Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Well I'm pretty sure this thread will have quite a few responses since it has been a couple months since the BIN function has been implemented. This is my own personal outlook on it and some suggestions regarding the auction.
The BIN function does work well for sellers that want to offer it. Although it is different than most other auctions sites (OK all of them), it seems to have been more of a negative for buyers than anything. The excitement of a true auction seems to have been lost for the real auction enthusiast.
THE FOLLOWING IS MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION AND IS NOT BEING OFFERED TO OFFEND ANYONE OR TAKE AWAY FROM THE GREAT WORK OF THE VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE AND TIM. SO PLEASE RESPOND ACCORDINGLY WITH RESPECT AND CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS FEELINGS.
In my opinion I think the BIN option should be either changed to the standard option where if someone places a bid it disappears OR it should be dropped all together and replaced with another option...
Make an Offer: In the last couple months I have seen a increase of users asking if I would take an offer on items. This is obviously through the message system and and in turn if I decide to accept the offer I have to go in and change the price.
Obviously not all items are popular at a specific time and only a seller knows what they need to sell a item for in order to not loss money. So with a "offer" option if a buyer is interested in a item but feels it has a market value less than what a seller is offering it at they simply "Make a Offer" the seller can accept it or deny it, pretty basic.
Now the above suggestions are mine and don't reflect anyone else and I know Tim would have to do some programming in order to change anything. So I DON'T expect anything to change until the volunteer committee has discussed it and anything they decide I am happy to agree with and don't expect any changes based on my words here, as everyone else should respect their decisions as many of us have and will continue to do so, this is NOT a democratic voting system....Respectful opinion responses please
With the above suggestions I was going to add "OR YOU CAN DO THIS...OR MAYBE..." but I do see the point of some how the basic concept of auctions has been changed with the BIN and I am only giving the above suggestion(s) in order to see a more level playing ground for both the seller and buyer so at the end of each and every transaction both the buyer and the seller can say, I LOVE SOR!, as many of us do but maybe feel slighted with the current BIN inadvertently because they missed that one item.
With the above said: If you agree with most of it with little change and you don't want to give a written opinion, simply click that "LIKE" at bottom right.
Thank you again to the ALL that involved in this website.
Grant
StampCommune
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I have used the BIN as a buyer and like it.
Let's face it, the so called "thrill of an auction" is entirely secondary (or perhaps tertiary) to the more fundamental buy and sell motives. I go to the auction to buy a stamp at the best price possible, including taking advantage of a BIN price if I think it is fair and don't want to lose the stamp to a potentially competing buyer.
Frankly, I can't see any potential buyer logically objecting to a BIN system as currently existing. The only ones who might have a reason to object are sellers, and even there, they need not offer a BIN if they so chose.
My vote is to leave the BIN system as is.
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I have used the BIN option a couple of times, but for the most part I tend to ignore it. When I really, really want something, I'm glad to have it. Otherwise, it's not really a factor for me. If I place a bid, and someone either scoops it up later by paying the BIN, or just plain old outbids me, the end result is the same - the item goes to someone who was willing to pay more than I was.
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I have been bidding/winning lots here recently and I don't believe I've used the bin option yet. (I do use it most of the time, when buying certain stamps on ebay) I am not the "excitement of the auction," type. And though I may make a bid here in our auction, I do not go out of my way to "steal" a stamp away from another bidder by using the bin option. For the most part, I am happy to "take time" building my collections, while in other cases, where I am looking for rare-semi rare topics that I need to get hold of asap, I specifically look, on ebay, only for sellers that offer the bin option.
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Members:
What's not to like?
• I do not like or use the "buy it now" feature - commercial, anti-clubbish, and other auction sites do it better.
• I do not like Grant Wagoner's suggestion of a "make an offer" feature, and likely would not use it should it come to pass. It is unnecessary as the buyer can already make an offer to the seller via direct e-mail. Personally, I sometimes do this on expired auction lots that have failed to attract bids, and have had some success.
• I do not like a club auction board built on the premise or philosophy that the seller must make a profit. I have purchased many, probably most, of my stamps from Stamporama members (including Grant Wagoner) where neither the seller nor the buyer have realized a financial benefit, yet both are satisfied with the transaction.
• I do not like the "penny lots" stamp category because it permits the listing of lots starting at more than a penny (with apologies to our Chief Auctioneer for Life).
• I do not like the "like" feature as it has reduced content on the "discussion" page.
STAMPORAMA, what's not to like?
John Derry
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If you have noticed, I tend to post a BIN at full Scott Catalogue value. I really feel bad when a "bidding war" starts and someone ends up paying more than Scott for a stamp. Its great for my bottom line, but all I want to do is try to recover my costs. My objective is to give the membership a chance to collect the stamps that I don't need. I try to describe each stamp accurately and fully guarantee each purchase.
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First of all I buy far more stamps on SOR then I sell. I am probably in the top 10 maybe 5 volume buyers for US stamps. I also post stamps in the auction at least monthly.
No offense to club members but if I were out to make a money selling stamps SOR wouldn't be my first choice. On most SOR sales the time it takes to scan stamps, validate their condition,describe them, price them, pick them and then ship one, two or a dozen stamps virtually dashes my hopes of becoming a millionaire or even recouping my costs.
Basically I sell a few duplicates and spend the money on purchases.
Most of the SOR action items are reasonably priced compared to the catalog and other auction or sales sites. Most of the people who post items for auction are active club members and at least informative and helpful.
I do trade, purchase and sell stamps from other members outside the auction. That is an option and a choice. Just like having all the features on our auction site is an option and a choice.
My only complaint on the auction is that I wish more members posted items in the auction. I know some of you are holding out on me 
Just my 2 cents.
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I haven't had anything up for auction since the feature was introduced. However, I rarely use a BIN feature on ANY site, unless it's a stamp I absolutely "must have without fail." And there are very few of those.
A lot of the time BIN (not necessarily just here) doesn't make sense to me. Too many sellers (again, not necessarily HERE) use BIN in the hopes of scoring a "home run price" on their material. OK, so maybe there are people who'll pay 90% of CV for your basic F-VF stamp... but if opening bid is 1/3 and I can probably win it for 40%, why would I BIN?
Again, this is PURELY opinion! 
~Peter
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09:10:03pm
Hi all,
Well I'm pretty sure this thread will have quite a few responses since it has been a couple months since the BIN function has been implemented. This is my own personal outlook on it and some suggestions regarding the auction.
The BIN function does work well for sellers that want to offer it. Although it is different than most other auctions sites (OK all of them), it seems to have been more of a negative for buyers than anything. The excitement of a true auction seems to have been lost for the real auction enthusiast.
THE FOLLOWING IS MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION AND IS NOT BEING OFFERED TO OFFEND ANYONE OR TAKE AWAY FROM THE GREAT WORK OF THE VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE AND TIM. SO PLEASE RESPOND ACCORDINGLY WITH RESPECT AND CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS FEELINGS.
In my opinion I think the BIN option should be either changed to the standard option where if someone places a bid it disappears OR it should be dropped all together and replaced with another option...
Make an Offer: In the last couple months I have seen a increase of users asking if I would take an offer on items. This is obviously through the message system and and in turn if I decide to accept the offer I have to go in and change the price.
Obviously not all items are popular at a specific time and only a seller knows what they need to sell a item for in order to not loss money. So with a "offer" option if a buyer is interested in a item but feels it has a market value less than what a seller is offering it at they simply "Make a Offer" the seller can accept it or deny it, pretty basic.
Now the above suggestions are mine and don't reflect anyone else and I know Tim would have to do some programming in order to change anything. So I DON'T expect anything to change until the volunteer committee has discussed it and anything they decide I am happy to agree with and don't expect any changes based on my words here, as everyone else should respect their decisions as many of us have and will continue to do so, this is NOT a democratic voting system....Respectful opinion responses please
With the above suggestions I was going to add "OR YOU CAN DO THIS...OR MAYBE..." but I do see the point of some how the basic concept of auctions has been changed with the BIN and I am only giving the above suggestion(s) in order to see a more level playing ground for both the seller and buyer so at the end of each and every transaction both the buyer and the seller can say, I LOVE SOR!, as many of us do but maybe feel slighted with the current BIN inadvertently because they missed that one item.
With the above said: If you agree with most of it with little change and you don't want to give a written opinion, simply click that "LIKE" at bottom right.
Thank you again to the ALL that involved in this website.
Grant
StampCommune
9 Members
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10:43:33pm
re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
I have used the BIN as a buyer and like it.
Let's face it, the so called "thrill of an auction" is entirely secondary (or perhaps tertiary) to the more fundamental buy and sell motives. I go to the auction to buy a stamp at the best price possible, including taking advantage of a BIN price if I think it is fair and don't want to lose the stamp to a potentially competing buyer.
Frankly, I can't see any potential buyer logically objecting to a BIN system as currently existing. The only ones who might have a reason to object are sellers, and even there, they need not offer a BIN if they so chose.
My vote is to leave the BIN system as is.
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re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
I have used the BIN option a couple of times, but for the most part I tend to ignore it. When I really, really want something, I'm glad to have it. Otherwise, it's not really a factor for me. If I place a bid, and someone either scoops it up later by paying the BIN, or just plain old outbids me, the end result is the same - the item goes to someone who was willing to pay more than I was.
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like this post.
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re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
I have been bidding/winning lots here recently and I don't believe I've used the bin option yet. (I do use it most of the time, when buying certain stamps on ebay) I am not the "excitement of the auction," type. And though I may make a bid here in our auction, I do not go out of my way to "steal" a stamp away from another bidder by using the bin option. For the most part, I am happy to "take time" building my collections, while in other cases, where I am looking for rare-semi rare topics that I need to get hold of asap, I specifically look, on ebay, only for sellers that offer the bin option.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
27 Oct 2012
03:33:01pm
re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
Members:
What's not to like?
• I do not like or use the "buy it now" feature - commercial, anti-clubbish, and other auction sites do it better.
• I do not like Grant Wagoner's suggestion of a "make an offer" feature, and likely would not use it should it come to pass. It is unnecessary as the buyer can already make an offer to the seller via direct e-mail. Personally, I sometimes do this on expired auction lots that have failed to attract bids, and have had some success.
• I do not like a club auction board built on the premise or philosophy that the seller must make a profit. I have purchased many, probably most, of my stamps from Stamporama members (including Grant Wagoner) where neither the seller nor the buyer have realized a financial benefit, yet both are satisfied with the transaction.
• I do not like the "penny lots" stamp category because it permits the listing of lots starting at more than a penny (with apologies to our Chief Auctioneer for Life).
• I do not like the "like" feature as it has reduced content on the "discussion" page.
STAMPORAMA, what's not to like?
John Derry
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
If you have noticed, I tend to post a BIN at full Scott Catalogue value. I really feel bad when a "bidding war" starts and someone ends up paying more than Scott for a stamp. Its great for my bottom line, but all I want to do is try to recover my costs. My objective is to give the membership a chance to collect the stamps that I don't need. I try to describe each stamp accurately and fully guarantee each purchase.
Login to Like
this post
re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
First of all I buy far more stamps on SOR then I sell. I am probably in the top 10 maybe 5 volume buyers for US stamps. I also post stamps in the auction at least monthly.
No offense to club members but if I were out to make a money selling stamps SOR wouldn't be my first choice. On most SOR sales the time it takes to scan stamps, validate their condition,describe them, price them, pick them and then ship one, two or a dozen stamps virtually dashes my hopes of becoming a millionaire or even recouping my costs.
Basically I sell a few duplicates and spend the money on purchases.
Most of the SOR action items are reasonably priced compared to the catalog and other auction or sales sites. Most of the people who post items for auction are active club members and at least informative and helpful.
I do trade, purchase and sell stamps from other members outside the auction. That is an option and a choice. Just like having all the features on our auction site is an option and a choice.
My only complaint on the auction is that I wish more members posted items in the auction. I know some of you are holding out on me
Just my 2 cents.
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re: Further Musings on Buy It Now for those folks who just can't get enough
I haven't had anything up for auction since the feature was introduced. However, I rarely use a BIN feature on ANY site, unless it's a stamp I absolutely "must have without fail." And there are very few of those.
A lot of the time BIN (not necessarily just here) doesn't make sense to me. Too many sellers (again, not necessarily HERE) use BIN in the hopes of scoring a "home run price" on their material. OK, so maybe there are people who'll pay 90% of CV for your basic F-VF stamp... but if opening bid is 1/3 and I can probably win it for 40%, why would I BIN?
Again, this is PURELY opinion!
~Peter
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