HipStamp Sales - Paying Sellers?

I recently got an email from hipstamp, for 35% off. In it, it says 'We've paid our Sellers to lower their prices for you, but for a limited time only!'

So how does this work. Is the implications of this mean, the stamps are normally 35% overpriced at all other times.

I wonder if I will get one of these off these however yYou know the old saying "if it looks to be too good " etc. Are you sure it is genuine ?

If it is I have no idea how it works. Some items on all the auction sites when sold as "buy it now" are vastly overpriced. I have seen dealers asking for $150 for items that would be lucky to get $30 in an auctio so there is scope to reduce the price but I do not see how Hipstamp could make it worth it to the seller.

Let us know if you find anything else

AQ

I've bought an awful lot on Hipstamp- well more than 2,000 transactions. You do have to know your prices and shop carefully but there is a ton of great stuff to be had. The site's owner (Mark Rosenberg) is very creative and aggressive about promoting traffic to the site. I've taken him up on any number of offers where he rebated me directly for purchases. I'm not sure of the economics of it nor do I care. Mark is working hard and putting his money where his mouth is to divert attention away from ebay to his site, which is a true philatelic buying venue. And he has diverted my attention away from ebay quite a few times so if he's happy, I certainly am too.

I would not hesitate to take Hipstamp seriously. Just like a bourse, there are sellers looking to sell very overpriced material and like at a bourse I don't waste my precious time shopping those sellers. Let's face it, there is a ton of severely overpriced material on ebay as well but we all have found a way to successfully navigate through things on ebay.

not me. never got one of those

Yes, this is a genuine offer from HipStamp, as we're running an "Error, Freaks & Oddities Super Sale" thru Midnight on Sunday, January 27th.

We run Super Sales from time to time, on select groups of items. When we do, you will also see "A HipStamp Super Sale" designation on the corresponding listings, along with the following description:

"In a Super Sale, HipStamp pre-negotiates prices with our Sellers, and then adds an additional discount on top of their best price. We are able to do this because when the item sells, HipStamp pays the Seller the difference. Note that outside of a Super Sale, the Seller's best price will almost always be significantly more."

Here's an example. Let's say there is an item currently listed at $250, and the Seller's absolute best price is $225. If the item is included at 35% Off in a HipStamp Super Sale, you would pay only $162.50 for that item. The reason the Seller agrees to this price is not that the item is overpriced to start with, it is that we (HipStamp) pays the Seller the difference between their best price and the sale price when the item sells. In this case, we would pay the Seller $62.50.

This is a marketing expense for us, and we use Super Sales, as well as other events, to attract new buyers to HipStamp, as well as to keep our current members engaged and excited. We believe these events make sense for us to run, and are just one reason why we now sell over $10 Million in stamps per year on HipStamp.

If you'd like to make sure you stay up to date on all of our events and promotions, create a free account with us, and ensure you're signed up to our newsletters from your My Account > Email Preferences section.

I do love the site, and its' power in search.

This is absolutely fantastic information. I have been tracking prices of a few items for months. When I looked and they were on sale with this SuperSale they were the lowest I'd ever seen. I was like wow, they're not far north of auction+fee, which is awesome for dealer sourced wares. Needless to say I picked up a few great items. I think this is a great incentive and hope it works for driving traffic. I actually overdid it, but hey...

I spend a lot of time on the site looking at stamps and like it a lot better than ebay.

The fact that there is more expertise from sellers usually means that serendipitous deals are fewer and farther between which I why I haven't bought much on there to date. Which means the rest of the time, the listings feel higher priced and hipstamp doesn't have a lot of incentive. (E-bucks/rewards/etc). So the fact that I made such a big purchase now, I'm stoked.

But I wouldn't want cyclical supersales to undermine business models. Collecting stamps is a long game, and people can wait months or a year to pull the trigger. If this gets people to spend more over the course of the year, that's awesome. But if everyone waits for the SuperSale, is that a bad thing?

I see a listing from a Mark from NC, which sure sounds like it could be Mark Rosenberg, and it is for a TDB92a. He claims a catalog value of $1500, when it is in fact only $250.

As for the claim that "not that the item is overpriced to start with", first things I see is stuff from Langs that is still way overpriced even with the 35& "discount"

In addition to joining HipStamp as a Seller, and listing items directly with us, we also offer a Consignment Service, in which we list, and ship, items directly. The listing you're referring to is one such item. However, it is not a listing for a single #TDB92a pane of 18, which would catalog for $250. The listing is for 6 copies, so the Catalog Value for the listing is $1500.

Hey Mark..I was home all weekend.even listed some stamps. I have a premium store..no one contacted me about this 'sale'. I dont recall seeing an email..must have missed it while watching three movies and two naps...yawn..looks like my collection is getting bigger every year. Maybe next time..

`As for the claim that "not that the item is overpriced to start with", first things I see is stuff from Langs that is still way overpriced even with the 35 percent "discount"`

You do make a big point here, particularly in EFO land - but that is not a hipstamp thing, that is a Langs thing. He and a few others flood listings on these sites. It overwhelms and RUINS the experience of this and other sites, giving the appearance its a market of 2 sellers controlling material everywhere. I would say, most of the markups are astronomical on any given day, to the point I would imagine it deters many people from revisiting sites (including myself).

However... in the case of the Supersale, there were items that were definitively overpriced, but began _looking_ competitive to auction prices. In this scenario, a stamp that sold recently at auction for $200, was buyable at $250 then that is a decent deal, though not super... $30-$36 would be a buyers fee otherwise. An original ask over $400 is totally absurd say with SCV at $500. Paying 80% of scott is not happening on this stuff. But under 40-50% is not all bad for dealer stuff.

Outside of these sales, I'd argue it's an epic rip. I'd also imagine folks would do better calling the dealers direct at these levels, and working with them outside of a third party and their rake, particularly repeat customers.

The only thing I'd ask - where else are you going to find readily available material? Waiting for an auction is great until you're outbid. Then what.

Mark - my apologies for not reading the SIX copies.

rismoney - I don't know how hip works, but on ebay you can set it up to exclude Billy and Stu or any of hos other disciples.

eyeonwall, what does "Billy and Stu or any of hos other disciples" mean? Who are these people?

He was referring to several sellers eho flood the market with their listings obscuring all other sellers listings

So the problem is just the quantity of their listings, not the quality or truthfulness?