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It comes as a surprise to many people that meteorites can be bought, sold and collected outside of museums and laboratories. The internet has seen a boom in the number of meteorite collectors and dealers. Some meteorites are very valuable, as such there are a few unscrupulous sales people around who may be selling terrestrial rocks as meteorites. To avoid being disappointed, consider the following recomendations:

• Get to know the subject, read about meteorites and become familiar with the most common/popular types and how they look. You will be able to tell some rocks are not meteorites even from a small photograph.
• Consider who you are purchasing from. Many meteorite dealers are members of the International Meteorite Collectors Association (IMCA). IMCA members monitor each others business activites to ensure authenticity. However, there are a number of large and reputable dealers who are not IMCA members. Numerous dealers post advertisements to the Meteorite mailing List ("metlist") at Meteorite Central. You can also find dealers via The Meteorite Exchange.

As a BIMS member please feel free to post on our mailing list if you are at all concerned about a (potential) purchase and we will do our best to help you. Remember that it is ultimately your own responsibility to check the provenance and authenticity of any items you buy. Reputable dealers will always be happy to answer questions on these matters. For a genuine meteorite dealer, reputation is everything. Misrepresenting just one specimen would ruin their entire business as collectors would lose confidence in them. Therefore the vast majority are highly professional and reliable.