Need Advice

I am ebay seller Warjag1. I have been selling coins,tokens and paper money up until Super Bowl Sunday when I was given a task of selling off 39 years of stamp collections my supplier has been collecting. This was 3 total truck loads with the cab and back full.

I know what you are all thinking. No way! Well the first thing I did was throw my back out and was down a week.Then I began the search.

I have come across stamps you would not believe. I have been sorting for 2 1/2 months and feel I am getting no where.I first just started getting the 19th century stamps in a USPS large FRB. Well that is full. Now I have 3 of them full.I have 5 boxes full of back of the book. I have over 100,000 FDC.

Please I am not bragging.I just do not know which way to turn. These stamps are not like coins or even paper money where a scan will tell the story. I have learned if you have just a little nick in the gum you will be scolded for not telling the buyer.You have to take your time.

I have stamps that no way I will put on ebay. I have decided to have my own website and it should be up running next week.

I have a little in my store now. What would be your first thing you would try to sell off.
FDC,Sheets,Singles,PB or back of the book?
I know you are all collectors mainly but if you were in my shoes what would be your plan of action.

Your reply's really mean something to me.I am working on USA this year. Cannot wait till I get to world stamps.

Well, you sure got a lotta stuff there.

So, what would I suggest you do first?

I would suggest you hang around here and follow the flow of the various conversations and see what makes stamp collectors tick. You'll also find we are not just collectors, there are a good many dealers here as well. I would get more of an eduction about stamps before I'd go to the market, but I am admittedly risk adverse.

I took a glance at what you have up at ebay in stamps and the first thing that caught my eyes was the pricing. (I will also say that there are many many here much more knowledgeable than me in these matters) I cannot claim to be an expert and I was too lazy to check more than a sampling but you seem to be too high, imho. The relatively current sheets seem high. These frequently sell for less than face in places.

On the older stuff, you're selling Sc 238 at $200 which is listed in the catalog at $225. Yours is hinged, missing some gum. Your Sc 231 is selling for $20 but the 2010 Scott is $16. Your plate block issue of the Prezy set seems high to my eyes, but I admit I did not add up all the values. Most of the low values sell for a buck or two or three. The high values are much more, but I am not familiar enough with the high values to take a view on yours, but the total price of $700 seems high. Now, others might disagree, but thats the way it looked to me.

You might want to go over to stamps.org or zillionsofstamps.com to get a sense of pricing for the retail market.

I would also say that you might want to stay tuned to the conversations here and use those to learn more about stamps and what drives pricing and customer demand. That will also help you to better describe the stamps. Your descriptions could use some tightening up.

Just my 2 cents and hope I didn't offend.

-Larry

That does sound like a major undertaking. Most stamp collectors I know are budget conscious (it is a hobby after all) and also pay attention to catalog values and auction listings. Many will not buy philatelic items at full catalog value and are closer to 25% to 50% at maximum for purchase price. If the stamps are post WWII they normally are commonplace and easily attainable. In fact, most US stamps are easily acquired except for a few. There is a collector for everything, sometimes it is just hard to get the right seller and buyer together. I hope this helps.

Hello Warjag1......

Welcome to the club.....


Have to say I agree with Larry.....what you have listed for stamps is seriously over priced.

G'Day Warjag and to the forum,

with Larry and Tom as the prices aren't realistic so give yourself a few weeks to suss out the trade and competition and you may see what where talking about,

I also noticed that you only sell to the States shame that leaves a lot of buyers from all over the world out of the loop but that's your prerogative.

I hope you enjoy the site

regards from Harry down under

Thanks all. You know sometimes books just don't tell the truth. I will keep in touch and learn from you all.

Harry,
I was just working the states till I got the shipping down. I have a tremendous amount of Australian in singles that I will get to later. I do have a question though.I have these books that are sealed with plastic around them. They are different years and are sealed with a sticker. They each say "The Collection of (year) Australian Stamps". I dare not open them.Is this something you know of? Nice folders.

Hi Warjag, I am a stamp collector...i do not know diddily about coins...there is no way I would try to sell coins it would just end up in disaster ..i have been studying stamps all my life and only feel secure selling the lower end stuff...but I believe it will be a learning experience for you !!

Warjag.....


The majority of stamp material is generally sold at a significant discount from Scott values.......but I suspect that with the amount of material that you have you will undoubtedly find a number of items that will have serious value. Condition and centering are usually considered the most important factors when asking more than book value for something, either mint or used. Something as simple as one bent perf tooth can reduce value by 50% or more for better material.....but the same item in nearly perfect condition with incredible centering can sometimes bring as much as 500% of Scott values, occasionally more.

Hang out here....ask anything you'd like......show pictures of better items......we're glad to help anytime.

Philb,

So far it has been a real bear.I will never in my life know what you know. I am 54 years old. I am starting late. I am also trying to learn swords. You think stamps are hard?

Yes you are right. My #1 learning experience.

warjag, I am a few years too late for swords..my son in law did give me a wooden practice katana..i don't think I can hurt anyone with that !!

Welcome warjag

and looking forward to your world series stamps!

What you have there is an Aussie year stamp album or year book,
they can be unsealed and resealed so you can open the plastic bag just to have a look or to see if there (the stamps)still all there and in mint condition,
what I'm talking about is a folder inside between the plastic cover and the dust cover,this folder is full of stamps ready to be placed into the year book that's if there not already placed,the 2008 retails for $120.00 to $140.00 and the 2009 retails for $110.00 AUD
will be looking forward to what you have.

regards Harry

Hi warjag1 , welcome!

(Prepare yourself for a long post . . .)

I tend to agree with NR about the variance in pricing. I have been collecting mostly my whole life but selling on ebay for the last few years off and on (and buying, I can't help myself!) but I still don't really know what to price things at to guarantee a sale. I Have figured out that 22.5% of catalog is a starting place where you will most likely get a bid for an auction listing. But for Buy It Now as you are doing I am not sure. Sometimes you just have to wait for the buyer that really wants that item.

Good stuff always sells though. Condition, centering, gum, perfs as you mentioned, thins, creases, wrinkles, gum bends on older stamps, all can affect how a buyer perceives a stamp. On used stamps, if the cancel presses into or through the stamp too. There are many degrees of what is good enough for some and not good enough for others.

I am puzzler47 on ebay so you can pick on me if you feel like it in case I blab on too much here. I am selling other people's stuff but I am slow and spend too much time at it I think. It is fun to me though.

I find every once in a while it is good to take some time to look around at what other sellers are doing and see if they are successful or not using their way of doing things. It is good you are open to change and learning. Bravo.

So as long as you just keep to the facts and don't get all emotional over the niceness or beauty of an item (beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder) you will be OK. Any defects you should describe, especially if it is single stamps or higher value stamps you are selling. A scan of the back is a nice thing to include if possible. I like to do that but some (many) don't for lack of time and other reasons.

If you are selling a mint stamp (I noticed you used the ebay word unused, which is technically correct, but in stamp collecting also can mean 'used on an envelope but not cancelled') it should be described as Mint Hinged (MH) or Mint Never Hinged (MNH) (MLH = mint lightly hinged) or just plain Mint in the Title in my humble consideration.

Putting the term Mint or MNH or MH in the title will help people find you auction. Do a search and see what word comes up more, unused or mint. If selling worldwide to overseas they use MUH (mint unhinged) or UM )unmounted mint) and MM (mounted mint) so the word Mint is always used (ha, a play on words there!) so always tell in the description whether it is hinged or not. Affects the price/value.

I like your photos or scans. Nice and clear and sharp and higher resolution. People will bid higher and more if you have more pictures and they can see what they are getting into, so to speak. Then they feel like they have made the choice themselves and figured it out as best they can (allowing for faults that are hard to see on scans, which you should describe, but don't dwell on them.).

Example, your Worldwide lot which is priced at about 5 cents per stamp might sell better or faster if you could spread the stamps out and face up so people could see what they are getting. You could use the word Kiloware or oz or lb or gr (gram) or kilo in the title and also tell how many approximately stamps there are in 5.9 oz in that lot. I know because I had figured out over years how many stamps I was getting in an oz of on paper stamps. But it is still nice to know.

The words 'off paper' or 'on/off paper' are always good to include in the title also as people search for that. The words lot or mix or mixture or accumulation or selection are all good words. Some sellers use 'nice mixture' or 'nice selection' for lots of stamps. That's OK as long as the stamps Are nice and not damaged.

Sorry if I am saying too much. I just have watched auctions and sales go south because they did not describe with searched-for words enough to attract a range of bidders or buyers.

As to shipping amounts charged, I see that you are using $2 US for shipping to the US. That is a bit high and stamp people (like everybody) are mostly aware of higher than need be shipping costs. It is OK and things will sell but not as many and not as well. I myself have not figured out how some sellers charge so low shipping regularly and still keep up with buying paper and ink and glassines and envelopes and stamps and packing and also paper work for the IRS if needed and time spent and coffee and donuts and old fashioned vanilla Laura Secord ice cream cones with a chocolate on top. Oops.

Well, you get my drift. I have seen sellers use $1.50 US, $2 Canada/Mexico and $3 Worldwide which is still a tich high but acceptable mostly. It's always a trade off. Some folks will understand and some will not want to pay any shipping at all, darn it. Combined shipping (and tell them How you combine) is always a Very Good idea. No need to make Too much off of shipping seemingly to the collectors eyes anyway. I know one does not make anything off of shipping because mistakes always happen and they have to be paid for somehow etc etc etc.

There, I am out of breath now. I knew I shouldn't have eaten that piece of fudge before I typed this! Sugar high. Must go sort stamps now to wear it off. A Lot of stamps.

Puzzler wow and thanks!Does most people ship in a bubble wrap envelope? Or just a plain envelope?
I mostly always ship in a very large envelope 10 1/2 x 15 when I am shipping sheets.This has protected them well. I have sold about 35 order of sheets and have got good feedback.

By the way the owner of the stamps told me to trim the fat yesterday. That means from 1940 on! I will sell it off so I will have some room in my house.

Bubble wrap envelopes are more expensive to start with. They do provide good protection though.

I don't do many large items but those I do ship are in regular envelopes with cardboard (thicker cereal box type) stiffeners and in a plastic bag or saran wrap for moisture protection. (Some folks mail slots receive the rain when the wind is right as well as the mail.)

I have received items in bubble wrap and most times some stamps used to mail the items are punched through into the bubbles. Sad receiving a very nice stamp on cover that has been ruined that way. But economics of shipping other things beside stamps prevail in those cases I think.

Some companies (rubystamps) ship in regular envelopes with a white bristol type board piece (but thicker) and saran wrap and inside another envelope too. Each lot wrapped individually inside the main envelope. Their prices are considered a bit high but, hey, they have good stamps too. I like how they package their stamps and appreciate the extra care after seeing some sellers that don't take the care.

It is the moisture and possible bending and spindling etc that you are protecting against. I think bubblers (my word) are OK but also use stiffeners (my paranoia). Good feedback and DSRs is always a good indication you are doing things right. I haven't paid attention to the new (and improved ?) DSR rules yet though.

Please note that I am not saying that I do everything correctly or in the best way there is to do it. I just stumble along and try not to lose too much money while having some fun and appreciating stamps.

Making money (horrors!) would dictate a slightly different approach I believe. Perhaps a bit added here and there to compensate for losses that Do happen and often beyond your control. See countrybearstamps who adds 0.20 per extra item on (used to be 0.10 but postal prices do increase) and has OK shipping (to me anyway). He always seems friendly and I think being friendly is a big part of selling. People trust their friends to look after them. Simple psychology.

If a bigger seller is still selling and has good feedback then I try to study him (or her, sorry ladies) and see what I can learn and incorporate into my own way of doing things. Good sellers adapt to the changing times and 'go to where the customers are' as I have read one seller on DelCampe say.