I'm Liking Ebay More And More For Stamp Purchases...

I just scored a complete mint set of 1992 Ukraine for $9.99. Now the impatience I have to go through waiting for it to get here.

Although I've enjoyed the purchases I've made from ebay in the past, the whole paypal ordeal is forcing me to rethink it all. There has to be a better alternative to paypal.

What problems have you had with Paypal? Paypal hasn't given me any issues.

They "limit" your account and without notice. So, whatever payments you may have to make can't be made until you "confirm" your credit card. I've had this happen to me twice now. Once because I used my US card here in Oman and once because I used my Oman card in the US. I'm about to just cancel my paypal account because of these little tricks.

You can still find some nice things at the right price.

I do think ebay it's great place.At the end of the day the whole world is used to buy/sell there.So no question that with good knowledge of what you're looking for you can spot good deals.Ebay rules are a bit over-bent for the sellers and too relaxed for the buyers(in my opinion)but the game there is the demand factor..... if no one is going to buy,well then there wouldn't be any sellers.But if the are plenty of buyers,there are always going to be someone who is trying to fill the demand even in not favorable conditions.

with kmncd.

Having just been conned by a US seller, I'm none too happy with ebay.

This is the auction I won:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/28073341486....m1439.l2649

Note that the seller says, 'CONTAINS NEARLY 2,500 STAMPS FROM MORE THAN 75 COUNTRIES.'

I haven't counted the stamps, and there could well be 2,000 or more altogether, but the lot certainly does not contain stamps from '75 countries.' 99.8% of the stamps were from Great Britain. 90% of the box consisted of three very common King George VI definitives on paper.

There was a mere handful of stamps (21 altogether) from just SEVEN other countries: India (9), Australia (3), Newfoundland (2), Japan (2), Germany (2), Belgium (1), and Italy (3).

What's more the box was very obviously much shallower than it was made to appear in the item photo. The seller seems to have reduced the box's contents to about half the size of the advertised item.

ebay is home to some very dodgy sellers indeed.

jimjam

Try to get your money back.
I have to say the pic looks a bit suspicious with all those KGVI heads.
It is also horrendously expensive and I for one would not have given it a second look. But the description is totally false it appears after what you've found.

If you are after on-paper mixes, give me a shout next time. Others here can vouch for my price and assortment.

But go for a refund and tell that guy he not so marvel-lous !

Londonbus1

From the item description:




Caveat emptor. He was reading the label on the box, and then said he was not sure about it.

You still have time to return it.

Name for me another venue where you can make a claim against an unscrupulous seller and get your money back IMMEDIATELY? Other online auctions sites, yes, but they are still behind ebay in terms of protecting buyers.

What about your local stamp show? Do you have any recourse against a seller from across the country who misrepresented something? Are you readily able to return lots for a full refund to the seller at table C-10? Wait, what was his name? I have his card, but his phone # changed?!? And so on ...

I take it you get my point.

Jimjam, this is not your first rant against ebay and frankly, I don't understand them. Without ebay, we would still be stuck with price-fixing and hoarding by store-front dealers. Do you really want to go back to the 1980s? The hobby nearly died, for crying out loud ...

Brian

From my recent purchases on ebay,seller mailed item to me on August,11(from Arizona to Illnois) and after more than a month I received the letter(September,17).It was insured and undamaged,but still.... more than a month,and I was a "bit" unsatisfied with the seller that whole time,I opened a case and later I had to apologize for being impatient :) PO deserved all the complaints,and not the guy on the ebay.
Actually such sites as ebay sparked my collectible interest,because it was EASILY ACQUIRABLE with the click of the button....from my sentimental Lithuanian stamps to ever exotic some island nation souvenir sheets.During my almost 7 years of active collecting I only went to stamp shows maybe 5 times,ebay will beat 15-30 stamp dealer tables variety at any given day,imho.

i think ebay revived stamp collecting...think about it...almost any collector with duplicates can become a mini merchant...it takes a bit of patience...but the alternative is just about giving your stamps away to a dealer !!

On that we don't agree !
At my first collectables market last Friday, A dealer offered me $60 for some Palestine remainders I had on display even though he knew I wanted $85. He had come especially on a tip-off froma browser and was peeved when I refused. And he had even pushed in front of other potential customers to make his point.

About 15 minutes later, a collector offered me $80 and I accepted. He got a great deal and I got rid of my remainders.

And the dealer got sweet FA !

Londonbus1

I'm still pretty happy buying on ebay. You just have to read the listings and look at the images carefully. I've gotten some pretty nice stuff. Selling I'm finding is different. It's slowed down some, though that could be that my supply is beginning dwindle. But I'm finding ebays new rules a bit limiting, and have had some small troubles with paypal as well (withholding of funds - and the only way I can contact them is via email, their 800 number doesn't work in Canada. You can imagine how fast they answer those emails.)
Overall I'd say the interweb (as I like to call it) has allowed me to collect some things I would never have found otherwise.

The referenced auction's type of description, to me, smacks of intentional deception.

He tried to fool you. He knew how humans concentrate on the words they are looking for. The title reads to me 'Vintage Old Foreign' I don't see the rest or don't concentrate on it. Of course it's my fault, of course. What is a ORG box anyway? He never completely spells out that word?

But then to quote the description on the box 'Box Reads' and to place such a nonfactual misleading type of statement up where you take it to be the actual description of what is in the box, well, that is done on purpose.

The only thing he says about what is in the box is something about he may have seen a stamp with a 1930's date on the cancel. Oh bother.

So we don't actually know what is in the box except for the one, seemingly slightly falsified photo (box raised up to appear taller or photographed on a forced perspective type of way) so as to seem larger than it is. Hmmmm. No extra photos of details or what's in the envelopes (if anything) or what's down in the bottom of the box.

I like a good treasure hunt and sometimes buy a lot or two just to do the searching, hoping for that nice cancel or stamp that others have missed or not considered good enough. This lot would have let me down as well. He doesn't mention if the box even has the original stamps that it had when the description was written in it.

I sell on ebay at times also. I try very hard to describe any faults or possible problem areas of an item, stamp, bunch of stamps or whatever it is, as I know that some buyers will not put up with my not telling it like it is. Photos or scans do Not shoe all the problems that there can be with things.

The worst thing that could happen is that the buyer does not say anything, most people are like this I think. Then, the word spreads about what I do and don't do, people shy away from buying from me, my name is mud, so to speak.

It is not just that I have made a sale or lost a sale. It is my integrity, my name, my reputation, whether or not feedback of any sort at all has been left or not.

Pant pant pant . . .

This guy, after looking at what else he sells, a mish-mash of everything and nothing, The Bazaar of the Bizarre, to borrow a title from one of Fritz Leiber's fantasy stories, is not one who spends a lot of time describing things. His most descriptive statement is usually Please look carefully at the photo before bidding.

This could all be OK I guess. I have bought stamps and not know what I am getting or who the seller was really or what kind of day he was having also.

I don't mind sellers using the word old or older to describe lots. But vintage is suspicious as most all stamps are vintage now. Or the word new. There are some words that are emotional words that people react to unless they have trained themselves to recognize that little extra beating of their heart that happens when they see these words. Like sale. Another one. You mostly can't help it.

But what those words tell you is that the person is more concerned with selling, with getting a good price for his stuff, no matter what it is usually (there is always the exception of course) that he just wants to get you excited and not thinking rationally before you start bidding.

Of course I am throwing mud on the whole auction industry in a way here. It is up to the buyer to know what is going on. But heck, this can also be looked at as a great opportunity. An opportunity to be able to learn.

Now, after going on and on and saying all that, I will be the first to be found on ebay looking for that lot that has been misdescribed and not photographed correctly, and watching for the sellers that don't really seem to know enough so maybe, just maybe, there might be that special something in there.

. . . hmmm, the shipping doesn't seem too bad really, considering. That kind of looks nice. I did always want those ones he shows anyway. What's that heart racing thing? Oh, I hate it when I try to tell myself I should be more careful This is exciting. How's a guy supposed to have a bit of fun here anyhow? Now where did I put my heart pills? . . . darn cat . . . bring those tongs back here! Oh no, the auctions ending right now, I Have to Bid!

Oh, by the way, there are 4,700 stamp items listed on ebay right now that are using the word Vintage. I'm vintage for gads sake. What do they want from me?