i think inflation has caught up now to stamp collecting. I was even running a sale withh a promo code to my "regular" buyers and it hardly generated any sales the last few weeks. This is the slowest it has been in quite some time for me.
Well...Bentley the Cat has had a pretty good month in spite of his incessant laziness and constant naps. On track for at least the second best month of 2022. Per item average up to around $7.80. I'll go ahead and say it...quality over quantity is Bentley's M.O. The cat will never be able to retire doing this and I won't either but it is a grind (a fun one though).
Bill...on the pop ups...use a browser, app, or plug-in that can control it. Please keep that issue on your original rant post. Nice try to hijack this thread though.
And the HipValues issue has been beaten to a dead horse so much that I just got my boots re-soled with the poor horse's hide. Ain't going away and, to an even marginally knowledgeable potential customer, is mostly an immaterial piece of information.
John...keep grinding and keep listing..holiday season is nigh and folks will be looking for nice stamps as gifts for their stamp collector friends and family.
I was planning to spend this windy/rainy day in my stamp den working on an APS circuit I received yesterday and playing with my collections. This morning I opened up my email and found a couple of HipStamp sales. The number of items sold always lies below the limit of my screen, so I always scroll down really slowly, kinda like trying to squeeze the last card into the one I need to make that full house. The first one squeezed down and I found an order for three items, all early French position pairs and blocks. Easy enough...so far so good. The second order, as I scrolled (squeezed) down was for (count 'em) 91 lots ! Awesome ! (except my circuit book will have to wait). This is almost a whole day affair...sigh....
Let me add that the stupid pop-up is probably driving people away also. The Hip values are also a problem and do not need to belong here but I think that it was put on to help the one cent auctions get sold and they are not getting many bids any way.
Ok good on the pop up thing. Now we can move on to....stamp things!!!
I don't know....I've had my second best month ever this October. The odd thing is...a lot fewer items but folks are buying much higher priced items. Maybe it's that the folks that are getting hit harder by the tough economy are the folks who were buying low priced items and the folks who have more wherewithal are not as affected. Just a thought.
I’m always looking for deals ( who isn’t ?)… starting to plan for my store … noticed pricing is dropping , higher priced items are taking longer to sell … the market is just a doing as expected in a time of inflation and economic uncertainty .
Yes, the higher end stuff is always wild, but I found some real deals recently, especially in older US stuff ( plate blocks).. I'm holding on a bit and stuff I really want is now slipping down into my line of sight.
Rene, That's a mighty fine 122 you have there. Is it a wish, or is this something you have for your upcoming store? My suggestion is: Get your store up as fast as possible, with about 600 items in the $20 - $100 range. This material is moving fast at the moment. Sprinkle in about 50 high value items. You can just skip the low-value stuff for now.
And while we're here... -Tell a marine to secure a building, and he will blow a hole in the wall, kill everyone inside, and set up a machine gun post on the roof. -Tell a soldier to secure a building, and he will call in an artillery strike, then take a nap while the dust clears. -Tell a seaman to secure a building, and he will shut down the computers, turn off the lights, and lock the door. -Tell an airman to secure a building and he will call a real estate agent.
Scott, that's my dream 122, still watching them start to dip...yes , now trying to accumulate items for sale. Bought the camera, but fussing with it. I want to perfect the image taking. Thanks for the tips, you are a real help to your fellow collectors out here!
No worries Rene. Are you using the Ipevo 4k camera? Can suggest a few things there. That's a nice 122 you're dreaming of there. You will get it one day.
It is very, very slow. Never since the Bidstart days, except when I started and didn't have much listed, I had less than one order a day. With HipStamp is gradually grew to 2 sales a day, some with 60/100 items. Which Codid, it grew to 3 orders a days but somewhat smaller, 20 to 60 items. Now, since last May it collapsed to ONE in every 3 days! And usually, only one item. Three things happened, yes: Inflation but I really don't believe its the most important. Second, I "lost" 7,000 listings because of technical problem when changing my credit card. Thanks for the "easy to use" HipStamp system! But first, I think the HipValue feature really doesn't help. I've checked several and its ridiculous to compare items sold for 0,01 on a bid item, or poor copies or the dozens of items with no pics! I may be wrong but a customer will just keep looking for the dealer that sells anything "common" for 0,05. A collector who needs to fill a hole in his collection will spend a fair price...not the catalogue price but even then. Which catalogue, some items are listed on Scott for 0,25 and sometimes much higher in Yvert or SG or the other way around. So now thanks to HipStamp new feature it seems it has to be the lowest possible.
I've been on a listing spree the last two weeks from auctions I won. Added over 110 new listings, mostly Canada. Since then I've a whopping total of 3 views and 1sale. I'm not even half way through the won auctions, but I'll likely halt adding additional so as not to duplicate more than a few listings. Could be waiting a long time at my recent pace. How are others faring? Is Canada not in favor by collectors for some reason?
I'm a little disappointed in the trend I see here on Hip Stamp. Sales are more than adequate for me (a collector who sells duplicates to buy more stamps). Over the last month I had a lot of time and went on a listing frenzy. I usually carry 200-300 listings but I am now at 400-500. So when I got the email for an upcoming "Halloween Sale" I said "Why Not." I signed up offering a 20% store wide discount. I got an email saying I was ready to go and sure enough everything is up and running this morning (1st day of sale). Here's my disappointment - I've seen no promotion what-so-ever about this sale event anywhere on the website- neither leading up to the sale or now that it is started. I do see promotions for auction events sponsored by bigger sellers all the time (and now). My whole reason for taking part in this sale was to broaden my selling "footprint" and gain some exposure and customers. I expect to have some decent sales but am disappointed in the way this sales event has been handled by Hip Stamp- so far anyway!
Greg, It looks like they finally fixed the pop-up problem.
Yes it is slow on here but it is also slow on eBay. A lot of deals out there to be had in the auctions.
People are short on money so it will be like this for a while like it was in the late '70's. The best thing to do is to keep listing. The more you have to list the more opportunities to sell.
"… the market is just a doing as expected in a time of inflation and economic uncertainty ." You wouldn't know it by what's going on in the live auction world. First Harmer's and now Sparks, I've been getting my po-po handed to me every day. Bidding is hot and heavy, and several of the lots I was interested in and bid on went 4x estimate (so I let them go)...
I agree with Scott completely. Really good strategy especially just starting out. Better quality will attract more serious customers than a bunch of minimum value stuff. There is too much of that out there already.
Comments
Bill...on the pop ups...use a browser, app, or plug-in that can control it. Please keep that issue on your original rant post. Nice try to hijack this thread though.
And the HipValues issue has been beaten to a dead horse so much that I just got my boots re-soled with the poor horse's hide. Ain't going away and, to an even marginally knowledgeable potential customer, is mostly an immaterial piece of information.
John...keep grinding and keep listing..holiday season is nigh and folks will be looking for nice stamps as gifts for their stamp collector friends and family.
The first one squeezed down and I found an order for three items, all early French position pairs and blocks. Easy enough...so far so good.
The second order, as I scrolled (squeezed) down was for (count 'em) 91 lots ! Awesome ! (except my circuit book will have to wait). This is almost a whole day affair...sigh....
The Hip values are also a problem and do not need to belong here but I think that it was put on to help the one cent auctions get sold and they are not getting many bids any way.
I don't know....I've had my second best month ever this October. The odd thing is...a lot fewer items but folks are buying much higher priced items. Maybe it's that the folks that are getting hit harder by the tough economy are the folks who were buying low priced items and the folks who have more wherewithal are not as affected. Just a thought.
That's a mighty fine 122 you have there. Is it a wish, or is this something you have for your upcoming store?
My suggestion is:
Get your store up as fast as possible, with about 600 items in the $20 - $100 range. This material is moving fast at the moment. Sprinkle in about 50 high value items. You can just skip the low-value stuff for now.
-Tell a marine to secure a building, and he will blow a hole in the wall, kill everyone inside, and set up a machine gun post on the roof.
-Tell a soldier to secure a building, and he will call in an artillery strike, then take a nap while the dust clears.
-Tell a seaman to secure a building, and he will shut down the computers, turn off the lights, and lock the door.
-Tell an airman to secure a building and he will call a real estate agent.
Can suggest a few things there.
That's a nice 122 you're dreaming of there. You will get it one day.
Yes that is a very nice 122. If the price starts dipping then the whole stamp market is in trouble. I hope that never happens.
Three things happened, yes: Inflation but I really don't believe its the most important.
Second, I "lost" 7,000 listings because of technical problem when changing my credit card. Thanks for the "easy to use" HipStamp system!
But first, I think the HipValue feature really doesn't help. I've checked several and its ridiculous to compare items sold for 0,01 on a bid item, or poor copies or the dozens of items with no pics! I may be wrong but a customer will just keep looking for the dealer that sells anything "common" for 0,05. A collector who needs to fill a hole in his collection will spend a fair price...not the catalogue price but even then. Which catalogue, some items are listed on Scott for 0,25 and sometimes much higher in Yvert or SG or the other way around. So now thanks to HipStamp new feature it seems it has to be the lowest possible.
It looks like they finally fixed the pop-up problem.
Yes it is slow on here but it is also slow on eBay. A lot of deals out there to be had in the auctions.
People are short on money so it will be like this for a while like it was in the late '70's. The best thing to do is to keep listing. The more you have to list the more opportunities to sell.
You wouldn't know it by what's going on in the live auction world. First Harmer's and now Sparks, I've been getting my po-po handed to me every day. Bidding is hot and heavy, and several of the lots I was interested in and bid on went 4x estimate (so I let them go)...
I don't know but it is gone.