What Advice Do You Have For Someone Selling At A Local Stamp Show?

I sell stamps on ebay - just US. I'm considering trying out the idea of getting a table at a local stamp show that typically has around 100 stamp and coin dealers.

Any of you who have experience doing that, what words of wisdom do you have? What kinds of stamps are more likely to sell at an event like that? Is it worth it?

Thanks

Three of us from the local area decided to band together and split a table at a local quarterly collectibles show. We ended up doing three quarterly shows in a row.

Our intent was just to sell dupes and clear out material and not try and make as much money as possible. I personally want free up money from "stock" to spend on my collection and am not looking for 100% catalog. I also want to clear out bulk material from lots I have purchased and pulled the material I needed for my collections.

There were usually three or four "professional" stamp dealers plus us, and the rest were various collectibles and coin dealers.

We did pretty well and left happy from a $$$ perspective. But. Almost all of our sales were bulk material lots to the other dealers and not many individual sales to collectors.

One of the dealers who travels all over the west doing shows sat down with us and commented the local collectors will almost never buy from a local collector they know from clubs or shows or whatever. His observation is many of the locals would rather pay more to a "proper" dealer than to admit to someone they know they actually need something or that we would have something they don't, even when it would be cheaper to buy from us.

End result was we had to sit at the table for three days (Friday - Sunday) and had almost no sit down customers. I will most likely just bring my material in on the Friday with the attitude I will sell it to the dealers and save three days of boredom. I gain my weekend back, don't pay a table fee, and probably end up with the same amount of total sales.

I want it to be different, but that is my data point of three shows.

As a new dealer, you will have trouble getting the attention of buyers (they tend to make a bee-line to their favorite dealer).

There is no magic list of what will sell. It is all about what the locals are looking for (and if your prices are competitive) and at one show Brazil might sell well and at another they might bomb and US covers might do well.

100 total dealers at each event? That's a ton. I don't think ANY bourse held in Florida has more than 50, and perhaps less. The only show that could get to even 50 is FLOREX that occurs every year in December. Of course these are stamp-only, but mixed shows are usually more than 90% coin dealers. The Sarasota Exhibition show is in a very small, tight venue that maybe can handle 25 or 30 dealers before bursting at the seams.

The majority will be coin. It's bit a while since I've been to one. But last time I went there was a pretty decent number of stamp dealers. Probably my first step is to go to one again and see what it looks like in 2023.

I suspect it's a lot of work the first time - to get displays all set up etc. I don't want to bother unless I think I have a decent chance at success.

I think the next show is November. Maybe I should hold of on this idea until after then.

Displays? Literally just fill up a bunch of bankers boxes, place them on the table, let people dig, profit. No matter how high caliber a show may be, there will always be bottom feeders. If this is a local show (100 is a ton of dealers btw), you're definitely going to have mostly lowballers and bottom feeders. Bring kiloware, dollar boxes, red boxes priced around 40% of catalog or lower, and the like. Don't expect many sales the first time you do any show. People are very wary. I've gotten bad impressions doing shows the first time, but trying and trying and trying again and now I have people come to my table first thing in the morning. It takes time. If you don't have your heart attached to the material you're selling, just blow it out by the end of the show, there's always someone circulating at the end just waiting to pounce

From the perspective of someone who is only a buyer and not a seller, and based on the material you offer on ebay and how you describe it, you will succeed. Have material at a variety of price points to accommodate different budgets. Have an 8x12 foamcore or similar tabletop sign that summarizes what you sell so the passerby can rapidly determine if you meet their needs. Appear attentive at the table and smile when people approach. An attitude of fun helps.

Interesting that folks seem to think that new dealers are viewed with skepticism at a live venue/bourse. Just my opinion of course, but don't really care about who the dealer might be; the fact that I can actually inspect a live stamp instead of relying on a photo or scan sort of takes the name/reputation/history of the dealer out of play.

Unless I saw one of the two dealers I refuse to do business with anymore. But would not shun anyone I didn't know just based on name recognition or lack thereof alone.

And to parrot Shermae, 100 dealers would be amazing. Last FLOREX I went to had maybe 35-38, which was great; and I skipped this year's Sarasota show as the previous year was mostly overpriced US material only and too many sellers with junk pages ripped out from bulk collections; very much akin to the "shows" near the Stadium in Tampa where coin dealers dominated the place. Those were horrible, but the company at breakfast before the show was quite enjoyable.

I have no idea but , what is the table fees at local shows? I know better shows cost more money as they should. The question I guess is what is a fair price to pay for a table at a show? Do they sell back up tables and if so how much? This may give us novus a rule of thumb.

Thanks all for the feedback. Lots of good thoughts. Tables are $350 for a 6 foot table. Now if I can convince my wife to go too and bring her worldwide stuff I bet we'd have a good time. I'll let you all know if I finally do it.

Holy moly 350 is quite a lot actually especially for a proof of concept. For my local show I pay 200 for 2 eight foot tables

How does pricing at shows compare to ebay? If someone were bringing ebay inventory to a show, how would it be priced relative to the ebay buy it now price?

A 100 dealer show is hardly a small show. I'd bet the $200 table show is much smaller.

Be able to make change, process credit cards and go for a pee safely. Oh, and bring snacks, preferably something healthy like grapes.

Where is this 100-dealer show? GASS is out national show and I don't think had 85 dealers this year.

It os not just a stamp show - the majority of dealers are coin dealers if I recall correctly.