What Does It Take For A Seller To Get, Or Keep Your Business?

So what does it take?

We've discussed particular seller's good and bad points over time, but, generically, for any prospective seller to get and/or keep your business, what does it take?

- For example, is it mostly that a particular seller has exactly what you want to buy, consistently?
- Is Pricing or Material/Stock more important? (yea I know both matter )
- Do you have to like them personally?
- Do they have to have a solid online presence?
- Do they have to be knowledgeable?

ebay, Hipstamp, and Stamp Auction Network, are venues, and not sellers, themselves. So, as a follow-up, do you typically stick to a small group of sellers that you buy from, or are you constantly buying from different sellers via the same venue, or venues? For example, on ebay/hipstamp or SAN, do you use the venue, but then just purchase from whomever has the material you want, or are you picky about who you buy from?

I thought of this topic, as I've actually quite consciously mostly kept my dealings to a relatively small set of sellers in recent years. My list is spread across a small number of auction houses, and a small number of dealers. Many years ago, however, I used to buy a lot on ebay. I would buy from almost anyone who had a stamp that it looked like I needed. Of course I would check their feedback, and such, but, mostly, I just bought from whomever back then. This was circa year 2000. It was the same at in-person stamp shows - if the dealer had what I wanted, I'd buy. There were a few semi-hostile dealer personalities back then who I would usually give a wide berth to, but outside of that ...

Now, I find that I don't have to have any and every stamp, but, I'm content with whatever I can get, and I just don't want hassles in dealing with sellers. I deal with sellers I trust, and who have proven themselves to be knowledgeable, so that I can have some confidence in their descriptions, and who are clockwork reliable in terms of how they mail material.

What are your thoughts?

edit: I sound like a shill for ASDA or similar, but I'm just curious.

#1 having the items for which I'm looking at a reasonable price - not super discount, reasonable
#2 knowledgeable and willing to share his/her knowledge
#3 accessible - whether that be via phone, e-mail, shows, or online platforms
#4 easy to deal with / pleasant

I would add one more quality to BobinRye's list.

#5 Honorable

Consistently offering the material I am interested in at a reasonable price.

The material drives the sale. I don't care who is offeriing it or where. I know what I am looking at the great majority of the time and eBay/Paypal offer their protections if something blows up.

Oddly, Last week I asked a seller about their $5 shipping cost on postcards when they were listing baseball cards with 75 cent shipping. The response dealt with rigidity, which I let pass without reply. I was interested in a postcard starting at about $5. I bid $25 and had my bid rejected as "blocked by seller". It sold to the initial bidder at $5. What a jerk to block bidders who question, but good riddance. Their loss. I have no record of ever dealing with them before.

1) I don't have to adore the seller, but I can't hate them. Won't give my business to people or firms I dislike.
2) The seller needs to be reliable, in the sense that they more often than not have something I'm interested in purchasing.
3) Their wares should be fairly priced. I don't want to be cheated, and I also don't want to cheat anyone. I should get some savings, they should get some profit.

1. Deliver what they claimed in the listing in a timely manner.
2. Respond to inquiries in a reasonable timeframe.
3. Honor the terms and conditions of the original sale.

That's it. Everything else is either my responsibility or doesn't matter to me.

1.Treat me fairly
2. Don't be pushy and try to shame or upsell
3. Have material in quality and price I want and can afford
4. Answer questions and respond to inquiries in a reasonable time

It occurs to me that the answer to this question, probably also is affected by what one's goals are as an individual collector.

If one is really working to fill holes, whether in an album, or building a specialized collection of something, then you might be more focused on material, and less focused on whom you get it from.

edit: As compared to someone who is more of an accumulator.

It's not hard for an online seller. Have what I want at a price I'm willing to pay. Get it to me in the condition offered in a reasonable amount of time. That's it. Then again, I don't tend to stick with sellers, I tend to wipe them out and move on to someone else. I might circle around again later, but I don't just pick a seller and stay with them for the long term.

The more specialized your collecting interests, the fewer dealers to choose from. I look for accurately described material and fair pricing. If I see a lot of inaccurate descriptions (misidentified, faults not noted) or overpriced stock, I typically won't bother with the dealer again. Not to speak ill of the dead, but Bill Langs is someone that I could not work with even though he had material I wanted. I bought a lot of his material in the Kelleher sales of this estate (with corrected descriptions and pricing)

This applies to sales in any venue, online, mail order, retail brick and mortar, show dealer, and anyone at my stamp clubs:

Material I want accurately described, with a starting price within reason, before or after negotiation, that I can afford at the time. Or a seller who supplies what I want, does not know the scarcity from a hole in the ground and sells it for a song.

What I hate but deal with anyway on line:

Online postcard sellers who do not show the stamp side if used and almost as bad, sellers who do not show both sides in the first photo requiring extra click and mousing to see the stamp side. Nearly doubles search time, BUT often produces the second type of seller noted above.

Online: have a large enough selection that I can find multiple items. Also, no obvious misidentifications, no foxing, no forgeries. Cost should be well below catalog value. It helps to be quick in sending me the stamps.

Bourses: Selection and pricing. Meaningful conversation about the stamps is much appreciated.
What pushes me away: being pushy. Low quality stock (foxing and forgeries) at a high percentage of Scott. Leaving me hanging when I am ready to check out.

One cannot sell the whole world without a few forgeries slipping in, so I should clarify: indifference to forgeries is the dealbreaker.

My collecting interests these days are relatively narrow, and I can modestly say I've developed a modicum of expertise in my areas, so I can tolerate online sellers who are often wrong in their descriptions (see [bigram for northeast state]stamps) but have a lot of material to offer because I feel I can protect myself against buying something that is not as advertised. I'm willing to give most any seller a go under these circumstances.

My deal-breaker is sellers who cannot be bothered to answer queries and, what's worse, have disabled messaging. I had one experience with [well-known DC-area school]law in which I won a lot I really wanted, but due to employment regulations while on official travel was unable to complete the transaction before ebay canceled it. Had this seller not disabled messaging this could have been avoided. I have since been blocked by this seller despite a prior history of several successful transactions.

Do not charge me 20% for the honor of doing business with you.

Sellers have no control, none what so ever, over the ebay drop dead date for cancelling an unpaid item, with or without messaging turned on. You did not pay and you we blocked by the seller for you lack of payment. Your job (employment) rules are not the sellers problem, they are yours to work around. For example you could have a trusted friend pay for the item and then if not THAT trusted, change you passwords.

As to messages, which do you prefer, sending messages which will never get a response or being aware their is no messaging? Have an issue with no messaging, then do not bid.




Please clarify this statement. Who charges 20%?

Now if you are complaining about the brick and mortar auction split; we all would like business services for free, including the sellers. Failure to understand that final sales prices includes amount offered, any disclosed fees including mailing and insurance as well as assessed sales taxes. This is understood by most buyers as being the total price. Lastly it is the seller who is giving up that 20% of the sale (in addition to any other subtractions) for you to buy the item which with the buyer's premium is the fair retail price you are willing to pay without shipping and taxes yet added.

By the way anyone who does NOT charge you an additional percentage when selling, commonly referred to as "profit," will not be selling for long; be it cars, food, medical advise and services, or stamps.