Not to take away from rrraphy's point but:-
YYYIIIPPPEEE!!!!!
I won the bet.
Hip! Hip! Hooray!!
I said that he would be the first to post on the Auctions and Approvals topic within 5 days of him landing back!!!!
rrraphy my friend your getting too predictable!!!!
Ian, I can see you missed me!
And I could have also said that YOUR BOOKS are just with the right level of details in the titles, not like those others to be unnamed, that are just not meeting my (and I assume others) minimum expectations for the titles!
So why don't you pick on them for a bit of variety in your life!
I will remind all (except Ian) that, per our rules:
#4 The book offers stamps in WELL DEFINED, collectible topics that are clearly described in its TITLE and listed in the corresponding Approval Books Category?
NOTE: Please do NOT compile books with unrelated material, "floor sweepings", and do NOT combine unrelated countries or topics, etc.. Your book must fit one of our categories. Make sure the title contains enough information, such as year range, catalog number range, condition, topical subject, etc. to define precisely its content.
Tight enforcement consequences: Books with vague TITLES, bridging categories AND without adequately precise descriptive information will be deactivated! Book not well organized will be deactivated
And while Michael is so busy with family matters, and tight enforcement is currently absent, it would be nice seeing voluntary compliance!
rrr...
I do see your point Ralph but obviously the titles aren't a factor for at least one seller who puts "stamps from xxxxxx", he has sold 13000 stamps that way, so people are looking all the same. Most books don't give much of a clue as to what is in them other than country
I have yet to figure out why some things work for some sellers and not for others. I always put a Scott catalog # (I know Ian we don't all use Scott) and the one time I didn't I sold nothing - so I never did that again. On the other hand if I dare to list something with a catalog number other than Scott, it rarely sells.
I still don't know if indexing works to increase sales. I don't know if anyone looks at them but as I said in the beginning, its no extra work as the index page gets made up anyway.
Greg
"titles aren't a factor for at least one seller who puts "stamps from xxxxxx", he has sold 13000 stamps that way."
First, I have no skin in this game (I am not a buyer or seller). But I do have experience with database development, coding, and user interfaces. From a database/searching/filtering perspective, I have empathy for the need to have good titles and descriptions. From a user perspective, I understand the value of autonomy and free form data entry.
One solution is to have database fields which hold the basic information (i.e. Country, Year, Mint/Used). Then code the input form with drop down boxes (Country and Year) or radio button (Mint/Used) which standardizes the data entry for these important fields. Users can quickly click on their choice, the drop down/radio buttons allow only predefined data entry into these fields. Queries and searches which then use these standardize fields become much more powerful; consistent and always there for every listing.
But wishing or desiring that users enter data a certain way in a free form text field is a pipe dream (eBay has proven this); the only way to ensure important fields in a database are entered a certain way is to restrict the data entry through the use of form controls and code validation.
Don
I spend quite a bit of time "hunting" for poorly described bargains, so I'm glad some descriptions are less than perfect!
However, as a non-Scott user, all I would like would be a year of issue included so I know where to look in the appropriate catalogue. A listing like "Scott 123" means squat to me, and deters me from looking
"I say this as the current auction platform is biased against higher valued stamps because of the 14 day rule."
It all boils down to this:-
We are all individual humans!!
We have our own, our very own, unique, beliefs, knowledge, expertise, standards, wants, foibles, eccentricities, optimisms, pessimisms, interpretations and paranoias.
Of course ONE IS ALWAYS RIGHT! ( I have "She who must be obeyed"'s permission to say this.)
All Sellers and Buyers are individuals, what works for one member may not work for another, (who is right and who is wrong?) NEITHER!
As long as the members work within the rules, Fine!
It is up to the Management Team to sort out those that do not.
I repeat my final paragraph from my previous post:-
"Yes we must have rules but those bending them should be educated with understanding, tolerance and respect, if they continue then by all means have them broken on the wheel, hung drawn and quartered and their worldly possessions distributed to the poor."
and, it is a fitting ending worthy of perpetual repetition, Ian
The top 4 (%-wise) selling books in the Approval New Books category are listed as "Stamps from XXXXX". While I do not advocate titling in this manner, it seems to work for some sellers. Probably more to do with pricing and material offered.
Well, "Stamps from XXXXX" kind of compels any collector of XXXXX to take a look.
So, as a seller, if I want more looks, I'm going to use a more general description.
If the description was say, "Postage Due stamps from XXXXX", I think fewer looks could be expected, simply because there are likely to be fewer Postage Dues collectors than general collectors.
-Paul
Let me take a moment to clarify what Ralph is talking about regarding the four questions asked of a seller when posting an approval book for sale.
First, those statements are not in sync with the current rules. This sometimes happens when rules are copied in different places on a site rather than placed in just one spot.
The matter of using "well defined" titles for an approval book is contained in the approval book rules in Section E. "Suggestions for Better Sales", to wit:
"make approval book titles specific and describe the contents of the books"
"If a seller posts an approval book that is not liked, then it will not see much in the way of sales. As a result, the automated approval book closure program will nab the book and move it to the "Closing Soon" status, and if lack of sales persist for the book, the system will close it."
"rrraphy Does this sound familiar? and YES I did miss you but glad you had a great time in Argentina!"
Don said:
"One solution is to have database fields which hold the basic information (i.e. Country, Year, Mint/Used). Then code the input form with drop down boxes (Country and Year) or radio button (Mint/Used) which standardizes the data entry for these important fields."
Having a quick shuftie through the approval books, there are:-
464 Books,
42 Different Sellers,
11 Sellers could "improve" their titles.
2 of these sellers are the major "culprits" in my opinion. However they sell a heck of a lot of stamps. OK do we really want to lose them as sellers thus reducing the choice for the members?
As a seller myself it would be easy for me to say punish them, upset them and let them go as it rids me of the competition.
What I do believe is the members should have as wide a choice as possible, if members do not buy from them then they may be forced to change.
However these sellers are within the Rules but maybe not in the spirit of the Rules. That is their choice.
Do we really want to go down the road of penal enforcement, thus increasing the workload of our voluntary moderators, limiting the choice to members and driving away some Sellers, who are also members and enjoy the other benefits of Stamporama?
Nay! Nay! and thrice Nay!
Let "the market" decide.
""One solution is to have database fields which hold the basic information (i.e. Country, Year, Mint/Used). Then code the input form with drop down boxes (Country and Year) or radio button (Mint/Used) which standardizes the data entry for these important fields."
"
" I don't think we should invest a lot of additional thought and energy into a platform that seems to be doing quite well"
I wish you guys posting Approval Books would just take a few seconds more to make your title more precise.
Example: Stamps from France. (just as an example..not picking anyone)
Well we know it is stamps so you are wasting valuable title space. But France has issued stamps since 1849, and there are nearly 4000 regular stamps, and another 1000+ Back of the book stamps!
So is it too much to ask that you bracket what you are putting in your Approval Book, and define it better IN THE TITLE!
Are they Used or Mint, What years are you covering, what cat # range (if you don't put the year), Back of the Book or not? etc..etc..etc...
PLEASE, it just takes a few seconds to define your title more precisely.
rrr...
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
Not to take away from rrraphy's point but:-
YYYIIIPPPEEE!!!!!
I won the bet.
Hip! Hip! Hooray!!
I said that he would be the first to post on the Auctions and Approvals topic within 5 days of him landing back!!!!
rrraphy my friend your getting too predictable!!!!
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
Ian, I can see you missed me!
And I could have also said that YOUR BOOKS are just with the right level of details in the titles, not like those others to be unnamed, that are just not meeting my (and I assume others) minimum expectations for the titles!
So why don't you pick on them for a bit of variety in your life!
I will remind all (except Ian) that, per our rules:
#4 The book offers stamps in WELL DEFINED, collectible topics that are clearly described in its TITLE and listed in the corresponding Approval Books Category?
NOTE: Please do NOT compile books with unrelated material, "floor sweepings", and do NOT combine unrelated countries or topics, etc.. Your book must fit one of our categories. Make sure the title contains enough information, such as year range, catalog number range, condition, topical subject, etc. to define precisely its content.
Tight enforcement consequences: Books with vague TITLES, bridging categories AND without adequately precise descriptive information will be deactivated! Book not well organized will be deactivated
And while Michael is so busy with family matters, and tight enforcement is currently absent, it would be nice seeing voluntary compliance!
rrr...
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
I do see your point Ralph but obviously the titles aren't a factor for at least one seller who puts "stamps from xxxxxx", he has sold 13000 stamps that way, so people are looking all the same. Most books don't give much of a clue as to what is in them other than country
I have yet to figure out why some things work for some sellers and not for others. I always put a Scott catalog # (I know Ian we don't all use Scott) and the one time I didn't I sold nothing - so I never did that again. On the other hand if I dare to list something with a catalog number other than Scott, it rarely sells.
I still don't know if indexing works to increase sales. I don't know if anyone looks at them but as I said in the beginning, its no extra work as the index page gets made up anyway.
Greg
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
"titles aren't a factor for at least one seller who puts "stamps from xxxxxx", he has sold 13000 stamps that way."
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
First, I have no skin in this game (I am not a buyer or seller). But I do have experience with database development, coding, and user interfaces. From a database/searching/filtering perspective, I have empathy for the need to have good titles and descriptions. From a user perspective, I understand the value of autonomy and free form data entry.
One solution is to have database fields which hold the basic information (i.e. Country, Year, Mint/Used). Then code the input form with drop down boxes (Country and Year) or radio button (Mint/Used) which standardizes the data entry for these important fields. Users can quickly click on their choice, the drop down/radio buttons allow only predefined data entry into these fields. Queries and searches which then use these standardize fields become much more powerful; consistent and always there for every listing.
But wishing or desiring that users enter data a certain way in a free form text field is a pipe dream (eBay has proven this); the only way to ensure important fields in a database are entered a certain way is to restrict the data entry through the use of form controls and code validation.
Don
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
I spend quite a bit of time "hunting" for poorly described bargains, so I'm glad some descriptions are less than perfect!
However, as a non-Scott user, all I would like would be a year of issue included so I know where to look in the appropriate catalogue. A listing like "Scott 123" means squat to me, and deters me from looking
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
"I say this as the current auction platform is biased against higher valued stamps because of the 14 day rule."
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
It all boils down to this:-
We are all individual humans!!
We have our own, our very own, unique, beliefs, knowledge, expertise, standards, wants, foibles, eccentricities, optimisms, pessimisms, interpretations and paranoias.
Of course ONE IS ALWAYS RIGHT! ( I have "She who must be obeyed"'s permission to say this.)
All Sellers and Buyers are individuals, what works for one member may not work for another, (who is right and who is wrong?) NEITHER!
As long as the members work within the rules, Fine!
It is up to the Management Team to sort out those that do not.
I repeat my final paragraph from my previous post:-
"Yes we must have rules but those bending them should be educated with understanding, tolerance and respect, if they continue then by all means have them broken on the wheel, hung drawn and quartered and their worldly possessions distributed to the poor."
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
and, it is a fitting ending worthy of perpetual repetition, Ian
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
The top 4 (%-wise) selling books in the Approval New Books category are listed as "Stamps from XXXXX". While I do not advocate titling in this manner, it seems to work for some sellers. Probably more to do with pricing and material offered.
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
Well, "Stamps from XXXXX" kind of compels any collector of XXXXX to take a look.
So, as a seller, if I want more looks, I'm going to use a more general description.
If the description was say, "Postage Due stamps from XXXXX", I think fewer looks could be expected, simply because there are likely to be fewer Postage Dues collectors than general collectors.
-Paul
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
Let me take a moment to clarify what Ralph is talking about regarding the four questions asked of a seller when posting an approval book for sale.
First, those statements are not in sync with the current rules. This sometimes happens when rules are copied in different places on a site rather than placed in just one spot.
The matter of using "well defined" titles for an approval book is contained in the approval book rules in Section E. "Suggestions for Better Sales", to wit:
"make approval book titles specific and describe the contents of the books"
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
"If a seller posts an approval book that is not liked, then it will not see much in the way of sales. As a result, the automated approval book closure program will nab the book and move it to the "Closing Soon" status, and if lack of sales persist for the book, the system will close it."
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
"rrraphy Does this sound familiar? and YES I did miss you but glad you had a great time in Argentina!"
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
Don said:
"One solution is to have database fields which hold the basic information (i.e. Country, Year, Mint/Used). Then code the input form with drop down boxes (Country and Year) or radio button (Mint/Used) which standardizes the data entry for these important fields."
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
Having a quick shuftie through the approval books, there are:-
464 Books,
42 Different Sellers,
11 Sellers could "improve" their titles.
2 of these sellers are the major "culprits" in my opinion. However they sell a heck of a lot of stamps. OK do we really want to lose them as sellers thus reducing the choice for the members?
As a seller myself it would be easy for me to say punish them, upset them and let them go as it rids me of the competition.
What I do believe is the members should have as wide a choice as possible, if members do not buy from them then they may be forced to change.
However these sellers are within the Rules but maybe not in the spirit of the Rules. That is their choice.
Do we really want to go down the road of penal enforcement, thus increasing the workload of our voluntary moderators, limiting the choice to members and driving away some Sellers, who are also members and enjoy the other benefits of Stamporama?
Nay! Nay! and thrice Nay!
Let "the market" decide.
re: Approval Books. I WISH.......
""One solution is to have database fields which hold the basic information (i.e. Country, Year, Mint/Used). Then code the input form with drop down boxes (Country and Year) or radio button (Mint/Used) which standardizes the data entry for these important fields."
"