Where Have All The Stamp Sellers Gone?

Just looked up the ebay saved seller of approx 19 and only one of them are selling anymore.



*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Many sellers are not dealers but those selling off their collections and when they have sold most of their stamps, they sell the balance in large lots and end their selling. Not unusual. Also many sellers have become so disillusioned with ebay they have also ceased selling. Some, like myself would prefer to sell direct since ebay has cut free listings and promotions. With other sites to sell, many too have moved to sites where there are lower fees and better customer service. You can see how few listings are up compared to just a few years ago.

There are a couple different reasons a lot of sellers quit ebay . No one reason stands out for everybody .
I can only speak for my situation , it came down to lack of any profit for the work put into it . I was working with a great friend and fellow club member who did the listings and shippings .He was selling his own stuff also. He gave it up because of lack of bidding and too many items going for opening bid .
I now box everything up and consign it to a major auction house once every two years ,just sold all my extra material last November at the big Chicago show .Got about what I would of received selling in 100 different lots on ebay but without all the work and headaches of dealing with 100 buyers .

Floortrader

Do you organise all of the material into prospective lots before consignment?

Geoff

Yes I mount some stuff and put stuff in stock books ,dealer cards and glassines but don't catalog anything .I even write up the describition that the firm uses because I review their previous auction catalogs to see what fits their standard .

Are we talking about a small number of very big lots? I ask because I now have box after box stacked in my bedroom, and I don't see the scope for breaking it down and getting rid of it on ebay.

When I 1st started selling for about 9 years I would buy messy lots from auction houses and sort them and send them to about 9 different auction houses.

Each auction house had its own specialization. Life was good but the auction houses start to close so I slowly learnt how to use a computer and switched to a kiloware based ebay store. Listing, as like a stamp catalogue.

For Dec & Jan I close as there is no profit for me selling on ebay. Feb & Mar just pays the bills but the rest of the year is not too bad.

There is not too many people selling the way I do.

The people that sell cover seem to be doing a lot better than me.

The only reason I make a profit is I can source my stamps at very good prices.

Kiloware is dieing out. Sad.....The last two 500g(a little over a LB) of 70c kiloware 50% comm's x 50% Defin's went for $90 a time.Last year 60c kiloware comm's only sold for $30 per 500g.

Change is the hardest thing for me to get over in stamping.

A very good friend, Peter from APW who was the best Australia kiloware based seller with by far. With the most stock died a month or so ago at 58 years.

His massive stock and business is getting carved up.The end of more than a business. No one will ever fill the hole that he has left in stamping.

SCF has changed so much as well and I do not cope well with all this change.

KGV ....

Deepest condolences on your loss. Deep loss is always a very difficult thing to handle.
You're a good egg ... and a good collecting friend.
I hope you can rally and keep with the forum. You always add a lot!!

True that. Unless you have outstanding material nobody's interested. Even then, it's extremely difficult to get a decent price. And what I do try to sell most goes for ten cents on the dollar on a good day. Not gem quality material but still a damn sight better than a lot of the junk that's listed. It's a lot of work for little return.

Another Australia stamp seller going down the tubes.

But some sellers that did not have listings up Feb & beginning of Mar are now back up on ebay. Not all of them.

It is see great to see as there has been a lot of changes to Australia stamping in the last 12 months.

Charities now send me kiloware with no 70c stamps in it. Bet I do not see the new $1 issues as well.Even 2 years ago I would get 20kg now I am lucky to get 5kg.

Auspost have limited issues printings of 200 that are under $40 and are still for sale from 6 months ago.

So I win some kiloware from an auction as a postal bidder and I am very concerned because I got it for a very low price. I just have to wait and see. Will it be a heap of trash or a total blessing.

1typesetter, this has also been my experience. I became very active on ebay a few years ago and purchased many auctioned old albums. But when I've sold my dupes rarely do I get adequate auction bidding to generate more than single-digit sale price.

By the time I add up my time spent scanning items, posting ebay ad, packing, addressing and mailing the items, I am frequently "earning" $5 per hour or less from a sale. Recently I sold a huge stamp album on ebay and barely covered my shipping costs. I rationalize this as my "donation" to help support stamping activity. But in no way could I run a profitable business like this.

After studying the stamp market over the past two years it is clear that the top-level collectors -- and the dealers and auction houses that service them -- are the only ones that are doing well. The publications by APS and Linn's and Regency Superior are loaded with stamps that sell for or are offered at prices far above CV. I'm unsure if the number of stamp collectors with deep pockets is shrinking or growing, but I am sure that the market places a premium on only the more rare higher priced items.

I have gotten weary of posting decent stamps on ebay like US classics with CVs in the $175 to $250 range and shipping them off to auction winners for $5 and $12. What does my experience say about the "market value" of my own US collection?

That's mostly likely due in large part to how buyers search and buy on ebay. So many buyers (including me) just look at certain sellers and don't bother to look around further. Assuming the stamps are sound and nice looking, a large, established seller would probably get 20% of CV more more, simply because far more people see their auctions. Unless you're one of the "big boys", you're probably better off setting a fair buy-it-now price with best offer option. It'll take you longer to sell them, but at least you won't be parting with them for next to nothing. You'd probably even get more by consigning to one of them and letting them take a cut.

Have about 400 items up for sale on ebay today and have 5 lots with bids on them.My auctions start in about 15mins.

It is a very slow start to selling on ebay this year.

But pension week is next week and my sale will be up again.

Seem to say something about my buyers.

And yes I am sure that some people get paid once very two weeks.

The ebay and paypal option is very costly due to their fees. But there are no fees on this site. Why is nothing listed very often?

Australia from 2000 to now is as popular here as a pork chop in Jerusalem. And that is on a good day.

Not only is selling it here unpopular it is a miracle to get a response to a thread concerning modern Australia.

There are other issues with the selling here and it belongs where it is in the passed.