Bidstart

Bidstart was mentioned the other day as an alternative to ebay. I just tried it and was very pleased. It's especially good for finding those small items needed to complete short sets.

I like Bidstart, always nice to have a other option then ebay

Bidstart has a nice option to display available items sorted by scott number. Really does make it nice to shop for a few items you need to fill in.

Bidstart is fine..like anywhere else there are more good apples than bad..if you find a decent dealer with fair shipping..support him !

As a seller, bidStart is now my preferred auction site. Call me a Delcampe refugee. I was happily selling there until the introduction of Seb's INsane fees that will see an exodus of sellers of quality low priced stamps from there early in the new year.

I cannot afford to have a store on ebay and was so delighted when I looked into bidStart. I have now settled in there and sales are now bettering my expectations.

Since my move bidStart has been purchased by Stanley Gibbons, who have ambitions to take on ebay. Things are slowly ramping up (I received my 1st email from SG promoting bidStart last week).

I'm looking forward to SG's heavy promotional campaign in the new year and a large influx of buyers and sellers to bidStart.

Regards,

Rod

I was looking through Bidstart today thinking about listing some items. Most of them are covers. In the postal history area there are 30,949 covers for sale and of them only 51 are on auction. Why don't more sellers list auction style there?

A question I have asked a few times. This is one of the reasons I have yet to purchase anything through bidstart. Also I have found that whatever piece I'm looking for, I can get a better deal on ebay. I have been looking on bidstart though.

I think BidStart may be better for stamps, sold as fixed-price items. At least, that's true for now, until there's a larger base of looking and bidding over there. I know a lot of sellers who felt they took a real haircut on listing items at auction there, unless they already had a following, or unless the items were especially popular and enjoyed a lot of attention.

One feature of BidStart is that you can create a wantlist of the items you're looking for, and the system will send you an email whenever someone lists an item you're looking for. (Probably works best if you identify it by Scott number.)

-- Dave

I like Bidstart a lot...i found a few dealers that i'm very pleased with..good selection, price, shipping costs and always items well packed.

I've bought a few items on Bidstart, mainly varieties on KGV-era Empire issues, which I spend hours searching for.

I've just had my first bad experience.

I found a variety on a set of Kenya Uganda Tanganyika Silver Jubilee issues, which the seller clearly hadn't seen. When the items arrived, I couldn't understand why I bought them. They were normal, and I have the set many times over.

The seller had substituted the set I bought. This was his explanation (I've omitted his name and his "tag" line to avoid identifying him - he may be a member here for all I know):

Stamps shown not stamps sent, missed it had several sets, we must have accidentally sent the set shown to another client.
We are refunding your payment there is no need to return the stamps

My reply:

"Well, I hope the other client enjoys the rare variety you missed and I found after hours online (tagline omitted again indeed!!). Or perhaps you spotted the variety and substituted these stamps thinking I wouldn't know?

If you ARE selling several sets, you should point that out. I've received your refund, but I want the stamps I bought, which you can't supply. The refund is irrelevant to me.

Very poor service from someone who brags about being an APS dealer member. I won't be buying from you again and will advise all of my forum contacts to also avoid you.

It's not hard to get it right."

I've been told I'm over-reacting, but I expect better from someone with over 30,000 items for sale,claiming to be a professional dealer, and bragging about being an APS dealer member.

I know mistakes happen, but the flippancy of the reply peeved me.

My gut tells me he listed that like that on purpose. How long until his moniker lists the actual variety on ebay?

Sounds like the oldest trick in the book jubilee, the old bait and switch. I just think sellers are getting sick of the 3 bids per average stamp and want guaranteed money. Like I told a dealer at the last show a few weeks back. Just because you paid $185 for a used Scott US #9 in 1982, doesn't mean you're going to be able to even come close to that in todays market.

Bidstart is just too expensive for me personally and the items I've priced there, I have found much cheaper on ebay.

You've both echoed my thoughts.

Regarding buying stamps. The prices are too high and I have not found a good item in a long time. (though I did find some nice items over a year ago and a few recently - they are very, very difficult to find now compared to a few years ago).
Because of low listing fees, many sellers price items too high and don't care if they have to wait a long time to sell them. On ebay, the fees make this strategy less attractive, hence lower prices to make sales.

As a seller, I have tried selling there as well and do not sell anything very often (especially compared to ebay).
They do have the option to link ebay fixed price sales to their website if desired (and you pay about $4 a month for a store there to make this happen). Again, this does not result in many sales and I have cancelled and retried it a few times. I am glad that some sellers do OK there, the fees are lower.

regarding BidStart: I decided to take a look at the site today since lots of people have been mentioning it. It appears I must have signed up at some point in the past. Long story short, they know my email address, and after trying to sign in a zillion times, and submitting for a new password 2 zillion times, and then using their help form, I still have not seen any emails from them. I have also checked my spam folders, just in case.

Can people who use the site often tell me if this is the usual level of "support" they give? Usually password resets don't take hours to happen...

I've bought a few things on Bidstart. I don't mind them at all. Haven't sold anything yet though. Can't seem to decipher their pricing structure. Any, anyway, I see NOTHING wrong with the Bidstart Girl. Certainly one thing up on ebay.