Would This Drive You Crazy?

I just got a big pile of stamps off of Hipstamp, things for a new country collection. I had found someone with a lot of stamps for the country and I went through and bought everything that they had that I was missing. It must have been 40-50 sets of stamps. I received them, in good order, no complaints there, but instead of sending things in individual glassines or whatever, the seller put all of them into 3 big glassines with no order that I can determine. I now have several hundred stamps that I have to sort because there's no apparent rhyme or reason to any of it. It's like he took all of the stamps I ordered, piled them on his desk and then just filled up some big glassines. These aren't kiloware, these are mint sets! They arrived in perfect condition, but it's going to take me a lot of time to sort it all out.

I hear you! I actually enjoy the sorting process. My concern would be damage of some of the valuable stamps while being thrown in a pile in one glassine. A bunch of stamps in a glassine (so.... a little bit of weight inside) sliding around or being jostled during the delivery process could easily have stamps at the edge of the pile get their perfs dinged.

Sometimes I buy kiloware just for the fun of sorting through it.

Cephus, I'm a HipStamp seller, and buyer, and everyone is a little different. I agree with you though, just tossing everything into a glassine and then (probably) using a flat Express Mail mailer for the backing just says "lazy" to me.

I've been criticized just once I think, but I stack each stamp in order into a 102 card, overlapping each one so they don't move around. For large orders, I've used 10 102 cards or more. Then, I fold the top over and tape it shut. Some buyers don't like the extra tape....Then, I found some cardboard baseball card mailers on Amazon that are just perfect for a 102 card.

And I always insert a copy of the invoice, so at the very least I can say Thanks and Enjoy!

Some sellers don't include an invoice, and then just throw everything into a glassine.

Will that keep me from buying from them again? No, but when I compare that against the care that I take to ship an order, IMO it's just lazy and careless.

Enjoyed the post-- Thanks, Ray

When I used to buy large lots, I ended up with huge quantities of glassines and 102 cards and sales sheets and stock cards (large and small). Using them to ship someone their stamps is free. It is ridiculous to dump everything in one glassine.

I've just never seen anyone do it before. Everything was packed decently well, none of it seems damaged, it'll just be a lot of work to figure out what goes where, when it would have been simple to label individual sets in glassines or 102 cards and send it that way. This whole thing was a mess anyhow, since it was sent signature required and my mail carrier didn't even make an attempt to obtain one, they just threw a "sorry we missed you" note in the box and drove away.

Their supervisor at the local post office was not amused.

There is one particular seller on Hipstamp that always* does this. Would not be surprised if it's the same seller as the OP spoke of.

I've complained to him several times about this, and his response was that I didn't ask to have the stamps packed in individual sets. It's not only cheap, it's freakin' lazy. Whenever I order from this seller now, I am always sure to ask that the stamps not only be packed in sets, but that the stamps not be placed haphazardly in the stock cards because......




This actually happened to me with this seller- 2 stamps worth about $90 wound up with bent corners and had to be returned. Sellers please note: when stamps are placed haphazardly in glassines, 102's, or just about any kind of stock cards, the corners crash into the sides and bottom causing bent corners. The stamps also crash into each other and frequently get damaged this way as well. Stamps should ALWAYS be packed such that the straight portions of the stamps all align with the straight parts of the packet/card.

Another poster mentioned tape. This is another pet peeve of mine. Tape should never, and I mean NEVER be used where there is any chance, no matter how remote, that the stamps could come into contact with the tape. It is physically impossible to prevent stamps from sliding around inside an envelope so if there is exposed adhesive, the stamps have a chance to get trapped in the adhesive and ruined. If you must use scotch or other tape to close everything in, then please use glassine to surround the stamps and protect them from the tape. 102 cards aren't good enough as the stamps can slip out. This has happened to me so many times it's pitiful. When reported, sellers say "just pull the stamps out, it'll be fine." No way. So they can refuse a return because I* damaged the stamps?

Stepping off my soap box, thank you.........

Yup, I HATE tape.It looks like hell, it is a pain to remove and it has damaged many an item. Tape should never come with a foot of stamps. And so many sellers think more tape is impressive and add staples and more wrapping and more tape and a sandwich baggie….

I have yet to receive a package from a real auction firm or seller that uses tape. Hmmmm,

Oh, there was tape too. It was on the outside of the glassines, but... I agree.

Anyhow, I went through and sorted the envelopes. It was all there and in good condition, but for some bizarre reason, all of the stamps from individual sets were not in the same glassine. I might be able to see it if they just combined individual sets into the same big glassine, but they didn't. It was spread all over the place.

Ah well, it's done now, almost everything is put away except for a set that I need a size mounts I'm lacking and two very long definitive sets that I didn't have the patience to do last night. At least I sorted them out, put them in order in their own 102 cards and it'll be simple to do. I probably won't buy more from this seller, although since I bought everything that he had that I needed, that's not much of a concern, is it?

Seller's ID?

Cephus, Wow, what a hoot !

It seems like seller made more work for themself. The sets apparently were listed separate, the seller then had to unseparate, then recombine in a glassine. ??

On the using of tape issue, that is something that occurred fairly frequently when I used APS stamp sales. I returned some lots because tape stuck to the stamp in a mount. The seller either did not use a large enough mount or the stamp slid under the tape.
I see tape use fairly often in collections too. Scotch tape, glue and even masking tape is used to keep the top of a stamp mount closed, or hold a cover in place.
Apparently, some collectors don't care about the appearance of stamps mounted in an album and/or don't know the damage that tape will cause. ???

How I envision it happening, I figure the seller didn't have the stamps in glassines or 102 cards, they had them in a stock book or something and just pulled them out into a big pile on the desk and then, just stuffed them into three big glassines for shipping. I don't know, I don't really care since it all worked out, I just look at it and wonder how anyone thought this was a good idea?

The seller did and it worked.

I have had sellers uses so much tape it was nearly impossible to extract the stamp from its mummy tomb without destroying the stamp.

Cephus, that is exactly how I think it happens too. The sets are put up in a stock books, then thrown on the workspace and quickly dumped into glassines or large stock cards. The other scenario I envision is that many sellers buy large auction lots and pull materials out only when they receive an order. I am almost certain the seller I am thinking of does one or the other.

So, we still do not know the seller which begs the question what is the point of this topic? Yes, most people are irritated by a seller dumping sets together into a glassine. How do we avoid this seller if it annoys us? We don't because for some reason the seller cannot be named. Either he has compromising photos of the poster or is in La Cosa Nostra.

As I understood things, we were discussing a particular issue seen with some sellers, not a particular seller.