Can Dealers Compete With Ebay?

I've been an APS member for years. You'll be welcomed by all.

If nothing else ebay is another venue for a dealer to meet new customers he might not have otherwise met. ebay's user interface makes it easy for anyone to sell an item, which makes it a great place for old-time dealers who might not be that web-savvy themselves. Personally, I can hardly imagine ordering off a printed price list, listing alternates in case of sold items, and then mailing a check. That's like so...1930's. Click and buy is my preferred method unless there's virtually no other choice.

We purchase very little from ebay.

95% of our stamp come from dealers.

Artful Hinger: I join sdtom in welcoming you to the APS. I joined in early 1974 and have never regretted that decision.

Battlestamps: I think it depends on what one is looking for. You've mentioned buying & selling covers. I have barely minimal interest in covers altho have a few. As an aside, several years ago, I found two 1941 first flight covers from Bolama, Portuguese Guinea to San Juan, PR and to Port of Spain, Trinidad, in the APS Stamp Store. And they were reasonably priced, considering the likely rarity and size of the market for Portuguese-related material. I bought both immediately upon viewing.

Being outpriced by the global market.......I think that is more of a vague generality than anything. The global market does exist, but is there a need for widespread access to it? Depends on one's interests. Being a member of several specialty societies (ISPP (Portuguese), MEPSI (Mexico), Polonus (Poland)) does confer access to overseas dealers that advertise in the print journals that all three publish.

In terms of stuff for sale "just sitting there," APS has an additional option that apparently is offered to sellers. In either Dec., 2012 or 2013, APS offered me the option of donating 4-5 items that had not sold during the year and taking a tax deduction. I accepted the offer.

I've been curious about this option, as in about a year and a half I will likely have some items that haven't sold (you can only "renew" for an additional year once for $0.10 per item, I believe).

What sort of documentation did they provide you for the donation in terms of itemization and did their communication specify a value of the donation for tax purposes (i.e., catalog value, original selling price, final selling price, etc.) or was that left up up to you?

Thanks.

revenuecollector: I did get a tax letter. In order to determine the letter format, I'll need to dig back into my old tax files; like I said, I don't remember the year. I think I set the total value. None of the items were super high value, so it didn't amount to much of a write-off. But everything helps in the tax game.

I'll add that pricing is everything when trying to sell in the APS Store (which you already know). I've seen stuff that I really wanted to get, but did not. Reason is that the dudes priced their material too high. I don't pay anywhere near full catalog for stuff that can be obtained elsewhere. When I sell my duplicates on the Store, I generally price at no more than 30-35% of Scott. That pricing level also provides an option to lower if necessary to move the material.

artful hinger wrote: "I can hardly imagine ordering off a printed price list..........that's so 1930s......." Actually, it's not a big deal. I did write one dealer from a Linn's ad about 3 years ago and included alternates. But got everything from my original request.

I also obtained a list this year from a dealer I met at the Rocky Mountain Stamp Show. List was in a PDF format which I then printed. I found one somewhat expensive item that I wanted. I e-mailed him to hold and sent off a check the same day. Item arrived about a week later. The notion is that one can still order off a list without difficulty, especially if the dealer knows you, or in the case 3 years ago, I provided my APS number (a number that you will have shortly).

With regard to price lists, there is only one dealer from whom I buy material on that basis. He provided me with his periodic list about two years ago on an unsolicited basis - think he picked up my name when I joined the APS. I bought a few items from him initially to establish a basis for trust and was very satisfied so I've continued to use him for higher end items. However, there are a few necessary conditions for more expensive items, which he has satisfied fully, (1) previous history which has built up a high level of confidence, or a recommendation from a trusted source, (2) the provision of scans of front & back of stamps when requested, (3) prompt delivery of merchandise, and (4) equitable return policy if items are not satisfactory. I presume not every dealer would meet all of these conditions, particularly on the issue of providing scans unless the item was expensive enough to justify the effort.

Otherwise, although I use ebay a lot for cheaper stuff, I buy higher end items strictly from auction houses that I have done extensive business with and from dealers in person where I can inspect the material.

I would consider buying from other dealers' price lists if anyone has a recommendation, since I would not rule out any possible source of material arbitrarily, but again only under the proper conditions.

With regard to the APS stamp store, I've bought a fair amount there, but be careful of the description of items, particularly for elements such as hinged versus MNH. I took a chance on a Columbian that was described as mint never hinged, but when I received it, there was an obvious hinge mark. There is a big gap between the Scott values for MH and MNH for this item. The APS states that they do try to screen the items to make sure they are genuine and accurately described, but obviously they can't inspect every item on as detailed basis as their expertizng service would do. Fortunately the APS has a 30-day money back guarantee so if a more expensive item has been priced attractively it may worth a shot.

Yes, I will agree that the screening on APS items can be hit or miss. The people doing the scanning and listing do not necessarily appear to be philatelically savvy. I am constantly reporting outright revenue fakes as well as items that need the caution icon.

That said, they are usually always grateful for any reports and always take prompt action.

That's why there is a no-questions-asked return policy on APS store items.

Can dealers compete against Ebay----No !

I think this thread poses the wrong question. It really shouldn't be "Can Dealers Compete With E-bay?" but rather "Can (or perhaps Should) dealers use E-bay to improve their business". E-bay and other online retail sites are simply platforms offering a potential global market for the goods you are trying to sell. Better to use that platform to your advantage to promote your business than see it as a threat to the business you already have (something which many dealers of course realize and therefore utilize).

If I were a full-time dealer of any kind, I'd have some kind of presence on ebay, even if it's just a small sampling of my overall inventory. ebay has to offer the largest agglomeration of stamp buyers of any online site, by about a billion miles. I think any dealer would be missing the boat if they don't at least have some kind of presence there.

TheArtfulHinger,

Agreed. Only a fool limits the tools at his disposal.

Jack Kelley

revenuecollector wrote (about the APS Stamp Store): "they are usually always grateful for any reports and always take prompt action."

I agree with your statement. 2-3 years ago, I was "in the Store" and was lustfully examining an 1877 Crown issue from one of the Portuguese colonies. As I looked closer, it was obviously a Fournier forgery. Now, I have a fair amount of Fourniers in my Port. Colonies collection, and they are identified as such. But I would never pay more than a small percentage of Scott for such an item. The seller was asking about 80% of Scott. I brought it to the manager's attention and the item was gone from sale within one business day.

I recently bought an Israel collection in a traditional auction (I think it was from Harmer-Shau), I paid $600 plus fees and shipping on the lot. I bought it based on the description (there were no pictures), and it sounded like it had some items I needed, and I thought I could always sell the rest to make it worthwhile. So far, I have added 30-40 items to my collection form this, mostly artist signed presentation folders and a few sheets. If I were to buy those items separately on E-bay, they would be at least $400 or so. So far, I have sold 110 lots that I put together from this collection on E-bay for just north of $1300. Even subtracting E-bay fees, PayPal fees, and shipping (I sell all lots as free shipping in US), I have still cleared over $1000, and this is before the credit card bill even comes due. I have 25 items currently listed, and probably another 200 or so that I can realistically expect to sell from this collection. Very few lots are going unsold (~20, but that includes some second chance offers when there were multiple copies of the same item in the collection and I offered the remaining one to the under bidder). So, I have added a bunch of items to my collection while adding to my stamp budget. The items are not selling for a lot on E-bay, despite some of them having high catalog value (a $200 catalog value sheet sold for around $30), I doubt a dealer would have given me half of what I have gotten so far on E-bay. Especially, since they could have gotten the whole lot from the auction that I did. In my opinion, the problem is the catalog values are not reflecting the market, not because of anything against E-bay as a marketplace.