michael78651

07 Apr 2015
04:10:16pm

Once in a while I will try a selection of stamps from an approval dealer. Trying someone different can open up new stock for a collector.

When I request approvals, and I make sure from their advertisement if they will be able to provide stamps that meet my needs, I tell them to send only one country per selection and that I want MNH complete sets and singles. Many times this communication is done through email before my first approval selection is shipped. When the dealer tells me that there's no problem sending me what I want, I tell the dealer to send me a selection.

So, why is it that quite often this is what I get in my approval selection (some or all of the following):

- multiple countries
- hinged stamps
- used stamps
- stamps with writing on the back (stamps are no longer mnh)
- stamps that used to have writing on the back, but it was erased (stamps are no longer mnh)
- damaged stamps
- incomplete sets
- countries that I specifically stated I did not want

I will send the selection back. Maybe there was a set or two that I wanted to buy. I tell them again how I want my approval selections, and then I wait for shipment two.

Sometimes a dealer will get it right, but that does not seem to be the norm. What I usually get is more of the same from the list above. I return the selection and cancel the service when it happens twice.

Sometimes I will retry a dealer after six months or a year to see if things have gotten better. In fact, that is what prompted this post. Yep, I sent back 3/4 of the first selection due to damaged stamps. I'll see what happens with selection 2.

Above all, sales relies heavily on repeat business. Dealers sending what a buyer doesn't want (Are they thinking that most buyers will simply take what is sent and be happy with it?) will wind up wasting alot of time and money. As those who sell stamps know, there isn't much of a profit margin to begin with. I find this with small and large dealers alike. Don't send me floor scrapings. I won't buy them.

What have been your experiences with approval dealers?

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DaSaintFan

08 Apr 2015
01:03:12am

re: Why Do Approval Dealers Do This?

If they do that, michael that usually means those approval books will end up in the bargain bin at a swap meet/bourse.

I'm FINALLY making my way to the collection of approval books (so far not too many "surprises", but lots of little holes getting filled.), but I'm probably a bit less particular in grabbing approval books for cheap. But that means wading through a ton of Germany stamps though

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ChrisW

APS# 175366
08 Apr 2015
09:05:49am

re: Why Do Approval Dealers Do This?

I will not mention any names here, but I have a dealer that I've dealt with, buying stamps from his price list, for more than a year before getting approvals. That way, we already have a good relationship. Of course, not all dealers will sell with price lists and approvals.

My point being, try to build a relationship with the dealer first if at all possible.

 
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michael78651

08 Apr 2015
09:30:07am

re: Why Do Approval Dealers Do This?

Just to be clear, I am not talking about the stamps in the "approval books" being offered on SOR. I am talking about mail order approval dealers.

Yes, I do agree that if you can find an approval dealer who has what you are looking for, and can develop a good relationship , you will get plenty of items for your collection. I have known several through my collecting life that were great.

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cdj1122

re: Why Do Approval Dealers Do This?

In the many years before the internet exploded and brought an ll night, seven day a week, stamp supermarket to my stamp room, I dealt with many approval dealers by mail. Over time I found several super mail approval dealers.
Dana Randal, who ran "House of Stamps" from Ohio, Ronald Paul from California, Barbara and Howard Mundt from Indiana, a fellow who lived in a remote town in Alberta who had the most impressive view of some snow capped mountains from his rear window, J. Sanders from Southampton, and and a dealer who helped me build my UK collection from Tottenham,Bucks, in England, before the Machins, but the problem seems to be that they closed up shop, possibly because they were older than I was and so nature apparently took its course.

There were a few more whose names have slipped my faltering memory but who, in a future unguarded moment, will suddenly pop in my mind, often with their address and spouse's name as if I just received a selection.
And for a quiet minute I'll stop and recall some stamps I picked from their approval pages or hand stapled booklets and smile.

I suppose to find some really good mail dealer you will have to seek them out and try them out. And when you do find someone whose selections meet your needs, let him, or her, of course, that you like what is sent by patronizing the last of the Mohegans.
I have told all my daughters and now my older grand daughters that there is truth to the saying "You'll have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince."
That applies to approval services as well.

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TuskenRaider

30 Apr 2015
03:15:40pm

re: Why Do Approval Dealers Do This?

Hi Everyone;

Never heard of any of those cdj. I used to try ads from Linn's. When I found a good one, I would keep
buying from them and so did my first wife Rita.

Our favorite was Clifford T. Hurd, who had 3¢ and 5¢ approvals. They were not that common and were
very good material. They were very clean and without damage, and of course it only cost a fraction of
the postage it would take today.

Our rising postal costs are a disgrace to smart management, and have killed off many stamp businesses
due to the rising postal costs. Virtually every other business has figured out how to be more efficient
and cost effective. But then again it's the government and the only thing they know how to manage is
a train wreck.

Maybe the USPS should out-source to China.

Just goofin' off....
TuskenRaider

 
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