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For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps



What we collect!
What we collect!


Sales, Swaps, Auction & Approvals/Approvals Disc. : What have you learned doing approvals & auctions?

 

Author
Postings
philatelia
Members Picture


25 Jan 2016
10:13:18am
I just deleted about a dozen of my old approval books and while looking through them it occurred to me how much I've Learned.

Perhaps the most important is that if I want them to sell, they have to be priced attractively. The catalog value is a guideline, but, let's face it, the catalog greatly inflates some values. Have you seen the prices for some of the glut of material from places like Grenada?

I learned that catalog numbers and values are very helpful and help explain why you priced the item just so.

Arranging in order instead of a jumbled mishmash really seemed to help.

Larger scans are MUCH better, but not TOO large.

Shipping with nice stamps on the mailing covers was greatly appreciated. I'm still stunned when I receive philatelic mail franked with a meter and delighted when the cover has an interesting stamp or two.

Enclosing one page of the invoice was helpful both to me and to the buyer. I learned that mailing more than one page was a waste of postage and much too costly for international buyers.

I've learned that pricier MNH material doesn't seem to sell well in the approvals.

I've learned to invoice on the same day every week so that buyers know when to expect the invoice.

I've found that holding an invoice as long as a month or two while the buyers waits for your next book is very much appreciated as it can save a ton of postage.

I've learned that if a stamp is hidden by another stamp it probably won't sell. Buyers want to see the entire stamp to make sure it isn't faulty in some way.

And today I'll probably learn something else while doing my invoices.

What would you add to this list?
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"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

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red-eric-1

A collector since birth

25 Jan 2016
10:54:16am
re: What have you learned doing approvals & auctions?

CTOs generally don't sell well at any price with the exception of animal and (sometimes) transportation topicals.

Very recent stamps from popular countries (US, Canada, Great Britain and the like) sell well.

All stamps you list should be carefully inspected - don't include stamps with even the smallest fault in your books. (Not directly learned from Stamporama - but rather my own feelings as a stamp buyer. I'm very condition-sensitive for my own collections.)

Good communication between buyers and sellers is key. It's especially important for sellers to own up to any mistakes. (We all make them.)

Eric

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Soundcrest
Members Picture


25 Jan 2016
11:21:23am

Approvals
re: What have you learned doing approvals & auctions?

I agree with a lot of your comments

Having been in business since 1981 you are constantly learning and basically reinventing yourself. You need to understand your customer base and know what they collect and try to cater to them. I have never sold on a site like Stamporama and the closest thing to it would be the days that I did mail order approvals. The customer is number one.

I think the biggest thing I learned was that I could adjust once again to a completely different way of selling, and it has been worth the time and effort.

From a pure business standpoint - PAYPAL does not send the IRS a 1099 if your total sales is under 20K (I found out the hard way in 2014 & 2015) - but you can have 8 Paypal accounts (found that out this year)

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Author/Postings
Members Picture
philatelia

25 Jan 2016
10:13:18am

I just deleted about a dozen of my old approval books and while looking through them it occurred to me how much I've Learned.

Perhaps the most important is that if I want them to sell, they have to be priced attractively. The catalog value is a guideline, but, let's face it, the catalog greatly inflates some values. Have you seen the prices for some of the glut of material from places like Grenada?

I learned that catalog numbers and values are very helpful and help explain why you priced the item just so.

Arranging in order instead of a jumbled mishmash really seemed to help.

Larger scans are MUCH better, but not TOO large.

Shipping with nice stamps on the mailing covers was greatly appreciated. I'm still stunned when I receive philatelic mail franked with a meter and delighted when the cover has an interesting stamp or two.

Enclosing one page of the invoice was helpful both to me and to the buyer. I learned that mailing more than one page was a waste of postage and much too costly for international buyers.

I've learned that pricier MNH material doesn't seem to sell well in the approvals.

I've learned to invoice on the same day every week so that buyers know when to expect the invoice.

I've found that holding an invoice as long as a month or two while the buyers waits for your next book is very much appreciated as it can save a ton of postage.

I've learned that if a stamp is hidden by another stamp it probably won't sell. Buyers want to see the entire stamp to make sure it isn't faulty in some way.

And today I'll probably learn something else while doing my invoices.

What would you add to this list?

Like
Login to Like
this post

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/phi ...
red-eric-1

A collector since birth

25 Jan 2016
10:54:16am

re: What have you learned doing approvals & auctions?

CTOs generally don't sell well at any price with the exception of animal and (sometimes) transportation topicals.

Very recent stamps from popular countries (US, Canada, Great Britain and the like) sell well.

All stamps you list should be carefully inspected - don't include stamps with even the smallest fault in your books. (Not directly learned from Stamporama - but rather my own feelings as a stamp buyer. I'm very condition-sensitive for my own collections.)

Good communication between buyers and sellers is key. It's especially important for sellers to own up to any mistakes. (We all make them.)

Eric

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
Soundcrest

25 Jan 2016
11:21:23am

Approvals

re: What have you learned doing approvals & auctions?

I agree with a lot of your comments

Having been in business since 1981 you are constantly learning and basically reinventing yourself. You need to understand your customer base and know what they collect and try to cater to them. I have never sold on a site like Stamporama and the closest thing to it would be the days that I did mail order approvals. The customer is number one.

I think the biggest thing I learned was that I could adjust once again to a completely different way of selling, and it has been worth the time and effort.

From a pure business standpoint - PAYPAL does not send the IRS a 1099 if your total sales is under 20K (I found out the hard way in 2014 & 2015) - but you can have 8 Paypal accounts (found that out this year)

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Seesomething you like in my Hipstore? Contact me for a deal!"

www.hipstamp.com/sto ...
        

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