"Watch Item" vs. "Shopping Cart"

Robert Tucker · July 2020

First: Happy Independence Day to our American friends, although as an English-born individual, it grieves me you have this date to celebrate. LOL

Now, to the questions: being a somewhat undisciplined and spontaneous surfer of Hipstamp, I find myself selecting items for the shopping cart, so that I might find a means for paying for them, and also to try to ensure that I can combine purchases with the same vendor.

How long is it safe to leave items in the shopping cart?

What happens to the item(s) while they languish in there?

Are they off-limits to other potential purchasers?

Does my use of the cart in this manner p@ss off vendors? Can they delete the item if needs be?

While the cart sorts the stamps by vendor, and the watch list does not, should I really be using the latter more often?

Cheers!

Robert

Michael Hynes · July 2020

What I usually do when I'm purchasing stamps on HipStamp is watch those I am interested in first. Then if there is one I'm ready to purchase, I go back and re-search that sellers store for others I may be interested in to keep the overall shipping price per stamp lower. At this point I put these into my shopping cart and make a purchase. Sometimes I end up not buying the stamp if the shipping is too high.

By the way, you can sort your watch list by seller. I do that as well.

I don't know how HipStamp handles items in the shopping cart, but usually they are considered not purchased so there is no affect. That means someone else could purchase them while they are sitting in your cart. Again, I'm not 100% sure of that but it is the only thing that makes sense to me. Otherwise these items are in limbo.

As a seller I don't see anything until the purchase actually is completed. I hope this helps.
Mike

https://www.hipstamp.com/store/mnhynes-bureau-precancels

Ted Tyszka · July 2020

Items placed in the shopping cart will stay there forever. They are still available for other shoppers to buy. The seller has no idea you have anything of theirs in your shopping cart. If the item sells before you pay for it, you will see a notice next to that item, when you check your shopping cart, saying "Item is no longer available." Then you just delete that item.