Blocking specific sellers

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Comments

  • edited July 2017 1 LikesVote Down
    So let me get this straight, you come into this forum thread to denounce to all and sundry that this feature isn't needed as YOU do not think it's a priority , then start to remind everyone that a feature YOU think is needed more should be a priority.

    Please, if you have nothing constructive to add other than paragraphs of waffle, then kindly do not post in this thread.

    It is not a completely alien feature to Mark, it was a mainstay at Bidstart that allowed buyers to eliminate people that we did not want to buy from, or ever see their listings, whether it be due to cost , postage or the fact that they peddle complete junk.



  • Quote:
    I spend around a $1000 a month on average on stamps and this place is seeing around 10% of that, because I really cannot be bothered wading through tens of thousands of utter crap listed by clueless sellers that have started to list here.
    How many other buyers are doing the same?

    Yep, me also.
    I recommended this site to a colleague, with a caveat, just last week, same comment, he likes the site, but for specialised Australia, he remained with another vendor site, not ebay, due to
    the "does not post outside US" he found after carting items.

    We are not getting excited, we will hang around, if and when the option arrives, we shall begin to purchase, no doubt.


  • Mark Jones,

    My point was not that a blocked sellers is not needed,my point was is that with all the different sellers and buyers on the site,you are going to have different perspectives on what each person feels is more important as to what is needed. Two my other point is that there are other things that have been asked for that have not as of yet been done. Three there are also tens of thousands of buyers on here,just because some buyers want a specific feature does NOT mean that the majority wants that same feature but are looking for other features that would be more usable for them. And if the site is going to be successful you have to set the main features that most of the buyers will find useful first,then it's a matter of working down the list.

    On at least two of the reasons that you have stated for a block sellers list is either being taken care of or the tool is ALREADY there for you to use. There is a tool that you can use to cut down the number of items that you see from a seller.

    You stated this

    Currently, as it stands, sellers are able to list 1000's of items at once and drown out anything else in a category, filtering them is impossible due to losing other listings you might be interested in , and if it's the usual suspects then you'd never buy from them in the first place. You yourself could list 50 items that I could be interested in and 2 minutes later another seller that I would like to block could list 5000 items and hey presto your items are now on page 100 and something!
    Mark has come up with alternative ways to search in a post above, however, it only works if the seller has provided all the detailing when the listing is made, a lot do not.

    On any of the category pages on the left hand side you will see this if you scroll down far enough

    Show Only
    Offers Accepted
    One Match Per Seller
    One Per Seller / Catalog
    Listed Today
    Listed This Week
    Listed This Month
    Items On Sale
    On Sale 25% or More
    On Sale 50% or More

    Now there is a tool in which you don't have to see a seller's 5,000 of the same item.

    Mark stated in this thread that he is working on getting it set that if a seller does not ship to your country that you will not see that sellers items.

    And I can see where at some point the issues with the shipping charges could be dealt with the same way with a check box on the left hand side of the category pages. (To me that may indicate that Mark is giving the buyers a greater range of tools with greater flexibility to use as opposed to a one size fits all tool)


  • Just to re-iterate, we do appreciate all of the feature requests we receive, and keep track of each one. When deciding on which features we build next, as noted earlier, "We take into account several factors, such as how many members have requested a feature or improvement, how many members would be affected by the update, how often the feature in question is used, and what the overall business impact is."

    With specific regards to our forums, this is a great place for discussion, including with regards to feature requests. However, we do have close to 100,000 members, and we communicate with thousands each month - so the amount of feedback we receive, and feature requests we receive is many multiples of what's discussed here. In addition to straight forward feature requests, we also try to understand any difficulties or problems someone may have using the site, and work though solutions to those issues.

    I can certainly understand why it may be frustrating if a specific member has made a feature request a long time ago, and hasn't seen it built yet. If we had more resources, we could certainly put a larger emphasis on when a feature request was first made in the overall process - but that's not currently a main factor (per the above).

    It's our team's job to take into account all of the feedback we receive, across different channels, and ensure we continue to grow HipStamp each month. I'm proud of the work the team here is doing, and in just one year we've been able to grow sales per month from $75,000 (including bidStart) to nearly $400,000 per month. This wouldn't be possible without all of the feedback from all of our members - so we're very grateful for it.

    On a related note, we are working to publish better update notes on what new and improved features have been launched. With specific regards Rodney's comment "I recommended this site to a colleague, with a caveat, just last week, same comment, he likes the site, but for specialised Australia, he remained with another vendor site, not ebay, due to the "does not post outside US" he found after carting items."

    I'm happy to announce that this is no longer an issue. This past weekend we completed, tested and released a new update such that you will (automatically) only see items which can be shipped to your country. We'll be providing more details on this soon.
  • edited July 2017 1 LikesVote Down
    Great Job Mark and Team HipStamp
  • edited July 2017 1 LikesVote Down
    Hi Mark,

    As with everyone else, we have concerns about our input to improve the site. In this thread you just made these three comments:

    "Just to re-iterate, we do appreciate all of the feature requests we receive, and keep track of each one.

    I can certainly understand why it may be frustrating if a specific member has made a feature request a long time ago, and hasn't seen it built yet.

    On a related note, we are working to publish better update notes on what new and improved features have been launched."

    I know that I have given quite a few suggestions, and I am sure mine are a small portion of all the input you receive. While receiving updates on what improved features launched is very important, we do not see where you are keeping track of the suggestions already made. Can you not also give us an update on upcoming features? We are working in a void here...

    Your other comment here was:

    "I'm happy to announce that this is no longer an issue. This past weekend we completed, tested and released a new update such that you will (automatically) only see items which can be shipped to your country. We'll be providing more details on this soon."

    If you have been following our discussions here, you would notice that there are numerous reasons that we want the ability to block both buyers and sellers. This was a feature available in BidStart for quite a while -- how difficult is it to recreate it here?

    We did not even know that you were working on the feature to block items that do not ship to our country, until you just mentioned it in this thread last week. For example, how is this going to impact me, since my primary address is German, and my second one is a US military APO address? Does that mean that I cannot see the items any more since my account is setup for selling? Or how about when you have dealers who do not ship to an APO, which is clearly a US address? Are we able to turn this feature off if we don't want it applied? That is why, for me, the ability to block a seller is more important.

    Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): I am sure that I am speaking for all of us that we appreciate the increased sales, and your comment below is welcome news:

    "It's our team's job to take into account all of the feedback we receive, across different channels, and ensure we continue to grow HipStamp each month. I'm proud of the work the team here is doing, and in just one year we've been able to grow sales per month from $75,000 (including bidStart) to nearly $400,000 per month. This wouldn't be possible without all of the feedback from all of our members - so we're very grateful for it."

    Please, please, please!! Give us feedback on suggested features that are upcoming. Since I never get any feedback on what I have submitted, I stopped since I figure all my efforts are just falling on deaf ears.....
  • edited July 2017 1 LikesVote Down
    Hi Steve,

    With regards to "working in a void", HipStamp is a fully functional marketplace and community, with features for stamp collectors unmatched anywhere else. As a buyer or seller, that's what we aim to provide to you - the best marketplace and community - and that's what you're working with.

    That being said, we are always working to improve our marketplace and community, and on a nearly weekly basis we release updates and improvements. One of our main philosophies with any feature we build - is that it should just work. If we need to explain how a feature works - most users are probably not going to use it. That's why we generally don't make a big deal out of new features or updates - because it's how they're actually used and/or help sales, etc. which matters most. These are all items we meticulously track so that we can ensure we're moving in the right direction.

    I understand that you would like to know in more detail what features we're planning for the future, and when, as well as provide individual feedback on feature requests. As you noted, that's not something we currently do. We can let you know if we're planning to release features either directly related to a specific request, or which we believe will be related, and that's exactly what we do. However, we can't generally provide specific details or timelines. The main reason why is that this is a very fluid process. We're constantly adjusting the priorities of upcoming features and improvements based on continuous feedback. Not just direct feedback from our members, but all of the data we collect on user activity on the site, etc. Many features, even before they're released, evolve quite significantly as well.

    However, we absolutely genuinely appreciate all of your feedback, it is kept track of, and used in our overall process which I've described in detail earlier. So please continue to provide it. We also review the forums regularly, including this thread - and yes I'm aware of your priority of features you noted. I'm sure every member would likely prioritize different items differently.

    As I noted above, it's our team's job to make sense of all that - and continue to improve. I do believe the process we currently have is working well, as can be seen in the substantial increase in sales - especially compared to bidStart. If I believe correctly your own sales over the past twelve months at HipStamp are about 5X what they were the year before on bidStart. So it should hopefully be clear to most that what we're doing is working!

    I don't believe there's much else that I can say on this specific topic, but I hope that helps to better understand our development process. Which is just one of the many different things our team focuses on (Marketing, Seller Account Management, Customer Support, etc.)
  • Quote:
    I'm happy to announce that this is no longer an issue. This past weekend we completed, tested and released a new update such that you will (automatically) only see items which can be shipped to your country. We'll be providing more details on this soon.

    Thank you very much, we look forward to road testing that.

  • Michael

    Again you have missed the point entirely. There are numerous sellers that I want nothing at all to do with due to a vast range of reasons as I've stated over and over. The filtering system , whichever way you do it, does not rid the listings from these sellers , yes you can filter them slightly but they will always have numerous items represented there.

    I can also use the year functions since my collected years are specific to 1840-1936, this again only works if a seller includes the date within his listings.

    I even just tried to filter your stores listings, guess what you don't list using the year of issue , so straight away that filter is missing or any general searches would eliminate all your listings.

    I did also notice you are selling 3 very crude Nandgaon forgeries on page 1 of your Indian items, there are also 2 Charkhari that are also forgeries, I would recommend relisting them stating that.

    Anyway , back to the topic in hand, I will be over the moon if this feature ever gets implemented, until then I'll continue to mainly buy elsewhere, where searching for needed items isn't a massively time consuming chore.
  • Just for the record,
    just how difficult would it be to code to block certain sellers?
    Time consuming? expensive? Both? I would have no idea myself.
    I don't see it as a negative, in any way, rather, a positive for sales.
    Most collectors, intermediate and above, would appreciate to drill down to specifics, I would think.
    The quicker one can isolate the parameters, the more attractive the site becomes.
  • edited July 2017 1 LikesVote Down
    Rodney, most small changes like this take no more than a couple of hours and 5 cups of coffee.
  • Right.
    Thank you for responding Rod.
    Not sure about the coffee though. Yikes.

  • ...mmmm smell the Java :wink:
    mug
    (a gift for Mark)
  • edited July 2017 1 LikesVote Down
    . . . . .
  • Mark,

    I understand EXACTLY what you are saying. You want this feature because you feel that this is way you want to have those issues dealt with at one time. Let me put what I am saying in a different way. (I never said it would not a good feature or the fact that it is NOT important to some people)

    Mark right has stated that he has a list of 100 feature requests that people have asked for. What Mark has to deal with is 1 how many are actually asking the feature and how is that feature going to impact the site.

    With the huge influx of buyers coming in from other sites many of them are unaware of the features that we had on Bidstart. It would appear that more of those people are asking for some sort of filter instead of a wholesale block seller list.

    Let's take 5 examples of features that people have asked by numbers. (Not actual requests but the numbers are just an example)

    Feature 1 5,000 requests, (Feature directly affects sales) Filter to thin down the number of items
    Feature 2 3,000 requests (Feature directly affects sales) Filter to remove sales to countries that the seller does ship
    Feature 3 2,000 requests (Feature does NOT directly affects sales) Blue background for the site instead of white
    Feature 4 500 requests (Feature directly affects sales) Block seller list
    Feature 5 250 requests (Feature does NOT directly affects sales) Printing packing skips at one time with one click

    In which order should the features be built?

    And none of that has anything to do with with whether it's a good feature or not,that all has to do with the order of IMPORTANCE to the biggest number number of buyers and sellers.

    Now on the other items that you stated in your last response. I am aware of the fact that most of my items do not have the years. As most of my items were moved from Bidstart that does make sense as to why you would not see those. Right at the moment it is not a priority for me to go back through 60,000 plus listings to add the year. (I just don't have the time at the moment to drop everything else to focus on that alone) The newer listings are getting better just not quite there on adding them.

    Two most of the stamps I carry are post WWII. (I get early material in the lots I get but it is NOT my mainstay,I lean more towards topics and more recent material)

    On the Indian states on those issues my helper and I were unaware of the fact that those issues did have forgeries. I did remove them as I do NOT want to knowingly sell forgeries and fakes. (Scott's on those issues does NOT note that forgeries exist except for a note on the higher values)

    Back to the point I was trying to make and that's the fact that there are so many requests for certain features and NOT as many for others that it would seem that the best course of action would be to work on the features that the most people are asking for as opposed to the features that not as many people are asking for. And it has NOTHING to do with whether that feature is a good feature or not.
  • I started reading this and did read the pros and cons for at least an half an hour. Plan to finish reading it in due course and I find it very informative. Hip stamps has made some great improvements and this is why sales are up and will get better as they sort things out. I plan to use Hip Stamps more in the future. Perhaps one solution to a vendor listing some cheap stamp numerous times might be to charge a fee for the multiple listings over a certain amount of listings. Those of us who usually list a one of a kind item on store would still be free (at the moment) but those who list overpriced or common material as the same item in numerous lots might think twice before doing it. I am just learning the ins and outs of Hip Stamps so hope I am not repeating suggestions made prior to this. A relatively clean and uncluttered place to sell may be better for both buyers and sellers! I wish Hip Stamps continued success.
  • Charging sellers for listing similar stamps multiple times, especially used stamps would not be a good idea. There are many people who collect multiples of the same stamp when they collect postal cancels. Besides, sellers are already paying a fee for that through store fees.

    Since the system only shows a potential buyer three of the same stamp from a seller, unless a potential buyer wants to see more, it seems to me that HipStamp has the matter covered.
  • Michael Generali: Just take a look at the common Canada #246 used. When I went to the listings for this stamp I noted one seller with multiple listings at 25c per stamp used. I counted over 16 listings from the same guy. Another seller had 5
    lots of a single used #246 at 7c each. Didn't go to the end of the list and keep looking or looking for other multiple listings of this same stamp from other sellers. If a collector was only looking for this one stamp postage and shipping might ad up. Are you saying that these sellers are paying a listing fee on each lot of one used stamp. Sure a nice town cancel might be very appealing to some collectors but the listed ones showed damage, poor cancels, light cancels, etc. Various respondents to this site we are on said Hip Stamps is too cluttered. I think they are right and I think a fee after a certain
    number of listings of the same cheap stamp would be in order and would be better for both buyer and seller.
  • Well, I thought that a search would only bring up 3 of the same stamp from each seller. Looks like it doesn't, especially in one's store.

    I do agree with you that, with few exceptions, damaged stamps that are of minimal value don't need to be listed for sale, especially at full catalog value. Such stamps are worthless. However, there's no rule about it, so that crud just sits there. I see the same on other sites as well.

    As for extra fees being charged for listing more of the same stamps than someone likes, we'll have to agree that we disagree on that point.
  • I am with Michael. A dealer has paid for the right to list "X" number of stamps and it should make no difference whether they are all different or are all 2c Columbians or GB #33's. When a site starts to dictate to it's customers what they can list where does it stop (and dealers are Hipstamps customers). Would you like Mark to dictate that you can't list stamps from Cuba, Sudan and the other countries that Ebay and Paypal ban? Because they aren't listed in Scott would a ban on Copyright blocks be OK with you? I have sold a few.

    Sorry but I see this as wanting to take away the right of honest people to do something YOU don't like even though it does no harm to you or others. We live by more than enough senseless rules and regulations as it is. You are more than welcome to block the system from showing more than one stamp per seller. USE the system as it intended to be used and stop trying to infringe on the rights of others.

    BTW - I never list more than two of an item with the exception of earlies where I offer stamps in AVG, F, FVF, VF and sometimes XF grades. I also have a full bankers box full of perfins, another full of fancy and letter and number cancels on common early US, and a smaller box full of precancels on mainly WF, 4th bureau and Prexies.. I identify the stamp catalog number on these so are you saying I should have to pay for listing several thousand Scott #210 all being sold for different collecting interests and all readily identifiable as different?

    I spend a bit of time going through the listings of some of these dealers and have ordered 210's, 2 cent reds, 2 cent Columbians and even a few of the more expensive banknotes in relatively large quantities (say 50 to 200 per order) and I am buying for resale.

    Just my two cents .... others disagree but I have no problems working around the multitude of choices offered on this site (and formerly on Bidstart and Stampwants).



  • Carol Brooks: Great Britain Scott #33 comes in a great number of plates, some of them scarce to rare. It is a wonderful stamp to study and put together used sheets, etc. Some collectors may spend most if not all of their time collecting it. I used Canada #246 used as my sample of clutter and listing faded or damaged copies at full catalogue only makes it difficult for real collectors to find something interesting to buy from sellers on Hip Stamps. Take a look at the listing for
    Canada used #246 singles on Hip Stamps (Probably over 100 listings.) and multiple listings at the same price for a single of the same stamp used. None of them with any merit compared to a GB #33 used which offers much for a collector.
  • edited July 2017 0 LikesVote Down
    I fully understand the nuances of Great Britain #33 - I bought 3 shoeboxes full of them back when they could be bought at $30 per boxful. I still have a couple of thousand to play with. I just sold copies of plates #133 and $222 off of this site the other day. I do understand your point but exactly WHO is supposed to play "traffic cop" and differentiate what is acceptable and what is not.

    And whether it is a GB #33.or a Canada #246 all used stamps are different. Many of the pictures on Hipstamp allow for flyspecking - cracked plates, color variations, double transfers, etc.

    Be that as it may you are confronted with 112 of that issue when you drill down to single used copies. Drilling down to only one issue per seller gets that number down to 29 - a number which should be manageable.
  • The buyer can "play traffic cop" by blocking or not blocking a seller during search. :smile:

    What do you think a shoe box of GB 33's would cost today...if you could find one that hasn't be 'too' picked?
  • Here is another example to have many of one item listed. I have almost 200 USA item #s 803-807 in my store. These are all inexpensive items from the beginning of the 1938 presidential series. However, I listed circular cancels, slogan cancels, and precancels. I have several buyers that have taken multiples of these items in one lot.

    I totally agree that sellers list inexpensive items with tears, gouges, chunks, and other damage trying to sell them for "normal" prices, and these items have no business in our store. However, I list older stamps with $20 or higher value with faults for 5-10% cat as space fillers. But these are few, so they do not junk up the site.
  • Mark Jones started this site and was trying to block 1000's of uninteresting listings. He has generated a big controversy on Hip Stamps and I have now had a chance to read all the pros and cons of this site. Some of the most insightful were later made in support of his idea by Mark Jones and picked up and quoted once again by Rodney Allen. Part of what Mark said was Canada 150,000 plus listings and duplicated, same goes for Australia, etc. As a seller his statement which I quote hit home as it affects all sellers bottom line. "Since Hip Stamps came into fruition my purchasing is mainly elsewhere. I spend $1000 a month on average on stamps and this place is seeing around 10% of that because I can't be bothered wading thru tens of thousands of utter crap listed by clueless sellers that have started to list here. How many other buyers are doing the same ? All sellers and Hip Stamps should consider his words of wisdom. He has put a lot of thought into them.
  • Actually, I thought he was trying to push his "weight" around by stating that he spends thousands of dollars a month, insinuating that he and his point of view are more important than anyone or anything else on this site.
  • Michael Generali: Where did you get the ideas that he said he spends thousands of dollars a month? I quoted him as did Rodney Allen and the figure he used was $1000. I thought he was just offering some advice to improve Hip Stamps.
  • "How many other buyers are doing the same ? "

    Count me in as to what Mark Jones has posted. He said it much better than I ever could, although I made my views known farther up the tread. As it is, I only look at what those sellers who I have marked as favorites and that's it.

    I appreciate that there are buyers of modern souvenir sheets of Princess Di, Disney,artwork,etc.. , but it's not for me and I just won't waste my time looking at material that I would not purchase.

    Steve Mahler's comment on 2 July also rang a bell. I too came across the smart aleck seller who put 1's and 2's in his listings of his material, after a few minutes of that I just closed the page and left the site.

    Now if I could have blocked him/her..........
  • I don't think that there are many buyers or sellers who don't want to have the ability to BLOCK unwanted sellers or buyers. That was the original impetus of the thread and everyone is pretty much in agreement we want that ability as we had on Bidstart .and Stampwants.

    The issue of paying a fee to list more than a certain number of any one catalog number is what is being argued here. "I think a fee after a certain number of listings of the same cheap stamp would be in order and would be better for both buyer and seller." - John Talman.

    That would make it impossible to list perfins, fancy or letter and number cancels, CDS town cancels, DPO cancels, precancels, different grades of MNH, MH and used stamps, postal history, first day covers from different cachet makers, position plate number blocks, plate number singles, mail early blocks, zip blocks, and all the other iterations that one catalog number might be listed under. Who would be responsible for policing why someone has 200 listings of #903 and who would determine what is "junk"?
  • John, you are correct. I misstated his comment. I meant to say "thousands of dollars on stamps".
This discussion has been closed.