What Does The Designation Dl#2 Mean

A stamp I want to purchase from an auction site had the following listing:

United States MINT Scott Number 636 MNH F-VF DL#2

What does the designation DL#2 mean. Can't locate it in Scotts

Looks like a seller's internal reference number. He has nearly 100 lots with a DL# of some sort near the end of the title line.

I have never understood this practice. In my informal testing, the ebay search engine finds keywords in the description body just as fast as the title line. Why waste very limited title space for an internal identifier?
Don

Not sure it is an internal designation, but then I would not be here if I knew that for sure. I notice out of about 350 listings DL#2 appears on about 2-3%. Never any other number, like DL#3 or DL#5. Seller is through Hipstamp, so I can't see a way to contact the seller directly. Thanks for the feedback, however.

Every Hipstamp listing has a "Questions" tab. Click it and type in your message which will be forwarded to the seller. His response will return to your Hipstamp message box.

thanks, I'll do that. I've seen that designation in the past (probably from that same dealer) but never paid it any attention. More curious than anything. Just hoping the DL doesn't stand for "Damaged Lot". lol

I have seen some dealers do this when they have more than one copy of the same stamp on ebay at the same time.

Copy # 1, copy # 2, etc...

As an ebay seller, I need to locate sold lots quickly for shipping, a short internal ID makes it very easy among many hundreds or thousands of items in stock, especially when the ebay communications contain the title line and not the description. But yes, I agree, it does take up valuable title line space for more keywords.

Looking at the ebay listings of "trout-dude" and searching for just DL#, gets 83 current hits with each of the numbers 1 to 10 as followers.

ebay provides a Custom Label column designed to hold an external key like the seller SKU or serial number. I see no need to clutter the title with some number that could be confused with a catalog number or some other useful piece of search information. Internal identifiers at the end of titles likely means too much reliance on primitive and unreliable ebay software. The ebay Seller Hub can display and search on the Custom Label and the Sell Your Item form no longer hides it as effectively as it once did.

Some buyers know to avoid sellers who rely on external identifiers in the title. What are the chances that such listings will have a complete and thorough condition description or enough detail in the description?

I dislike internal identifiers because they often corrupt search, creating false hits. Try searching for Scott #500 in United States stamps sometime.

Hipstamp supports a Private ID for exactly that purpose. And it displays on the listings pages and in the email notifying me when I sell a stamp - so no need to put some confusing internal reference number in the title of the listing - on either platform.

thanks, I'll try contacting the seller again. I've seen that designation in the past (probably from that same dealer) but never paid it any attention. More curious than anything. Just hoping the DL doesn't stand for "Damaged Lot". lol