Low value listings

michael j park

Hi,I am quite new here but been selling since 2000 on ebay & my local site.Question is how many of you look at or buy items for less than 25c as my lowest price is $4 & I have jist looked at 1 area (Australasia & Pacific) & nearly 20% of listings are 25c or less.The site cannot be making any money from these listings & they are a major pain when surfing through them.The other stamp sites are the same & really it turns buyers off.Any thoughts on this.

Ted Tyszka

Thanks, Professor Luree; I want to use your soap box, now, if you don't mind.

Gotta love people who feel the need to blame their lack of success on other (successful) dealers. And then to claim that the intent of the top-listed dealer is to shut the site down to eliminate the competition?????????? I can't even fathom the reasoning behind this absurd statement.

I read the initial post on this thread over 3 hours ago; I downloaded a report of all of my sales dating back almost 10 years, analysed it to determine which were my best-selling countries, what were the sales percentiles of stamps of particular price ranges, etc; and my intent was, as Michael Generali did, to give you a well reasoned, thoughtful, response to your questions, and to help out a newcomer to our community.

I come back to this thread, now, to post some friendly advice, and I find that you have now joined the bitches-gripes-and-complaints squad in bad-mouthing the site and placing the blame for all of your (upcoming) lack of success, on this platform and its dealers.

If you don't think the HipStamp platform suits your needs, that's no cause for you to come onto the boards and start bloviating about silly plots to shut down the site and how the cards are stacked against non-North American sellers. Just find yourself a site more suitable for you. Try Apfelbaum. They're looking for consignments, and I'm sure you'll get every dear penny you're asking for your material.

Off Luree's soap box now.

Next!

Henry Brooks

Why this sudden obsession with things that are perceived to be "wrong" ? Prices too low, prices too high, too many of one stamp, no pictures, too many pictures, too little detail, too much detail, and etc.

STOP. Before you start criticizing someone ask yourself two questions. First - does it directly impact you in buying or selling on this site and if you believe that it does is there a simple workaround? Second - is it any of your business and if you believe that it is you need to explain why it is your business.

This need to "regulate" everything is not healthy. It stifles creativity, it stifles competition, it ……. the list goes on …. and on…..

If I want to sell stamps at 5 per cent of catalog I will do so. If I want to price them at 500 per cent of catalog I will do that - it is none of anybody's business but my own.

The negativity being generated by this obsession with trying to control everything others do is tiresome. Why do people feel that they have a right to interfere with the actions of others but reject any criticism directed their way ?

Luree Hughes

I do take offense to the usage of "JUNK" stamps on this site. This is a phrase that has been used over and over. Just remember, what is JUNK to some is a treasure to another.

So IMHO, this is a super site and we all sell what we want to sell and we all feel we have treasures to sell. Please do not tell us we are selling JUNK, we aren't! That's YOUR opinion and please do not put the rest of us down because we do not have the same belief as you.

Off my soap box now

George DeKornfeld

Inexpensive stamps are in most instances more difficult to find than their more expensive compatriots. Need a Zeppelin issue? Expensive, but can be found almost anywhere. Need a 2-cent stamp to fill an album page hole? Not so easy, since in the past, it wouldn't be worth a dealer's time to vend one. That's the beauty of this site...all the cheaper stuff can be found here. Further, speaking as a dealer, its rare for a buyer to just purchase a single 2-cent stamp. Buyers will purchase a pile of stamps all at once, in some reported instances, taking up several printed pages of invoices in one order. That's how the dealers and this site make their coin.

Michael Generali

Thanks, Ted.

I'm tired of wasting my time trying to give friendly advice to morons and trolls. Nothing worse than asking for advice or help, and then when one receives it come back with smart-ass, "I know better than you", irrational comments made by people who think all they have to do is post their "junk" and the world will come flooding in to buy it all in five minutes..

Ron Lenke

I'm happy Mark took a chance when he wanted to resurrect a dysfunctional, failing enterprise.
I'm happy this site has over 700 diverse dealers and continues to grow.
I'm happy Hipstamps caters to the full scope of the stamp collecting hobby.
I'm happy that we have forums to engage each other in a multitude of topics and thoughts.
I'm happy our discussions tend to be tempered, particularly when contrasted with other comment boards.
I'm happy that there is activity both in sales and opinions, indicating our imminent "extinction" may be premature.
I'm happy that though prices may be down, those continuing their hobby can now take their collections much farther.
I'm happy that in retirement I'm not sitting around grousing over why I ought to be unhappy about something.
........(for Carol).... ;-))

John Wagner

Low prices turn buyers off???? Excuse me??? I have purchased many stamps on here that are low priced. I cannot afford minimum prices of $4 per stamp. I guarantee i would not be buying anything from your store at those prices! I know you'd never make a living on the stamps I purchase, but I enjoy my hobby and because of Hipstamp and the sellers on here willing to sell at "low" prices I can afford to purchase many stamps and build my collections. I personally rant and rave about Hipstamp all the time because of this. Which I guarantee is driving buyers (or at least shoppers) to this site and the stores on here.

Dave Bennett

Well said, Ted!!

"bloviating"

andrew Hellenschmidt

To each their own, let buyers and sellers do what they please. Most collectors purchase a stamp because they like it not due to the price tag.

Michael Generali

Ted, yes, I have noticed that those people have plenty of time to go through other sellers' stores to then attack and criticize those sellers. Then they complain that they can't sell anything. Frankly, I wouldn't buy from these types anyway. One has a 100% negative rating for their business from the Better Business Bureau, by the way. Charming people.

I had written an entirely different response, but decided on just the two words instead. You and Carol said it much nicer than I would have had I posted it. Frankly, I have had enough of the morons and trolls in this forum. The same thing over and over again separated by a few weeks and then restarted by another of that group. I'm going to relegate myself to my store activities from now on. I will not feed those losers.

Ted Tyszka

I'm happy that Ron's happy.

Michael Duehr

Michael Park,

As to your OP,if you look at the seller that actually listed those items (The seller at the top is NOT the original owner of those listings) the man has received over 140,000 feedback and left over 200,000 feedback. (He's back listing again and at the moment has a little over 24,000 listed) and knowing that when he listed the stamps over 95 % of his stock was UNDER $1, there must be a call for those type of items. This site is buyer driven and if the buyers are looking for and buying that type of stuff. And did it ever occur to you that because those type of stamps can be listed here and no where else that that could very well be a way to draw in more buyers because this site has items that can NOT be found on most other sites?

Michael Generali

The problem with some parents, and I have heard them talk to their kids at shows is that they tell them to not go after the "cheap stuff", because the stamps won't be worth anything later on. That's not the right thing to do, imposing monetary value into a beginners mind. It's about, and it should always be, finding the stamps that one likes, and enjoying the hunt when doing so. Kids can afford the "cheap stuff", but some are dissuaded from buying. They can't afford the "other stuff", so they don't buy any stamps. Instead, they go buy Pokemon cards..

John Wagner

I see the discussion topic here is definitely on the seller side rather than the buyer side. Perhaps I shouldn't even comment. But, as in everything else when one is in business it's about the bottom line, the profit margin. So competition drives the price down. I think that's called capitalism. Trying to get people to remove their listings because they are too low and drive prices down is just trying to manipulate prices to keep them inflated. Sorry, but I for one am happy that there are many low priced stamps on here. I purchase stamps here primarily because I can afford them. I will often pay shipping from international locations for stamps that are probably worth less than the shipping costs. But I want the stamps and consider it a cost of doing business on my end. Personally, I think trying to keep stamp prices artificially inflated so dealers can make more money is the prime reason stamp collecting has fallen out of favor in many places. For me, it's a hobby, not a massive monetary investment. Sorry guys, but bravo to all those sellers who are helping us hobbyists have fun without breaking the bank!

andrew Hellenschmidt

Lower valued stamps are what drive most of the sales and make the hobby fun. It's not a secret that the more you post the more you will sell around here at reasonable prices but that requires some work...

Paul Molloy

How to become a millionaire in the stamp business.
1. Start out with two million dollars.

andrew Hellenschmidt

One of my favorite things to do was browse through stock books, binders, albums from a lower priced dealer. Way back you could get material at a penny, nickel, or dime. Then the prices were all a quarter and now all these sellers have vanished. By the way if you attend a show the tables doing most of the business have lower priced material. Let's not knock what someone else collects.

Michael Duehr

Michael J Park,

Quick question for you

You did say this

Reply to Mark,hooray,my opinion(& that is what a forum is about) did not go down well lol.

Did you really expect anything different when you called many of the sellers on here as "junk" sellers whom also do have quite a following and in essence you insulted both the sellers of that material AND ALSO the buyers whom do happen to collect that stuff? Do you really think that by doing so it's going to help your business to insult the buyers and if so why?

The best advice I can give you is NOT to insult the buyers taste in what they collect. The seller is ALWAYS there to serve the buyer to the best they can and not the other way around.

John Wagner

I was thinking about this thread the other day when I was out running errands. I thought, OK, if every low priced seller were to stop selling low priced stamps and there were only more expensive stamps available it would simply drive me back into stamp collecting dormancy again. Because this is the only source I have for less expensive stamps, covers, sheets, and maxicards. I've spent more money for stamps and covers on here, in the last year, than I have for stamps in the last 17 years! And as I develop my pages and build my collection I'm drawn to more and more things, and some a little bit more expensive too. I definitely am a repeat customer to several of the stores on here. When I search for a stamp this is my first stop. Then I check to see if it's available on ebay if not here.

Ron Lenke

Or change the Forums name to "Open Mike" ;-)

John Coles

Well said, Luree, Ted and Michael

Russ Romei

MOST of my sales are < .45 per item, have gotten order with 70 items. Think of them as convenience items. A buyer buys some better stuff, and as long as he is there, looks to fill some holes in his album

Michael Generali

So what.

Ted Tyszka

Michael G, ever notice how the people most critical of the successful dealers are often the same ones complaining of their own lack of sales on this good-for-nothing site?
Personally, I find it very poor form to be sniping, in a public forum, at other dealers who are guilty of nothing but reaping the rewards (meager as they may be) of their own efforts.

Ted
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/tatyszka-stamps

Ron Lenke

Whether we are getting more cantankerous as we age, or merely dispelling the idea of the stamp collector as some shy, nerdish milquetoast, it's rather refreshing to hear some spirited banter on this board. My cousin would scoff at my collecting interests, preferring to proudly boast while hunting, to provoke bears into charging, only to plunk them just before they reached him. For added thrill, he would load a single cartridge in his rifle. I should be happy to show him the fruits of my stamp pursuits but I seem to have suddenly lost touch with him over the years as he no longer responds to my Christmas cards.

Michael Duehr

Ron,

A lot of this is nothing new. It's just another form of the classic material versus the so called wallpaper stamps that has been going on for as long as I can remember. And the arguments almost 50 years ago were just as spirited as they are now.

I saw it too many times at the shows where parents would bring their kids and they would try to get them interested in collecting stamps but the parents would only allow them to buy classic US and you could see by the looks they had no interest in the US what basically is a bunch of dead dudes on a piece of paper. Yet those same kids would look through the flip folder on the table and their eyes light up when they saw a stamp that looked like fluffy or spot,or they saw a sport they really liked,or they liked space and other colorful topical type stamps and the parents actually discouraged the kids from buying those type of stamps,then you have the sellers wondering why the kids aren't interested in collecting stamps when they were discouraged from trying to collect what they liked.

A collection is always a very personal thing to the person who collects those items.

Michael Duehr

Michael G,

I remember some of the stamp clubs that split up because of the long drawn out bitter debates over this issue. And it had to do with the programs that the clubs voted on for the following year. On side were the "purists" that wanted nothing but the programs that dealt with nothing other then stuff like the US Washington Franklin issues and the like and the others that were more into the topical side that wanted to see some other programs that were a bit more light hearted and fun type programs. Then after all was said and done the clubs would be split up and one side saw the side as being the old fogies with the stogies and the other were as those junk collectors who only were interested in "wall paper". And I remember this from the 1970's and I am willing to bet it was going on LONG before that.

Harry Patsalos

Here's my Opinion as a Dealer / Collector. I am Just as happy to add a "low value" stamp to my collection as adding a High Value stamp. The Value doesn't really mean much. It is the hunt for completion that is the draw for me in collecting stamps. I understand I am not the only one who thinks this way, so when I add stamps to my hipstamp store I put everything in from 15c up. Happy customers are repeat customers.
Harry Patsalos Philatelics

Michael Generali

@michaeljpark. Sounds good. Thanks for clarifying.

I wonder how many "Michael's" we have here? We may have to change the name of the site to "TheMichaelsHipStamps"!

John Wagner

Thanks Andrew! I've heard some sellers opine that it's too much trouble to post pictures of low price stamps, so they have lots of listings with no image. As far as I'm concerned as a buyer...I won't even consider a stamp I can't see. My thoughts are usually so what's wrong with the stamp that they don't want to show its condition? Once I was interested in a set of stamps in a store here and asked to see the stamp. The seller was kind enough to scan the image and I bought it. The sellers I've dealt with on here have all been really polite, helpful, and professional. I've done repeat business with several. In a business that is essentially a hobby environment I believe customer service is where it's is ALL at! No service, no sales. That's no hard to understand. I said it before, because of the service I've received on here from sellers willing to service my needs I talk about Hipstamp stores on the stamp collecting Facebook groups I'm in all the time! I'm constantly recommending Hipstamp to newbie collectors. I think that has to be worth something too. Perhaps more than just the dollars they made from me directly.