Ebay Prices

Most any stamp or item your looking for on ebay they have a whole range of prices that is cool when your buying and a guide for selling too. I think it is a hoot to go to ebay type in stamps and click on highest price plus shipping and see the future millionaires of the planet. You really can tell "I don't have a clue crowd" when common stamps are priced over $100.00. If I had to guess on prices I would price low for the item to sell and use auction format so if it was a bit higher maybe some others would bid on it,bottom line if listing to sell is to SELL it not fool around grousing about pennies nickels and dimes, price it to sell it, but the figure on ebay of about 25% of catalog value is common.

I love clueless sellers too !

As for free listings, I always take advantage of them. But then my items sold ratio is closer to 90%, because I list them to sell! Nothing frustrates me more than doing a search and seeing the same stamps month after month. There are items that have been on here for years. That's not an auction !

kcaramat: Seeing the same stamps or in my case, covers month after month is how I feel about physical stamp shows. I only know a few dealers who regularly get new stock in and rarely do they ever drop prices.

It seem anyone's particular gripes are not unique to ebay as they can be found any sales venue. Range of prices from high to low, clueless sellers, old repeated stock are the norm at any stamp show, flea market, antique mall or even Amazon (used books on Amazon can range from a few dollars to hundreds for the same exact book). Of course it may seem compounded on ebay, but then again it's a global market and one of the largest on the planet. It's the largest stamp show on Earth. One should expect to see a lot of dreck - no different than the average dealer's $1 box. The difference is that you don't have to spend hours sorting through it all. If a seller has a well written title and description then you can find exactly what you want if it's present. The search engine should be your best friend on ebay. Everything is indexed if the seller had a clue about organization.

It can also be worthwhile for a seller to relist unsold items. Sometimes it might take a few tries to list an item at the right time that another person(s) who is looking for it to find it. I recently had a rerun auction. I listed nothing that was new, but still sold over 760 lots to 302 buyers. One guy in Canada bought 155 lots alone. There were items that didn't sell for 99 cents the first time around, but sold for $15 this time.

You often do not know the reasoning behind a sellers pricing strategy. For example; I have been known to justify a purchase with my wife based upon the understanding that I would resell the item. (Of course I never committed to her the price that I would sell it at, thereby basically getting to keep the item in question!!)
don

Yet another very interesting thread.

I can't buy expensive items, so I probably bypass those outrageously priced stamps listed by "clueless" (or greedy?) sellers. I usually search the stamp Scott No., look at all the choices and narrow it down to the 2 or 3 best, based on condition and price.

Those "clueless" sellers can be a pain or, just clueless. I have contacted people selling totally common, nearly worthless stamps for high prices. Some tell me to get lost; others seem appreciative of the info, and say "oh, I just guessed .. thanks, I will adjust the price."

A long overdue thanks to KGV for explaining his concerns over some listings - such as the seller with 5,000 items (one concern was that ordering something from such a seller might be bad because the seller might not find the product; I had this happen with a mass seller - ordered about $50 worth of stuff - he could not locate 3 or 4 lots; he did offer me credit for this, but I never cashed it in because I didn't see anything else from him that I wanted).

Thanks, as ever, for the discussion.

BTW - is there an easy way to be aware that a Seller might be attached to that global shipping thing before one makes a purchase?

I have the pet peeve on ebay lots to buy when the seller shows a grand lot but then goes on to say read the details and it says that they decide which items from the fabulous lot they have pictured that you receive and you don't get the whole lot. I don't want to buy mystery lots, I want to see exactly what I am buying yet there are some sellers that try this selling ruse over and over. I can make my own decisions seller so I bypass that type of sell all day everyday. I just laugh now when a seller shows a gigantic box lot of stamps and in the details says you don't get the whole thing but only 100 stamps, no way dude! lol.

centerstage98: Since you live in the U.S. you won't see it and as a buyer you don't have to worry about it. It's for shipping outside of the U.S. Buyer's outside of the U.S. should see it as part of the shipping price. I'm not sure if the custom fees are listed as well as I'm in the U.S. too. The fees for the GSP go directly to ebay and that money never passes through the seller's account. You can see one of my previous posts in this thread on how to check if you've been roped into it as a seller.


As for KGV's concern about high volume seller's, regardless of the number of items, one's ability to find something is only as good as one's organization system. I've listed more than 5,000 items and it's easy as pie to find items. Everything is assigned a number and everything is order by the numbers. If Amazon can sort through millions upon millions of items, I can sort through several thousand and anyone else can too. Organization is a key component to success.

LarryBruce: I agree - those kinds of lots should be avoided. Those sellers offer who them are like the ads you see in the APS mag and Linn's for mystery box lots. Cover Connection and Champion Stamp Company are two dealers that advertise lots like this in print media. That method of selling doesn't translate well into ebay sales.

In general, I agree with the comments from LarryBruce and Battlestamps about avoiding the purchase of items in which the buyer is buying blind. I did wonder, however, if there were one or two BIG dealers in which that might be an OK deal. For example, the one that says something like 500 or 1,000 stamps from the massive lot of thousands or millions, etc., in which the dealer claims to NOT pick through.

The reason I ask is that some of these folks seem to get very good feedback from many buyers and the price is usually pretty fair.

Any thoughts?

Hi centerstage98,

You can spot global shipping by the globe and box logo and the line "No additional import charges on delivery" just above the shipping details on the listing. Below that you will see the international (high) shipping charge. And below that the prepaid import charges, which the buyer may not have to pay anyway. Not sure this tax collecting is legal and I have read of buyers who have paid it still being asked for the import duty on delivery (where it is applicable). See scan 1 below.

Then there is the seller who just charges outrageous amounts for shipping, like the guy I didn't buy my pencils from. (See scans 2 and 3 below).

Terry

PS. Edited. As Battlestamps says this info will only be visible to the buyer(s) outside the USA. TC.

(1) Global shipping........



(2 and 3) Astronomical shipping.........

I think many stamp collectors/dealers/sellers are hoarders by nature. Collecting is often an expression of the desire for control and order and the sense of security it brings.

I believe many of them struggle with an internal conflict - they want to sell, but they don't really, and they fear regretting their decision to sell.

Terry: That Global shipping amount in #1 is what ebay & Pitney Bowes is charging. The seller didn't set that price except for a small portion so the item could be shipping to a domestic shipping facility in Kentucky. Was #2 & #3 part of the GSP as well? I don't know how much a box of pencils weigh, but anything between 5 to 8 oz should only costs $12.75 to mail to the U.K. For $42.81, I could mail over 5 pounds of stuff to the UK.

JR1960: There are some that are like that. I've seen several antique dealers like that - buildings jammed pack, items not priced or greatly inflated and very poor organization (so I'm not sure about the order/control part). I see collecting as means to supplement knowledge and the enjoyment it brings. There's still a horde as it's faster to buy than sell.

the ones that say unsorted I do not believe-you buy an unsorted lot and 99.99% of the time it has common junk and cherry picked- and the ones that say 100 stamps from hoard is silly to buy when your looking for specific stamps for a collection- the 100 stamps only works if your starting a collection which does not beg for repeat buyers and the large ebay guys that do that I also figure they have more then one account to jack up their selling figures (they buy it themselves if no takers)and drive up bidding- I can't believe those things do not happen. As we are on pet peeves I have another on the start auction 99cents and it always goes ballistic selling on that one guys sales Noble gast or whatever his name is,lol, I never bid on his stuff it is always over priced for common junk after he cherry picked the bageebers out of it.LOL ah ebay gotta lv it.

I love the free listings. The fees add up in a hurry these days especially since Paypal has been crammed down our throats. Without free listings it can cost me 70 cents in fees to sell a 99 cent cover and then with shipping of a single cover my best case scenario is to lose 20 to 50 cents when it is all done. Obviously I am hoping that the buyer buys more than one cover at a time and checks out once. The fees go up if you check out multiple times.
Prior to Paypal I started most auctions at a penny and the fees were more reasonable. I would get lots of bids and actually could make a couple bucks. These days I rarely list more than 100 items at a time where as I used to list over 1000 at times.
People complain that the bargains are harder to find these days and it is largely because of fees. A seller simply can't afford to sell small quantities of inexpensive items.
I still occasionally will list things at a penny with free shipping, but that is really just to bring people in. I view it as advertising. Hopefully they buy some better items once they find me.

You'd think with all the fast buyers there would be a lot of fast sales.
I've never seen 'em, but you'd think.