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  • 30 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Right, and 39 members have submitted an entry..........daaaah
  • Most likely a 379 which at F has a value of about 55 cents. Could be a 336, F centering (but I think there is a single line watermark behind Washington's head), but possible a 336 at $3.

    Doesn't make the grade. Also this seller has 0 feedback... another flag. Hipstamp should not allow these without a) a Scott #, and b) a seller with a track record... either time or feedback or either. 3 months or 100 feedback, and that would eliminate such garbage.

    However, lately it seems like their Trust and Safety team are failing... And since the only way to report a giveaway is by emailing support directly, it just breeds garbage.
  • I was thinking the same thing, what makes this stamp so rare? And no value was noted.
  • also he has no stamps in store so what I believe he's shutting down and getting rid of last stamp -which obvously has a few more options
  • isn't there a minimum value threshold?
  • $20 retail minimum
  • edited April 2022 0 LikesVote Down
    Maybe its an April Fools spamalamadingdong...

    ...with 232 falling for it so far LOL
  • And....POOF, it's gone.
  • I made an inquiry to support about it, maybe they listened. I wonder how that system works. Does the sponsor deal with the drawing or do they just list the item and Hipstamp takes over? Is there potential for a sponsor to farm email addresses?
  • Hey Don, I also reported that listing. Glad I wasn't the only one!
  • Well at least it's gone now.
  • Yes it is gone.
  • This thread has made me think. What if I wanted to give away some stamps or covers? Not for any reason other than to make someone happy when they win. Would I have to make sure they really would sell for $20.00? I am not sure why there is hostility toward some giveaways.
  • To me, at least, it's not hostility. I think if someone wants to give away stamps or covers or whatever, great! There are plenty of avenues to do that very thing. But there are established rules for listing a giveaway in this case. The reason I try and keep something in the giveaway is that I think that by doing that, in a small way, can help attract potential customers to my store. Exposure, in this case I think, can be a good thing. Other kinds of exposure...not so much.

    It doesn't happen very often that someone lists an item that doesn't meet the giveaway rules so I don't think it's really that big of a deal but at least for me, the items I put in a giveaway actually have some value. In other words, not something I would add to an order as a freebie "thank you" item that if I listed it for sale would be more work than it's worth to me.

    While the $20 minimum retail value standard might be considered arbitrary, it is a standard that evidently site management chose at some point for their own reasons. And, of course, what may be worth $20 retail to one person may be worth nothing to the next. No hostility from me...just wanting to follow the rules.
  • The great objection and "hostility" if you will here John, was that the 0 feedback seller who was providing the "giveaway" described it as a "rare stamp", didn't even bother to ID it, didn't even bother to note what year or any other identifying element that would demonstrate that it had the requisite value.

    Personally, and I've written and spoken to Hipstamp about this, think their whole giveaway system is broken. The idea behind it is to promote the site, and interest of both buyers and sellers. But what I've seen of the majority (I'm not saying all) the winners, are they are just bottom feeders looking for something free. We did 2 giveaways of very high value items. Our first winner had a feedback of 9, had bought no stamps valued more than $10, bought them all in the span of the same week, and then won our stamp valued over $850. We sent it, 8 months later, he has never returned to the site, has never bought another item, and likely it was just sold on eBay.

    Our second giveaway was the same issue, but worse. We gave away a $1,200 item (with a cert) we weren't screwing around, we were genuinely interested in driving people to Hiptstamp. Good for them and us. So our second winner is a guy from Pakistan with 2 feedback, had bought 2 stamps with total value of about $5, and then wanted us to send this item to them. We said no... and guess what, 7 months later, they still have never bought on the site again, have never made a post or a contribution to the site. We put our foot down here in particular because we can't guarantee in this case, that this isn't going to fund terrorism. Now before someone claims "Racist" on me, let me also explain that in my other world (not stamps) we actually have an office in Pakistan. This is WHY we know what goes on there.

    Personally, I think it's an easy fix to the giveaways:
    1. No "seller" can list a giveaway during their first 3 months, or reach 100 feedback whichever comes first.
    2. No "buyer" should be allowed to enter a giveaway until they have made at least 50 transactions on the site.
    3. Like a listing, provide more than ONE photo! Require at least a front and back, and maybe even a cert photo.
    4. Ensure that for single items, a catalog # (don't care whos) is provided (that should cross reference value).
    5. Drop the "Retail value" which is meaningless and make it catalog value instead. (Fine fine, can even be ungraded).

    This would fix the issues with giveaway. Groups could still have a catalogue range, and if something is unlisted in the catalogs anywhere, then that's ok too, there is still the option for "Unlisted in Catalogue". But I'm not seeing anyone providing giveaways on such material. I think giveaways are great, and we are happy to be generous in our giveaways, but we're not going to do it where the majority of winners have 0 intention of every buying on Hipstamp. (Not from us, but ANYWHERE on hipstamp). We're fine to promote the site. But giveaways are broken.
  • Scott. I remember your give aways. Your mistake was choosing the wrong winner. I should have won both. I would have been a better winner.
  • Bob, we'd have been over the moon had you won.
  • Ah! Now I understand how this one works....Item description "Fun se-tenant block from the US Bicentennial era with each purchase!" Not even a giveaway really.
  • At least this one has feedback...
  • edited April 2022 1 LikesVote Down
    And just like that....POOF! It's gone. I mean, it wasn't even a real giveaway...it was a promo.
  • Greg, you have listed a lot of giveaways. I was just looking for more information about them and my eyes will not let me see anything in the Terms and Conditions. Are there any specified areas where I can read into the Terms of a giveaway?
  • There's not really that much that I could find but the big thing (at least to me) is that the item should have some value to it. They say a minimum $20 retail (whatever that is) but I try to do items that are half catalog value for my "retail" benchmark. In other words $40 CV or better. My opinion only here...the last couple of low value giveaways are things I usually give away anyway when someone does a nice order with me. Just minimum to almost no value stuff really that I don't want to bother with listing. I just don't think that's fair to others who do nice giveaway items with some value to them and not really in the spirit of the thing. Anyway, my 2c.

    https://www.hipstamp.com/giveaways/create
  • Awesome. That was what I was looking for in the link. The Terms are actually spelled out nicely. And yes, the retail value is what one would sell it for.

    Now, one more question (like I don't ask enough!) if we do not sell International and we do a giveaway and it has to be mailed International, how is that handled? With or without a Customs Form? This could be opening a can of worms, but it is necessary I understand on mailing a free stamp.
  • Here's how I look at it. The item is not merchandise since no one actually bought it from me. I mail it just as if I was mailing a stamp to a nephew in Germany for example. First Class International mail. Also, the winner gets it when they get it...if they get it. No tracking, no guarantees after I put in the mail box. Also, somewhere I remember reading that it is in the donor's discretion as to where they will ship beyond US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.
  • Top of the rules: The following promotion is open to current legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Canada (excluding the province of Quebec), Australia, and the United Kingdom. Entries outside of these locations may be accepted at the Sponsor's sole discretion, in accordance with applicable laws.

    So it's totally up to the "giveawayer" whether they honor it or not. When we had a winner in "Pakistan", we did not send it.
  • Technically, even a stamp won that you look at not as merchandise cannot legally be sent as 1st class mail, imo.
    From our friends at usps.com, these are the pertinent requirements to qualify for 1st Class:
    "For letter-shaped mail, value must be $0.00.
    Only Nonnegotiable Document(s)."

    Even though a nephew may enjoy his stamp, even if it is worth only a few shekels, it still (again, technically) shouldn't have been sent as 1st Class, and needed a customs form, as inane as that sounds...and is. I suspect 'scoff lawing' such stupidity runs justifiably rampant.
  • I know...but I'm just not going to worry about it. I did my part. Or I'll just blame it on Bentley.
  • It's admirable that everyone takes this so seriously, but if you really look at it, a group of stamp collectors is really not what this is aiming at...
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