Poor Listings, Poor descriptions and Nil stock and no Feedback
Hi Guys, This mail is targeting the Sellers.
As a Newbie to Hip I have only had minimal transactions, I am simply a collector/buyer of Au pre-decimal and decimal . I have at this stage suffered from poor and misleading descriptions, tardy deliveries (some over 30 days), and my biggest hate is refund "Nil Stock" I don't wish to sound like scrooge but I pay for these nil stock items at the current exchange rate then receive a refund at the list price, the Aussie dollar drops 5% so $5 out of pocket for nil stock for my $100 au purchase. I am also peeved off with lack of description, ie a King George V same denomination, catalogue lists 3 different watermarks, 2 different perforations or different dies can mean 5 different pricings with quite a proportional difference in value. Also how hard would it be to list (some dealers do) NG or OG, I collect Mint to MNH OG and it is very disappointing to receive NG that is not listed. As a result of all the above I am very reluctant to bid on Items any more. Dealers that qualify for all the above are slowly and sadly killing the Hip stamp medium.
I read an earlier thread of a buyer asking for standards on listings, sounds good to me. Having said all this I understand the time consuming process of evaluating Perfs, Watermark types, variations, paper types, colour and dies, but if I am paying $150.00 US for a stamp I expect to see these descriptions. Finally (please don't hate me) how hard would it be to scan the reverse side as part of the description, on most occasions a good reverse side scan will show the watermarks, gum creases and condition.
Yours sincerely without prejudice, Cheers Pete, East Gippsland, Australia.
ps I have not received one feedback on my purchases when I have given them in return, I have not fedback on my last 2 purchases for this reason, my Ebay record is 100% as a buyer for 8 years and I have returned 100%
As a Newbie to Hip I have only had minimal transactions, I am simply a collector/buyer of Au pre-decimal and decimal . I have at this stage suffered from poor and misleading descriptions, tardy deliveries (some over 30 days), and my biggest hate is refund "Nil Stock" I don't wish to sound like scrooge but I pay for these nil stock items at the current exchange rate then receive a refund at the list price, the Aussie dollar drops 5% so $5 out of pocket for nil stock for my $100 au purchase. I am also peeved off with lack of description, ie a King George V same denomination, catalogue lists 3 different watermarks, 2 different perforations or different dies can mean 5 different pricings with quite a proportional difference in value. Also how hard would it be to list (some dealers do) NG or OG, I collect Mint to MNH OG and it is very disappointing to receive NG that is not listed. As a result of all the above I am very reluctant to bid on Items any more. Dealers that qualify for all the above are slowly and sadly killing the Hip stamp medium.
I read an earlier thread of a buyer asking for standards on listings, sounds good to me. Having said all this I understand the time consuming process of evaluating Perfs, Watermark types, variations, paper types, colour and dies, but if I am paying $150.00 US for a stamp I expect to see these descriptions. Finally (please don't hate me) how hard would it be to scan the reverse side as part of the description, on most occasions a good reverse side scan will show the watermarks, gum creases and condition.
Yours sincerely without prejudice, Cheers Pete, East Gippsland, Australia.
ps I have not received one feedback on my purchases when I have given them in return, I have not fedback on my last 2 purchases for this reason, my Ebay record is 100% as a buyer for 8 years and I have returned 100%
Comments
Just a quick question for you if you would be kind enough to answer this,one of the complaints you have is when a seller has an item that is out of stock and has to refund you with the exchange rates. How do you handle it when the exchange rates goes in your favor?
Giving feedback is not a requirement for either the buyer or the seller.
I hope I am not sounding heavy handed, all I am asking for is proper listings on high end dollar stamps.
Cheers Pete, whew, I got a bit passionate about this
You should never feel like you are insulting the seller by asking the questions up front. The sellers should be looking at it as we are here to serve you the buyer and not the other way around. The sellers that are willing to work with you will do their best to service your requests. Many of the sellers that were on Bidstart and also sold on SG are aware of the fact that at times some items that were sold on SG were NOT removed from the Bidstart inventory. (It was a glitch in the programming) Some of those sellers have gone through their inventory to fix it and some others have not yet gotten through their listings to double their listings.
Are you checking the sellers feedback received from their buyers? (If you believe the feedback is out of line where you feel comfortable dealing with that seller then don't)
This is something as a seller that I feel very strongly about if the seller himself has messed up in someway the seller should make it right all the way down the line INCLUDING return postage. Have you contacted the seller to see what he is willing to do to make it right?
I am not sure if are aware that when many of the sellers were moved from Bidstart to Hipstamp listings that had multiple images lost the extra images. (A lot of the listings ended up having only one image after the move)
Since you are new to Hip Stamp, Welcome to a super site! Don't give up on us, many of us here will be willing to work with you, not against. As Michael D said, once upon a time we were known as Stamp Wants which turned into Bid Start which turned into Stanley Gibbons which turned into Hip Stamp. All that took about 12 - 13 years! WOW, can you believe it's been that long? Anyway, many of us have been here since the beginning. That's how great this environment has been. We share knowledge and welcome more knowledge to the site. With you stating you have 45+ years of collecting, please share.
Cheers from my Paradise in Florida
Luree
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/dianealthea
Cheers and thank you, Pete
As Michael D and Luree commented, we've been though considerable changes over the years. Not all these changes were very compatible with our listings , especially the descriptions - which on older listings appear jumbled and hard to read. I also had several issues with "Nil Stock" on this site which I never had before BidStart crashed, wiped out my entire store, and was "supposedly" fixed by SG. We've all had little problems since the transition but it's a great site with a great community and really great responsive management!
Again, welcome and thanks for your insightful comments.
Jeri
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/jers-stamps
Cheers and thanks, the new kid needs to sit back a bit, chill out and get that Hip learning curve more fine tuned :P
Now, when I sell something, I go back to see, if by any chance the item is still listed by accident, which can happen, if the original available quantity was not reduced when it was sold on Bidstart/SG.
To make a long story short, its not that easy to be correct 100% with the multitude of items.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/directmaildiscount
Firstly, thank you for your comment. I am as a Newbie wearing a bit of egg on my face over this issue and hope this thread goes down the list quickly. I seem to have casted an aspersion on the many when my grizzle was targeting the few, If that is the case I sincerely apologise to the many.
I do think as my opinion only there should be a standard on this site. As a buyer I also think as my opinion only that Hip could cater more for dealers with a better setup, or more fields with check boxes available mainly to the seller also the buyer. I have been enlightened and I am now fully aware to the problems that were caused by this Sites previous format and major crash that caused a lot of dismay for Buyers and Sellers.
And yes, nobody is perfect, I am a master of mistakes and foot in mouth (laughing, my wife says it is a male thing).
What a boring world it would be If we all were all perfect.
Cheers Pete, (au)
ps This is a good site as stated earlier, my thanks to the proprietors.
I tend to agree with you with what you say re: standards and more fields. But I've recently, closed my shop on another site because one of the problems, I feel, was there were too many fields! If you don't have the perfect or exact word you just couldn't find your item. I ran side by side both selling sites with same items at same price and Hip outsold the other constantly...and it was in the early days of Hip. Of course, I'm all for improvements, especially in the Topical fields, but we were promised improvements and I think, the way things are going it will happen.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/directmaildiscount