Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Can anyone put a response on the last one so it pops up again?
I'm trying to figure out which countries to put up into Auctions/Approvals and there are so many options I'm getting paralyzed - I need a "guide".
Many thanks, Dave.
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Dave go into Auctions, Sellers and scroll down to Reports.
It doesn't give it by country but by Category.
There are no shortcuts you'll still need a pen and paper and a good calculator!!
Another method is to go into Auctions click on Countries. If you go down the list it shows the no of auction lots in each country. It allows you to see which countries are overloaded or those with just one or two or ten lots. No values I am afraid but it gives a good guide.
If there are 100+ lots on offer in any country I try to avoid listing these countries.
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I am not a seller, but I have spent approximately $2000 on Stamporam auctions/approvals in the past few years. I have noticed French Colonies tend to do well (especially in approval books) and older material in general, especially stamps that are in "Big Blue".
"Interesting" stamps do well. By interesting I mean not UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada . .. island countries, plebiscites, German colonies, dead countries in general.
The most expensive stamp I have bought here is a penny black, the cheapest 1 cent. I've bought a bunch of Greenland sheets at ridiculously low prices, a couple of beautiful MNH Portugal sets from the 20's, several large (1000 stamps) $10 lots of Scandinavia, and $9 WW glassine lots that had well over $200 worth of stamps. Those are the purchases that stick out to me.
I think (and I could be wrong), that in general our members are mostly intermediate long term collectors, so the most common stamps tend not to sell unless they are very cheap or they happen to fill a hole or someone starts a new collecting area. We don't have a lot of new members so you are selling to established members who have already bought a lot of stamps. . .
I'd love to see more "lots" which I watched with interest as they were tried but nothing appeared within my collecting interests or I would definitely supported that.
Of course this is all dependent on what you have to sell 
Jackie
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There are 3 main reasons items sell:-
Price, Quality and Time.
Price:-
Whether the price is high or low there are buyers here for all price ranges. A seller must decide the "Market Value" of their product and price accordingly.
Quality:-
Higher quality products will sell, it all depends on scarcity of what is offered.
Time:-
When a seller lists their items and when their items finish determines whether an item sells or not. e.g. At this moment there are 81 visitors on line whereas this time yesterday there were around thirty.
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In order to purchase, they have to be signed in and at any given time I am on there are around 10 or less signed in. The remainder are lurkers and bots,
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Ian is right (of course)
Price: I joined after lurking for a long time when Ian ran on of his 10% clearout auctions. Before that I had just looked around and read the forums. I saw a number of stamps I liked really cheap and so it began . . .
Quality: Especially in the cheap stamps, we still see 10 cent stamps with pulled perfs and rounded corners. Quality can be forgiven in high catalogue items that are properly described (my Penny Black from Greg is a 3 margin that I'm happy with) but in lower priced items it's a big problem--and I would say for common stamps even heavy cancels are a problem too as well as hinges, etc.
Time: This is everything from time of day to time of month (payday) to just time in general. I generally look at new items and closing in 24 hour items. If I miss those time frames, I probably won't see it unless it's in my favorites. A couple months ago Greg had some stamps I really wanted, but the the time of the month was wrong. Had be listed 1 month earlier or later, I would have bought them.
Big Blue does play a role too--I have had my eye on a few high value German stamps from Ian, but Big Blue doesn't have a space, and so far, I have resisted the temptation to purchase them, even at 10% catalogue.
I think, the better quality items you have from the more desirable countries (which change at the drop of a hat) at the best price of course gives you the best chance, but then you need the buyers. And boy, we are a fickle bunch
Jackie
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"any given time I am on there are around 10 or less signed in. The remainder are lurkers and bots,"
At one time yesterday there were only two of us "Signed In".
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Thanks Ian & Jackie.
I think I'm pretty up-to-date on the quality-price-timing issues as a lot of my stuff sells super-fast.
My real question (helped immensely by Ian pointing me to the SOR stats) was ... "when I look at my basement full of boxes and envelopes of stamps, what is the best way to get the most stamps into other people's willing hands at a price they like that maximizes my return on time spent".
The de facto supply and demand stats have already helped me determine how to use my time more wisely (i.e. no more organizing common US stamps asking 3-4c each - and more effort organizing Southern Rhodesia stamps to sell at greater than 3-4c each).
Cheers, Dave.
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One way to "move" boxes is to quickly go through the box doing a quick sort into what is "valuable" enough to list and what is not.
The less valuable stuff goes into another box and then these boxes are taken to the local auction house.
The boxes I send contain a wide and varied mix of things like stockbooks containig multiple copies of common stamps, junior albums, first day covers and mixes of on and off paper.
I normally get $20-$50 for each box and time spent by sorting is a lot less than listing individual items!
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Interesting idea Ian. Thanks.
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07:04:01pm
I think someone has in past issued some details on sales by country, but can't seem to find them in the discussions. (I suspect Ian, him being a detail-oriented guy with enough access to Scotch to make it tolerable).
Can anyone put a response on the last one so it pops up again?
I'm trying to figure out which countries to put up into Auctions/Approvals and there are so many options I'm getting paralyzed - I need a "guide".
Many thanks, Dave.
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this post
07:24:52pm
Auctions - Approvals
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
Dave go into Auctions, Sellers and scroll down to Reports.
It doesn't give it by country but by Category.
There are no shortcuts you'll still need a pen and paper and a good calculator!!
Another method is to go into Auctions click on Countries. If you go down the list it shows the no of auction lots in each country. It allows you to see which countries are overloaded or those with just one or two or ten lots. No values I am afraid but it gives a good guide.
If there are 100+ lots on offer in any country I try to avoid listing these countries.
Login to Like
this post
07:44:00am
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
I am not a seller, but I have spent approximately $2000 on Stamporam auctions/approvals in the past few years. I have noticed French Colonies tend to do well (especially in approval books) and older material in general, especially stamps that are in "Big Blue".
"Interesting" stamps do well. By interesting I mean not UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada . .. island countries, plebiscites, German colonies, dead countries in general.
The most expensive stamp I have bought here is a penny black, the cheapest 1 cent. I've bought a bunch of Greenland sheets at ridiculously low prices, a couple of beautiful MNH Portugal sets from the 20's, several large (1000 stamps) $10 lots of Scandinavia, and $9 WW glassine lots that had well over $200 worth of stamps. Those are the purchases that stick out to me.
I think (and I could be wrong), that in general our members are mostly intermediate long term collectors, so the most common stamps tend not to sell unless they are very cheap or they happen to fill a hole or someone starts a new collecting area. We don't have a lot of new members so you are selling to established members who have already bought a lot of stamps. . .
I'd love to see more "lots" which I watched with interest as they were tried but nothing appeared within my collecting interests or I would definitely supported that.
Of course this is all dependent on what you have to sell
Jackie
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08:32:56am
Auctions - Approvals
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
There are 3 main reasons items sell:-
Price, Quality and Time.
Price:-
Whether the price is high or low there are buyers here for all price ranges. A seller must decide the "Market Value" of their product and price accordingly.
Quality:-
Higher quality products will sell, it all depends on scarcity of what is offered.
Time:-
When a seller lists their items and when their items finish determines whether an item sells or not. e.g. At this moment there are 81 visitors on line whereas this time yesterday there were around thirty.
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this post
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
In order to purchase, they have to be signed in and at any given time I am on there are around 10 or less signed in. The remainder are lurkers and bots,
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09:19:24am
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
Ian is right (of course)
Price: I joined after lurking for a long time when Ian ran on of his 10% clearout auctions. Before that I had just looked around and read the forums. I saw a number of stamps I liked really cheap and so it began . . .
Quality: Especially in the cheap stamps, we still see 10 cent stamps with pulled perfs and rounded corners. Quality can be forgiven in high catalogue items that are properly described (my Penny Black from Greg is a 3 margin that I'm happy with) but in lower priced items it's a big problem--and I would say for common stamps even heavy cancels are a problem too as well as hinges, etc.
Time: This is everything from time of day to time of month (payday) to just time in general. I generally look at new items and closing in 24 hour items. If I miss those time frames, I probably won't see it unless it's in my favorites. A couple months ago Greg had some stamps I really wanted, but the the time of the month was wrong. Had be listed 1 month earlier or later, I would have bought them.
Big Blue does play a role too--I have had my eye on a few high value German stamps from Ian, but Big Blue doesn't have a space, and so far, I have resisted the temptation to purchase them, even at 10% catalogue.
I think, the better quality items you have from the more desirable countries (which change at the drop of a hat) at the best price of course gives you the best chance, but then you need the buyers. And boy, we are a fickle bunch
Jackie
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09:23:59am
Auctions - Approvals
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
"any given time I am on there are around 10 or less signed in. The remainder are lurkers and bots,"
At one time yesterday there were only two of us "Signed In".
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09:44:07pm
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
Thanks Ian & Jackie.
I think I'm pretty up-to-date on the quality-price-timing issues as a lot of my stuff sells super-fast.
My real question (helped immensely by Ian pointing me to the SOR stats) was ... "when I look at my basement full of boxes and envelopes of stamps, what is the best way to get the most stamps into other people's willing hands at a price they like that maximizes my return on time spent".
The de facto supply and demand stats have already helped me determine how to use my time more wisely (i.e. no more organizing common US stamps asking 3-4c each - and more effort organizing Southern Rhodesia stamps to sell at greater than 3-4c each).
Cheers, Dave.
Login to Like
this post
07:39:20am
Auctions - Approvals
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
One way to "move" boxes is to quickly go through the box doing a quick sort into what is "valuable" enough to list and what is not.
The less valuable stuff goes into another box and then these boxes are taken to the local auction house.
The boxes I send contain a wide and varied mix of things like stockbooks containig multiple copies of common stamps, junior albums, first day covers and mixes of on and off paper.
I normally get $20-$50 for each box and time spent by sorting is a lot less than listing individual items!
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08:36:38am
re: Distribution stats on popularity of auction sales (and/or listings) by country???
Interesting idea Ian. Thanks.
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