Hipstamp And The American Philatelic Society Announce Strategic Partnership

We announced a while back that the project launch was postponed until 1 December 2022. Our development team has been testing, and everything seems to be working.

Scott

The hipstamp site is, at best, the second best choice for hosting APS store material from this and many member's point of view. This is obvious. Does this come down to hipstamp cut the APS the most lucrative financial terms that benefit the APS? Another case where what's best for the APS may not be what's best for its members?

Hoosierboy, I must play devil's advocate here. Please tell us what is the "first best" choice for hosting and detailed reasons why, economics, service, etc. How many items have you purchased through the APS store? Through Hipstamp? What data do you have that the APS Board does not have that they should be considering?

Appears it is now 'live' but with only a single stamp listed?
Don

I've seen "soft" launches, but this one is a cracker.

First stamp is a faulty overpriced penny-listing.

Surely they could have found something more impressive to lead off with?

The term "faceplant" comes to mind... followed shortly thereafter by numerous "facepalms".

John and all,

Based on market share and audience the "Big E" is and will continue be number one. It is not perfect by any means but a stable accepted platform.

I'll say this for the APS stamp store, never had a bad purchase. With ebay my luck has been pretty lousy. I had a bad encounter where a seller sent me someone else's stamps by mistake and he asked me to send it to the buyer. So to be nice, I did. The buyer then returned the stamps to me looking for a refund! The ebay seller then pleaded with me to mail the stamps back to the buyer again and that he would reimburse me for the postage. Again to be nice, I did. And of course I never got reimbursed for the double insured mailing. So, even though Ebay is the biggest, it is far from the best and I would not recommend it.

hoosierboy, a big part of the big E experience, is the serendipity, and overall potential for less knowledgeable sellers to emerge unloading. Most everything on hip is for sale, not on sale.

Hoosierboy,
You state:


Thus you have a well thought out plan for how APS should partner with ebay instead?

One expected quality and service through APS stamp store....and got it. The APS discount was always nice. However, there were fewer sellers there over time, so I don't blame the APS for giving it up. One final kudo to APS stamp store. The stamps used to mail items were much appreciated and was one of the few ways to get real postally used high value modern stamps. Got my first $2 geometric from them last week. A keeper!

I don't have any feelings about HipStamp. I haven't bought anything there. I'll probably give it a test at some time. If they offer the APS discount I'll probably bite.

I think your question is based on a faulty premise. Why should APS partner with anyone? Why even involve themselves in actual transactions?

classic_paper. I agree, thus hoping Hoosierboy responds and shares his plan since it is apparently so good. Or is it just throwing spaghetti at the wall?

When looking at the landscape eBay takes most of the view, it is large which is my way of agreeing with hoosierboy. Why must a plan be offered? Big is eBay, the APS is far from big. There is no need at all for eBay to partner with the APS and if asked by the APS to partner, the answer will be along the lines of join and use the platform as much as you wish as you the APS has done in the past with the philatelic education courses offered.

That said, eBay will still drive the philatelic market not handled by the legacy philatelic auction firms. APS may get more service for the HIP partnership, but the sellers of material via the APS will have their prices and sales limited by eBay. If eBay has the same item for a dollar less, why pay the extra price from HIP? The partnership with HIP has yet to show a value added quantity for the buyer and until it does, there is no reason a buyer needs the HIP-APS partnership. For sellers through the APS, there maybe value added, but that has yet to be shown. Nor will it be easy to show when the only real measure is how much the selling owner of the material is compensated.

Now an aside question which really can only be answered by Scott English. Who will be responsible for the 1099 annual form for payment to sellers in excess of $599.99 as required by law, HIP, the APS or the third party payment companies?

Historically, I don't believe the APS has issued Forms 1099 to its sellers (at least I never received one, although my sales may never have been high enough to trigger one), whereas under the new arrangement, since all payments will route through PayPal, I believe a 1099-K will automatically be generated by PayPal at the end of the year for those that reach either the $600 threshold, or lower threshold if the state that the seller resides in has a threshold lower than federal.

Hipstamp is different than current eBay with respect to payments. Hipstamp is more similar to what eBay used to be, where all payments were handled via PayPal, so PayPal sent out Forms 1099-K. Now that eBay operates its own payment service (EMP), eBay itself is the payment processor, so the 1099-K comes directly from eBay.

For example, in 2021 (and will again in 2022), I received a 1099-K from eBay for all my eBay sales, and a second 1099-K from PayPal for monies received outside of eBay from other transactions. Illinois has had a $1,000 annual reporting threshold (as opposed to the federal $20,000 threshold) for several years now.

Another major issue is state and international sales tax collection and remittance. That's an issue that I've not gotten answers to on any front. In my opinion, Hipstamp has been, and continues to flout federal law by not collecting and remitting state sales tax (and VAT on international taxes) the way eBay does under enacted marketplace legislation. I believe that Hipstamp's cumulative sales volume puts them above the threshold where this is required by law. This could land not only them but all of the affected Hipstamp sellers in hot water with state revenue departments.

Hipstamp could ultimately prove to be a figurative albatross around the neck of the APS down the road.