What Makes A Stamp Dealer Successful?

There are a lot of intangibles, but it sure helps to know as much as possible about your material from both the technical side as well as the business side.

I buy mainly on ebay.com and almost all the time get what I want in the condition I want. ebay has feedbacks rating and it's all there. Too many negative feedbacks put a seller out of the game. Hundreds or thousands of positive feedbacks is a very good indication you are buying from a good dealer. Daniel

Except for the fact that there are malicious buyers who will use multiple accounts to buy with the purpose of leaving negative feedback. There are quality sellers who have had their rating ruined by buyers with revenge in mind. Heck, there are quality dealers who will not post in forums and social media out of fear of this kind of retribution.



Except for two things; a person can go out and buy an existing ebay account with hundreds/thousands positive feedback giving the appearance that they have a good track record when they actually have zero ebay experience.

And then there are ebay sellers who build up hundreds/thousands of fake positive feedbacks to fool buyers into thinking they have a good track record. The 'cartel' does this all the time. He uses his multiple accounts to buy from himself hundreds of times (cheap digital photographs selling for a few cents) to build a large number of positive feedbacks.

Due to the above, using the ebay feedback system is not a good way to determine if you are dealing with a quality seller. If a buyer is not risking much money, than buying from an unknown ebay seller is probably not too bad. But if a hobbyist is spending a large amount of money, then they should know who they are buying from beyond a badly flawed ebay rating system.
Don

Not to mention the fact that ebay itself polished the feedback for its biggest sellers,

Of all the comments above, Floortrader's seems the most spot-on (SON, in philatelic terms)... to succeed as a dealer, you have to be able to source material.

If you can source lots of it cheaply, you can sell lots of it cheaply, and you will be everyone's favorite. If you have lousy sources, you will be trying to sell stuff at near the top of what the market can bear, and have low turnover and not many delirious customers. Most of the so-called ebay dealers are re-selling penny lots they got off other ebay 'dealers'. You can make money doing this, but its not much of a living.

Sourcing material can be difficult as it's usually "feast or famine". From personal experience, there are times I can win oodles of large cover lots from auction houses or a local dealer is selling off good material in bulk or really good prices. The next auction or show can roll around and there's nothing to be had due to increased competition or just straight up lack of material. Sources also disappear - dealers die off or stop attending shows due to health issues or lack of sales. Auction houses might fold up or shows no longer held is also a problem. Luckily, the last few years have been very good to find postal history - it seems a lot of material is hitting the market (collectors and dealers selling off some massive collections). One well-heeled cover dealer told me that he's been offered so much material he cannot even buy it all as it's too much. As for ebay, I sell there, but I've only bought from one dealer ever for resell. I find it cheaper to buy elsewhere for large lots.

Q/ What makes a stamp dealer successful?

A/ Going into the business in ~1950?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Here's one small dealer's perspective: repeat customers. If they keep coming back....chances are you're doing something right.

Small time dealer, one country only on ebay. I list items for seven days, so promoted listing campaigns. Copy and post my listing to pinterest as well as google+++. Dont do fake-book and sell $2000.00 a year..I am happy

Trust, patience, knowledge, time, the ability to turn over stock, the ability to foster relationships with clients. Just a few ideas off the top of my head.