Selling pre-1940 world stamps: Who are all these "viewers" and "watchers" who don't BID?

[joehill]

I've been selling collectibles, including stamps, since 1998.  I've always started my auctions low.  Always good quality of stamps, good pictures.  In the past, great results.  But now, for example--an extensive collection of US revenues on Scott pages.  220 views!!  23 watchers!!  And a final price--of $75.  A nice collection of early Canada on pages.  162 views!!  13 watchers!!  And a final price--$28??   I was breaking up a huge expensive collection into hundreds of lots.  I'm calling a halt.  Is it me or is something out of kilter here???

[msgtdavid]

Pictures of the two lots in question might help us.

[joehill]

I can't load them all.  The scans were posted neatly page by page.  I've been doing this for a long time so I know appearance counts.

[joehill]

Take a look at my current listings--the last ones I'm going to offer.

[kensgiftshop]

Just because someone looks at a listing or watches it, doesn't mean they are interested in buying.

Better descriptions might help.

The listing I looked at says in the IS, Mint and Used.

I would want to know how many were mint and how many were used.

$20 might be a good deal if most were mint, but if only one was mint and the rest used, might not be a good deal.

[dbenson]

With the Exorbitant price of international shipping you are charging, no wonder you can't sell them at better prices. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@dbenson wrote:

With the Exorbitant price of international shipping you are charging, no wonder you can't sell them at better prices. 

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They are using EIS and Ebay sets the International shipping part, not the seller.

[msgtdavid]

I checked your current listing, 11 lots, all free shipping.

Appears as good collectable lots to me, I do not know what is wrong, sorry.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

For quite a few years, I have seen entire collections sold at in person auctions at prices low enough that I was tempted to bid but did not.

And for quite a few years I have seen them sold on Ebay, in pieces for auction prices that were profitable but not exciting.

The auction format on Ebay is not where the action is on this site. Many items no longer bring higher than a wholesale price and not necessarily a generous wholesale price.

Different collectibles may differ in how auctions fare. For many of them there are no longer any retail buyers.. For others there are retail buyers but they are operating on a budget, buying the best values when they have money in their pocket. They often watch items and only bid or buy when they are sure there is nothing else they want which is available at a better price.

There are many lots which only have sold in the past to entry level collectors. There is a shortage of entry level collectors for many types of collectibles. Few people are bitten by that type of collecting bug. Perhaps because meeting their needs prohibits looking for wants.

I am amazed by the number of dealers in stamps who participate in this forum, and the number of them who are Canadian. They make me wonder what is so different about what Canadians sell and collect from what I see in New England.

For the record, it must have been close to 70 years ago that I briefly collected stamps. And it did not provide the excitement that other collectibles had. The extensive catalogs and buying for some percentage of catalog price did not suit me.

I have sold collectibles to authors of price guides. And often when they included their purchases from me in their guide, they valued them substantially below what they paid. And they continued to buy from me. I find it to be a lot more fun.

[dbenson]

Ken,

Then post the items himself, 

David B.

[malolo]

Here's what I have hated since 1998 is sellers who instead of writing - "I ship worldwide" post a list of every country in the world creating havoc in keyword searches for specific country items. 

Your lots have this -

"

Ships to: 

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe"

Which means every person who uses a country keyword in their search gets all of your lots that have nothing to do with their collecting interests.

[kensgiftshop]

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@dbenson wrote:

Ken,

Then post the items himself, 

David B.

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Without the EIS, a lot of sellers wouldn't ship to other countries.

[billsey]

OK, first lot I see in the list is "Pre-1940 Classics Lot: U.S. Official Stamps". There is nothing in the description or title to say which stamps they are, and the scan shows them overlapping so you can't tell what the face value was on each, the post office and treasury are visible, the rest not so much. I'd say the current bid of $13.50 is about right unless one or more are the higher face values. At first glance, and I'm unlikely to delve into them deeper, the rest of country lots are from a Scott International album. Typically the Internationals don't have spaces for most of the less common stamps, so you can assume everything in there are the more common issues. There is nothing in the title or description to tell us how many stamps are included, I guess we are just expected to wade through and count? The more you do to give the potential buyer the info they need, the more likely you are to get bids nearer to retail. Based on the completion level on the pages you show, I'd likely have bid in the $200-300 range for the whole album.

[malolo]

EIS - 

I didn't know what EIS was until this thread brought it up and I looked it up. I've bought 3493 items on eBay, sold 670, and bought 1270 lots on Delcampe totaling 5433 lots over 25 years. I have had a few lots go missing, more registered than first class! Never got reimbursed since it wasn't worth the troublewith all the paperwork that is required and it is the foreign seller who would have to initiate the registerd loss claim, not me. Maybe total of $200 lost over the 25 years. That is miniscule compared to the savings in postage required by eBay for stamp lots if EIS had always been required.

Of course, in the old days when people were paying with cash and using foil to hide the banknotes inside the envelopes, the concern was more that the money would arrive internationally than receiving the stamps.

Remember that eBay was not responsible for anything having to do with any transaction - eBay was a venue! LOL Until some major corporations sued proving eBay could control sales, and then eBay discovered that it could make money handling all transactions, including international customs etc, etc. 

I'll not understand any "stampsseller" requiring EIS for any shipment to another country, one only has to put the stamps in a decent envelope and if necessary send them via International Priority Mail, or first class airmail for lots purchased for under $100.

BTW - Hello David. It's been a long time here on eBay, which I hardly use any more since the Stamps category needs a major fix. It needs many more sub-categories within countries which would make it more useable, instead of having to try to find items via key word searches. And since most sellers do not write correct/detailed descriptions, eBay is extremely difficult to use these days!

[dbenson]

Roger,

Good to hear from you.

I do not think that Ebay needs more categories as sellers already have to decide which category to use when the items could be in various categories and if listing in two categories adds up to extra costs (especially if the item is unsold and relisted). 

The problem with descriptions is the limited space that Ebay allows. 

David B.