Amos Publications Is Completely, Utterly Useless.

dan there are several programs available. The one I Use is Stamp Mate 2015, which is produced by a guy in Central Europe and is very flexible in its functionality once you understand the basics of how to operate the program.

Thanks DJCMHOH,

I'LL CHECK ONLINE TO SEE IF THE PRODUCT COMES UP.

southpaw,

Couple days ago, you wished what many of us are thinking...

"I sure wish we had a "mole" over there at Amos"

So the plot thickens regarding What the heck is going on with Amos???

Today's mail brings a delivery from Amos.
Customer Service sent me the Scott Stamp Product Guide.
117 pages copied 2-sides in black & white; not printed; not in color; not on quality coated paper; but a stack of copied loose pages...

It's as if the company is saying,
"We're out of our key sales tool, we forgot to print enough for 2015; and our website is down; so what should we send this guy?"

Who knows? Could Amos be on the financial rocks?

If so, customers and those depending on their products will be the last to know. I understand there has been next to nothing in Linn's about these issues. It would come as no surprise to me to learn they'd been sold - probably to some company with no knowledge of collecting.

Well, here I go speculating again...but when problems this serious are this visible for this long, one is left with only a few rational explanations. Financial dire straits would be one logical explanation. The other explanation that comes to mind isn't any more flattering - totally inept management. Or both. Does anyone know if they changed management sometime recently? The company has been in business a long time, so I give them the benefit of the doubt that they know how to run their business - at least in the pre-internet market they still wish they were in.

If they're not in dire financial straits, they almost have to have lost all of their data and need to rebuild from scratch. Even then, you'd think they could have some kind of partial site up so people could at least order some of their products. They could have everything listed on ebay within a few days, easily enough if they needed to sell product in a pinch. I just checked their ebay listings and they've currently got all of six items up for sale, including two ever popular Schaubek Aruba hingeless supplements and the massively in demand 2006 HE Harris Canada supplement. [sarcasm] Well at least we know they can stay afloat on their ebay sales. [/sarcasm]

The fact that they've done nothing visible to fix it and that they aren't talking about it publicly - and at the very busiest buying time of the season - is really, really strange, to say the least.

artfulhinger makes total sense, but how on earth can a multi-million dollar business not have their online e-commerce files backed up for easy emergency re-launch???

I am close to buying an entire library of Scott Specialty Albums & pages for my new British Commonwealth collection. I looked at Stanley Gibbons 2015 product catalog and they offer some very nice albums. But surprisingly that company is all over the map with too many diverse products, and no all-encompassing Commonwealth album set. They have some very reasonable hingeless albums, but the only ring binder sets are for Great Britain, or after 1936. Gibbons' "Luxury Hingeless Albums" for GB, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the British Isles are peg books which I'm not fond of.

So, for a complete Commonwealth set, first place goes to Palo. If you are OK spending $2800 for standard albums, and approx double that for hingeless, you can have the whole shooting match from 1840 to 1952 -- >1800 pages, color or B/W, with 19 beautiful ring binders.

I have decided that the Scott Specialty pages make the most sense since I already own 5 Specialty albums, including the British America book with some stamps. I'm fairly sure I'll settle on Scott Specialty pages and albums as long as the savings is substantial enough to generate some nice stamp purchases.

I'm speaking directly to one of the dealers who carry extensive inventory of Scott albums. I figured I'd make my purchase from a dealer that has what I want in stock. Just in case Amos is in the process of selling their business which certainly could be one reason for the recent disappearing act.

I will report final selection.

I was going to suggest Palo, but you've obviously already gone down that road. Expensive, yes, but if you collect by Scott # they are THE most complete hingeless album offering. Additionally:

1. You can buy individual pages pro rata, so if you want to collect certain sets both mint and used, or proofs, or showing varieties, you can easily do that.

2. If there are certain non-Scott back-of-book, cinderella, revenue, or other types of pages you also need, they will do custom pages. I have not priced this service.

I wish they weren't in Illinois as I get hit with 10% (!) sales tax if I buy from them, but I have found them to be very responsive. When I asked them questions about how extensively early Mexico was covered (understanding that they would not have pages for the tens of thousands of district name combinations but rather all of the perf versions), they were happy to answer my questions about whether certain Scott numbers were included or not.

An idea of how comprehensive their Mexico pages are:

https://goscf.com/t/33786

They don't put the Scott catalog numbers on the pages (presumably so they do not have to pay licensing to Scott), but if you have a Scott catalog the pages are very easy to follow.

Hi revenuecollector,
I remain uncertain whether to close my eyes and buy Palo set. The unified approach to have one set of albums that cover over 100 hundred years of British Commonwealth issues is smart and very tempting. I am still not yet sold that the cost savings of using Scott Specialized albums is significant enough to pass on Palo. I have asked two Scott retail stores to propose a package price for all the Scott Specialized pages and albums I want. I should know very soon how the best pricing for Scott compares with Palo. If the "savings" with Scott isn't significant enough, I may go with Palo. I expect this purchase will be a once-in-lifetime expenditure.

My biggest surprise in researching Commonwealth albums has been the Stanley Gibbons line. Based on the 2015 product catalog I just received, Gibbons apparently offers a multitude of album choices. But surprisingly they have no all-inclusive solution that covers Great Britain and all the colonies, protectorates and Commonwealth nations 1840-1940, 0r 1950. Windsor Sovereign albums are 22-ring binders which look like a great design -- but only for Great Britain. Gibbons "Luxury Hingeless Albums" are available as 2-peg only and sold as separate Commonwealth nations. But where are the colonies? Windsor springback albums are also available for Great Britain. But nothing for the worldwide colonies?

Dan

The all-encompassing Gibbons 1840-1936 album is the New Imperial. The choice is to pick up a second-hand copy of the existing fastbound album or wait for the revamped ringbound version. 1936-52 is covered by the GVI album. Taken together, they'd be considerably cheaper than Palo.

Geoff

GeoffHa,
I understand what you're saying. It's just a shame that there is no ring binder version of the New Imperial yet.

Want to help ensure more kids get into stamping?

If you love stamping, please check out the idea discussed on the other thread linked below. And if you know any decision makers at Amos, Gibbons, Palo, or other major player in stamps, consider getting involved with a concept a few of us are discussing in our Forum...

This is an idea to create a current marketing effort to appeal to tweens and teens while exposing them to the world of stamp collecting:

Here's an idea that could use your knowledge, ideas and support. Please check out this thread and consider getting involved in a worthwhile project:
https://goscf.com/t/46924#402846

I hope you want to get involved in some way!

Cheers,
Dan Carazo
Syosset, NY USA

What, no one celebrating the return of the Amos website?



Anyone else popping a bottle of bubbly now that Amos appears to be online once again? I was amazed when the link in today's email promo actually gave me access to their site! Kudos to the Amos IT department.

yippie

I am going to resurrect this thread based on my experiences over the last week.

Tried to order from them on Jan 10th but could not get into my account.

Did a password change and got in but can't use my account.

I called and after 39 minutes on the phone was told multiple accounts existed and they would have to consolidate them as they can't delete. Also had issues with addresses as I live in Canada but have things shipped to my US address.

I placed the order over the phone as it was free shipping and I was to get a call back that afternoon about the site issues. Never got a call back.

This morning, Jan 14th, I received a copy of the order in my email. It was for 2 country sets and 3 extra labels. The order was 2 pages long as each part of the country sets was listed separately with no total of the invoice at all. It showed shipping as Canada ground to my US address which is absurd.

I called and they said it was due to my Canadian billing address and they would change it to UPS ground to the US. Another problem with their system.

So I wanted to see what was on my actual account so I looked at the order and was charged shipping which was wrong.

I called again and was told shipping was free and they told me only for items in stock. I said everything was in stock according to the website and was told that no sets are in stock and the website is wrong. They all have to be ordered. They will credit me the shipping later this week as it is only done once a week.

So, in summary, the website is slower than molasses, log in is a major issue, what they show in stock is not, they charge shipping when they should not, there shipping shows incorrectly, and apparently I am not the only one having issues.

Any one else have these type of experiences with the Amos website and ordering?

I have found it slow and the search is not any better than the older site. It does not seem to be indexed well. I have not ordered from them in over a year so cannot comment on actual orders but have searching.