Tania Radley You have got your name out there with some new results and I see a lot of advice. As a British female friend told me "Keep your pecker up" referring to my chin and keeping a positive attitude. Things move slowly at times but once the collectors learn of your service things will improve and there will be a brighter day tomorrow, All the best, John Talman
Thanks John - Yes things are very slow for us on this site. I am going to add some auction listings exclusive to this site and see if that creates interest in my shop/store listings? We have already changed our postage/shipping charges on Hipstamp to much cheaper rates than on ebay. I will give it a few more months and see if sales improve?
My problem is just the opposite. I joined and saw my store was way at the bottom of the dealer list. I didn't care for being the back-of-the line caboose so I aggressively took to adding listings to work my way up the dealer "chain". All was well as I moved page by page upwards, but then problems began. People would send in orders thereby knocking me back downwards and I was compelled to redouble my listing efforts. That was met by more orders and so my original goal has been hindered. It seems unfair to solve this dilemma by raising prices so I frustratingly persist in the notion I will be able eventually to stay ahead of these pesky buyers and become a bigger-time player. Any efforts to divert these interrupters would be appreciated.
You have a problem, because you're selling??? Ron, if you'd rather climb up the list rather than get money for what you are trying to sell, please send your buyers my way. I'll sell them my stamps, my position on the seller's list be damned! I'm here to sell, not to look pretty on a list.
That being said, your results on HipStamp, or any other auction site will vary by Seller, and many different factors. While a Basic Store subscription does not include a dedicated Account Manager, I'll have one of our Account Managers reach out to you to see if there is anything we can do to help jump start your sales here.
That may not of been the best item to list so I have put a 1913 GB GV SEAHORSES 2s 6d stamp on auction at just £0.50. If that goes not sell then there must be major problems with visibility on this site.
Respectfully, Tania, this is far from the ideal quality image that will attract any bidders. Can you take a better picture that's not pale and washed out?
To use a digital camera for images, as I do, do not use the flash. Put the camera on the close-up "flower" setting with the flash off. The camera should be on a tripod, and about one foot above the stamp. I use an empty binder with it oriented with the ends at the edge of the desk. Place the stamp on the binder and shine a light at an angle onto the stamp so that the light is not shining directly on the stamp. Sometimes the light will cause a glare off the stamp. You can move the light so that less is shining on it, or change the angle of the binder to eliminate the glare. If you use an LED lamp, use a yellow LED, not the blue ones. The blue LEDs will alter the colors of the stamp, especially the purples. After I take the pictures, I use Irfanview (a free image editor) to crop the image.
Here is a link to my store where you can see the results of the pictures I take. I rarely have to adjust the image itself.
Michael, I'm curious about your tripod and stamp set-up. What are the angles that you present the stamp and shoot at? In other words, is the camera pointed straight down to a table top (I know there are some tripods that will let you attach a camera on the underside of the adjustment pole), or are you successfully angling the material and adjusting the tripod so that those 2 planes are parallel? (Otherwise, it seems like you'd have a parallax problem.)
I'm asking because I have some material that just does not lend itself well to scanning.
I use natural light, which allows me to have the camera directly above the stamp (of course the flash is always off). I use the "cloudy" white balancing factor because my light is diffuse).
I have my camera at roughly the same angle as the slope of the empty binder. My tripod permits me to adjust the camera angle. The binder is a black one-inch three-ring binder. I prefer the binders that have a little bit of texture on the cover (as you can see in Tania's images). This helps prevent the stamps from sliding. I would estimate the binder cover slope at around 30 degrees. Sometimes I raise the cover to get glare off of a stamp. This is usually with larger sets. I orient the stamp horizontally with the camera to get as much of the stamp into the picture as I zoom in to the stamp. I adjust the orientation of the image when I use the editing program. It only takes a second.
Yes, Phil I can understand that no one is going to scan a large item they want to sell on Ebay. For example, my car, just will not fit on my scanner. HA!
I would have to take a picture and then scan THAT!
Wayne: "For example, my car, just will not fit on my scanner."
Get yourself a long extension cord. Set your scanner on 1200 dpi so you get a nice long slow scan, hold the scanner (with the lid open, of course. Duh!) as close as you can to the car while you walk around it. I do it all the time.
No takers on my seahorses stamp yet? If that does not work (sell) then I'll try an auction for a Penny Black and give the buyer $25.00 as well. I don't think that this site is right for overseas sellers ?
Comments
told me "Keep your pecker up" referring to my chin and keeping a positive attitude. Things move slowly at times but once the collectors learn of your service things will improve and there will be a brighter day tomorrow, All the best, John Talman
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-online-stamp-shop
I think if you stop buying your own items, you could rise up the store store list.
I took a look at the item you sent to auction, and that item often sells on HipStamp (and Ebay) for under $1, which is why it likely did not attract any attention as an auction for 99p. For example, the same item is currently listed in another Seller's store for $1.50 (and has not yet sold):
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/united-states-2147-liberty-bartholdi-first-day-cover-used/15103807
However, I also took a look at a few of your GB FDCs, and those appear to be priced well, but are probably not the best material to send to auction.
In general, GB material is quite popular on HipStamp, as you can see from reviewing the GB material in our last One Cent No Reserve Auction Event, where each of these items started at just one cent: https://www.hipstamp.com/event/the-30th-hipstamp-one-cent-auction-event/128/?event_slug=the-30th-hipstamp-one-cent-auction-event&category_name=great-britain&parent_id=8
That being said, your results on HipStamp, or any other auction site will vary by Seller, and many different factors. While a Basic Store subscription does not include a dedicated Account Manager, I'll have one of our Account Managers reach out to you to see if there is anything we can do to help jump start your sales here.
Here is a link to my store where you can see the results of the pictures I take. I rarely have to adjust the image itself.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-online-stamp-shop
I'm asking because I have some material that just does not lend itself well to scanning.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-philatarium/?sort=catalog
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/usa-6-different-pa-real-estate-transfer-tax-stamps-used-very-interesting/15247189
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/roncarmichaelstamps
Wayne, I always scan stamps, but I have some other stamp-related items in mind that just don't lend themselves to the scanner.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-philatarium/?sort=catalog
I would have to take a picture and then scan THAT!
Get yourself a long extension cord. Set your scanner on 1200 dpi so you get a nice long slow scan, hold the scanner (with the lid open, of course. Duh!) as close as you can to the car while you walk around it. I do it all the time.
(I have better examples, but this one popped up quickly.)
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-philatarium/?sort=catalog
Nice booklet shot Phil. Is that in your store?
I'm happy to say that it is.
(I have about 40 Swiss Pro Juventute and Pro Patria booklets listed, plus a couple of others, with more to work up sometime soon.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-philatarium/?sort=catalog&category_name=switzerland&parent_id=207 )