I Would Like To Be A Full Time Stamp Dealer But...

If I were a full time dealer I'd have a presence on ebay but it wouldn't be my only (or preferred) method of selling due to the fees, feedback issues, etc. Some dealers on ebay push you toward their own website or price list after the fact, and I get the impression that they only use ebay to fish for more customers for their bread-and-butter business, which is NOT on ebay. Which is exactly the way I'd do it.

One idea would be to advertise in stamp magazines and offer an on approval direct to customer service. So potential buyer sends you their want list, you then send out various stamps on their want list and prices. Buyer selects which ones they want and pays for those then returns the rest. Next use the Stamp Auction Network site, sell in groups / entire collections through the various dealers that run auctions all over USA and Europe on SAN. Your likely to make money there. Target various stamp websites that run their own auctions, send collections into them to auction off for you. Likely you may loose on some but gain on other lots. Some of the big stamp places that run auctions through stamp auction network send you out catalogs with thousands of lots for sale. The ideal place to sell and buy from. But you still need to pay them a fee in the end to. For me ebay has always been the easist site to use as they have a lot of potential buyers but you won't make $10,000 a month on there. So as TheArtfulHinger says you can't just use ebay as your only venue if your a dealer, you need a website to and possibly the stamp auction network as well. I think I buy to many stamps, my postman gave up delivering letters to me daily and now I get a pick up card and have to go to the local po and collect all my mail.

thanks wt1, at last, noblespirit is revealed! I have seen his ebay listing for years and years and had no idea who or what was behind them. Very interesting.

Theron.

Actually if I could make a living wage as the employee of a stamp company/dealer, that would be fine by me. I wouldn't have to worry about whether to sell the best items or how to spot the fakes, but I'd still get to see a lot of great stamps every day.

No I do not think I would go full time with stamps.

But stamps, coins and orchids is a possible full time business in about 2 more years.

I find just selling stamps I go stale but selling a mixture of different items is attractive. But time will tell!

I would like to be a full time stamp dealers but….

(1) I don't have the necessary breadth of stock

(2) not willing to spend all the time necessary and life

(3) no source of continually replenishing my stock as I sell older material.

THIS IS PROBABLY THE MAIN REASON THAT "STAMP DEALERS" DON'T LAST LONGER: THEY HAVE TO BE ABLE TO FIND NEW STOCK ALL THE TIME. Collectors won't go back to a dealer who has the same material month after month.

Being a dealer is challenging, I agree. I think the following story is one of an inexperienced dealer who was beset by fears he would be taken advantage of. This is of course by no means meant to be reflective of all dealers in any way.

_____________________________

I had one dealer he had a showpiece item on his front page of his website, asking a nice premium for it. Because I agree that it is nice, I offer to buy it at his given price.

In the mean time he is trying to feel me out for what he can sell me, which is fine. He says he bought an XYZ collection of some other stuff and wants to know if I am interested. I say, sure I am interested in the collection. He says oh no, that would be too expensive for you (i.e. I want to price it out at retail).

I offer an interest in another item we will call item A, he says, I will sell it to you for x amount, oh, but I can't find it yet. And I can't find that showpiece item on the front of my website yet either. While I look for those here are some other things you maybe interested in?

I do make a purchase from him for some things. He then finds item A again, but now he says that it actually sold on ebay for twice as much so now he has to charge me twice as much. Now I am wary. If some guy bought it at an inflated price on ebay (which I think happens quite often) why would that mean I would want to as well?

In the next couple of weeks a couple of emails go buy, him offering me demurring, and him still claiming he "cannot find" the showpiece item I was interested in.

Finally I give up, and let him know I am no longer interested in doing business with him.

I still see him flogging that XYZ collection on ebay years later still with no takers. The showpiece item is also still listed for sale on his website. Maybe some day he will find it and sell it. Or maybe he doesn't have it at all?

(emphasis added)

Eek! What you are proposing above is heavily front loaded with expense and risk. I think using eBay/BidStart/Delcampe would be a better proposition to gain momentum and somewhat of a consistent income stream and THEN take on channels that require considerable up-front expense.

Laying out advertising dollars like that out of the gate as a new player on the scene is a dangerous proposition unless you have very deep pockets or a financial backer of some sort.

Personally, I don't like the approval model. Too much expense and risk for the possibility of minimal return. Highly-specialized wantlist service, on the other hand, as long as it is not strictly general/beginner material, shows promise, especially if you have a niche.

Overall though, I think that selling online, *especially* if you have any interest in international clientele, is the way to go, especially as a startup.

Most successful retail dealers, in my opinion, do a mix of both retail/show and online business, although most that are high profile now got their start during an era when stamp shows and retail shops were much more prevalent. I think that it is more difficult now to gain traction as a startup without having some sort of online component.




Actually, rather than inexperienced, it reads as someone who is either highly disorganized or ethically challenged.

Off topic, but congrats to you Will on the birth of twins. My oldest are twins, they are now 26 years old. You are in for a ride, buckle up!
As far as the full time dealer goes, I have too tough of a time parting with things. I should start selling stamps since I really only collect covers these days. The stamps are just taking up space. As soon as I say that I will but a bunch of stamps. I am weak.

Surprised more posters have not talked about buying material. You have to be able to buy material at half of the price it is selling for and maybe less . The other part is selling it for less than the crowd on E-BAY .Very few collectors understand what is unusal and in demand and what is common. Catalog have nothing to do with what is in demand .

I would assume that most dealers buy larger lots or collections to break down for retail sale. Buying individual items for resale would in most cases be a losing proposition, unless you have a client waiting in the wings and you know what they will pay for it.

It takes a while to be able to gauge approximate wholesale and retail values of collections, i.e., "what can I make on this once I break it down?" This is even more difficult buying online when you only see representative pictures, or blurry, too small, etc.

Most of my large lots and collections have been purchased at my local shop or in person from other collectors or at shows, where close examination is possible.

When I buy a bulk collection of U.S. revenues (I'll leave my worldwide classics dumpster-diving out of the mix for now, since it's not done seriously and is more of a pleasant diversion), I am looking at several factors:

1. The comparative value/cost of the "keepers", the items that I want to keep for my personal collection, versus the remainder.

2. Of the remainder, how much of it is suitable for single-item lotting vs. sets or mixture fodder. I rarely list anything for less than $5 on ebay; it's not worth the hassle (and that threshold is much lower than many others I know). For APS stamp store submission, however, I'll go as low as $2-3 items since I'm not the one that has to deal with payment or fulfilling the orders.

3. Are there groups of stamps I can sell to my plating, variety, and/or cancel collecting acquaintances that will help me recoup a large percentage of my outlay quickly.

4. Rather than taking the time and labor of breaking the collection down, am I better off pulling a few key items to keep or sell individually and then "flip" the collection relatively intact? Potentially not as much profit, but less work involved and a shorter period that money is tied up in the original purchase.

There are no hard and fast answers.