What Chance Is There On Ebay?

Stamp sellers, what chance is there of selling any stamps on ebay if there is always someone else on there selling the same stamps for less?

Then you're either selling the wrong things or at the wrong prices.

You have two clearly different types of sellers on ebay . First you got the person who is trying to make a profit on what he is selling {Stamp Dealers , Collectors trying to support their hobby and those breaking down large lots } and second you got people who are trying to get rid of stuff ,these people like my wife isn't interested in having items sit for months and slowly lowering the price ,She wanted to clean out the storage closet of children toys ,CDC's ,trip souvenirs and old electronics .
What these "ridders" do is see what is being offered on ebay and post sell prices below the lowest listed price . Same goes for older stamp collectors who get insulted by the stamp dealers and just want a better price than a wholesaler is offering . Collectors will generally speaking accept lower prices.

I am a collector trying to sell some duplicates on ebay, and I'm not having much luck. For instance, I have an unused #308 for auction, starting at $1.50. No bids yet (2nd day) and only one guy looked at it. It's discouraging. I have other items up too, most at auction, some at fixed cost, way below CV. A few lookers, no buyers.

Don

What is a #308 ????? I just purchased German Colonies collections at a stamp auction at 1/10 catalog . If I take out what I want and sell the rest at 1/8 catalog I come out ahead .

Depends. It's an irregular and imperfect marketplace. Describe well and accurately and list interesting material and you set yourself apart, with buyers who trust you, return for more, and pay more than they will other sellers that they do not trust.

Easier in postal history, where virtually everything is "unique" to some extent.

To realize decent prices in the ebay stamp world you need to have a reputation. Lots of items, lots of feedback (lets not get into that), and enough items that anyone browsing will come across your name over and over. That being said I have done well selling very high grade items. I have sold thirteen US 292's, a 293 and numerous classics with certs as well as a set of MNH zeps. The higher end things do better than the lower end. A MNH 292 I listed sold for $1750 within a month. Sets of Kansas Nebraskas I listed took months to sell and the price dropped quite a bit. For me if the item is high priced there probably are not many others to compete against. I also make it known that I am a collector and that seems to go over well.

There are about 150 unused copies of US #308 running on ebay right now. What factors make me lean toward yours when there is so much selection? It is a buyer's market.

Rog hit the nail on the head. An item has to be scarce to garner attention. Not to mention, a cheaper stamp bought alone becomes "expensive" when postage is added to the total price paid. Even 50 cents increases the cost of a $1.50 purchase by 33%. I personally dislike shopping for stamps that way.

That said, a different possible approach is to lot up a multitude of items into a small collection or packet. Say you have 100 different stamps with an average cat value of $1.50. You can offer such a "mini collection" at say 10% of catalog start bid, and see if you get some bidding at auction. Or offer the lot as buy it now with best offer for $30 or $35 (just guessing as to a reasonable amount of $) and decide the minimum you're willing to accept. This way, you sell a bunch of items at one time, the buyer gets a bunch of items for their trouble, and the whole lot ships for one reasonable fee. It's a lot more fun as a seller to see $30 drop into your paypal account than $3 and you get rid of a lot more duplicates.

Just a thought. When it comes time for me to start selling, for a "garden variety" MNH complete definitive set I may offer a BIN price at say 59% of catalog, but accept offers to see if I can get 50% or a bit higher. Some won't sell of course, and some will be worth more than half Scott's and sold at an appropriate range.

This is why I prefer to sell covers than stamps online. It's a lot easier to have a unique cover regardless of value compared to many stamps.

But like others have mentioned, selling in groups or having a whole lot to offer all at once will help sales. If you are just listing 25 to 50 items you'll be buried among the millions of other listings.

Shermae - Well said. Your bulkier approach also eliminates some of the time drag of multiple small item listings. Nothing worse for me than to scan fronts and rears of $5 stamps and go through the listing process. Selling larger lots also lets you bury shipping in the cost and offer it for "free".

The down side to offering bulk lots is that there are number of collectors who are only seeking that one stamp and bulk lots are a turn off. They rather cherry pick and they don't want all the others sitting around as extra stock. Even some very cheap stamps are very elusive.

Found out very quickly the power of the Bonus Stamps.

Would purposely buy good stamps in bulk cheap to be able to give the best bonus stamps I possible could to all buyers even to the $3 buyers.

Like the old days when the car dealer would "throw in" the car mats.

True, but not a lot of cherry picking going on with stamps priced on the very low end of the spectrum. You don't want to buy or sell stamps like that one at a time on ebay. Hipstamp and stamps2go are better options. On ebay, I would consider lotting material into a group, eventually finding a buyer who sees enough value in the lot.

Yep. Sellers who just sell a stamp here and there are at a massive disadvantage vs. the big sellers. I rarely even search by catalog number due to the huge number of irrelevant listings I have to sort through to find what I'm looking for. It's much easier just to keep an eye on a few sellers who regularly sell the kinds of stamps I'm looking for; I know I'm not alone in this.

Personally, being a small time seller myself, I'd sell any "better" stamps at a competitive fixed price with best offer option. This is because I know any listing in any format I put up just isn't going to many eyeballs in comparison to the big sellers. It'll take longer to sell than at auction, but I wouldn't end up giving away a $100 stamp for $1, either.