Stanley Gibbons Is Absolutely Pathetic And I Will Never Deal There Again

I've been to London a couple of times lately. When I go through the doors at Stanley Gibbons' store on the Strand, I immediately feel ill at ease. It's hushed and dark, and seemingly devoid of anything interesting to rummage through. It's all catalogues and expensive new albums, piled high up on shelves, and framed rarities lit up like museum pieces. I don't know what I'm supposed to do - admire them? Is that what they want? I think there's another floor? I've never plucked up the courage to investigate!

I can hardly go up to the counter and ask to see a range of Cape triangles - so I do what I guess many do - I leave empty handed, and cross the road to the Stamp Centre. Over there are piles of album pages near the door, old stockbooks and albums to dig through and even a pile of empty second hand albums and binders at the back going cheap. You don't feel like a poor man in a rich man's home, surrounded by things you can't touch, and you don't feel like you need permission be there. If Stanley Gibbons were as good as they think they are, it wouldn't be like this.

It is interesting how some old established philatelic businesses and organizations these days are out of touch with most collectors and have not changed much with the times. Instead, they are relying on their glorious pasts to project them into their uncertain futures which used to work before but not much anymore. When they do buy some successful philatelic venue or endeavor, they try to change it to fit them rather than they change to fit it. If something is not broken, don't try to fix it or else you may end up breaking it. Many collectors these days like interesting lively philatelic online internet interactions such as this stamp forum provides.

For historical perspective, I remember visiting SG on a trip to London in 1974. I had the same impression as Ringo - Not a place where I was welcomed to buy and talk stamps. Also, for all the commentary about the quality of their catalogs, perhaps justified, their catalog prices are completely self-serving. In many cases they are much higher than Scotts who are already unrealistic in the current marketplace.

jogil- That is my impression. Gibbons is trading on past glory to attract and keep customers. Meanwhile they provide indifferent service.

There have been some staff there I have had contact with that went out of their way to be helpful, one of their staff involved in planning for expansion of their album line actually phoned to ask for my input. The problem seems to be at Ringwood in their shipping department. Someone has been in charge there for years that just cannot cut it.

A year or so ago I did a search on Google Earth (street level) for their Ringwood loction. It looked smaller than imagined, in a nondescript industrial park. I think the place I take my car for repairs is larger. Gibbon relies on customers thinking they are dealing with the company they once were.

Following the fall of the Pound after Brexit, I have been browsing stamp dealers in the UK for some bargains given the new exchange rate. It looks as if our friends at Gibbons have discovered a way to thwart this. Their prices, at least for publications, are all in US dollars.

Not kidding. Unless their server has some way to detect from where you are accessing, they look to have made the dollar their new standard.

The audacity is breathtaking.

@Stamps1962: I think you're mistaken. I'm looking at SG website right now and all prices are in Pounds.

Are you logged in? In the past, I suspect you set a cookie with your country code or currency preference.

KirkS

That is not the way it is supposed to work. It is supposed to show the converted currency in the country you are from and prices are supposed to be in pounds on the site itself.

Their system for payments is also a total mess and the US dollars is the result.

They are supposed to be doing a major overhaul in July some time which will supposdely fix this issue, fix listings out of stock and special back order, add proper pictures and descriptions, etc.

The old market place is a total joke, they will no longer be developing it on site and have farmed it all out to a 3rd party.

Hopefully they will be in touch with collectors and reality and it will become a viable product.

Only time will tell. Don't expect anything until late July.

This all comes from a senior exec at Stanley Gibbons who does seem to have his head out of the sands and have intelligence to deal with the problems.

Kirk:

I just went to publications and supplies and mine still show as Canadian dollars. I do know from my ugly experience that when you go to pay it goes through as US dollars and you pay exchange.

Not supposed to happen but I won't trust anything until the have the new site uploaded as in my previous post.

According to someone who answered a similar post on another site, SG does have a way to check your IP address and they then price their wares in your currency. Fine, but at least adjust them downward when your own currency falls, they are not doing that.

I think I will send them a query and ask about this. Might be interesting..

PS, just did so and will share any response. If I'm right, whomever gets it will have no idea what I am talking about and will send a formatted reply. We'll see..

Sounds like my local gas stations. Price goes up and they respond in seconds, price drops, takes a day or two to lower the price.

Reply from Gibbons:

'Thank you for contacting Stanley Gibbons support.

Whilst the website is linked to the currency exchange rate, there is a small delay in updating these to the live website and if your information has been cached you may not be seeing the updated price.

After selecting checkout with the items you wish to order in your basket, prices are recalculated to reflect any discounts, sales or fluctuations in exchange rate that have not been correctly shown across all listings. We believe the exchange rate is calculated at the close of markets every day rather than a live price.'

So, while the site may not be being updated the checkout apparently translates the dollar listed price into one reflecting the current rate. If you don't like what you see, I assume it's not too late to undo at that point.