a museum, but of course museums around here don't offer to buy items, only offer a tax receipt, so the finder broke it up and sold it piece by piece. At the time it was legal (and I think it still would be now) but if the guy only realized the shame in what he did... If it's the guy I think it was, he is more of a mineral guy and likely is used to splitting up chunks into more easily handled/saleable pieces. He apparently doesn't think of such an assemblage as a snapshot of the seafloor community 85 million year ago and the behaviour of this species. Just a lucky concentration, like an ore body. Of course out-of-province fossils such as Moroccan and Madagascan ones are not covered by any B.C. policy. I realize I'm making a good case for banning the fossil trade but I'm not advocating this. I think it's OK as long as good practices are observed, such as not splitting up things that should be kept intact, and keeping accurate information with them. Donating scientifically valuable specimens to institutions is recommended, of course, but in lieu of that, I think if the aforementioned good practices are observed, some of the negative effects of the trade will be mitigated, in the off chance that someone should find a rare item or assemblage without realizing its ID or rarity. We can't expect all dealers or collectors to know exactly what they've got, but they have some responsibility, being in the field, so we could expect them to respect all of their specimens as if they were rare. It would be helpful if Ebay, being such a big part of the market, would adopt these policies or recommendations. They have all kinds of restrictions and other policies for other kinds of items.

Does anyone have experience selling fossils on Our Favorite Auction Site? I wanted to try selling my overflow and created two listing. Both were rejected because, if I understand it correctly, there were words "turtle shell" in the description. See the text of the email I got from eBay below. I called customer service and explained that we are talking fossils, fossils that are millions of years old. They would not budge, so I escalated the issue and now awaiting for someone to contact me. "Some of your listings haven’t followed our Animals, Plants, and Wildlife policy. In this email, we're including some policy information to help you with your future listings. We also had to take the following actions: - Listings that didn't follow our guidelines have been removed. A list of removed item(s) is available further down in this email. - We have credited all associated fees except for the final value fee for your listing(s). You may list plastic, glass, or other man-made items with a "tortoise shell" design if you state clearly in your listing what the item is and that it isn't made from real tortoise or turtle shell. Due to state and federal regulations, items made from turtles or tortoises that are considered endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service aren't allowed on eBay. In your listing, it is required that you include the turtle species from which your item is made. Species that are protected by law aren’t allowed. You listed an item made from tortoise/turtle but you did not identify the species. We appreciate that you have chosen to utilize our site and, if you choose to relist, the specific species of turtle/tortoise must be listed in the description. If you are unaware of what specific species of tortoise this is, or if it is a species that is endangered or threatened, we ask that you please not relist the item on our site. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this information and be sure that your current and future listings, including any items that are relisted automatically, follow these guidelines. If they don’t, they'll be removed and your fees may not be refunded. It could also result in additional actions, including loss of buying and selling privileges on Favorite Auction Site."

Today in online shops and auction sites, we see listings that are outright fake or with wrong IDs. Often, the first thing that comes is anger. "Why would he sell theropod indet. as raptor?" "That Keichosaurus is obviously fake!" "That's horn coral, not a T-Rex tooth..." etc. And in our anger, or need to prevent others from falling into the trap, we might post on the forum or spread it all over FB to warn others of this seller. Yet have we given the seller the benefit of the doubt? What if he/she made a genuine mistake? Recently I posted a thread filled with sarcasm and rage-humor on how a coral was marketed as an expensive sea bird fossil. It was too easy to ID the seller from my title and pictures. The mods thankfully closed the thread. Fossildude19 then contacted the seller, and reported the listing on the auction site. In 2 hours time, the listing was taken down, and the seller apologized for his mistake. The problem was solved quick and clean. I do not deny there are plenty of sellers out to scam. I do not advocate mercy for them, but I wish to tell you guys(and to remind myself) that some sellers are guilty of ignorance, not malice, and we should give them(and the auction site) a chance to remove their listing first. I know some of you are thinking - dealers have an even bigger responsibility to do their due research, and their laziness or mistakes causing buyers to lose $$$ isn't to be taken lightly. I agree. But we don't need to start witch hunts for them. All in all, I used to think reporting listings on eBay didn't work, but Fossildude19 proved it does. So give it a try guys; you can refer to this thread on how to do it >

Hello, I own over 1,000 belemnites fossils that I found in New Jersey. I have been trying to sell them, but I don't know how. Do any of you know of anyone who would buy them or do you have any tips for selling them? I heard there are shows that I can go to but I don't really have time to go to any of them. Any ideas?