Membership Applications In Specialized Organizations

As my collecting interests matured, I thought it would be nice to try membership in some more specialized collecting associations. I've looked at a number of them in the past few years. Virtually all of them require business/commercial/financial references on their membership application.

I certainly appreciate and agree with their desire for vetting applicants. Membership in a specialized organization can give an air of credibility to an otherwise dishonest dealer etc. I also respect the fact that, as a private organization, they can request whatever information they believe appropriate. If the organization wants three years of my audited tax returns as a condition of membership, so be it. It is my choice to submit the information or not.

My dilemma is this: I've been retired for a number of years. My business/commercial contacts have long since disappeared or are in retirement. My banker isn't about to furnish any information without me signing a boat load of releases. It seems to be a standard request; I'm just not really sure what to put in the reference area. Am I misreading their request?

I'm not about to contact these organizations with some special pleading for membership. If I can't fulfill their membership requests, that is fine. Maybe Marx (Groucho, not Karl) was right, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member."

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Dan

Have you done business with an established stamp dealer or auction house? Those would be good references.

You're obviously at a level beyond my own -- everything I join, they just want a check

But, I think you might have answered your own question. I think you should state you are retired from the XYZ company/industry. Tell them how long you've been collecting and your membership information of other societies to which you belong (APS, etc.).

Finally, offer to call/speak with them regarding any specific questions.

Just my 2¢
Kirk

Smauggie,




Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately most of my stamp purchases are on ebay. I've used auction houses but because they were European auctions, I've always used a collector friend as a proxy that was a native speaker. I didn't want to end up in a mess. My language skills aren't strong enough to wade through legalese in a foreign language.

Maybe I should bite the bullet and start my own account. I guess I could give them my Mystic account number.

Dan

KirkS,




Thank you for the suggestion.

I don't think these organizations are elite, they just specialize in areas that interest me.

I've thought about your option as an alternative. The reason I posted the general question is that it seems that the business/commercial/financial request is common and doesn't really allow for retirees "out of the loop" like I am. I thought they might be looking for something I've missed.

Membership in these organizations is not important to me. I was more curious than anything else.

Dan

I wonder how many of them actually check the references.
Glenn Estus

There are reasons for background checks. The main reason that as you join an organization, you become eligible to participate in organizational auctions, sales circuits and library lending, and several other events. When you send in your application, your "retirement" status is taken into account. Some organizations have a shared system of making sure you haven't run amok in another group and not lived up to your end of the deal when you participate in one of the above mentioned activities.
Most specialty organizations are affiliates of APS. APS runs a financial check on you before you become a member, so when an affiliate sees you are an active APS member, a financial background check is not needed.
APS also lists bogus people who and not kept their end of the agreement, so the smaller club can also see that before letting a prospective individual join. Financial checks do not need your banker to OK anything. It is called a credit check which nearly every business runs.

I am a sales circuit manager for 2 international organizations (won't say which two). I do not like sending $1000+ worth of material out in the mail to someone unless he at least has been checked and does not plan to run off with the material (and I am sure our insurance companies that cover us would appreciate that as well).

Specialty organizations serve a very important function, and that is education on the particular subject you joined them for. There are some that know it all and do need any further help, and there are those that always seek information from others (who likely belong to a group), and there are those that belong and can share information he/she obtained for the work of some other person in the organization. In my mind specialty groups are definitely a win/win proposition.

Anyway, I could go on ranting, but I hope this gives a little hint of why checks are needed.

It is truly no big deal that information is requested

GlennEsuts: APS actually called all of the references on my application when I joined them many years ago.

Usually, listing my APS # and my ATA # are sufficient. I sometimes throw in my Haiti Philatelic Society number for giggles.

The only people who have asked for something beyond that to date was Siegel Auctions after I registered via the Stamp Auction Network.

PoStat4evr,

Thank you for the insight on how the process works. I agree with what you have said. Specialty groups are a win/win.

As I said in my initial post, I agree with vetting potential members. I can understand a credit check for the reasons you stated. I can also see keeping a current credit card on file as security.

My question revolved around the request for references. If indeed they do check references, any commercial/business references I could supply would probably come up dry. There just didn't seem to be any alternative in the membership forms I've seen without special pleading as a retiree.

My credit is fine and I would be happy to share that information with an organization. You just gave an excellent reason for joining APS that I don't believe had been mentioned on that thread.

Dan

danstamps54: When I joined APS I was just out of the service, living on the GI bill while going to school. I had a bank account, which covered my checking account, and Safeway where I wrote checks for groceries. Other than that, just the apartment I was renting . You put down what you have, and at least back then, APS did call everyone on my lists (I think I even had a tire place where I purchased some tires on payment plan) that they called. I was accepted as a member, so if one can get by with that, I really don't think they would be that hard to get into. With todays credit bureaus, a background check is really easy.

PoStat4evR,

Since the lynchpin seems to be a membership in APS, I just joined online. It's something I should have done years ago anyway.

I presume they will check my credit from the credit card I provided. Now, to wait for the rest of their vetting procedure.

Dan

PoStat4evR....
I think what the APS does....
They list potential members in a issue of their magazine.....
All members get to see who has applied. Any member who has
had bad dealings with "a candidate" should reply about that transaction....thus
blocking the potential member for joining.

Kevin504,

Yes, they do publish your information prior to being accepted as a member. They made that clear on the application I just completed.

Dan

kevin504: Yes the posting is another method they use for just that, feedback, from anyone that knows "why this person should not be a member" aspect.

Kevin and Dan you both are correct about APS but really what they are most interested in is the check.