Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
09:57:04pm
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I have been here for 16 years and 10 months (actually a lot longer, I think I became a member in 1998 or so) and in that period I averaged 16.4 sold stamps and 1.3 bought stamps per day. 
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Interesting stuff. I sit at 12 stamps sold and 18.6 stamps bought a day. But I hardly sold anything in the past year.
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cougar, same here...the auction seems different lately...at one time it was like a form of trading..quite a few of the oldtimers have passed on. It makes a difference. I am not sure if the newbies are taking advantage of the auction.
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Phil, I am sure it makes a difference. In fact I am now afraid to go to the "member announcement" section of our discussion as news there are often not positive.
When it comes to the stats, in my case in particular, I have lots of time to buy stamps, but very little time to sell stamps. I can actually buy stamps when I have taken my dog on a hike over town, or even at some spots along the river while fishing !
Maybe the stats can be used for nominations and some sort of symbolic awards to the most prolific seller, or the most prolific buyer ??
I will hardly top any of the lists, but it will be nice to know who holds the top positions 
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philb
"the auction seems different lately.."
Could you please explain the differences that you refer to.
It may help members who sell to alter their listings accordingly.
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Ian, not sure if its a problem unique to myself or a change in the weather and people are doing things outdoors. I have a question for the sellers both auction and approval...how many get bids from new members...with myself its zero.
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philb
The answer with regards to new members buying from me is (drum roll):-
1 new member has bought from me in the last two months.
2 members who joined in 2022 have bought from me in the last two months.
Whether the "lack of response" is down to such a poor selection of stamps number wise or our Auction is basically NOT an auction considering the vast majority of items offered are Buy It Now.
Of course the reason for Buy It Now being more popular for sellers is the lack of bids received due to the small number of members that buy at stamporama. The last time I counted the number of buyers per month was around 104 ie around 22% of the membership.
With the ongoing "cost of living crisis" it is natural that things will get tighter and possibly prices here will decrease as everybody wants a bargain.
We shall just have to ride it out like we did several times over the past decades.
We shall have to hope:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6QhAZck ...
Edit
If you go to the Sellers Corner Topic you can see the January to April Figures
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I appreciate you showing the stats...it never dawned on me that people were spending the type of money here that affect their budgets, i thought it was just a harmless pastime.
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FWIW, I sell mostly Canada and its provinces on Hipstamp. I have almost 1000 listings from $1.50 to over $100. I just perused the Canada stamp auctions on this site and the vast majority are less than $1.
I wonder if the "market" here is just not attracting potential mid to higher level buyers.
Just an observation.
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06:44:35pm
"I wonder if the "market" here is just not attracting potential mid to higher level buyers."
I agree with this! A lot of the better material I've picked up from this site is because sellers have contacted me personally about some of the better material they have. They say that this higher priced stuff will not sell in auctions here, probably because there are not enough potential buyers. If you check certain countries in the members information there are only a few collectors. When it comes right down to it to sell higher priced items you need more buyers and that's not always possible. I have picked up some amazing material here but a lot of it is through the contacts I've made here. That's not always the case though. I remember a year or so ago picking up some amazing early Ireland overprints here and also when I check out Greg's early US material there are sometimes surprises there. And these aren't the only examples, my collection of strange early "Russian" material has grown thanks to a couple sellers here. It's been a great site and for several reasons my collections have benefited greatly.
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bigcreekdad:-
"I wonder if the "market" here is just not attracting potential mid to higher level buyers."
You answered that question in your previous statement.
i.e.
" I sell mostly Canada and its provinces on Hipstamp. I have almost 1000 listings from $1.50 to over $100."
You are not the only member that lists vast numbers on other platforms rather than on Stamporama.
Remember we are a club not hipstamp, ebay, delcampe or colnect or facebook marketplace or ebid etc etc etc.
Last month 1889 items were sold at auction here when you consider the total items listed was 11188 the total sold was 16.9%, Buy It Now accounted for 9.6% and only 0.7% had multiple bids and 6.6% had one bid.
The majority of members here are COLLECTORS not SELLERS so most of the members hold onto their own higher value stamps because they are in their collections and not for sale!!
The average selling price of a stamp on this site was $0.42 last month. Why? Because this is the cheapest site on the internet and most sellers here are selling off their duplicates.
Any Seller on here is NOT making a living out of this site. (It doesn't even pay for the Ferarri's monthly fuel bill
)They are doing it for the fun, comaraderie and to educate themselves.
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Ian,
It doesn't happen often (tongue-in-cheek), but this time I totally agree with your post above.
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Whoa....I wasn't being critical, just throwing an observation in response to the low sales discussion. I don't come to this site to purchase stamps. I acquire my inventory primarily by buying large lots and collections through Stamp Auction Network.
I come to this site because at least daily. I find it quite interesting and because of the deep philatelic knowledge of the members. That knowledge is also readily shared by most. I don't collect anymore, but I still love learning new (to me) things about stamps. This learning is pleasing personally, and also aids as a seller. Gaining knowledge of philately is endless.
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Whoa....I wasn't being critical, just throwing an observation in response to the low sales discussion. I don't come to this site to purchase stamps. I acquire my inventory primarily by buying large lots and collections through Stamp Auction Network.
I come to this site because at least daily. I find it quite interesting and because of the deep philatelic knowledge of the members. That knowledge is also readily shared by most. I don't collect anymore, but I still love learning new (to me) things about stamps. This learning is pleasing personally, and also aids as a seller. Gaining knowledge of philately is endless.
As for "making a living"......pipedream for sure.
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Our sales platform was, as Ian mentioned, intended to be a place for members to sell their duplicates. I really enjoy the give and take and back and forth of buying from fellow collector sellers who are in turn buying from other collectors. It’s like we have a big member to member trading circuit going on. Stamporama is unique and great fun!
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bigcreekdad:-
I wasn't getting at you or the other folkies that sell on other platforms but to reinforce the point that Stamporama is a club not a dedicated sales platform and has a small number of members therefore it is actually amazing the number of stamps that are bought and sold here every month.
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12:18:23pm
As I said a ways back in this post I have picked up some amazing stuff on this site! You have to be alert and grab it when you see it. It is very rare to see something over priced, I can only think of a dealer or two over the years who tended to price a bit high and if you checked other sites you would realize their prices were still very fair. Also if you are known for buying higher value quality material the sellers will quite often get in touch with you when they have superior items to sell. You then have to be very fair with these people and buy the material if you want it and can afford it. I hesitate to name sellers but my Canada and US collections have really grown in the last four years!! I also keep a very close eye on a couple approvals people who offer incredible material from time to time. You almost have to keep a mental list of sellers to keep a close eye on! Even a few of them in their World books quite often offer huge surprises. I've seen some people say in comments that they routinely ignore these books - HUGE MISTAKE!
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
09 May 2023
09:57:04pm
I've been a member for just over 4 years and doing a very easy calculation I've bought about 2.4 stamps per day!!!!
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re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
I have been here for 16 years and 10 months (actually a lot longer, I think I became a member in 1998 or so) and in that period I averaged 16.4 sold stamps and 1.3 bought stamps per day.
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re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Interesting stuff. I sit at 12 stamps sold and 18.6 stamps bought a day. But I hardly sold anything in the past year.
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Auctions
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
cougar, same here...the auction seems different lately...at one time it was like a form of trading..quite a few of the oldtimers have passed on. It makes a difference. I am not sure if the newbies are taking advantage of the auction.
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re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Phil, I am sure it makes a difference. In fact I am now afraid to go to the "member announcement" section of our discussion as news there are often not positive.
When it comes to the stats, in my case in particular, I have lots of time to buy stamps, but very little time to sell stamps. I can actually buy stamps when I have taken my dog on a hike over town, or even at some spots along the river while fishing !
Maybe the stats can be used for nominations and some sort of symbolic awards to the most prolific seller, or the most prolific buyer ??
I will hardly top any of the lists, but it will be nice to know who holds the top positions
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07:13:27am
Auctions - Approvals
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
philb
"the auction seems different lately.."
Could you please explain the differences that you refer to.
It may help members who sell to alter their listings accordingly.
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this post
Auctions
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Ian, not sure if its a problem unique to myself or a change in the weather and people are doing things outdoors. I have a question for the sellers both auction and approval...how many get bids from new members...with myself its zero.
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10:52:36am
Auctions - Approvals
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
philb
The answer with regards to new members buying from me is (drum roll):-
1 new member has bought from me in the last two months.
2 members who joined in 2022 have bought from me in the last two months.
Whether the "lack of response" is down to such a poor selection of stamps number wise or our Auction is basically NOT an auction considering the vast majority of items offered are Buy It Now.
Of course the reason for Buy It Now being more popular for sellers is the lack of bids received due to the small number of members that buy at stamporama. The last time I counted the number of buyers per month was around 104 ie around 22% of the membership.
With the ongoing "cost of living crisis" it is natural that things will get tighter and possibly prices here will decrease as everybody wants a bargain.
We shall just have to ride it out like we did several times over the past decades.
We shall have to hope:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6QhAZck ...
Edit
If you go to the Sellers Corner Topic you can see the January to April Figures
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Auctions
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
I appreciate you showing the stats...it never dawned on me that people were spending the type of money here that affect their budgets, i thought it was just a harmless pastime.
Login to Like
this post
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
FWIW, I sell mostly Canada and its provinces on Hipstamp. I have almost 1000 listings from $1.50 to over $100. I just perused the Canada stamp auctions on this site and the vast majority are less than $1.
I wonder if the "market" here is just not attracting potential mid to higher level buyers.
Just an observation.
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
12 May 2023
06:44:35pm
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
"I wonder if the "market" here is just not attracting potential mid to higher level buyers."
I agree with this! A lot of the better material I've picked up from this site is because sellers have contacted me personally about some of the better material they have. They say that this higher priced stuff will not sell in auctions here, probably because there are not enough potential buyers. If you check certain countries in the members information there are only a few collectors. When it comes right down to it to sell higher priced items you need more buyers and that's not always possible. I have picked up some amazing material here but a lot of it is through the contacts I've made here. That's not always the case though. I remember a year or so ago picking up some amazing early Ireland overprints here and also when I check out Greg's early US material there are sometimes surprises there. And these aren't the only examples, my collection of strange early "Russian" material has grown thanks to a couple sellers here. It's been a great site and for several reasons my collections have benefited greatly.
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this post
08:27:58pm
Auctions - Approvals
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
bigcreekdad:-
"I wonder if the "market" here is just not attracting potential mid to higher level buyers."
You answered that question in your previous statement.
i.e.
" I sell mostly Canada and its provinces on Hipstamp. I have almost 1000 listings from $1.50 to over $100."
You are not the only member that lists vast numbers on other platforms rather than on Stamporama.
Remember we are a club not hipstamp, ebay, delcampe or colnect or facebook marketplace or ebid etc etc etc.
Last month 1889 items were sold at auction here when you consider the total items listed was 11188 the total sold was 16.9%, Buy It Now accounted for 9.6% and only 0.7% had multiple bids and 6.6% had one bid.
The majority of members here are COLLECTORS not SELLERS so most of the members hold onto their own higher value stamps because they are in their collections and not for sale!!
The average selling price of a stamp on this site was $0.42 last month. Why? Because this is the cheapest site on the internet and most sellers here are selling off their duplicates.
Any Seller on here is NOT making a living out of this site. (It doesn't even pay for the Ferarri's monthly fuel bill
)They are doing it for the fun, comaraderie and to educate themselves.
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re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Ian,
It doesn't happen often (tongue-in-cheek), but this time I totally agree with your post above.
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re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Whoa....I wasn't being critical, just throwing an observation in response to the low sales discussion. I don't come to this site to purchase stamps. I acquire my inventory primarily by buying large lots and collections through Stamp Auction Network.
I come to this site because at least daily. I find it quite interesting and because of the deep philatelic knowledge of the members. That knowledge is also readily shared by most. I don't collect anymore, but I still love learning new (to me) things about stamps. This learning is pleasing personally, and also aids as a seller. Gaining knowledge of philately is endless.
Login to Like
this post
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Whoa....I wasn't being critical, just throwing an observation in response to the low sales discussion. I don't come to this site to purchase stamps. I acquire my inventory primarily by buying large lots and collections through Stamp Auction Network.
I come to this site because at least daily. I find it quite interesting and because of the deep philatelic knowledge of the members. That knowledge is also readily shared by most. I don't collect anymore, but I still love learning new (to me) things about stamps. This learning is pleasing personally, and also aids as a seller. Gaining knowledge of philately is endless.
As for "making a living"......pipedream for sure.
Login to Like
this post
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
Our sales platform was, as Ian mentioned, intended to be a place for members to sell their duplicates. I really enjoy the give and take and back and forth of buying from fellow collector sellers who are in turn buying from other collectors. It’s like we have a big member to member trading circuit going on. Stamporama is unique and great fun!
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11:06:42am
Auctions - Approvals
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
bigcreekdad:-
I wasn't getting at you or the other folkies that sell on other platforms but to reinforce the point that Stamporama is a club not a dedicated sales platform and has a small number of members therefore it is actually amazing the number of stamps that are bought and sold here every month.
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
13 May 2023
12:18:23pm
re: I've been a member for just over 4 years and ...
As I said a ways back in this post I have picked up some amazing stuff on this site! You have to be alert and grab it when you see it. It is very rare to see something over priced, I can only think of a dealer or two over the years who tended to price a bit high and if you checked other sites you would realize their prices were still very fair. Also if you are known for buying higher value quality material the sellers will quite often get in touch with you when they have superior items to sell. You then have to be very fair with these people and buy the material if you want it and can afford it. I hesitate to name sellers but my Canada and US collections have really grown in the last four years!! I also keep a very close eye on a couple approvals people who offer incredible material from time to time. You almost have to keep a mental list of sellers to keep a close eye on! Even a few of them in their World books quite often offer huge surprises. I've seen some people say in comments that they routinely ignore these books - HUGE MISTAKE!
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