The Internet Stamper

One reason folks who have real shops (brick and mortar I mean) and then also have a presence on ebay or also their own web-site is to advertise.

If you are not on ebay at least a bit you and missing part of the market.

I agree that there is a place for all forms of stamping shops as there are all kinds of people plus all kinds of stamps.

I read a little note somewhere about Canadian shoppers who like to use ebay to research and price goods but would not buy there. They wanted to see (and feel and taste etc) the real thing and have the surety of dealing with a teal person. There is much to be said for that way (I can't help it I'm a Canadian too!)

But then there are folks who view ebay as their chance to get a great deal that they would be supposedly overcharged for at a real store. It's a matter of perspective.

Good advertising and salesmanship will help to lay to rest many qualms and fears of internet buyers and also real store buyers. For example some (many?) internet stampers prefer the limelight and dislike dealing with real folks or even being in public.

There is also the factor of saving time and shopping or researching when you like to as you like to.

There exist programs of rebates on ebay, for example, where if you refer someone from an outside site to ebay you will get a credit somehow from ebay to your store there.

There is the price of overhead. If you can't have the clientele or location to draw lots of constant customers and also the impulse buy drop-ins then you have to make it up in some way to cover expenses. Sites like ebay or other online sites (straight sales or auction) are one way to access the growing number of people more comfortable with buying online.

These buyers percentage of the whole lot of buyers may change by country or region also. I am always surprised and delighted when I get a buyer or even bidder from a far flung corner of the globe. I have sold France Ceres and Napoleons to someone in Terra del Fuego at the tip of southern Argentina, Canada stamps to a lady who collected royalty on stamps in Nunavut way up North in Canada and cigar revenue labels to a fellow in Moscow, Russia (I Googled mapped him and had an enjoyable look around his neighbourhood).

There are different levels of risk about different aspects of selling online as apposed to through the mail (which is really what ebay is, online but international mail order) or a bricks and mortar store or shop. You always have to have your common sense about you and always have to make judgement calls about who is good to deal with, buying and selling.

There is also the thought that in order to be successful on ebay (and probably elsewhere too) you must advertise and draw people to your store (or sales) just like in other forms of selling. If people don't even know you are there how can they even look and then buy or bid?

Advertising on sites such as this is one example. Look at the one little ad at the top of the screen here. I don't usually click on any of them but sometimes I do. If it wasn't there I wouldn't.

It is a lot of work no matter which way or ways you choose. There are always learning curves and getting to know the ins and outs of how it all works. I have been at ebay for years now and feel comfortable there as I have gone through most of what can happen on there and so have lost my fear of the unknown.

Now I am starting to look more and more at other sites like Delcampe and BidStart and Wensy and even selling at the local stamp club (I don't enjoy crowds so was avoiding that) or shows or sitting there in my little chair as the cruise ships come in with all the tourists (haven't done that one yet) (I can't believe how many people come in to port here now on some big ships, the Queen Mary II etc) (note to self, make personal stamps of visiting ships).

I think a good idea is to try ebay or something out in a small way to get comfortable with it and see what you think and get the kinks out. You have a web site, and if that is your main selling venue then that is OK too, but learn about advertising around on other sites worldwide even just to get the word out.

I find also that absorbing all that information out there in books and on the internet is best done along-side actually doing the things also. can't learn if you don't make mistakes. Of course one must consider one's own comfort level of the risks involved too.

That is one reason prices are higher with established sellers. They do have to cover the expense of loss and insurance in different ways. If I sold 10 stamps to make enough to buy one stamp but then lost two stamps it wouldn't work out at all. Common sense again. Adapt and survive. Not really the survival of the fittest but the continuance of those with the confidence to know they can adapt and change to meat the changing circumstances and prevail over the odds. Which you have done already so you are laughing, so to speak. You know how to do the hard parts already.

By the way did you get my through SCF email to you about the Canada stamp?

oh lord, I remember the movie that comes from

Puzzler. I am out of breath just reading that.

you know, it reminds me, I was at a yard sale in my neighborhood this summer, asked a guy if he had any stamps. a lady next to me says she works at a stamp store in my city. So I get her (the stores) number. A week or so later, I call to try and arrange a visit.. come to find out, they only sell on the web, they wouldn't let me come to visit them or shop (and I was ready to buy a lot).... I ended up not doing business with them and never will. Besides I looked at their website, man what a ripoff... their prices were like Mystics.

I guess if you advertise (by telling someone about your shop) then you should expect different types of visitors. Internet, mail, the real person.

But perhaps not everyone has super duper skills in all departments.

I have had people come to visit here at my humble abode who had bought the stamp on ebay. I was so flustered by the visit (you get used to it) that I missed out on the opportunity to sell more. Although I did get the word out that I was a good guy to deal with so still have contact with people from years ago.

It's all good as the saying goes.

Gee, rereading my post I didn't realize how financial and penny watching (thrifty) I seem to be in print. I don't think of myself that way. I guess I know the ideas about saving and selling but don't practice them in life so much, so I don't notice myself doing these things.

If I could only practice what I preach, eh?

We are so blessed on SCF that so many people can write about complex issues in a simplified way without being simple.
The time and effort that Puzzler has put in needs to be recognized with great big thank you. Great stuff! It helps in many ways!

There are some other people that need to be recognized as Internet stampers as well and they are the people that English is not there first language. It is one thing to talk in English but to write it is something else again. I have a great deal of respect for that challenge that they have taken on and it is very much for the betterment of SCF. So a special thank you to those people as well! John

You're welcome John.

Thanks to all who contribute on SCF. A great place to learn and share.

Now I have a better idea about how far behind I am as an on line stamper.

The 6.5 year old computer was so slow and painful, I had no idea.
Now with a new computer what took 10mins now takes 1min.

It is a huge jump ahead. Will have to rethink on-line things again.
It is that much of a difference.
Stamps have made it all happen and that makes it even more special.

Just think now you can go back thru all of the SCF posts with pics that froze the old computer.

Hi! 1775mac.

Yes the loading time with images is bliss.

But that old beaten up computer gives a great deal of detail to the poor quality images that get posted on SCF at times.

I now know why others could not see what I could see so easily.

Amazing.

Sometimes I think I am getting somewhere with using the computer.
And then I find out I have not even started!

Still just do not think computer, especially with stamps information.

As I go along this amazing internet journey I keep learning heaps on SCF it opens up so much in the computer world.

Have been really enjoying doing searches, looking for privately owned on-line auction. As the AUD is high it makes stamp shopping sweeter.

It is truly amazing what you can find on-line.

Always Happy Stamping. KGV