Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
07:56:14pm
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There is very little "member on member" action as far as auction lots are concerned on Stamporama. I would put it at less than 3% of auction lots.
That's why I lean more to Buy It Now.
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I think I shared my view on this a while ago. Since there is no anonymity in bidding on Stamporama, I personally avoid outbidding other members. Not that it has not ever happened. And sometimes I just like to pull someone's leg a little bit.
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06:10:47pm
I haven't tried a StampoRama auction yet but I'm very familiar with all kinds of auctions. I was an antique dealer for 30 years and have bought and sold on E-Bay for a fairly long time. E-Bay auctions are anonymous so no problem there. The auctions I go to usually have friends there and usually there are no hard feelings when two or more of us want the same things. The auctioneers are usually friends as well and agreeing not to bid against someone on an item hurts the auctioneer since they usually get a percentage. I am confused with the attitude on StampoRama (SOR?) since the people selling are also members. When you don't bid against other people aren't you hurting other SOR members? Wouldn't it be better if the person who wanted the item more got it? I don't think that's a stupid idea since if the members really respected each other then they should be able to bid against each other! Wouldn't it be better if there was some way to make your auctions anonymous? Has this ever been discussed? Suppressing your bid is really collusion and hurts the seller. Just my opinion! I imagine many people will disagree with this.
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I will bid against someone else if it's something I really want. I'm a WW collector, so very seldom is there something I "have" to have, so I tend to move on to the next item if there's a bid on it already unless it's one of a set I'm missing or fills a gaping hole in my collection. I think a lot of us feel the same way--in that we are looking to get the most material for the cheapest price. Higher priced items don't sell well here. Very seldom is there something really uncommon. So if someone lists something it's probably been listed before and will be listed again. From what I understand, StampoRama was started basically as a way for collectors to trade duplicates and it has that type of friendly vibe here. While we have a lot dealers here, they sell at low prices (or at least the more successful ones do) since there's no cost to list/sell and members benefit. There are also a lot of collectors who list their duplicates. It's really just a friendly place for people to buy stamps. If you go to the buyers section of the auction, you'll see a section called "hot". That will bring up everything that is seeing a lot of action. I will check that occasionally too because sometimes that is interesting material that might be of interest to me too 
Jackie
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I participated in my first auctions last week and bid against someone. These were penny auctions and won it at 6 cents.
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"The auctions I go to usually have friends there and usually there are no hard feelings when two or more of us want the same things"
I've seen guys go off in a huff and not spoken to each other for months over the same lot.
I've seen so called "friends" almost come to blows over an auction lot that they were bidding against each other.
All's fair in love, war and auctions!!
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"When you don't bid against other people aren't you hurting other SOR members?"
This is a valid point. I am on both the buyer and the seller fronts, although I buy more than I sell. To me, it is still not worth it to outbid others and if my own lots get a single bid for the same reason, that is also fine with me. Just like Ian I list in the auction section at my "buy it now" assessed price, auction style, so a single bid is fine.
Stamporama auctions work in a different way than other sites for more than one reason. For example, one has the option to add auction style purchases to purchases made through the approvals module from the same seller, to save on postage costs. This is something I personally like to do when a seller lists in both. If a seller lists only in the auctions, the chances of him attracting my bids on single stamps become slim to non-existent.
Interestingly, there are some of us who stick to buying from only one of the platforms. I recently posted a few items in the auctions and it was like accessing a completely different market with a new set of players.
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"I recently posted a few items in the auctions and it was like accessing a completely different market with a new set of players."
Never a truer word said.
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A while back we were talking about auctions vs approvals. I had never bought from approvals and was amazed to find that people tend to have more success selling on the approval side and how quickly the books can sell. Since then I tend to check the approvals when I have won auctions. I also like that sellers (yes, Ian, I mean you--and others) will let me wait until I have a reasonable amount of items to purchase before sending me an invoice. I was hesitant to do approvals at first because sometimes it's hard to find enough to buy from an individual seller and the items tend to be lower priced.
Jackie
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"I also like that sellers will let me wait until I have a reasonable amount of items to purchase before sending me an invoice."
Its one of the joys of Stamporama.
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08:07:06pm
I've checked out several of the approval books and a lot of the prices seem very fair. Say I buy from "Joe" and spend a couple dollars. What happens then? Does Joe invoice me, I send him the money and he sends me the stamps? Or does Joe wait until it gets to a certain amount, then he invoices me and sends me all the stuff from the invoice? Or does Joe send me the stuff as I am buying it and then invoice me at that point? Or does every seller do it differently? I will eventually start buying and I just curious how it works. Do the auctions work the same way or differently? I haven't looked at the auctions yet but judging by this thread it seems to be mostly inexpensive stuff. It might be a good way to finish off some of the Poland and Russia series where I'm missing one stamp. usually the higher denomination. I'm missing mostly higher valued stamps for US and Canada so that will probably not be something usually found with SoR.
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Harvey,
It depends on seller. They may invoice immediately or wait to see if you buy something else from them. If they invoice and want more time, just tell them. If you want to be invoiced immediately, notify them. All sellers I have dealt with are flexible to some limit...just not waiting months.
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"I haven't looked at the auctions yet but judging by this thread it seems to be mostly inexpensive stuff."
You never know what is going to pop up in the auctions or approvals here.
Please remember that we are coming into the "quiet" period here.
Many members have other interests during the summer, or are going on vacation or more importantly just "sitting in the sun on a lazy Sunday afternoon"...(The Kinks)
As for not finding the stamps you want/need I can only quote Donald Sutherland in the film Kelly's Heroes:-
" What is it with you Moriarity? Always with the negative waves."
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An auction is an auction for a reason... bidding! I have no issue bidding against others, and bidders are pretty much masked these days anyway. I have no idea who I outbid and who took stuff away from me.
Here on Stamporama, I've gotten friendly with a bunch of people. Many of the folks in the sales area don't post on the boards, it's just a sales venue for them. So that's the same as eBay. A while back I bought a few things here using the "Buy It Now" option, buying from a vendor I am friendly with. I noticed one bidder had bid on a lot of the stuff already. Once I won I found he had bid the minimum price on everything. I didn't feel bad at all.
On eBay there is a cover dealer I frequent that starts everything at a penny. There are a couple of folks who bid that penny on a lot of stuff to see what they can get. Again, I have no issue paying that seller a reasonable price and thwarting those penny people!
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If you are looking for something specific at a higher price you can always send a message to a seller listing material from the country desired to see if he has the item you are looking for. Several of the sellers list on multiple sites and have lots of inventory. They post for sale on StampoRama what they think will sell. I have bought items on HipStamp from sellers here and they have invoiced them for me as "other charges" on my StampoRama invoice. There is nothing in the StampoRama rules that prohibits buyers/sellers from "side" deals" as there are no fees involved.
Jackie
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When I was able to attend my local stamp club regularly, I'd occasionally take my young daughters along. One in particular (she's 10 now) has a strong interest in collecting.
One night, I'm looking at something and there's bidding on some Germany material, which I do not collect. Suddenly, I hear the auctioneer say, "Dad, you need to put your hand down." I look up and my daughter is bidding away on Germany.
Another night, I was bidding on something I really wanted, but had my daughter doing the hand raise. Another member was also bidding aggressively. Finally he won. He came up to me, and said, "I don't care if she's a little girl, I wanted it."
Finally, at another meeting, she starts bidding on stamps she wants. An elderly lady starts bidding. I whisper, "Put your hand down." She responds, "why?" "Rich widow. We don't have a chance."
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01:45:12pm
"Wouldn't it be better if there was some way to make your auctions anonymous? Has this ever been discussed? Suppressing your bid is really collusion and hurts the seller. Just my opinion! I imagine many people will disagree with this. "
I agree 100%, and I have raised this issue with the executive several times over a number of years (not lately, I gave up).
I believe that not wishing to outbid other members is the prevalent attitude on Stamporama, regardless of disclaimers to the contrary by several posters here. I believe they are outnumbered by the "quiet majority".
This is the very reason I do not run auctions on Stamporama, and haven't for several years.
I would be wholeheartedly in favor of anonymity of bidders. It would likely tempt me to return to selling by auction.
Roy
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
24 Jun 2019
07:56:14pm
I occasionally bid for stamp lots on E-bay. Since I joined StampoRama I wonder how often members of the group are bidding against each other. Like they say, "There's no friends at an auction"!!!
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04:18:33am
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
There is very little "member on member" action as far as auction lots are concerned on Stamporama. I would put it at less than 3% of auction lots.
That's why I lean more to Buy It Now.
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
I think I shared my view on this a while ago. Since there is no anonymity in bidding on Stamporama, I personally avoid outbidding other members. Not that it has not ever happened. And sometimes I just like to pull someone's leg a little bit.
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
27 Jun 2019
06:10:47pm
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
I haven't tried a StampoRama auction yet but I'm very familiar with all kinds of auctions. I was an antique dealer for 30 years and have bought and sold on E-Bay for a fairly long time. E-Bay auctions are anonymous so no problem there. The auctions I go to usually have friends there and usually there are no hard feelings when two or more of us want the same things. The auctioneers are usually friends as well and agreeing not to bid against someone on an item hurts the auctioneer since they usually get a percentage. I am confused with the attitude on StampoRama (SOR?) since the people selling are also members. When you don't bid against other people aren't you hurting other SOR members? Wouldn't it be better if the person who wanted the item more got it? I don't think that's a stupid idea since if the members really respected each other then they should be able to bid against each other! Wouldn't it be better if there was some way to make your auctions anonymous? Has this ever been discussed? Suppressing your bid is really collusion and hurts the seller. Just my opinion! I imagine many people will disagree with this.
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06:24:12am
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
I will bid against someone else if it's something I really want. I'm a WW collector, so very seldom is there something I "have" to have, so I tend to move on to the next item if there's a bid on it already unless it's one of a set I'm missing or fills a gaping hole in my collection. I think a lot of us feel the same way--in that we are looking to get the most material for the cheapest price. Higher priced items don't sell well here. Very seldom is there something really uncommon. So if someone lists something it's probably been listed before and will be listed again. From what I understand, StampoRama was started basically as a way for collectors to trade duplicates and it has that type of friendly vibe here. While we have a lot dealers here, they sell at low prices (or at least the more successful ones do) since there's no cost to list/sell and members benefit. There are also a lot of collectors who list their duplicates. It's really just a friendly place for people to buy stamps. If you go to the buyers section of the auction, you'll see a section called "hot". That will bring up everything that is seeing a lot of action. I will check that occasionally too because sometimes that is interesting material that might be of interest to me too
Jackie
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
I participated in my first auctions last week and bid against someone. These were penny auctions and won it at 6 cents.
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12:05:46pm
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
"The auctions I go to usually have friends there and usually there are no hard feelings when two or more of us want the same things"
I've seen guys go off in a huff and not spoken to each other for months over the same lot.
I've seen so called "friends" almost come to blows over an auction lot that they were bidding against each other.
All's fair in love, war and auctions!!
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
"When you don't bid against other people aren't you hurting other SOR members?"
This is a valid point. I am on both the buyer and the seller fronts, although I buy more than I sell. To me, it is still not worth it to outbid others and if my own lots get a single bid for the same reason, that is also fine with me. Just like Ian I list in the auction section at my "buy it now" assessed price, auction style, so a single bid is fine.
Stamporama auctions work in a different way than other sites for more than one reason. For example, one has the option to add auction style purchases to purchases made through the approvals module from the same seller, to save on postage costs. This is something I personally like to do when a seller lists in both. If a seller lists only in the auctions, the chances of him attracting my bids on single stamps become slim to non-existent.
Interestingly, there are some of us who stick to buying from only one of the platforms. I recently posted a few items in the auctions and it was like accessing a completely different market with a new set of players.
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02:49:40pm
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
"I recently posted a few items in the auctions and it was like accessing a completely different market with a new set of players."
Never a truer word said.
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06:51:07pm
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
A while back we were talking about auctions vs approvals. I had never bought from approvals and was amazed to find that people tend to have more success selling on the approval side and how quickly the books can sell. Since then I tend to check the approvals when I have won auctions. I also like that sellers (yes, Ian, I mean you--and others) will let me wait until I have a reasonable amount of items to purchase before sending me an invoice. I was hesitant to do approvals at first because sometimes it's hard to find enough to buy from an individual seller and the items tend to be lower priced.
Jackie
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07:06:02pm
Approvals
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
"I also like that sellers will let me wait until I have a reasonable amount of items to purchase before sending me an invoice."
Its one of the joys of Stamporama.
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
28 Jun 2019
08:07:06pm
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
I've checked out several of the approval books and a lot of the prices seem very fair. Say I buy from "Joe" and spend a couple dollars. What happens then? Does Joe invoice me, I send him the money and he sends me the stamps? Or does Joe wait until it gets to a certain amount, then he invoices me and sends me all the stuff from the invoice? Or does Joe send me the stuff as I am buying it and then invoice me at that point? Or does every seller do it differently? I will eventually start buying and I just curious how it works. Do the auctions work the same way or differently? I haven't looked at the auctions yet but judging by this thread it seems to be mostly inexpensive stuff. It might be a good way to finish off some of the Poland and Russia series where I'm missing one stamp. usually the higher denomination. I'm missing mostly higher valued stamps for US and Canada so that will probably not be something usually found with SoR.
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
Harvey,
It depends on seller. They may invoice immediately or wait to see if you buy something else from them. If they invoice and want more time, just tell them. If you want to be invoiced immediately, notify them. All sellers I have dealt with are flexible to some limit...just not waiting months.
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07:38:20am
Approvals
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
"I haven't looked at the auctions yet but judging by this thread it seems to be mostly inexpensive stuff."
You never know what is going to pop up in the auctions or approvals here.
Please remember that we are coming into the "quiet" period here.
Many members have other interests during the summer, or are going on vacation or more importantly just "sitting in the sun on a lazy Sunday afternoon"...(The Kinks)
As for not finding the stamps you want/need I can only quote Donald Sutherland in the film Kelly's Heroes:-
" What is it with you Moriarity? Always with the negative waves."
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
An auction is an auction for a reason... bidding! I have no issue bidding against others, and bidders are pretty much masked these days anyway. I have no idea who I outbid and who took stuff away from me.
Here on Stamporama, I've gotten friendly with a bunch of people. Many of the folks in the sales area don't post on the boards, it's just a sales venue for them. So that's the same as eBay. A while back I bought a few things here using the "Buy It Now" option, buying from a vendor I am friendly with. I noticed one bidder had bid on a lot of the stuff already. Once I won I found he had bid the minimum price on everything. I didn't feel bad at all.
On eBay there is a cover dealer I frequent that starts everything at a penny. There are a couple of folks who bid that penny on a lot of stuff to see what they can get. Again, I have no issue paying that seller a reasonable price and thwarting those penny people!
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07:39:20am
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
If you are looking for something specific at a higher price you can always send a message to a seller listing material from the country desired to see if he has the item you are looking for. Several of the sellers list on multiple sites and have lots of inventory. They post for sale on StampoRama what they think will sell. I have bought items on HipStamp from sellers here and they have invoiced them for me as "other charges" on my StampoRama invoice. There is nothing in the StampoRama rules that prohibits buyers/sellers from "side" deals" as there are no fees involved.
Jackie
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re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
When I was able to attend my local stamp club regularly, I'd occasionally take my young daughters along. One in particular (she's 10 now) has a strong interest in collecting.
One night, I'm looking at something and there's bidding on some Germany material, which I do not collect. Suddenly, I hear the auctioneer say, "Dad, you need to put your hand down." I look up and my daughter is bidding away on Germany.
Another night, I was bidding on something I really wanted, but had my daughter doing the hand raise. Another member was also bidding aggressively. Finally he won. He came up to me, and said, "I don't care if she's a little girl, I wanted it."
Finally, at another meeting, she starts bidding on stamps she wants. An elderly lady starts bidding. I whisper, "Put your hand down." She responds, "why?" "Rich widow. We don't have a chance."
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30 Jun 2019
01:45:12pm
re: I'm sure we all bid against each other!
"Wouldn't it be better if there was some way to make your auctions anonymous? Has this ever been discussed? Suppressing your bid is really collusion and hurts the seller. Just my opinion! I imagine many people will disagree with this. "
I agree 100%, and I have raised this issue with the executive several times over a number of years (not lately, I gave up).
I believe that not wishing to outbid other members is the prevalent attitude on Stamporama, regardless of disclaimers to the contrary by several posters here. I believe they are outnumbered by the "quiet majority".
This is the very reason I do not run auctions on Stamporama, and haven't for several years.
I would be wholeheartedly in favor of anonymity of bidders. It would likely tempt me to return to selling by auction.
Roy
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