Just Curious

I was wondering why the large stamp dealers such as Mystic and Kenmore do not sell on e-bay ? (They may be , under a different name.) I haven't bought any stamps or supplies from them in quite some time due to their high prices compared to what is available on e-bay. If they were dependent on people like me , they would be out of business. Even the U.S.P.S. is on e-bay now. Thoughts anyone ?

I don't think they need to be on ebay - both of these dealers I'm assuming have a large customer base they can market to directly. I still see their adds on occasion in non-stamp related media. I also noticed that Mystic is now on Amazon selling their US stamp album(s).

As is often stated, many stamp collectors are ol' folks. People without as much access to technology or know-how. I suspect this is a key factor in their business plans. They both have an presence on the internet as well.

One really good reason is that mystic cant compete with ebay. Also, If they were to list on ebay they would have to raise their prices in order to maintain their bottom line.

wow..raise their prices. how high can a new stamp go that can be bought for face value at the local P.O., yet Mystic doubles that for minty fresh stamps, with the used ones being face value(new issues) though I have noticed that the further back one goes in issues, sometimes mystic actually prices under scott. Anyhow, I personally miss Mission stamp company. Mystic is nice for the albums and some supplies, but basically is overpriced. ebay also can be pricy and it is a shot in the dark sometimes on correct offerings for a decent price.

I like Subway Stamp for supplies mostly, which is just the mounts. Scott catalog values are way over rated in my opinion. And since I can find a very fare price on bidstart I generally steer clear of ebay. I do browse from time to time, just as I do browse shopgoodwill.com. I occasionally find lower priced mounts on ebay. I think mystic is about 3x higher than I would pay, but I'm frugal...lol

I've often wondered if Mystic and other large dealers *buy* on ebay. Certainly wouldn't be a bad idea for them to keep an eye out. I've seen some really nice collections of good stamps sell there for shockingly small fractions of catalog value

Generally I've seen that most stamp dealers I've dealt with realize their wares for 50%-75% Mystic and about 25% Scott. Condition is everything, and if one knows the subject matter even decently well, ebay shopping is ok. Personal Story with Mystic...US minuteman issue unused came on approval (years ago). It was badly centered with perfs cutting into 2 of the design edges and they were asking about ($50) 1.5X scott. I sent it back and spoke to the rep with the issue. In the interrim, I purchased the same stamp nearly centered, sharp and crisp for about 25% scott. Mystic then sent a new one again unused, no cut in perfs, but not well centereed, but his one was being priced at $80. go figure. Currently I have I think 3 or 4 of this issue in unused in better shap than the better mystic offering, and I have shelled out less than $40 for all of them in total some of them from ebay. On the plus side, Mystic still has the most economical and full featured US album out there. I love their catalog as it is in color (don't trust the colors 100% though) and their supplies. I just don't care for their stamp pricing. my little so-called rant is done.

ebay has a policy I think that you are not supposed to buy if contacted by people directly to sell - Mystic contacts people directly to sell - Mystic probably would be banned from ebay for directly contacting buyers to sell as per ebay policy.

i too remembered mystic as high or a bother in the old days sending stamps I had to turn around and send them back or I would be obligated to buy them (to frequently). However now days I love Mystic convenience especially on the washington/franklin usa face stamps, I can just go down the line and in order buy stamps at low cost for the common stamps/lower values easy and they come in the mail in the glassy envelope with the scott number on it for easy insertion into my usa stamp album. Many stamps are 15 cents, 30cents, a buck...i made a display of the transportation series from my stamp stock and filled in the holes cheap with mystic and also the two famous people sets both sets I put on construction paper and put in glass frames- they look great and cost very little. one other thing ebay has a lot of fakes on higher priced items and if I ever did buy mystic higher priced stamps I might feel more comfortable that they were the real deal. I do agree mystic on higher valued stamps they are more expensive then some on ebay but I use mystic as a tool that fits in the price range I want to pull out of them with the lower value stamps and there is one shipping charge where you don't have to ask the buyer as on ebay to combine shipping.

Well, I think Mystic would be OK selling on ebay as long as they didn't include other circulars along with their shipment. Plenty of other companies sell on ebay that also have brick and mortar locations, ebay just doesn't want sellers telling customers to go somewhere else to buy what they're selling. That's not to say a buyer couldn't figure it out on their own. Anyway...even if Mystic started selling on ebay tomorrow (or already are today), they'd most likely do so through a different ID or a subsidiary company of some sort. But I have no idea why they would sell at 25% of Scott on ebay when they can get full Scott selling direct, and save ebay fees on top of it.

I have bought few items on ebay, but will not buy if they dont offer combined shipping. That is why I like bidstart. The sellers I buy from set tiers for their shipping or a one price ships all. I actually hold bidstart sellers in higher regard than those of ebay. I'll have to agree on the point about Mystics catalog. It is fun to read.

What are you saying???
If I sell outside of ebay I am not allowed to sell at ebay???
Dont understand???

I believe it means you are not allowed to advertise your brick-and-mortar store to customers you serve on ebay.

It makes sense, actually. ebay's revenue would suffer if every seller used their ebay listings as a forum for their own retail sites!

Brian

Mystic doesn't sell their stamp inventory directly on ebay because a significant part of their business is approvals. If they made a large stamp (not supply) presence on ebay, they wouldn't get many customers because any simple search would show their stamp prices are significantly higher -- not exactly a smart way to get new customers. Mystic (and to a certain extent, Kenmore) survived off the mark-up of adding service and to reaching those who normally do not have access to stamp markets. We can complain all we want about their inflated prices, but we cannot deny that they played an important role in building up stamp collecting and were quite successful at it for a long time.



But if you read the fine print, you will see that Mystic states those stamps are not VF centering and may have a minor defect. I've seen Mystics approvals (they sent them even though I did make any requests) -- and yes, the older issues do not have decent centering are do have minor to major defects. If you want a VF sound stamp, you will be asked to pay a lot more than the Scott catalog price.



I seriously doubt it unless it was some hard to find item. I hardly every buy anything off ebay. While ebay is nice if you are looking for a very specific item that is not easy to find, and here and there will be a few misidentified items in the buyer's favor, the prices on ebay are mostly still higher than dealer buy prices and the wholesale market. It's easier and cheaper for Mystic and other large dealers to buy directly from those in a hurry to sell off an entire collection and very large accumulations.

That being said, it is my experience that Mystic will pay top dollar for certain items/areas that they are aggressively pursuing -- but you have to know what they really want, or your timing has to be right.

"We can complain all we want about their inflated prices, but we cannot deny that they played an important role in building up stamp collecting and were quite successful at it for a long time."

Indeed. I started collecting as a kid, but then dropped the hobby completely for about a good 12 years. Upon getting an inkling that I wanted to start collecting again, I really had no idea how to get back into it again. It was only through responding to a Mystic ad in a Sunday newspaper that I got back into it. I gradually found other, less expensive sources, but I'm not entirely certain I would have gotten back into the hobby without some big company advertising in traditional media outlets. You just don't see stamp packets offered in stores anymore, which is what got me started as a kid.