Selling Stamps On Ebay

 The Value Propositions For Buying And Selling Stamps On Ebay

Stamps are perfectly suited to Internet auctions. There is a long history of stamps being sold at traditional public auctions, which is important because collectors are already used to bidding competitively when material becomes available. Also, because certain conventions of description and cataloging are accepted around the world, a wide audience will understand a description of a stamp. Stamps are in strong demand from a wide range of potential bidders and the Internet allows for cost effective cross marketing to a larger audience than is otherwise reachable. And finally stamps are an easily shipped product. So, how well does ebay service this segment of the collectible market?

 To evaluate this I have chosen to segregate the stamp market into discreet units by the dollar level of goods offered.

Value Propositions for items valued under $25.

1.   For seller - good – likely to extract nearly full value. Traditional stamp auctions cannot afford to run, let alone photograph, individual lots in this price range because of cost considerations.  Many times items bring more than they should because of cross marketing. For example, a sheet of common Pharmacy stamps might bring well more than face value because a real life Pharmacist might decide it would look nice framed over his counter.

2.   For buyer – usually good – likely to find items of interest that would otherwise be available only at a far away dealer bourse or my mail at higher dealer retail prices. Some danger in getting goods that are not as described because oftentimes the sellers of this level of stamps donÂ’t catalog items correctly.

Value Propositions for items valued $25 to $100.

1.   For seller – fair – likely to extract 70% of full value if you have a solid reputation. The bulk of the buyers in this range are relatively sophisticated. They require good scans, a return privilege, accurate and detailed descriptions, and discount their bids for a seller of unproven status.

2.  For buyer – good – once they can quickly and accurately eliminate the miss-described goods that are prevalent in this price range. The patient and knowledgeable collector can be rewarded with good bargains.

 Value Propositions for items valued $100 to $1,000.

1.   For seller – poor – probably will be lucky to get 60% of value. Even with a solid reputation and feedback record the buyers at this level discount their bids expecting something to be not as described. The best of the current ebay vendors are rarely as reliable as the worst of the traditional auction houses in describing faults accurately. As a result the buyers tend to favor the traditional auction houses.

2.   For buyer – poor – there are a tremendous number of incorrectly described items appearing at this price level. The largest stamp vendors that inhabit this space often make their profit by exploiting the price differences between the faulty goods they buy and fault free goods they sell.

 Value Proposition for items valued over $1,000.

1.   For seller – horrible – other than collection offerings with lots of scans, I have seen virtually nothing priced over $1,000 in Ebay stamps category that realized even close to real value. This is likely due to lack of bidder confidence in the accuracy of seller description. Also, many of the stamp buyers for this range of material are not yet on the Internet.

2.   For buyer – horrible- most of the goods in this range are not as described or reserved at levels that would not otherwise be supported.

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Richard Frajola (May, 2000)