Selling Stamps - advice please

[bunsock]

I have a large collection of SE Asian stamps which I want to sell. I have set up a shop about 6 months ago ( http://tonys-south-east-asian-stamp-shop.ebid.net ) and listed some Indonesian Stamps. I have had no interest in them at all and I wondered if anyone could advise me what I am doing wrong. I sell well on eBid in other categories and wondered for the stamps whether I had insufficient detail, wrongly priced or its just a case that these particular stamps aren’t very collectable. I have thousands of stamps (Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore etc) but I don’t want to put effort into listing them if they are unlikely to sell. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[hurryb4itsgone]

This may seem a silly thing, but I would add the word "stamp" to the titles.

[gbsbks2010]

This may seem a silly thing, but I would add the word "stamp" to the titles.

I agree - I made the same mistake when I started listing. State the obvious in the title.

Also if there is a picture of a ship on the stamp, add the word ship in the title, if there is a picture of a horse, add the word horse or animals in the title etc. Thematic collectors might be drawn to look at the stamp.

[bunsock]

Many thanks, yes so obvious. I'll do that. Your help is much appreciated.

[somersethedge]

Also you might find it better to list the British Commonwealth stamps first as there tends to be more collectors for these.

[JDStamps]

Hi
If you have a catalogue you may want to put the number on the title; the only other change I would make is rather than call the stamps 'franked' or 'unfranked' use mint or used-unfranked stamps suggests its been through the post but missed the cancel.
Your Singapore should sell well, I have sold lots on here to many different buyers, but there is quite fierce competition in the stamp category, some of the smaller shops (less than 500 listings) wont get much of a look in when the top sellers have 10000+, so its important to get as much info in the title as possible, in the hope that buyers find your listings when looking for particular stamps, rather than just browsing, and then go on to purchase more items once they are committed to buying from you anyway.
Good luck with your sales!
All the best

John

[bunsock]

Thanks John. I'll do all that in future and try to find some time to change the ones I have already listed. I had avoided the word "mint" because when selling toys it infers condition rather than use. I guess the usage of the word is different with stamps. Many thanks for your help, Tony

[waterman2929]

Always a good idea to include the stamp condition in the title.

For unused stamps use "mint" or "mint hinged (MH)" or "mint no hinge (MNH)". For hinged stamps a scan of the back of the stamp helps the buyer and avoids having a disatisfied customer.

For used stamps use "used" for heavy or wavy line cancels, "fine used (FU)" for a good circular cancel and "very fine used (VFU)" for a light circular cancel.

Catalogue numbers are always useful as are country and year.

Good luck.