Whatever Happened To Stamp Prices On Ebay ?

i was browsing worldwide stamps on ebay and its just crazy..at one time the buyer would set the price for his item at the minimum he would accept and let the market determine the price...now we have no nothings that are asking 5 and 10 times what an item is worth and hoping for a sucker...its crazy !!

i meant to say the seller would set the minimum he was willing to accept..sorry !

It is also that way on bidStart. I will see the same thing with several different sellers for the same stamp, prices ranging from say, $20.00 to hundreds of dollars (without a certificate!). American Greed?


-IBFS

My wife sticks with one or two large dealers...one in Europe starts most things off at 99 cents and offers free shipping...seems like a better way to go than losing ones mind looking at absurd prices for junk !

There are still a few people who still sell like that. Everybody wants to get the most they can for what they have, it seems. There are those dealers who, in the abscence of understanding the philatelic value of an item, take refuge in catalog value pricing, which can be too high (which is most of the time) or not high enough (occasionally).

It's not so much about getting what you can for a piece but rather protecting your investments. Stamp buying on ebay has seen a huge decline over the last 2 months (Spring / Summer perhaps) and if you look at bidstart almost all auctions are gone and the new world order is "Buy it now" because sellers can't risk tossing a $50 item up at .99¢ and see it realize $9.00.

ebay has been trying to kill off auctions for awhile now and between them and PayPal the seller gets nickeled and dimed to death.
Listing fees, store fees, FVF fees, PayPal fees and even fees on shipping. It all adds up quickly. ebay has been trying hard to become Amazon 2.0 for the last few years and the collectible sellers have been thrown under the bus along with the auction format. Also the USPS increases fees every year practically so you can see why some people have increased prices within reason. I've been holding out as hard as I can to keep the starting auction prices at 99cents/$1 and it's not easy, but I figured that be providing the best service I can(description, pictures, shipping, packing, communications, etc.) both buyer and seller will be happy. I will never use that BIN service.

Of course you also have the "pie in the sky" folks who think anything 10 or 20 years or older must be gold - those folks have never seen a stamp catalog and are really not stamp dealers. These types also populate antique stores and flea markets thus they are not unique to online sales. Shady salesmen have been around since the first barter exchange in history. But at least with ebay, if you find a seller that is shady or unrealistic you can simply ignore them.

Of course now the thing to watch on ebay is their GSP program. If that ever becomes mandatory, ebay will be dead to all international sales. Do not accept that program not even as a trial as it's like a virus you cannot shake.

So what's GSP? I don't pay any attention to ebay's frantic gee-whiz emails and notices.

i guess I was referring to the ones that put up a stockpage of 3 cent stamps and ask a bid of 50 dollars for it..i have no quarrel with a stamp dealer making his profit ! I have been buying stamps for 60 years..on average I probably paid 40 percent of Scott for sets and singles and much less when buying in bulk !

doug2222: GSP stands for Global Shipping Program. ebay has been encouraging sellers to sign up for this service in which if a U.S. seller has an international buyer then the seller would no longer have to mail to item directly overseas. Instead the seller would mail the item to a facility in Kentucky where it would be reshipped to the international buyer. Pitney-Bowes is involved in the reshipping process and here's where it gets really interesting. Pitney Bowes together with ebay tacks on additional shipping and customs charges onto the price of the item and is collected directly from the buyer to ebay. How much and how is the "customs fees" getting to the buyer's country is beyond me. The seller is out of the loop at this point except DSR ratings and feedback. The shipping amounts charged are usually much higher than if the seller was to send it directly overseas to the buyer and custom fees collected are much higher and often charged on items in which are either too low a fee or shouldn't have one in the first place. The program is only set up for certain select countries so far like Canada, Great Britain, Australia and a few others - most which are usually not a problem to ship to in the first place. International buyers who have bought items involved in this program have been furious over the additional shipping and custom fees. The sellers are feeling the brunt of the criticism although many sellers didn't realize this happened nor realize their items were listed in the program in the first place. ebay sent out an updated user agreement a month or two ago in which if you agreed (some sellers did without reading it) to the updated you were enrolled into the GSP. It's very difficult to get out of it as ebay made the option to turn it off disappear from the control panel. Some joined in hopes of having new buyers with a promise that the mailed items would be more secure. Basically, this is the first time that ebay has fleeced the buyers. The question is - will this program become mandatory or not? It doesn't cost $10-$12 to mail a postcard to Canada, but that's what is happening under the GSP.

philb: I didn't mean to hijack the thread. To get back on subject, I would hope most buyers know how to shop around to find the best deals and simply ignore the overpriced stamps. I would also hope that sellers of overpriced items would realize their errors when items sit week after week with no sales. Hopefully, such sellers would then attempt some serious research as to what reasonable prices they should as for their stamps. Unsold overpriced items only benefits ebay through listing fees. I don't see ebay trying to change the situation, but websites like this one can help educate potential sellers some better methods to ascertain stamp values and means of selling.

Thanks for the explanation. It seems like the most obvious way to avoid the GSP is simply don't send your items to Kentucky...

EDIT.
Somebody please confirm, all that's necessary to prevent this ripoff is simply don't ship your merchandise to Kentucky, and where it's sent would appear to be 100% in the Seller's control.

What am I missing here??

Hey Will you are always welcome..the exchange of ideas, thats how we learn !

It seems it is not anymore a good thing to be a regular seller or dealer on ebay, from what I read and also judging from what I have heard from friends who have withdrawn because of the increasing costs. However, with regard to GSP, this can be useful to an overseas client especially in the case of expensive items in one's home country, and/or items you cannot get unless you have a US address. For instance, it is much cheaper to buy a computer in the US than in Australia but delivery is usually to the US only. For a small fee, you can have your US address with a GSP firm and have your purchase forwarded to you. I still like ebay for buying because it is very searchable but yes, buyer beware, you must have an idea of an item's value, as well as what it is worth to you; and I am grateful to all those who still use ebay to sell. But if you really want to get examples of crazy prices asked, go to a large second hand book site and look for a second hand book (or even check the "used" section on Amazon). It never ceases to amaze me that some dealer asks many times the price of the new book for a second hand copy, even when the book is still available new.Why bother even putting a book up for sale like that?

Easy. The old rogue of a husband passed away, and his will specified that his mistress was to get the proceeds from the sale of his book collection...