Cnet: Ebay Stamp Seller Finds Success On Amazon

Interesting article about ebay's failure towards sellers:

http://www.cnet.com/news/ebay-bids-...aypal-split/

Has anyone here tried selling stamps on Amazon?

Thanks for the link.
Article states, "Despite ebay's problems, it continues to have sizable advantages that make a resurgence possible." Are they kidding? But it then goes on to say, "… ebay's operating profit margin was 38 percent last year -- meaning the business pocketed 38 cents in profit per $1 in revenue" but then tries to make the case that Amazon is a threat when its operating profit margin is only 1% (1 cent per dollar in revenue)?? Amazon has the cost of stocking inventory, ebay has none of that overhead/cost.

ebay is a money making machine and is hesitant to change anything that might impact the bottom line. Nothing makes them afraid, they don't care about 'problems' as long as their profitability is what is currently is. They might as well be printing cash.
Don

Well-spotted, Jenny!




IMO: No, it did not.

Warren Buffet famously more/less said: "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming without their trunks."

The data breach forced anyone who ever used the site to pick a new password. Those who did not could no longer be counted as 'active' users. Uh-oh.

They were not driven away; they'd left long ago.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Agreed, and I'm not sure ebay cares all that much about collectibles in general. ebay's search, for example, works great when you search by barcode, but it sucks when it comes to finding the collectible item you're looking for. If they really wanted to sell more collectibles (be they stamps or beanie babies) they need to make it easier to do a meaningful search. The way most collectible categories are organized on ebay and how one searches haven't really changed - that I can tell - in years.

ebay sure are a money making machine they take a huge monthly $$ amount from me in fees and probably most other bigger stamp sellers as well. But to me they have all the customers and their listing features are easy to use. I have tried other sites apart from stamp auction network ebays still the best place to sell and I don't know that I would risk trying to sell on Amazon. However interesting that the guy in the article Larry Phillips did so well on Amazon, do many of you look for stamps on Amazon? Good post Jenny2u.

Stamps may be a particular problem category because of the sheer volume of offers and the range of what's on offer. I don't buy stamps (or much else) on ebay, but when I search for more specific things, I usually get a good range. I sell cards on ebay - a much more manageable category for the user to work through.

I've never looked for stamps on Amazon, but I use non-Amazon sellers for book and other items, where the Amazon price is usually undercut. Been very happy with the service too, including items from the US.

Given Mr Bezos's reputation in areas such as employment and payment of taxation, it's mildly amusing to picture him as a white knight!

Amazon has sucj a low margin because they keep investing for the future, plus some of their projects are shall we say unusual. Thy do not operate like most corporations.

Both searching and browsing are easier on BidStart than on ebay as you can actually sort results by catalog number. You can also search for broader terms, say for example Memel, and you can then see which dealers have the largest stock of Memel and then browse their listings. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well. ebay has a one-size-fits-all search engine whereas ideally there would be a different search algorithm for each category. A search that works well when searching by mfr part# doesn't necessarily work well when searching for stamps or other collectibles.

I read the article, then went to Amazon to see if I could find stamp listings. Other than USPS postage and some worldwide packets, I couldn't find any stamp listings. What is this guy supposedly selling on Amazon?

It looks to me that Amazon is NOT set up for selling individual stamps or sets at all.

no Amazon is not the ideal place to sell stamps do they even have Amazon auctions? ebay is still the only venue to sell stamps.

Amazon had auctions about 10-15 years ago, but they let it wither and die.

Keep in mind, not everyone searches or sells using just the auction format on ebay.

Are any of you shopping for stamps on Amazon?

Nope Amazon is for books

If there was a better stamp selling place I would of left ebay 4 years ago after our ebay.com store was called an "interboarder trader alien". ebay .com locked us up so tight we could not find our own listings. And then... and then....and then....

We still have to battle with best match & all your relists are on page 8,000,000,000 if you are in a popular area.......but I still can not find anywhere better to sell stamps.

Hi KGV yes there is no where else equal to ebay for selling stamps yet which is a shame. That best match should be changed to newly listed items. Most of the time best match is not what I am looking for.