Alternatives To Ebay - Long Post

I was thinking of putting up small oldschool boursers cards
of extra items I have. I did small time conventions circuts
25 or so years ago and have all of the show stock neatly packed
away. Advice on selling please ??

I have visited a few of the stamp auctions mentioned on this
forum and others, and was contemplating a few hundred auctions
to make a little pocket money.

Which of the sites would be best for a few hundred US postage
lots ? I guess the basic question is WHAT would sell cheaply
at which auction site.

Thanks for the opportunity to pick your collective minds.
Phil
Borg in training.

Hi towards2112,
ebay cost you more buy you have good exposure there. You have to be set up with PayPal there.
StampWants is the other option I think (to my limited knowledge anyway). Cheaper for you to list. More people are using it. I haven't used it myself yet, just lurked.
Perhaps try a bit on both? Or if you are not used to online auctions then I would try StampWants first because if it doesn't work out for you you are not out as much.
Other than that basic stuff, keep your title search-able, use words and abbreviations that people use to search for. Look at listings up now. Search for words or terms used in auctions and see what comes up. Don't abbreviate some words though. The title is not to be readable but searchable. Its nice if the words are somewhat in a readable format to make it easy on the eyes.
On ebay the punctuation characters like '.', '/', '-', '#' and lots of others and treated as if they are not there by ebay's search engine. If you are not sure list your item, then after a few minutes so ebay's computers can get it in the proper databases, do a search yourself to see if it comes up and looks OK.
On StampWants, although I am not as familiar with it as with ebay, I have noticed they have a cool feature that allows the searcher to see things in Scott number order. Do Not, on StampWants, put any characters like '#' next to the number, it won't work. Just the number clear of any other characters. It seems to me that people use Scott numbers and don't describe things as much on StampWants as on ebay. Maybe that is because you had better get it right on ebay because of the cost involved but on StampWants (or Delcampe) it is a lot cheaper to list items and sell them , so people aren't as good or precise at describing things.

Thanks for the reply !
Good advice.

One thing I just noticed myself while using the sites above is that ebay has the most flexible search engine.

Maybe it is just me but I find StampWants and DelCampe harder to search on / with.

But there is always more to learn.

Regarding ebay stores. Store items will only display if a threshold isn't met when returning regular auction or buy-it-now (BIN) items. If you search for a specific stamp, you will generally access store items unless there happen to be very many of that item listed in the auction/BIN area.

As for listing items on ebay, they want another 10 cents per item to also include your listing on the UK site. I only list on the US site but get as many or sometimes more buyers from outside the US. Must be the worthless dollar and our plunging domestic economy!

towards2112,

I don't know what you propose to sell, but a good way to begin with ebay is to research what you are selling and how it is selling. If you are a member you can select items to watch and keep track of until they close to see how they did or whether or not they sold at all.

I have been writing a guide about selling stamps on ebay but have lost track of it in the midst of everything else that has been going on.

I've been on ebay : user id : spacecitycomics [+950] since Oct '98,
but don't want to play in that pool anymore. Like a lot of people
I know that ebay is still the big pond, and I don't know of any other
place online where the exposure is as great. I've sold comic books
for 35+ years, and naturally know pretty much anyone in the US, either
on the show circut or online, and did sell stamps back in the late
'70's to the end of the 80's. Then I was just the kid with a boat load
of stamps, envelopes, etc etc. The APS guys were MUCH older in those
days, the geezers as it were, and now I am they're age, and still
enjoy my stamps, but mercy, I don't need 30 comic long boxes of them.
Most of my stock is in 5X7 oldschool stock cards. Thought I might
scan and list, and indeed I have been looking at most of the auction
sites around, and having a bit of a difficult time getting comfortable with any...
Advice ALWAYS welcome.
Phil

Phil - IMHO either StampWants or StampOffers is the best route for selling modestly priced items (although StampWants is listing more and more high ticket material every day). I prefer StampWants because I can navigate through it better and faster. I doubt if I'll ever list any stamp related material on ebay again. Especially since they've increased their fees again and again and again and again this week.

yes throw some insights for me I cant allow ebay to eat my breakfast luncha nd dinner

I think I'll probably migrate over to StampWants and Stampoffer
together. Even with the "NEW" ebay listing structure announced
just a few days ago, I can't see listing anymore there. I don't
mind jumping thru a few hoops, but be damned if I'll do all the
work and give a usery fee to a venue. I don't mind fees, just a
part of the business model, but when things become extraneous...
I'm building yet another pair of my own webshops, and I do indeed
have plenty of my own domains, I guess I'll see if I can make
a small dent in the online stamp business.

I just found this thread, so here's my two cents worth.

ebay is a dinosaur, past it's day. The continual changes to rules, privacy and fees is painful for buyers and sellers alike. I have 600 feedback at 100% and barely use it anymore. They took a fantastic model and flew it into the ground.

The North American sites I find impossible to like, due to the constant use of Scott numbers on BC material (sorry - the rest of the planet uses Gibbons for British Commonwealth, please join in!), the lack of pics and the number of sellers who will only ship the the US (what the **** is that about?)

My site of choice is Delcampe. Searching is difficult, but I have found some superb material at fantastic prices.

One thing to remember is that this forum (SCF) is an affiliate of ebay, and ebay pays out based on several different criteria (complicated, mind you) when you use the links. The only other of the above mentioned sites that offers an affiliate program is Delcampe, which pays out for new member sign ups only.

Well I went there, clicked on Cinderellas
and found nothing, so I left.

Wow, old posts never die...at least not here on SCF !!

Nice to see that some topics are still interesting to many.

I type a lot but being able to talk about or write about a thing does not mean that I know a thing. Sometimes I feel that I need more experience at things before I open my proverbial mouth, but, heck, if I don't make mistakes (and realize it, thanks to others) then it is a lot harder to learn.