Non-Professional Store Inventory Question

Greg Doll

For those sellers/stores who are not professional stamp dealers, i.e. me and many others, how and where have you found to be some of the best ways to find more inventory for your stores? Without a brick and mortar store for example, we have no customers who are trying to sell collections. Maybe in George's case, he sends his dog Mouse out into the neighborhood with a sandwich board on looking for people with old collections they are willing to sell. Just a guess George but Mouse seems quite capable. But if I send Bentley the Cat out to do the same thing, he would just wander around and get distracted by birds and lizards.

I got distracted, sorry. Seriously though, what are your experiences with the best ways to fill store inventory after sales for "non-professional"? Thanks for any responses and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Henry Brooks

The best way depends to a large extent on what your goals are. How large a store do you want? What do you want to sell? US or world wide - new stuff or old stuff - mint or used? Can you make regular monthly purchases or ar you going to buy once in awhile. How much can you spend per month. Do you have a place to get rid of bulk inventory you do not want to keep to subsidize new purchases (such as an auction house or fellow collector with a thirst for "new stuff"...

If you can spend $200 or $300 every month you should be able to find a dealer willing to put together a monthly box of
"stuff". IF you have a place to get rid of unwanted stuff you can sell off what you don't want to keep - you should be able to come close to getting your investment back and keep an ever growing pile of inventory items you find sell well.

When shows come back in fashion approach some of the dealers on that type of arrangement. It will take awhile to find the dealer that is right for you....do not ever "skip" a month or refuse a purchase - some will be better than others but most dealers will give good value if they know you are a reliable buyer. I had to buy a large chunk of inventory once (several thousand dollars I didn't have) to help my source pay off another purchase. - to do it I had to broker about two-thirds of the better stuff to another dealer but I ended up with some really incredible items - but it was a bit nerve wracking.

Turnover is the key - inventory is comforting in a way - but getting rid of it let's you get more inventory........always remember that.

We can all be of a lot more help if you can answer the first few questions....

Dan Shilcrat

Hi Greg,
Consider contacting a few Auction Houses & request a Catalogue. You will receive e-Mails with links. You will find both 'Lots & Collections' & many 'remainder lots' Both are good sources of material. You can also get on a few national level dealer e-mail lists. Always a section of 'Special Offers' As Carol said.. until the return of Shows things are harder.
I looked at your store Greg. One thing that impressed me is your not afraid to diversify globally. That will be a huge help to you in that you will be able to take advantage of a larger variety of offers/opportunities. Give good thought to Carols questions.. What areas do you like.. give your store an identity. Lastly.. Never hesitate buy refernce books. Dan

George DeKornfeld

Mouse says that that wasn't a sandwich board you saw him with. It was his favorite, a very large Turkey Club sandwich. Mouse also says Bentley should look at lots on eBay. There are a few dealers there that specialize in quasi-wholesale large lots that can be broken up for resale. Mouse invests in a couple of these each month and after plucking out what he wants to keep for his own collections, lists the rest here.
Mouse also has a few favorite auction houses where he bids for large lots, all of which can be found on SAN. Two of his favorite houses for large lots are Dutch Country (in Delaware) and Sparks (in Canada, where the strength of the US dollar is a plus). Kelleher is another good one that has regular large lot auctions.

Greg Doll

Excellent advice! Thanks Carol, Dan, George (and Mouse). I actually do scan the auctions at SAN and have actually purchased items for my own collection from a number of them including Sparks and Kelleher. For some reason, I've never been a big eBay fan but I'll check it out. Dan, I started out this store to "download" a lot of material that's outside of my own collecting focus but quickly realized that it could turn into a nice secondary source of cash flow so I decided to try and expand it into a second job I can do in the evenings. I've found it's actually a relaxing de-stressor. Carol, at your suggestion, I'm going to reach out to my local dealer, with whom I've done business with for years, and see what they have to say about putting together a monthly package of material for me. I know they buy collections and estate material all the time and I think they would be happy to have a source who will take their ancillary material off their hands. Their store is always packed with boxes of stuff and piled high with old albums they haven't looked at for some time.
Mouse is of course very wise to go with the large Turkey Club sandwich. It's one of my favorites too!

Ron Lenke

Consider local auctions and Craigslist also. I've had some success placing ads on Craigslist offering to purchase coins and stamps plus monitoring their ads for those private parties selling the same (don't forget garage sales).

Greg Doll

Ron, thanks. Never even thought about Craigslist even though I've sold a bunch of stuff there myself.

bob burger

I'am not going to write a book.
The best way is to join a stamp club.