Make Money Selling Stamps

Hi KGV

Quote: On page 7 half way up the page, on this thread, Puzzler posts links to Duncan's ebay.com store and to the ebay.com store I have.

I have a com.au store as then when I list as a casual seller in US & CA I get 100 free listing a month. So I think the difference between our two stores is just that mine is .com.au store.

Hi floortrader.

Does you public and postal auctions have over

2,700 stamp lots on offer, most lots being bulk lots?

Hi Tomislav.

Sounds like you know what you need to do next time.
Which is a big step in the right direction.

Duncan has had a dream start to selling on ebay compared to our start in Jan last year. It took us over 3 months to get 20 feed backs but there is one big difference between the two of us.

We both have lots to sell that are popular , so it is not that.

Duncan had a large feed back score when he starting his selling by being a buyer on ebay and that is the difference.

When we started our feed back score was 0. It took a long time before anyone would trust us. But that is in the past now and our feed back score is 465 and that score is totally from being a seller. We have never bid on a lot on ebay.

Keep us in touch when you try to start selling online again. Many people are very helpful here.

Always Happy Stamping. KGV

Thanks for info KGV.
I'll perepare a list of questions for that moment.

Cheers !

KGV, I'm happy to see that you never bid on ebay lots. At least that's one less person outbidding me!
I'm not a regular seller on ebay, mostly I just sell my duplicates and other odds and ends that I get in box lots. I like getting box lots from ebay because I like sorting stamps, and finding interesting things for my collection, but I certainly don't expect to make a profit from reselling them. Sometimes I do make a profit off individual items, which surprises me, because I generally start my items off really low. But I'm not looking for a profit, I just don't want to throw away stuff that other people might find useful, even if I either already have it or don't want it.
It seems to me that a lot of the stuff on ebay goes for way too much for dealers to make a profit from; that's why I don't understand why they always outbid me! Unless it's other collectors getting the stuff out from under my nose when I'm not there to watch the end of the auction!

KGV collector------not sure what you mean by 2700 lots .........I only purchase from a few major firms and have outstanding line of credit with most .I try to purchase two or three lots for my collection and then purchase one bulk lot to have something to work on until the next auction .All the lots usually start over $1,000 and could go as high as $5,000 per lot .Since im a collector ,i never consider resale because thats years off.
I do reconsign a few lots each year to a local stamp auction firm but those lots are well picked over and the return is small .

Thanks for sharing ConnieR

All these experiences are going to help many people to understand how and the way they would like to sell some stamps some day.

Duncan has started a very good thread for us all here. Normally talking about selling stamps has been taboo by the most of collector's. This thread is a refreshing change.




Hi floortrader.

I am so glad you are sharing with us all. You make some very interesting and helpful posts. All of us have such different worlds we live in and see stamping so uniquely. I really like that cosmopolitan flavour that comes through on our SCF because of this and it becomes so helpful.
I wish I could take you on a tour of my stamping world in Australia and I would very much like to see your stamping world as well but sharing on SCF does help us to understand many things about our different ways.

Always Happy Stamping. John

Hi Tomislav suggest you buy many items on ebay to get some 100% feedback before you sell on ebay again. At least 20 items with 100%. KGV is right I had a big feedback score already on ebay when I started. The other thing is you have to have over 100 items listed to gain attention on ebay. All different price ranges and different items will attract customers. I have over 200 now and am getting lots of customers/views/watchers. List things every day if you can.

OK Now I want to hear from you guys who has cleaned up on an ebay sale, what is the best profit in one sale anyone has made? So far I have done a couple of $200 sales and I hope to top it one day. Would like to hear some success stories, there must be some.

Hi KGV back to this free postage thing your doing, I am trying it on one item. Item number 180839974620. CANADA FDC - The Blue Whale (largest stamp) 2010 $10 Stamp!!. Now Lets see if it gets lots of bids. It is a nice whale stamp so it should. I saw other sellers selling the same FDC for $19. Mine starts at 6 bucks. Lets watch it and see what happens.

Hi John (KGV)

(Quote:
Hi John (KGV), interesting you say the invoice is automatic sent by ebay.)

I had a long look at this. Now try going to

Home >
My ebay >
My Account >
Manage communications with buyers

From There:

When this happens

Buyer wins auction

The buyer success email lets your buyer know that they have won the item, and the next step is to pay

Then click 'Enlarge' Under The Screenshot

Don't Want This Email: unsubscribe

That may stop the auto email going to customers. But I find I now have one customer who does bid on several things and pays for them one at a time before I can send the invoice. Solution send multiple envelopes with each item in them. They paid for the stamp so why not.

By the way are you using Selling manager tool? I find it very helpful.

I am walking out the door. To go to the mainland.

I will post what happened this week later. John

OK KGV When you get back try this:

Go to:

Home > My ebay > My Account > Preferences > Combined Payments and Shipping Discounts

Calculated shipping rule Help on calculated shipping rule
-Not specified-
Create calculated shipping rule

select create then

Select a rule for calculating the weight on your combined packages

Choose the last rule

'Combine All Item Weights And Subtract An Amount'

Put 1 in weight ounces

Then this appears

Select a rule for the packaging & handling costs on combined packages

Choose

Specify A Handling Cost For Each Additional Item

Choose

Subtract $ handling cost of each additional item.

Put your amount in, say 60 cents etc.

Then follow the rest of the steps.

From then on if someone buys 2 items it should only charge One postage fee of 60 cents or what ever amount you specify

Hope that helps

No I don't work for ebay but I changed my store even threw on a guest book:)

i don't have to make money selling stamps...but I have 5 or 6 large plastic tubs of stamps and covers taking up too much space....if you learn of someone EAGER TO PURCHASE STAMPS I would like to be cut in !!

Hi PhilB please show us some pics of some of your better covers & stamps.

16th March 2012

Sales to date: $8,861.06

Transactions: 1833

Mailing cost $32.95 approx.

Free mailing for our sales model has been a full on success in our 1st week. We do not look like changing back. But to some sellers this is not going to work as our buyers are mostly buying many lots at one time and over more than one auction. Having a 54c to 79c starting price worked very well in the one area we used it in and is more than 2/3 of our sales this week. It is the best bidding frenzy we have ever experienced. The free mailing seemed to free up the bidders. Still very early day but very encouraging.