Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
11:43:06am
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And your point was?
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12:56:21pm
The only point I was trying to make was the large variety of prices in the auctions. I just wanted to point out the some could be lower and possibly some could be a bit higher. I wasn't trying to make a huge statement, just pass on an observation.
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Variety is the spice of life.
It is up to each individual what they list and at what price they sell.
It all depends on which country you live, what level of expertise your at or on what catalogue you use, or what percentage of catalogue you wish to sell, or do you really want to sell the item for that lowly price or rather keep it even though its a duplicate!! or if they really want it they are going to pay heavily for it!!
Isn't stamporama gggrreeaaaatttttt!!!
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Percentage of catalog is OK if the catalog is correct - that is not always the case. I had an advanced collector who offered to pay $2.50 for a certain stamp that cataloged a nickel or dime at the time. This back in the 80'z when I was doing shows. He stopped at the table every month. I finally found one - nice copy. I had literally dozens of each of the stamps surrounding this one but found only one of this particular stamp.
He reached in his wallet and hesitated ... he gave me a $20 and told me to keep the change ..... he had been searching for that stamp for years and had never been able to see one, much less buy one.
There are a lot of errors in the catalogs as far as pricing goes.
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"... I used to be a regular seller on E-Bay years ago ..."
I appreciate the courage it takes to come forward and admit something like this.
Q/ Are you also a friend of Bill?
A lot of folks who list on eBay seem to be following a strategy of "stick a high price on it, and wait for the guy who'll pay that price".
(I rarely pay more than one dollar per card (except on SOR), and mostly I pay quite a bit less but, just recently, I paid an outrageous U$D 35 for an RPPC ... because the subject was a town to which a friend recently moved, and I wanted to make a house-warming gift ... so, as I have long suspected, this wait-for-the-desperate-guy strategy actually works.)
In the case of SOR, our sellers do not seem to be worrying that their
Catalogs are a sign post (even "guide" would be too strong a word). As Webpaper po;ints-out, there are plenty of items out there that are hard to find, but remain modestly priced because not that many people seem to be looking for them.
Lastly, you seem to ass-u-me that SOR sellers are looking at the catalogs for pricing, and then discounting therefrom. Nice theory, but SOR is a fairly relaxed commercial environment, so I suspect they are mostly pulling the prices out of their ashtrays.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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"A lot of folks who list on eBay seem to be following a strategy of "stick a high price on it, and wait for the guy who'll pay that price"."
Nice theory!
When I list an item on Ebay for £20.00 for 10 days I have the option of "Allowing Offers", which I decline because I feel that is the correct price. ( I don't want the hassle of declining offers less than the £20.00).
Once I have finished listing the item it asks if I want to automatically reduce the price if it fails to sell. Which I decline, because again I think the item is worth £20.00.
Here comes the crux. If the £20 item fails to sell in the 10 days Ebay AUTOMATICALLY allows offers over £10.00 on the item. The result is I have to refuse the chancers who offer £10.00. This can go on for 8 Weeks, taking up my time and increases the amount of internet monthly data allowance usage.
The result is some sellers are putting on high prices, allowing offers, buyers make an offer thinking they are getting a bargain when in fact they are not!
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06:51:55pm
I've never sold a stamp in my life. My wife and I were antique dealers for about 35 years and we sold a hell-of-a-lot of cups and saucers over the years! We sold on E-Bay for about 5 years about 10 years ago. We based our prices on what we paid for the item plus about 50%. Our prices on E-Bay, in our shop and at shows were always considered to be very fair. I'm sorry if I assumed that people took percentages of book prices for SOR auctions, I'm sure there's all sorts of procedures. Every time I start a string I seem to tick people off in one way or another - I really don't mean to, I guess I'm just a person who has to learn to keep his opinions to himself more often or "think before I post"! Time to check out the new items that were put on the auction today - have a good week!
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Harvey, I was not ticked off, just could not see what point you were trying to make. If nothing else it got some peoples grey matter working and exercised the fingers.
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Harvey,
I didn't think any of the responses were from anyone who was "ticked off". In your post you were assuming members here would be upset,
"I know I am probably getting a few sellers upset "
Vince
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08:13:17pm
Honestly, I wasn't trying to make a particular point! All I was pointing out was the significant differences in auction prices. I didn't get specific since I didn't want to upset anyone. There actually was a stamp I saw in the auction that was offered by two different sellers at vastly different prices. That isn't really a problem, you buy the cheaper one. But if you want to get really picky, and I really didn't want to then and I'm not sure if I want to now either, that price difference does go against one of the rules concerning how sellers are to price items (unintentionally I'm sure). I really don't care and it's not a problem with me, as I said buy the cheaper one first. There is no way pricing can possibly be consistent, everyone prices in a different way. I realize that since I am an experienced seller myself, just not of stamps. People do not intentionally undercut others, there are just different pricing methods. I am going to say nothing more about this, this was just originally an innocent post to comment on the price differences. As the original writers for Marvel Comics used to say " 'nuff said".
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Folks here are not that thin skinned..its a forum to express our own opinions. Were i a dealer i would charge 50 percent of catalog and list hundreds of stamps and the person who thinks a particular stamp is worth 50 percent would bid on it. But i am just a stamp collector with a 30 year accumulation of stamps...i try to put out decent stamps that i would put in my collections. I am not going to spend the rest of my life putting them out at 10 cents apiece in a 102 card no less...i guess i put them out for what i would be willing to pay. Not everyone here is looking to get something for next to nothing...i have people that are willing to pay fair value and fair shipping...but it did not happen overnight.
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What Phil said is what I think makes Stamporama different from most other philatelic sites. I believe that our sales area, though it has its share of dealers, is comprised mostly of collector/sellers.
The large number of approval books I think is testament to that. Most dealers are not going to spend the time to put together an approval book of 100 stamps that sell for 2 or 3 cents each. There is no profit for a dealer when considering the time it takes to put together such books.
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As a dealer I will say this about prices here on SOR and elsewhere. It all depends on the buyers. Every site has a different set of buyers though there is crossover, and each site looks for something different from the seller. Here I try to keep my auctions at around 20% CV. Nope, not going to put dinner on the table for the profit at that price, but my feeling here is that the folks deserve a better than fair price if I can do it. I have no idea what others charge here for auctions. I have never looked. What doesn't sell here at auction just gets 2 other shots on other sites. Really pretty easy to do.
Approval books I try to keep at less than 40%. Even after 3 1/2 years here I still can't figure out why some peoples books with no catalog numbers sell and I can list the same stamp for the same price with a catalog number and it doesn't sell. I pretty much gave up trying to figure it out. I suspect many sellers have buyers who only buy from them and personally, I believe that there are those here in SOR that will not buy from someone who they know is a dealer. I do occasionally put out books simply taking a packet and putting them into a book at 5 cents each. Takes time and as others have said, it really is not profitable.
Ebay though is a different story. There I price at 60% in my store with free postage, and accepting best offer (which I will accept as long as it is no more than 1/3 less than my asking price. Other things I sell I price at double what I want accepting offers and free postage. Ebay buyers like free postage and making offers. That works better than running a sale. Hipstamp is reverse. They like sales, offers not so much.
High priced stamps for me have never sold well here. I have come into possession of part of an estate that will take me years to sell here and elsewhere as I comingle the stamps in with my own. You will see posts about these stamps elsewhere. I'll give them a try here for the next couple of months and if there is no interest, so be it. I'll get a feel for it with this weeks auctions and next Mondays BIN listings.
Its all about knowing the buyers on a site. That to me is what determines the price for a stamp.
Greg
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Of course drawing any conclusions regarding sales anywhere during the past couple of weeks and for the next four weeks is a totally pointless exercise.
WHY?
Its holiday time!!
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
05 Aug 2019
11:43:06am
I might change my mind about posting this, I really don't want to hurt any feelings so I will keep this totally nameless. I love your auctions and approvals and have bought close to 100 items in the last month or so and I will continue. Some of your prices are almost too low (not complaining!) at about 10% CV or less! Others seem almost too high, sometimes over 50% CV. Again I'm not complaining since sometimes if I really need their item I still buy. I have a local dealer I get stuff from every two weeks from my want list. He starts at about 50% CV and then always reduces the price through specials and bonuses such that usually I end up at about a third ( or less ) catalog, sometimes it will be more for a premium item. Again, I don't intend this as a complaint and I know I am probably getting a few sellers upset, but I do notice that some sellers get very few bids while others seem to sell almost everything ( a bit of an exaggeration ). By the way, I do know how much work it is to sell on line, I used to be a regular seller on E-Bay years ago. Do I really want to post this? What the heck!
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
05 Aug 2019
12:56:21pm
re: prices
The only point I was trying to make was the large variety of prices in the auctions. I just wanted to point out the some could be lower and possibly some could be a bit higher. I wasn't trying to make a huge statement, just pass on an observation.
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02:22:21pm
Approvals
re: prices
Variety is the spice of life.
It is up to each individual what they list and at what price they sell.
It all depends on which country you live, what level of expertise your at or on what catalogue you use, or what percentage of catalogue you wish to sell, or do you really want to sell the item for that lowly price or rather keep it even though its a duplicate!! or if they really want it they are going to pay heavily for it!!
Isn't stamporama gggrreeaaaatttttt!!!
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03:04:22pm
re: prices
Percentage of catalog is OK if the catalog is correct - that is not always the case. I had an advanced collector who offered to pay $2.50 for a certain stamp that cataloged a nickel or dime at the time. This back in the 80'z when I was doing shows. He stopped at the table every month. I finally found one - nice copy. I had literally dozens of each of the stamps surrounding this one but found only one of this particular stamp.
He reached in his wallet and hesitated ... he gave me a $20 and told me to keep the change ..... he had been searching for that stamp for years and had never been able to see one, much less buy one.
There are a lot of errors in the catalogs as far as pricing goes.
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Login to Like.
re: prices
"... I used to be a regular seller on E-Bay years ago ..."
I appreciate the courage it takes to come forward and admit something like this.
Q/ Are you also a friend of Bill?
A lot of folks who list on eBay seem to be following a strategy of "stick a high price on it, and wait for the guy who'll pay that price".
(I rarely pay more than one dollar per card (except on SOR), and mostly I pay quite a bit less but, just recently, I paid an outrageous U$D 35 for an RPPC ... because the subject was a town to which a friend recently moved, and I wanted to make a house-warming gift ... so, as I have long suspected, this wait-for-the-desperate-guy strategy actually works.)
In the case of SOR, our sellers do not seem to be worrying that their
Catalogs are a sign post (even "guide" would be too strong a word). As Webpaper po;ints-out, there are plenty of items out there that are hard to find, but remain modestly priced because not that many people seem to be looking for them.
Lastly, you seem to ass-u-me that SOR sellers are looking at the catalogs for pricing, and then discounting therefrom. Nice theory, but SOR is a fairly relaxed commercial environment, so I suspect they are mostly pulling the prices out of their ashtrays.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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06:15:30pm
Approvals
re: prices
"A lot of folks who list on eBay seem to be following a strategy of "stick a high price on it, and wait for the guy who'll pay that price"."
Nice theory!
When I list an item on Ebay for £20.00 for 10 days I have the option of "Allowing Offers", which I decline because I feel that is the correct price. ( I don't want the hassle of declining offers less than the £20.00).
Once I have finished listing the item it asks if I want to automatically reduce the price if it fails to sell. Which I decline, because again I think the item is worth £20.00.
Here comes the crux. If the £20 item fails to sell in the 10 days Ebay AUTOMATICALLY allows offers over £10.00 on the item. The result is I have to refuse the chancers who offer £10.00. This can go on for 8 Weeks, taking up my time and increases the amount of internet monthly data allowance usage.
The result is some sellers are putting on high prices, allowing offers, buyers make an offer thinking they are getting a bargain when in fact they are not!
Login to Like
this post
This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
05 Aug 2019
06:51:55pm
re: prices
I've never sold a stamp in my life. My wife and I were antique dealers for about 35 years and we sold a hell-of-a-lot of cups and saucers over the years! We sold on E-Bay for about 5 years about 10 years ago. We based our prices on what we paid for the item plus about 50%. Our prices on E-Bay, in our shop and at shows were always considered to be very fair. I'm sorry if I assumed that people took percentages of book prices for SOR auctions, I'm sure there's all sorts of procedures. Every time I start a string I seem to tick people off in one way or another - I really don't mean to, I guess I'm just a person who has to learn to keep his opinions to himself more often or "think before I post"! Time to check out the new items that were put on the auction today - have a good week!
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re: prices
Harvey, I was not ticked off, just could not see what point you were trying to make. If nothing else it got some peoples grey matter working and exercised the fingers.
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re: prices
Harvey,
I didn't think any of the responses were from anyone who was "ticked off". In your post you were assuming members here would be upset,
"I know I am probably getting a few sellers upset "
Vince
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
05 Aug 2019
08:13:17pm
re: prices
Honestly, I wasn't trying to make a particular point! All I was pointing out was the significant differences in auction prices. I didn't get specific since I didn't want to upset anyone. There actually was a stamp I saw in the auction that was offered by two different sellers at vastly different prices. That isn't really a problem, you buy the cheaper one. But if you want to get really picky, and I really didn't want to then and I'm not sure if I want to now either, that price difference does go against one of the rules concerning how sellers are to price items (unintentionally I'm sure). I really don't care and it's not a problem with me, as I said buy the cheaper one first. There is no way pricing can possibly be consistent, everyone prices in a different way. I realize that since I am an experienced seller myself, just not of stamps. People do not intentionally undercut others, there are just different pricing methods. I am going to say nothing more about this, this was just originally an innocent post to comment on the price differences. As the original writers for Marvel Comics used to say " 'nuff said".
Login to Like
this post
re: prices
Folks here are not that thin skinned..its a forum to express our own opinions. Were i a dealer i would charge 50 percent of catalog and list hundreds of stamps and the person who thinks a particular stamp is worth 50 percent would bid on it. But i am just a stamp collector with a 30 year accumulation of stamps...i try to put out decent stamps that i would put in my collections. I am not going to spend the rest of my life putting them out at 10 cents apiece in a 102 card no less...i guess i put them out for what i would be willing to pay. Not everyone here is looking to get something for next to nothing...i have people that are willing to pay fair value and fair shipping...but it did not happen overnight.
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10:01:22pm
re: prices
What Phil said is what I think makes Stamporama different from most other philatelic sites. I believe that our sales area, though it has its share of dealers, is comprised mostly of collector/sellers.
The large number of approval books I think is testament to that. Most dealers are not going to spend the time to put together an approval book of 100 stamps that sell for 2 or 3 cents each. There is no profit for a dealer when considering the time it takes to put together such books.
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: prices
As a dealer I will say this about prices here on SOR and elsewhere. It all depends on the buyers. Every site has a different set of buyers though there is crossover, and each site looks for something different from the seller. Here I try to keep my auctions at around 20% CV. Nope, not going to put dinner on the table for the profit at that price, but my feeling here is that the folks deserve a better than fair price if I can do it. I have no idea what others charge here for auctions. I have never looked. What doesn't sell here at auction just gets 2 other shots on other sites. Really pretty easy to do.
Approval books I try to keep at less than 40%. Even after 3 1/2 years here I still can't figure out why some peoples books with no catalog numbers sell and I can list the same stamp for the same price with a catalog number and it doesn't sell. I pretty much gave up trying to figure it out. I suspect many sellers have buyers who only buy from them and personally, I believe that there are those here in SOR that will not buy from someone who they know is a dealer. I do occasionally put out books simply taking a packet and putting them into a book at 5 cents each. Takes time and as others have said, it really is not profitable.
Ebay though is a different story. There I price at 60% in my store with free postage, and accepting best offer (which I will accept as long as it is no more than 1/3 less than my asking price. Other things I sell I price at double what I want accepting offers and free postage. Ebay buyers like free postage and making offers. That works better than running a sale. Hipstamp is reverse. They like sales, offers not so much.
High priced stamps for me have never sold well here. I have come into possession of part of an estate that will take me years to sell here and elsewhere as I comingle the stamps in with my own. You will see posts about these stamps elsewhere. I'll give them a try here for the next couple of months and if there is no interest, so be it. I'll get a feel for it with this weeks auctions and next Mondays BIN listings.
Its all about knowing the buyers on a site. That to me is what determines the price for a stamp.
Greg
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08:03:22am
Approvals
re: prices
Of course drawing any conclusions regarding sales anywhere during the past couple of weeks and for the next four weeks is a totally pointless exercise.
WHY?
Its holiday time!!
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