"Stampcollector" Discourages Woman !

Puzzler
By media I meant the American philatelist and I found stupid that they had seven pages in the May issue of readers letters about that women that has been call a hoarder by a dealer in a stamp show. There is many topics to cover for a stamp magazine, why seven pages about that story. If not stupid it's at least ridiculous for me. Don't worry I watch the news on TV and I read the paper. Usually I find them all interesting. Thank god we live in a democracy and have freedom of press.

Sorry tibres667, I did mean that for a more general comment on all media.

My feathers are ruffled also by what I consider to be hype and drama that sometimes replaces real news.

Timbers667, totally agree with your comments. Until the Gentleman involved gives full account of what 'actually transpired', no support towards the women or comment against the gentleman involved is appropriate.

I, too, thought that the amount of space devoted to letters praising the woman and excoriating the man was excessive. The editors should have made a statement that a large number of letters had been received and published two or three representative ones.

larsdog....thank you so much for the link! I have already bookmarked it.

Karen

I wanted to address something that came up with this thread; even though it doesn't actually match the thread topic anymore.

Rude dealers - no matter whom they are addressing - a man, woman, child, new collector, oldie, youngun', novice, etc.

I have never been able to understand why anyone in any business (stamp dealing to auto dealing to whatever ...) would go out of their way to insult or disrespect a potential customer.

We'll stick to stamps here. I go to bourses and shows as much as possible.

I had made several purchases over a few years from a particular dealer. At one point I wanted to see if he might be willing to purchase my dupes or give me some credit for them. They were NOT 20-cent stamps - I had maybe a dozen, probably with catalog values from $2 to $30 on each.

He said "no," which was fine. But that wasn't enough for him. He then insulted me (and the stamps), saying something like "this kind of material you're buying isn't really worth anything anyway ... "

HUH?

Of course, what I should have said was, "Well, then how about you sell me all of your material at about 2 percent of catalog value," but I was a bit shocked and just walked away.

Needless to say, I have not spent another penny with this man, happily buying my items from much more respectful dealers.

Hello, I am another one who doesn't collect a particular country or theme. I collect what I like and enjoy. I am a visual collector and buy what is visually appealing to me and thiss is especially so with covers.I collect a wide variety of thingx from stamps to old kitchen utinsels and matchbook covers and have bought every item based on it's visual appeal, not by it's value. It is more fun that way and I am not confined to looking for certain things. Everyone has their own collecting style. It's like looking at an abstract painting, you ask 100 people what it looks like to them, get 1oo differrent answers and yet they are all correct. IIt is what the individual sees and collecting is no different. We all have our style and there is no wrong way to do it.
Thanks
David

Hoarders are a dealer's bread and butter, but a baker would never comments on a customer's derriere while selling cookies. A baker puts the fanciest pastries near the cash register and makes jokes about them being calorie-free.

Maybe this dealer was a snob, but maybe he was trying to make a lame joke. Maybe this customer really was belittled, but maybe she was overly sensitive to the comments. Neither person probably thinks he/she acted inappropriately.

But also remember that people, both customers and dealers, get TIRED at these shows. No one behaves or reacts optimally when tired.

Karen

Centrestage98, Sorry you felt the Gentleman was being disrespectful, if we could hear his side of the incident he may have been simply telling you a known truth from a dealers point of view.

Hmmm .. well, if stamps he's selling for $5 to $20 "aren't worth anything," how about next time he just tosses them into the penny and dime box? As I said, next time, I will hopefully have a better response than turning my back and walking away.

RUDE DEALERS--------Im a worldwide collector and like to give my point of view about some stamp dealers.These dealers see me year after year at all the local shows . Many of them at one time or other I made a purchase from ,but not recently.
The problem is many have a lot of money and time invested in their stock/inventory, but over the years it has been gone thru and items sold .But they bring the same stale inventory to each show ,they are not buying new and different inventory on a regular basis ,it is the same over-price material show after show .There is no adjustments to internet pricing and no matching prices to what is sold on e-bay.
We as regular show goers understand the new pricing and not wanting to view the same stale inventory causeing the dealers to complaint and to have a negative attitude at shows because its all lookers ,what they don't know is that I"ll buy but it has to be something that I can't get cheaper onine.