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For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps



What we collect!
What we collect!


General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : Selling on eBay

 

Author
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Potter66

10 Feb 2015
11:04:03am
I've been buying and watching for about 3 months and have yet to see any stamps on the NZ pages being sold by an individual who is not a dealer / trader. I've only a few items to sell, but is it difficult to become trusted / get established?
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Webpaper
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10 Feb 2015
12:36:04pm
re: Selling on eBay

Everybody who sells on Ebay started with a -0- feedback. If you have purchased some stamps then hopefully a few of the sellers gave you positive feedback.

I quit Ebay in 2008 with a feedback rating of 2400 plus at 100%. When I came back a couple of years later they would not transfer it to my new ID so I started at -0-. I bought a few cheap things to build feedback up to 10 and started selling - unless you are selling expensive stamps I don't really think a low feedback rating is going to impact you.

Just my two cents

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michael78651
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10 Feb 2015
01:04:19pm
re: Selling on eBay

I think you meant to say a "low feedback count", rather than "low feedback rating". A low rating will definitely hurt a buyer/seller.

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Webpaper
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10 Feb 2015
07:44:45pm
re: Selling on eBay

Thank you - I did indeed mean count, not rating. The older I get the less cognitive function I seem to utilize to edit my own work. I could still do well correcting my students work but I retired a few year back. Funny, isn't it. You would think that I wouldn't be making mistakes like that but for some reason I can't find them.

Thanks again J

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philb
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10 Feb 2015
08:18:05pm

Auctions
re: Selling on eBay

Webpaper thats the great leveler..we all started out with zero feedback...in 1998 i did not have a scanner...i had to describe everything i was selling...and believe me i was selling a lot more lots back then than i am now with a scanner Sad

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"If a man would be anything, he must be himself."
Webpaper
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10 Feb 2015
09:17:18pm
re: Selling on eBay

I started in 1997 - no pictures and the old alpha-numeric numbers and your email address was your Ebay ID. Both buying and selling were wonderful.

About once a month a lot would sell for several times what you ever dreamed it would bring. I started a fishing reel I couldn't research at $20 with the admonition that "since I have never seen one like it I will not sell it for less". It went for a shade under $400 !! With no picture (and paid by personal check). Lots of trust and faith in those days.

I remember a guy sold an apple grinder and when it hit $200 he added all kinds of descriptions of little rust spots and any other flaws he could find. It ended up at $2200 - scarce little apple grinder it was (that was a little later - it had a picture).

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Bobstamp
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10 Feb 2015
09:36:39pm
re: Selling on eBay

Philb said,

"…in 1998 I did not have a scanner...I had to describe everything I was selling...and believe me I was selling a lot more lots back then than I am now with a scanner."



I have never, as far as I recall, bought a stamp or cover or postcard without having seen an image of it, and I have always presumed that most collectors did the same. Yet I am aware that there are dealers who still rely on written descriptions and seem to do OK. Here in Vancouver, a stamp shop that has a weekly auction rarely provides scans of lots, but has been in business for decades. It's hard for me to imagine why decent images wouldn't increase sales, but in philb's case, that seems to have been the case. Or, there just aren't as many buyers now as there were in 1998. It's a puzzle!

Bob
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BenFranklin1902
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Tom in Exton, PA

22 Feb 2015
09:45:29pm

Approvals
re: Selling on eBay

Ah Webpaper, the good ole days of eBay... back in 1999 I had a robust business selling old car brochures and auto memorabilia. I was selling over $1000 a month and never had a bad deal.

Nearly everything sold and most of that got multiple bids and a good final price.

As time went on and eBay got more popular, the seller pool got too large and the very same things were being listed for $1 plus $1 postage. Never mind that these newbie sellers didn't know that they couldn't mail it for a dollar. Finally my sell through got bad enough that it really wasn't worth selling anymore.

I have been a constant buyer through the years and have gone through spurts of selling. I subscribe to a daily auction newsletter and keep abreast of the market. As said in this thread, with the slant towards pleasing the buyers of consumer junk, the venue is terribly anti small seller. I can't see myself going back to that mess.

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nl1947

22 Feb 2015
10:41:38pm
re: Selling on eBay

I was selling stamps pre 2000 on eBay & filling orders every day.
I would sell a little below the catalog price

Then they came in with their adwords and other "marketing" tools. All the big dealers started coming online & before I knew it I was at the BOB and paying big fees and selling very little.
Not much room for the little guy to make a living. The ones who drop ship junk or sell the high end fashion Chinese knockoffs do reasonably well.

For stamps there does seem to be a good market for forgeries, fakes & facsimiles. Laughing

There are some good specialized sites I prefer. I'm into photography & astronomy & I have done very well buying & selling on these sites with no fees involved of any type and everyone a prospective buyer.

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Author/Postings
Potter66

10 Feb 2015
11:04:03am

I've been buying and watching for about 3 months and have yet to see any stamps on the NZ pages being sold by an individual who is not a dealer / trader. I've only a few items to sell, but is it difficult to become trusted / get established?

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
Webpaper

10 Feb 2015
12:36:04pm

re: Selling on eBay

Everybody who sells on Ebay started with a -0- feedback. If you have purchased some stamps then hopefully a few of the sellers gave you positive feedback.

I quit Ebay in 2008 with a feedback rating of 2400 plus at 100%. When I came back a couple of years later they would not transfer it to my new ID so I started at -0-. I bought a few cheap things to build feedback up to 10 and started selling - unless you are selling expensive stamps I don't really think a low feedback rating is going to impact you.

Just my two cents

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2 Members
like this post.
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Members Picture
michael78651

10 Feb 2015
01:04:19pm

re: Selling on eBay

I think you meant to say a "low feedback count", rather than "low feedback rating". A low rating will definitely hurt a buyer/seller.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

www.hipstamp.com/sto ...
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Webpaper

10 Feb 2015
07:44:45pm

re: Selling on eBay

Thank you - I did indeed mean count, not rating. The older I get the less cognitive function I seem to utilize to edit my own work. I could still do well correcting my students work but I retired a few year back. Funny, isn't it. You would think that I wouldn't be making mistakes like that but for some reason I can't find them.

Thanks again J

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
philb

10 Feb 2015
08:18:05pm

Auctions

re: Selling on eBay

Webpaper thats the great leveler..we all started out with zero feedback...in 1998 i did not have a scanner...i had to describe everything i was selling...and believe me i was selling a lot more lots back then than i am now with a scanner Sad

Like
Login to Like
this post

"If a man would be anything, he must be himself."
Members Picture
Webpaper

10 Feb 2015
09:17:18pm

re: Selling on eBay

I started in 1997 - no pictures and the old alpha-numeric numbers and your email address was your Ebay ID. Both buying and selling were wonderful.

About once a month a lot would sell for several times what you ever dreamed it would bring. I started a fishing reel I couldn't research at $20 with the admonition that "since I have never seen one like it I will not sell it for less". It went for a shade under $400 !! With no picture (and paid by personal check). Lots of trust and faith in those days.

I remember a guy sold an apple grinder and when it hit $200 he added all kinds of descriptions of little rust spots and any other flaws he could find. It ended up at $2200 - scarce little apple grinder it was (that was a little later - it had a picture).

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
Bobstamp

10 Feb 2015
09:36:39pm

re: Selling on eBay

Philb said,

"…in 1998 I did not have a scanner...I had to describe everything I was selling...and believe me I was selling a lot more lots back then than I am now with a scanner."



I have never, as far as I recall, bought a stamp or cover or postcard without having seen an image of it, and I have always presumed that most collectors did the same. Yet I am aware that there are dealers who still rely on written descriptions and seem to do OK. Here in Vancouver, a stamp shop that has a weekly auction rarely provides scans of lots, but has been in business for decades. It's hard for me to imagine why decent images wouldn't increase sales, but in philb's case, that seems to have been the case. Or, there just aren't as many buyers now as there were in 1998. It's a puzzle!

Bob
Like
Login to Like
this post

www.ephemeraltreasur ...
Members Picture
BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
22 Feb 2015
09:45:29pm

Approvals

re: Selling on eBay

Ah Webpaper, the good ole days of eBay... back in 1999 I had a robust business selling old car brochures and auto memorabilia. I was selling over $1000 a month and never had a bad deal.

Nearly everything sold and most of that got multiple bids and a good final price.

As time went on and eBay got more popular, the seller pool got too large and the very same things were being listed for $1 plus $1 postage. Never mind that these newbie sellers didn't know that they couldn't mail it for a dollar. Finally my sell through got bad enough that it really wasn't worth selling anymore.

I have been a constant buyer through the years and have gone through spurts of selling. I subscribe to a daily auction newsletter and keep abreast of the market. As said in this thread, with the slant towards pleasing the buyers of consumer junk, the venue is terribly anti small seller. I can't see myself going back to that mess.

Like
Login to Like
this post
nl1947

22 Feb 2015
10:41:38pm

re: Selling on eBay

I was selling stamps pre 2000 on eBay & filling orders every day.
I would sell a little below the catalog price

Then they came in with their adwords and other "marketing" tools. All the big dealers started coming online & before I knew it I was at the BOB and paying big fees and selling very little.
Not much room for the little guy to make a living. The ones who drop ship junk or sell the high end fashion Chinese knockoffs do reasonably well.

For stamps there does seem to be a good market for forgeries, fakes & facsimiles. Laughing

There are some good specialized sites I prefer. I'm into photography & astronomy & I have done very well buying & selling on these sites with no fees involved of any type and everyone a prospective buyer.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
        

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