Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I am looking into opening another site on either Hipstamp or eBay and would like to get some member feedback and recommendations. I listed a couple of items on eBay last year with poor results. 2 out of 5 buyers claimed they did not receive the stamps which of course has never happened to me on Stamporama.
From your experience which site would you recommend that I try and why?
Rest assured that I am very happy with Stamporama and will continue to list here as my preferred site.
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HipStamp is devoted to stamps.
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I have had some experiences on Ebay that I can only describe as "weird". E.g.: I issued a small Refund to a collector with a very unusual name. There were 2 collectors listed with that very unusual name. He immediately said that I issued the Refund to the wrong person and gave me Negative Feedback. Yes, I've had the 1 or 2 Buyers who said that they never received my mailing - most recently Mexico. My biggest problem with Ebay is that if a Buyer purchases several Lots from me anything can happen - usually not good. They can't seem to get it straight. Yes, and once in a while their Global Shipping Program seems to get into play. The Buyer gets REAL upset - just try to eliminate the Global Shipping. All of that said, about 1/2 of my Ebay Orders are from Buyers outside of the USA.
I suggest Listing on Ebay and when the time comes to Refresh drop the price. Drop the price until you get tired of doing it and then slide the Item to Hipstamp at the same price you started out with on Ebay. The Item can sit on Hipstamp forever from what I can tell. About 1/2 of my Hipstamp Orders are from Buyers in the USA. Sometimes I get a request for an Item that I don't have in my inventory. I can then check my Hipstamp Store and if it's there pull it and Ship it.
Just to mention Stamporama. I seem to do well with the Approvals (as do others) and not so well with the Auction. My solution is to slide the Unsold Auction Items to eiither Ebay or Hipstamp depending upon their CV. Items starting out at about $10 go to Ebay; Items starting out for less that $10 go to Hipstamp.
HipPostCards is another very interesting area. I like Post Cards. I List them at $5 and will keep them forever unless someone wants to pay me $5.
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I’ve experimented with both recently. My listings on EBay are mirrored on Hipstamp. Hip updates your listings automatically if something sells. I’ve used this set up for about 9 months now and I sell much less on Hip.
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I've been selling on eBay for the past year and a half. I've sold over 3600 items. I sell mostly covers in the US Postal History and First Day Cover categories. High volume of low dollar items.
When I started out I benchmarked the top sellers in the category and developed my strategy on what appeared to be working for them. At first it was slow, but once you build 1000 followers, and people who order from you regularly, it starts to work. I also notice on my auctions, lately there has been competition and some of my $1.99 start price covers are selling in the $4-6 price range.
I do have about 2850 items in my store. I use my 250 auctions every month. I probably have about 350 current auctions with the balance being Buy-It-Now fixed price items. I struggle to keep my listing count up against the sales!
eBay sell through is very small, unlike the days where everything sold in the first week. eBay realizes that and that's why auctions rotate for 8 weeks. When that's up, the items go to your Unsold folder. I try to keep a few hundred listings here. I have the choice to take the "more likely to sell as a fixed price items" and relist them as Buy-It-Now that never expire. When I get to the end of a month and I've only listed 200 items, the last day or two I'll list the oldest 50 items from the Unsold folder, which are about 2 months expired. I use the "Sell Similar" function so they appear brand new... and ya know what? Same covers that went through a couple of 8 week cycles suddenly have multiple bidders!
The items in the "Unsold" folder are helpful when I notice trends in what is selling or what I'm suddenly short on. For instance I've had a good run on WWII APO covers, so while I have people watching I dropped all of that material back into auctions.
My low dollar strategy is also to fly under the radar of scammers. Nothing I'm selling is worth their effort, and require a certain passionate expertise. I do sell a lot of single covers to different customers, but part of my strategy is to attract multiple item buyers. I regularly sell 5-25 and occasionally 50-100 pieces to a single order.
I have only lost a handful of orders lost in the mails. I had one definite scammer. I believe I had two returns. With $1.99 covers I just refund the money and tell them to throw it away if they don't want it. It's not worth dealing with. Otherwise everything is fine.
Leaving 2000 plus listings in the store indefinitely is a good thing. I have items that have been there a year or more suddenly sell. It's like having things on the shelves of a brick and morter antique shop... just waiting for the right buyer! And with that many active listings something is always selling! My goal is to get up to 5000 items just to see what happens.
I don't want to sell across sites. With eBay I get paid through their service and it works very well. I don't want to have to deal with several sites and methods of payment. I want it all streamlined and standardized to minimize the time and effort spent on any one item.
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As a buyer, last I checked, ebay makes me pay NYS 8% sales tax on everything, Hip only if the seller is in NY. So I always check Hip first, as any stamps left that I need for my serious collections are expensive enough where the tax is a bit.
Also - too much sketchy stuff like this on ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284868780073?m ...
Josh
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Josh- When buying an expensive item that's fixed price on eBay or Hipstamp, always check the other site. A lot of sellers cross list their inventory. I literally found one of my early US airmail items for $20 less that way! It was the very same seller and very same item. And as you pointed out, there is the sales tax collected differential... except you are supposed to self report that to your state! 
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I've made just a hand full of purchases on Hipstamp. Paid for one lot on 4/16 for $26.00. Says shipped but still not received. Messaged seller. No response.
Do you think there's tracking for that price point?
Any thoughts on this. I've learned sometimes they still show up A LONG time after they were supposed to.
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Stamp order from SOR just took ten days to get to me from Cincinnati, OH - that was 10 days in transit to cover 500 miles. Since selling with meaningful tracking costs several dollars more than first class mail (tracking is NOT available anymore on first class mail) my personal price point is a $50 order (and then only tgo a new buyer) . Keep in mind it is up to the seller to get the item to you so the seller is still responsible whether or not they provided tracking or insurance (which is usually not realistic anyway - too much red tape through USPS.
From my standpoint as a seller I self insure - since 1985 (ad in the back of Linns) until now (almost 40 years later) USPS has "lost" 2 outgoing and 1 incoming item. The incoming took 2 months to get here - who knows where it's journey took it !
As for the lack of messaging - Hipstamp makes it easy to miss messages depending on what pages you normally go to. I've missed a few.
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I sell on Hipstamp, and only on occasion do shipments take more than 3-4 days in the States. Canada can sometimes take more than 10 days.
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The postal system has gone to hell in a handbasket, proven by Australia Post still quoting 15-21 business days for postage anywhere overseas. Patience is a virtue, and not everything has to be on your desk in a couple of days.
I sell more on Facebook than I ever did on either Hipstamp or Ebay, and no matter how quickly I post, complaints fly in.
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OK so the only recourse Hipstamp gives you is to dispute it on PayPal (which may be plenty of recourse). Hate stuff like this. Just wanted my auction lot. Haha
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Besides Stamporama I have been listing some stamps on eBay, but very few as of now. But I also plan on listing handmade greeting cards and vintage sport cards, neither of which are permissible on HipStamp. I don't plan on using HipStamp for stamps as I don't want to have to deal with another payment system. I don't have the time. Besides, I have been satisfied with the eBay payment system.
The only problem I have with eBay is printing the eBay standard envelope label. I cannot get it to work properly without spending an inordinate amount of time and effort so I just don''t do it. The few cents I save on postage doesn't come close to justifying my time. Besides their tracking system is not USPS tracking as far as I can determine.
My user ID on eBay is Walden617.
I really prefer to list stamps in Stamporama approval books and only use eBay for stamps that don't sell on Stamporama or for extra copies.
I have uploaded an image of one of my greeting cards. It is a photomicrograph of Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid).
Regards,
Fred
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11:01:22am
"Canada can sometimes take more than 10 days."
I've bought some great stuff from John and it usually takes a while to get here. But, good stuff is worth waiting for!! We need patience!!
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Thanks....I feel I need to raise your commission rate. Lol.
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Auctions - Approvals
First of all let me say that have been selling on Stamporama for several years with great experiences. However, I do have items that our members do not purchase.
I am looking into opening another site on either Hipstamp or eBay and would like to get some member feedback and recommendations. I listed a couple of items on eBay last year with poor results. 2 out of 5 buyers claimed they did not receive the stamps which of course has never happened to me on Stamporama.
From your experience which site would you recommend that I try and why?
Rest assured that I am very happy with Stamporama and will continue to list here as my preferred site.
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03:21:03pm
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
HipStamp is devoted to stamps.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
I have had some experiences on Ebay that I can only describe as "weird". E.g.: I issued a small Refund to a collector with a very unusual name. There were 2 collectors listed with that very unusual name. He immediately said that I issued the Refund to the wrong person and gave me Negative Feedback. Yes, I've had the 1 or 2 Buyers who said that they never received my mailing - most recently Mexico. My biggest problem with Ebay is that if a Buyer purchases several Lots from me anything can happen - usually not good. They can't seem to get it straight. Yes, and once in a while their Global Shipping Program seems to get into play. The Buyer gets REAL upset - just try to eliminate the Global Shipping. All of that said, about 1/2 of my Ebay Orders are from Buyers outside of the USA.
I suggest Listing on Ebay and when the time comes to Refresh drop the price. Drop the price until you get tired of doing it and then slide the Item to Hipstamp at the same price you started out with on Ebay. The Item can sit on Hipstamp forever from what I can tell. About 1/2 of my Hipstamp Orders are from Buyers in the USA. Sometimes I get a request for an Item that I don't have in my inventory. I can then check my Hipstamp Store and if it's there pull it and Ship it.
Just to mention Stamporama. I seem to do well with the Approvals (as do others) and not so well with the Auction. My solution is to slide the Unsold Auction Items to eiither Ebay or Hipstamp depending upon their CV. Items starting out at about $10 go to Ebay; Items starting out for less that $10 go to Hipstamp.
HipPostCards is another very interesting area. I like Post Cards. I List them at $5 and will keep them forever unless someone wants to pay me $5.
Login to Like
this post
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
I’ve experimented with both recently. My listings on EBay are mirrored on Hipstamp. Hip updates your listings automatically if something sells. I’ve used this set up for about 9 months now and I sell much less on Hip.
Login to Like
this post
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
I've been selling on eBay for the past year and a half. I've sold over 3600 items. I sell mostly covers in the US Postal History and First Day Cover categories. High volume of low dollar items.
When I started out I benchmarked the top sellers in the category and developed my strategy on what appeared to be working for them. At first it was slow, but once you build 1000 followers, and people who order from you regularly, it starts to work. I also notice on my auctions, lately there has been competition and some of my $1.99 start price covers are selling in the $4-6 price range.
I do have about 2850 items in my store. I use my 250 auctions every month. I probably have about 350 current auctions with the balance being Buy-It-Now fixed price items. I struggle to keep my listing count up against the sales!
eBay sell through is very small, unlike the days where everything sold in the first week. eBay realizes that and that's why auctions rotate for 8 weeks. When that's up, the items go to your Unsold folder. I try to keep a few hundred listings here. I have the choice to take the "more likely to sell as a fixed price items" and relist them as Buy-It-Now that never expire. When I get to the end of a month and I've only listed 200 items, the last day or two I'll list the oldest 50 items from the Unsold folder, which are about 2 months expired. I use the "Sell Similar" function so they appear brand new... and ya know what? Same covers that went through a couple of 8 week cycles suddenly have multiple bidders!
The items in the "Unsold" folder are helpful when I notice trends in what is selling or what I'm suddenly short on. For instance I've had a good run on WWII APO covers, so while I have people watching I dropped all of that material back into auctions.
My low dollar strategy is also to fly under the radar of scammers. Nothing I'm selling is worth their effort, and require a certain passionate expertise. I do sell a lot of single covers to different customers, but part of my strategy is to attract multiple item buyers. I regularly sell 5-25 and occasionally 50-100 pieces to a single order.
I have only lost a handful of orders lost in the mails. I had one definite scammer. I believe I had two returns. With $1.99 covers I just refund the money and tell them to throw it away if they don't want it. It's not worth dealing with. Otherwise everything is fine.
Leaving 2000 plus listings in the store indefinitely is a good thing. I have items that have been there a year or more suddenly sell. It's like having things on the shelves of a brick and morter antique shop... just waiting for the right buyer! And with that many active listings something is always selling! My goal is to get up to 5000 items just to see what happens.
I don't want to sell across sites. With eBay I get paid through their service and it works very well. I don't want to have to deal with several sites and methods of payment. I want it all streamlined and standardized to minimize the time and effort spent on any one item.
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like this post.
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re: Hipstamp vs eBay
As a buyer, last I checked, ebay makes me pay NYS 8% sales tax on everything, Hip only if the seller is in NY. So I always check Hip first, as any stamps left that I need for my serious collections are expensive enough where the tax is a bit.
Also - too much sketchy stuff like this on ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284868780073?m ...
Josh
Login to Like
this post
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
Josh- When buying an expensive item that's fixed price on eBay or Hipstamp, always check the other site. A lot of sellers cross list their inventory. I literally found one of my early US airmail items for $20 less that way! It was the very same seller and very same item. And as you pointed out, there is the sales tax collected differential... except you are supposed to self report that to your state!
Login to Like
this post
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
I've made just a hand full of purchases on Hipstamp. Paid for one lot on 4/16 for $26.00. Says shipped but still not received. Messaged seller. No response.
Do you think there's tracking for that price point?
Any thoughts on this. I've learned sometimes they still show up A LONG time after they were supposed to.
Login to Like
this post
03:06:01pm
Auctions - Approvals
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
Stamp order from SOR just took ten days to get to me from Cincinnati, OH - that was 10 days in transit to cover 500 miles. Since selling with meaningful tracking costs several dollars more than first class mail (tracking is NOT available anymore on first class mail) my personal price point is a $50 order (and then only tgo a new buyer) . Keep in mind it is up to the seller to get the item to you so the seller is still responsible whether or not they provided tracking or insurance (which is usually not realistic anyway - too much red tape through USPS.
From my standpoint as a seller I self insure - since 1985 (ad in the back of Linns) until now (almost 40 years later) USPS has "lost" 2 outgoing and 1 incoming item. The incoming took 2 months to get here - who knows where it's journey took it !
As for the lack of messaging - Hipstamp makes it easy to miss messages depending on what pages you normally go to. I've missed a few.
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re: Hipstamp vs eBay
I sell on Hipstamp, and only on occasion do shipments take more than 3-4 days in the States. Canada can sometimes take more than 10 days.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
The postal system has gone to hell in a handbasket, proven by Australia Post still quoting 15-21 business days for postage anywhere overseas. Patience is a virtue, and not everything has to be on your desk in a couple of days.
I sell more on Facebook than I ever did on either Hipstamp or Ebay, and no matter how quickly I post, complaints fly in.
Login to Like
this post
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
OK so the only recourse Hipstamp gives you is to dispute it on PayPal (which may be plenty of recourse). Hate stuff like this. Just wanted my auction lot. Haha
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this post
Approvals
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
Besides Stamporama I have been listing some stamps on eBay, but very few as of now. But I also plan on listing handmade greeting cards and vintage sport cards, neither of which are permissible on HipStamp. I don't plan on using HipStamp for stamps as I don't want to have to deal with another payment system. I don't have the time. Besides, I have been satisfied with the eBay payment system.
The only problem I have with eBay is printing the eBay standard envelope label. I cannot get it to work properly without spending an inordinate amount of time and effort so I just don''t do it. The few cents I save on postage doesn't come close to justifying my time. Besides their tracking system is not USPS tracking as far as I can determine.
My user ID on eBay is Walden617.
I really prefer to list stamps in Stamporama approval books and only use eBay for stamps that don't sell on Stamporama or for extra copies.
I have uploaded an image of one of my greeting cards. It is a photomicrograph of Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid).
Regards,
Fred
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
27 Apr 2024
11:01:22am
re: Hipstamp vs eBay
"Canada can sometimes take more than 10 days."
I've bought some great stuff from John and it usually takes a while to get here. But, good stuff is worth waiting for!! We need patience!!
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re: Hipstamp vs eBay
Thanks....I feel I need to raise your commission rate. Lol.
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