What Makes A Stamp Dealer Successful?

I am led to believe that it has to with the quantity and the kind of philatelic items that they have advertised for sale. What do you think makes a stamp dealer successful?

Service. It encompasses everything from how material is presented, how a dealer communicates with collectors, and how a transaction is completed. Good service = repeat business.

To add, service also includes a dealer's time, effort and knowledge.

"Successful"? ....there are different measurements.
A dealer himself might think in terms of "business" success and all about the bottom line. Certainly reputation helps but it would be naive to think that some dealers are not overly concerned about that.
Personally I think that I regard a successful dealer is a long term thing. It is not about overnight success....
Its about value, knowledge and straight dealing.
And mostly mutual respect.
For Stamp Collecting to "work" , there needs to be an element of Trust between Dealer, Collector and Post Office.
Sadly too many have lost my trust down the years. Too many cases of "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"

FitzjamesHorse: I define a successful dealer as one who can make a living off of selling philatelic material rather than one getting rich doing it.

Thats a very good point jogil.

Have less than 1 year experience with stamp dealers on Eb.......some do not know their items but give a very nice description, too many times VF. So if you feel that you wish to buy, well, you bid......and look at the result(s)and do the appropriate check-up, to find that the stamp is not as advertised.......so this is a lack of knowledge on the side of Sellers but many times it advantages the buyer.

ex: bought a Scott # 26 for $20, VF-used to the dealer, F(ine) to me. After appropriate exam, I realized that it was a 26a, valuated 5-6 tmes more than the 26. The dealer did not do his work.........advantage... ME !

I am sure the members could give similar examples. LOL

I view dealers as providing a simple service of selling me needed material. I'm not interested in a dealer's knowledge, or even effort, as I do my own research.

Most of my philatelic money; not going to auction houses or the APS Stamp Store; goes to just one dealer. I've bought from this dealer for years; her pricing is good; & the couple returns I had to make were handled in a prompt and appropriate manner.

I suppose that the bottom lines in any "collectable" areas are stick and price, but my experience in buying records and books suggests that rapport is a factor. In the early-70s, I spent lots of money on buying blues records in Dobell's in Charing Cross Road (now just a memory, sadly). One of the main reasons it was my favourite shop ever was its convivial manager, Ray, who'd pull newly acquired stuff out of piles to show you, offer you a ciggie, slosh some rum in a glass for you and give you spot discounts. Years after he left, despite inflation, the shop was taking less money.

The question is open to a bit of interpretation; some here are defining it in terms of 'what is the best kind of dealer'. But the question could also be answered in terms of sales and growth numbers. For example, Mystic could be said to be successful, same for NY Stamps. Both have considerable sales numbers and both have demonstrated the ability to grow.
Don

The biggest area that a stamp dealer needs to be real good at is "how to buy material" most collectors and dealers can sell material. Your ability to find and purchase items you know you can sell at a profit is the most important.

I don't really know which dealers are most successful from a financial perspective. I'm only qualified to comment on what I look for in a dealer:

- Comprehensive inventory
- Fast service
- Competitive prices
- Good reputation
- A website with online ordering.

Artfull make a good list, I will add the dealer need a good cash flow. As with many thing you need money to make money.

area66: "I made my first million after spending two million" - Doubleday.

The dealers I look forward to meeting at shows or whom I go to when I'm looking for something specific have a couple of common characteristics.

First, the ability to talk TO collectors, not down to them. One of the things I look for in a dealer is someone who is willing to take the time to explain why they know what they know, not just spout a few facts they gleaned from a book, periodical or other source. When a dealer can explain to a collector why they are pricing an item above catalog, taking the time to give the statistical information and provenance of the item, I'm willing to listen carefully. I do my own research as well, but I'm just a collector. A dealer SHOULD have seen tens of thousands of stamps more than I can hope to as a collector, so their experience and knowledge should be at a much higher level than I have.

Another thing I look for in a dealer is their willingness to work with a collector. It is a win-win for both the dealer and the collector. I've known more than a few dealers who insist their prices are rock solid and the absolute final number they will take. I know dealers have overhead, transportation costs, salaries for employees (including themselves) and other expenses, especially at shows. But if the dealer's prices aren't competitive, there's no reason to buy from them.

One of the biggest problems I've seen at shows, particularly - and especially nowadays with the demise of most brick and mortar stores - is the dealer who insists when selling to one customer that the market is so strong they can't replace what they're selling at any cost and then, when someone comes up with something they would like to offer the dealer, the markets in the dumps, that they can't possibly offer anything on what the potential seller is showing them which comes close to what they are asking. I went to one of the APS winter shows which was nearby a decade or so ago. One one day I went and looked at what several dealers were selling, talking with a dozen different dealers. The second day, I came back with some nice material, 19th century U.S. and early 20th century, all sound and priced at about 30-40% of Scott catalogue. Several of the dealers I had talked to the day before about how they never could have replaced what they were selling at any price all of a sudden had come to the sad realization they were in a bear market and couldn't pay more than 10-20% of what I was asking! Needless to say, this little experiment went a long way toward narrowing the field of potential sellers I wanted to deal with.

At the end of the day, it's a matter of trust, willingness to share time and knowledge, along with material which I'm looking for which determines those sellers I'm willing to support and work with. Something I learned a long time ago in the military was that if you take care of the troops (in this case, customers), the troops will take care of you (the dealer).

Knowing how to use your computer to search & search..., to advertise full on, to have dynamic image knowledge etc.


If you do not know about the stamps your selling then you should not be a stamp dealer.

I would consider successful to be just financial aspects (able to make a profit). They can be a successful dealer but not have any other positive attributes (honest, etc).