Good Auction Sites Other Than Ebay For Newbies

Well I know I dont have 50 posts of yet so please dont slam me for asking this. I have just got back into stamp collecting, back in my youth I use to buy from approvals and dept stores. Now it seems most collectors are purchasing from online auction sites and this seems the way that Iam incline to purchase from now on. What I would like is to know what are the sites people here like to use, I know most people will be using ebay but are there other good auction sites that are good for stamps. I've done the usual google searches and have stumble across a few but not knowing much about them don't feel comfortable spending my time and money on a site I don't know anything about. So I would appreciate a few recommendations and avenues in my search for a ebay's alternative. I'm sure once I reach the 50 post quota I will be trading and swapping with other members of this forum on a regular base.
This is a wonderful site just found it a few weeks ago and have spent many a day reading all the old topics and posts there's a wealth of information to be learnt here very informative.

It's a good question IrishJack.

I'm sure you'll get lots of answers, but I'll start by giving you a couple places where I have purchased online.

www.wensy.com (I've bought a lot of my Canadian material from SCF member DJD on Wensy. Most of the sellers are based in US/Canada)

www.bidstart.com (again, most but not all sellers are based in the US/Canada)

www.delcampe.com (a true world marketplace; sellers from everywhere)


Some of the other folks here can give you more feedback than I.
KirkS

[edit: fix link]

Thanks for the links KirkS . I dont know whats worse my addiction to auctions or my love of stamps.

I had kmpauctions recommended to me, but I haven't tried it yet, for buying or selling.
Looks interesting though. A smaller site, the prices seem to vary widely from $.01 up to the limits of your imagination.
A Canadian site (if that influences you) located in Quebec.

http://kmpauctions.com

Good question and good follow up. I wish there were more sites, but I don't know of any others. For brick and mortar / email auctions this site is good: http://stampauctionnetwork.com/auctions.cfm
As far as usefulness to a buyer, on a scale of 1 to 100, my personal ratings are:
ebay=99, stampwants=4, wensy=2, delacampe=1, kmp=5.
I find wensy.com particularly interesting because they have 154,756 [!] stamp lots offered right now, there are 2 [TWO!] lots currently with more than one bid and about 200 lots with any bids at all - usually under 0.10. What were all those sellers thinking about when they went through the effort to list all those lots - lower fees than ebay??

I would recommend wensy for newbie buyers, they have a lot of material offered, no competition, and I have always had good results buying there [if infrequently].

In the past I had purchased stamps from kmp on ebay before he started his own auction site. He was very friendly, dependable and had nice material then and I imagine that is most likely still true today.

Just bid on a couple of lots on KMP. We'll see what happens.

I like Wensy too, it is great for picking up single older stamps in nice used condition.

I buy and sale on BidStart, never had a problem, and the BidStart staff will jump right in if there ever is a problem.

Irishjack, a Canadian site in Vancouver you might want to look at is
http://www.fvhstamps.com/
Click on "Weekly Saturday Auctions" at the left margin to look at the 250+ items available for auction each weekend.

KMP seems like a good site, one pot of coffee later and still looking for a stamp to place a bid couple of really good items there and with no reserve. I think I found a new play ground.
Best thing is when the wife walks by she knows what the ebay window looks like and always mentions that I am buying stamps . Now with a new auction site it will take her a while to clue in lol.

I almost forgot...

Call/email VANCE AUCTIONS and have them send you their latest auction. Even if you don't bid, they'll send you a couple or three issues before dropping you from the list.

If you bid, and the temptation is difficult to resist, they'll keep you on the active mailing list.

https://www.vanceauctions.com/
KirkS

Listed in order of my use:

I started off on ebay and they designed it to be as easy for the buyer to use as possible. I still like it for the ease of use reason. Click on the Worldwide option to see stamps listed from around the world.

www.Delcampe.net (dot com is the US site, dot net shows stamps from everyone worldwide) is great. A European feel to it that I found nice. Always improving. Auctions in many languages so remember to search in different languages also. Good for foreign stamps, some sellers use European Moneybookers, a site similar to PayPal but based in Germany or England I think, you just need a credit card to sign up. More sellers are using PayPal now.

Bidstart. Good site. Similar to ebay's layout, lesser listing fees so more stamps perhaps, definitely worth a look to see if anything is interesting.

Wensy has lots of stuff but I am a newbie at getting around on the site and find the search engine and clicking back and forth a challenge.

www.tradera.com Tradera is the Swedish ebay site, in Swedish.

www.stamps2go.com is another site but I am not familiar with it.

Remember that on all online auction sites, it is not the site you are dealing with but the individual sellers themselves. If their description and terms are to your liking and you feel they are trustworthy (most are I feel) then that's all you need to know. You are Not dealing with ebay or Delcampe or Wensy or Bidstart. You are dealing with mom and pop, Joe blow, me and you people. that is all.

Dear friend:

For me is better delcampe auction website.

ebay has more popularity, but has big fees and it maybe have a negative reputation for sellers.

Regards.

I know this is an old post and back 2 1/2 years ago. irishjack was just getting back into Stamp Collecting. In case someone else was to stumble across this posting and wondering. I don't like Auctions or Auction sites and so I am going to make a recommendation and after looking at this site. I think you will register and use it. It's Stamps2Go. I highly recommend this site for purchasing stamps. It will take just a little while to get used to but there are no- tricks, cheaters or shady sellers. You get what you see and pay for exactly. Shipping is $1.00 per seller so if you order one stamp or 50 stamps the shipping is still only $1.00 per seller per order. Any other questions just ask. I will be happy to assist.I get no commission or have any connection to Stamps2Go just a very happy customer.