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Let the Buyer Beware or David versus Goliath

I have been involved in Family history for about twenty years now, and have been on the family history circuit attending various fairs around the country for about twelve years.

In my time on the circuit, I have met lots of stall holders. Some are ‘fly by nights’ who think you can shove anything onto a CD, flog it, make a pile of cash and then disappear, (they never last long, thankfully). Some are genuine folk who really want to help people trace their ancestry, and then we have the ‘big boys’ or those that fully intend to be one of the big boys - wannabees.

The ‘fly by nights’ have been known to pirate information, (census records, parish transcriptions, etc.) or download free information from the Internet, copy it to a CD, put a pretty picture on the front and sell cheaply it at a family history Fair or on Ebay. A quick buck is all they are interested in. They couldn't care less about you or your family history, just your hard earned cash..

The genuine folk strive hard to make sure the products they sell, whether it be parish transcriptions or census, etc. are of first rate quality. They spend hours, days and sometimes months, transcribing hard to read and all too often almost illegible documents. These people are really proud of the work they have produced and they make it available at a reasonable cost which belies all the effort it has taken. The little guy cannot afford vast advertising campaigns or expensive pay per click costs. They rely totally on the quality of their products and word of mouth advertising.

The ‘big boys’ or major players have loads of money to spend on advertising - I am sure you have seen the full page adverts in the magazines. The major players (or wannabe major players) are prepared to pay a fortune to keep themselves top in the pay per click bids, and buy up any and all domain names that have anything, even vaguely, to do with genealogy.

No, this is not ‘sour grapes’ from one of the little guys. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not against anyone making a living. What I loathe is the major players doing their best to force the genuine, little guy out of business. Of course, if they succeed in getting rid of the little guy, then the major players will get a larger slice of the cake. The problem is, in the end, as always, it is you, the customer, who suffers. Limited records, not always good, and only available at the price they want to charge.

Article Source: http://www.familyhistoryarticles.com

www.parishchest.com

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