Sad Death-Spiral Of Stanley Gibbons / Bidstart

The latest abuse to collectors is a profusion of items like this. They better stay in business for another 50o years if they expect to sell a few of these: https://www.stanleygibbons.com/prd/...19/115146021

A shame, such items should be sold within lots, not as singles.

The shipping cost for it should be a deterrent alone.

Regards,
Stampalotapus

I fail to see any reason for this post. This is not bidstart or SG, but someone in Germany that has no common sense. At least there is a place where one can buy cheap stamps. And 2.20 shipping is less than some folks here in the US are asking!

Peter

I'd rather go on Stamp2Go to buy low value stamps. I tried also Wensy before but it is closed now. But think about free world and free market. It's the seller to decide if it's good for him or not. He is trying to attract cancel collectors! Daniel

I think the intent of the OP was to point out that BidStart has scads of listings such as this, I think it has obtained a reputation as a venue for listings on stuff no one bids on with ebay. When Gibbons picked up the site I expected t at least see a good range of their products offered on there but that didn't happen.

Exactly! This is the very reason I do not waste my time on bidstart - too many junk listings to filter out

Brian

What scarces me is that ebay is trending that way as well. Too many free listings and free re-listings. Same over priced items keep rolling through again and again.

Drop the free listings, reduce the final value fees and charge sellers for every listing. That would encourage sellers to price their items to sell. Let the bidders determine fair market value.

You know, almost like a real auction.

Riley
Don't forget that in the Age of Recycling junk is a business...

So true Riley as I can testify working in a thrift store.

I don't believe that the listings would be there unless some of them are selling and some stamp sellers are willing to post them. I suppose that it pays more working at a fast food establishment.

Currently, SG promotes stores based on the number of listings instead of something more useful like the total value of the listings. Because listing values could be abused as frequently occurs on ebay, stores with a reasonable selection of higher priced listings should be promoted.

I note that the seller fails to mention whether or not the stamp is tagged.

Clark

ebay's charging for every listing wouldn't encourage the pricing of items to sell, it would simply kill a large number of offerings and remove lots of cheaper material that many people actually want. Using a free listing, I can place items (not dross, but common sets of cards)on ebay starting at £1.79 or £1.99. Without them, I simply wouldn't list the lots because I couldn't guarantee a sale, but would risk a loss.

GeoffHa
When you do business with the best you have to pay otherwise guess what. ebay is the most powerful engine on the internet to buy and sell. So it's your choice. Daniel

From the negativity here I would never have guessed that SG Marketplace has already migrated most of the bidStart stores over, with all of their BIN stock, at least so it seems to me on a glance-through. Everything I had in my bidStart shopping cart is listed on SG Marketplace. In dollars. Most or all of Gibbons' stock is also listed. So if you want to pay $300,000.00 for some fancy SG store stuff, they have dozens of listings in the 6-figure range. Or if you want plenty of low-end stuff to mock on SCF, it's all there too.

What's not to like?

Despite all the contempt for bidStart here, I have, over a few years' time, bought 2000 items from a handful of sellers I came to like and trust. And I have few regrets, no more, no fewer than I have regarding my ebay purchases.

I don't see SG Marketplace as spiraling toward death. Yes, bidStart will die at the end of this year but only because it's been integrated into the SG Marketplace, though I don't know about the auction feature.



Edit for P.S. There is one tragic, tragic loss, however. The monthly give-away of a Penny Black is gone, gone forever. And before I won. Now I'll never have a chance for a free Penny Black. Bummer.

Timbres
You may have misunderstood me. I like using ebay, despite its shortcomings. And part of the attraction is that both common and scarcer items can be sold, and that the free listings allow sellers to risk those cheaper items without fees. So what I was taking issue with was the suggestion elsewhere that free listings be abolished.
Regards.
Geoff

Geoff
Me too I like using ebay but if I had more money to spend I'd bid on stamp auctions elsewhere. The kind of top graded stamps and rarities you don't always see on ebay. Every month it's full of it in the Linn's stamp news. You can contact a dealer or an auction firm. The stamp market is for every one, rich or poor. That is why it is the king of hobbies. Regards. Daniel

I don't see the problem with lots of very low priced stamps on these sights. I've found it to be incredibly useful to see scans of low priced items before I buy. I must have 500-750 feedback on bidstart.