Reliability Of Stamps2go?

Hi all,

On the suggestion of someone on this site (sorry, cannot remember who), I investigated Stamps2Go as a place to purchase stamps.
I was happy to find it, checked it out and was so excited I made a purchase.
After I made the purchase (easy payment through PayPal), though, I realized that unless I am missing something, the site is lacking something available thru ebay, BidStart and (I think) Delacampe.

What seems to be missing (?) are:

1. a way to contact the seller directly to ask questions or check on shipment, etc.
2. and any kind of solid feedback area.

As I said, I may be missing these, but I looked and looked and could not find such an area.

I am in the U.S. and the seller is in Asia, so I know it will take a while for arrival (it has only been a week), but I wonder if other people have had good luck with the site? Or have I kissed my $54 goodbye ...

thanks

I have done a little buying there, not a lot, but no problems thus far. I didn't find that the overall system worked as well for my tastes as other sites I use more frequently. Your mileage might vary on that point.

I wouldn't worry about it until you know you have a reason to worry. I bet it works out just fine.

Out of curiosity, what sites do you tend to use Cjd? I have a lot of good material I want to sell to make room for my specialized areas and raise funds for purchases. I have used ebay for non-stamp items and have been an ebay voyeur for awhile - watching and seeing the market trends. However, I don't feel it is the best means to sell from what I see. I have now looked at a few other sites like delcampe, stamps2go, and bidstart but I have never used or really watched them at all.

Any insight into these or others?

And sorry to centerstage for hi-jacking the thread with my own questions! Although, I think the questions we both have will lead to similar answers :)

Thanks

I have been selling stamps on ebay, delcampe, freestampauction, bidstart, ebid, webstore. The only sites that get response is ebay and delcampe (though I sold some on freestampauction)

Which do you find has the best profit, especially considering fees?

Thanks, cjd on the advice ... I am a natural born worrier, so I guess I was a little. Though I know it takes TIME for mail to get here from Asia. But when I went back to see if there was any little message from the seller (like "lot sent on such a date") or that I could send a message, I did get a little nervous. But other than that, in this particular case, in general I liked what I saw. he other negative thing was that a lot of folks did not seem to post any scans or their merchandise... but I will put my trust in a seller for the first round.

I haven't been there lately, so my critique is perhaps a little dated (i.e., they might have made changes), but the clumsy search function and general lack of scans for many listings put me off.

Centering and perfs are important to me, but I'm primarily interested in postmarks, so listings with no picture, or stock photos, are mostly useless to me.

As for other sites, I frequent most of the ones that have been mentioned, including ebay. bidstart is probably the most convenient interface for me, but it is not where I do most of my buying.

If I was selling, my choice would depend upon my selected business model. If I wanted to put up my existing items at fixed percentages of catalogue value and be content letting them sit until sold, I'd probably go with Wensy, maybe also bidstart with some material.

If I was actively acquiring material to resell using the auction format, for now I think I'd have to go with the greater exposure provided by ebay. Bidstart could potentially take ebay's place some day, but it is not there yet. Of the current players, I believe bidstart has the best chance to replace ebay.

In any event, if I was going to sell on a site, I would first try several buying transactions, to get a feel for the buying experience.

I've recommended Stamps2Go several times as a place to find items not normally listed on ebay.

With regard to being able to contact the seller, I have always been provided with a contact email address in the Order Confirmation email that the site sent me following my purchases.




As to shipment information, you should also receive an email from the site telling you when the seller will ship your items. As I understand their process, funds are withheld from the seller until he/she confirms the order and provides shipping information -- an order from multiple sellers will result in individual shipping notification emails.




Here is what the site says about feedback:




I've only dealt with Stamps2Go sellers in the US and have had no problems thus far. On one order I had a few stamps that weren't as described but I received prompt resolution after contacting the seller.

Steve

As mentioned by the previous poster (who did an excellent job of describing our communications), we do provide the Email address of the seller(s) in the order confirmation Email sent to the buyer. If the buyer has discarded his order confirmation, he can always click the "Ask Seller a Question" button on one of the seller's sale items.

As for feedback ... I haven't met anyone who likes the feedback system at ebay or other auction sites. Most of the feedback is the stereotypical "A+++++", "Great seller", or some other meaningless stuff that everyone posts - because to do otherwise might result in some retribution on the part of the seller.

At Stamps2Go, we consider an order successfully completed without complaints to be an order with positive feedback. If their is a problem, we have an easy-to-use complaint procedure that works very well.

Paul Herman
Stamps2go Webmaster

Thanks fellow collectors.. that was all very helpful information .. I appreciate it very much.

I found Delcampe expensive but you can be sure of the quality of the material being sold

And as a followup .. I received my first order from Stamps2Go with NO problem at all .. and now that I see how it works I will likely be using the service some more. In fact, I liked it so much that I just placed a new order with a second seller, who had lots of material I was interested in.

As per the services I have used now - Stamps2Go, ebay, BidStart and Delacampe - I have found them all pretty positive and ALL a bit different with the types of material available. I am likely to keep shopping at all the servuces.

Maybe, competition is opening a little as word gets around (I know a few buyers who knew nothing of these services beyond ebay). I think it all will no doubt do nothing but help buyers.

Koala, a very surprising statement. What can be honestly said is - YOU have been satisfied with your purchases, SO FAR.

Generalising statements about quality from 'all types of UNKNOWN sellers' is very dangerous territory to generalise about 'being sure of'. (IMO)

I'd have to second that. I've seen some very dodgy material on Delcampe, and ebay, and ... Way overpriced, forged, poor quality - you name it. Disregard the sales hype. Look hard at the image(s). If they aren't sufficiently reassuring, don't buy. Doesn't matter what online site it is.

Yes, tonymacg - Buyer Beware is always the way to go. I guess my point is that, as a buyer, it's great to have all of these different services (not to mention real stamp shows!) because you can compare. I was looking for a specific group of stamps and all were relatively common and low priced, except for one. I found that ONE being sold on all four sites I mentioned at prices from about $8 to $40. The quality of all seemed the same. But it was great to have a choice like that.