Sales soaring at HS

Thomas Keesling

Off to a good start. Dollar value of sales in the past six weeks at HS equals what I sold in the 8 months prior to closing my BS/SW store a few months ago. Although I was also open at SMG for about a year, I had no sales there at all.

Ted Tyszka

Great news, Tom. Activity has also picked up in my store.

Ted
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/tatyszka-stamps

David Rueppel

Hello, If I may chime in, My wife Kitty and and I also have a store on here. Didn't expect much at first but our store "Rueppel Philatelics" is on fire. BS/SW was okay but we are just smoking over here. Hope the love in continues and we avoid the nepotism that was rife on stamp wants in the pre Stanley Gibbons era.

Good luck to you guys, happy stamping!

Paul Cook

Are any of you editing listings???? I have had almost no sales. I am curios to find out if while I'm editing listings if somehow my store goes down. or at least limit access.

George DeKornfeld

I've been doing some editing while adding listings. My guess is only the item being edited goes down, and would be surprised if the entire store does during an edit.
I've had only 5 sales since opening up a store when HS went live. It is frustrating while others seem to be 'soaring' (and I am honestly happy for them). Perhaps these folks are old timers with an established customer base, or have a high number of listings making them more attractive and shop-able (I'm still under 1000 listings). For me, all I can do is keep adding items, hoping I eventually get into a groove of sales. Mark developed one heck of a platform here, so now its up to me to make it happen, I guess. Fingers crossed.

Paul Cook

I have the most listings on this site. I have been on BidStart since conception. Switching to this site my sales bottomed out. I had over 1500 regulars on BidStart. Totally confused as to why few to no sales here. I also switched to a 75% off sale last night. Most of my prices are at or below Wholesale.
Still limited sales. I think maybe too many listings. or when I'm in the editing area it is limited access from the buyers side. about 5 min. ago I quit editting and got a pre- aproval request.
Paul

George DeKornfeld

I'm just brainstorming while being a little frustrated. I have no clue what the issue is, although my earlier post clearly applies to my situation and not yours. My prices are also equal to or lower than most, but my quantity of listings is way low. Good luck, and here's to better times !
Cheers,
George

Dave Bennett

>> . . and we avoid the nepotism that was rife on Stamp Wants in the pre Stanley Gibbons era.

Can you please explain what you mean by this comment? Nepotism??!

Paul Cook

Today I will only be in the forums and see if things change today. I think editing from the listing side and not from the members area may be the answer. However I also think maybe this is simply a more fair site and because I had so many listings, maybe I was more noticable on the other site. were on this site now other sellers are being noticed and taking some of my sales. which is O.K. as a fair playing field my customers will return.
WHO KNOWS!!!
Paul

Rod Tilyard

Sales have tanked since the initial opening / enthusiasm.

Doug Noernberg

Have had a couple nice orders here. The last one kept me busy with over 130 items. Not sure I see any pattern yet from all of the anecdotes we're hearing..

Luree Hughes

My sales are also not soaring! After the last three years, I'm very grateful for the sales I do have, but soaring they are not, yet! Maybe one day the will be, soon.

Henry Brooks

Mine aren't soaring but they are there .... it will take awhile. Remember that Bidstart was a bit slow at the beginning. Most of my sales appear to be "trial" sales to establish a comfort level ... it will get better.

Anthony Arlotta

My sales are not soaring either as a matter of fact all I am getting is complaints from my customers and appear to be loosing some of my regulars. On BidStart I hardly had a day go by that I didn't have a sale, now it has been 5 days, I am getting concerned.

Michael Duehr

I wouldn't say my sales are soaring either but that being I am noticing certain trends after being on Hipstamp for 5 months (Yes I was on here when Hipstamp was shut down for awhile)

1st not as many sales,but the average order is for a higher dollar amount with having less items sold. (Average item price is higher)
2nd different mix of items being sold. (Seems to be a slightly different mix of buyers then was on Bidstart,some buyers that came over from Bidstart,some that I hadn't seen on Bidstart for a long,long time and a number of newer buyers that I have never seen before)

That being said the last two weeks the sales are way down but understandable,as a little over 2 weeks ago there were only about 280 sellers on Hipstamp now there are about 540 sellers. The number of items on here have exploded in the last 2 weeks also. Also during that time with the transfer of all the information Hipstamp seemed at times to be slower then normal,we had a holiday here in the States.

Short term all the buyers are on a bit of learning curve. That will take a little bit of time. First is learning where things are and then how to use. (Some things things still do need to be tweeked yet to make them better) Those will get there,but the down side is we are in a crash course because of the all the factors with Bidstart. We may or may not like it but it is what it is.

Long term though there are promising signs that this will be far better then what we had on Bidstart and this may leave Ebay in the dust. But it's getting from point A to point B that will take a little time.

Jerry Burkhart

I think this site has huge potential. we will see but that is my prediction :-) it has a nice feel to it.

(puts the pom poms away)

Thomas Keesling

Having started this thread, let me clarify my "soaring" comment. I have less than a thousand listings in my store at HS and I don't recall if I ever had over a thousand at my BS/SW store. I rarely sold via auctions at BS/SW. I'm not a dealer and never advertised at BS/SW, or anywhere else for that matter. I've never had a store elsewhere. I don't maintain a customer list, but could easily create one from my spreadsheet. I sold a few thousand dollars worth of stamps annually at BS/SW, but sales plummeted in the last three years. About 16 months ago, I stopped selling outside the US and, for now, continue to limit sales to the US. So, given all of that and the fact my BS/SW feedback has still not shown up here at HS, I feel very good about the volume of sales I've had in recent weeks. It has come as a pleasant surprise. Maybe it's a fluke and won't continue or maybe it's a return to the good old days of BS/SW. We'll see!

Ron Lenke

Thomas, can I ask why you stopped selling outside the US? I've been weighing that same matter.

Ted Tyszka

While I do ship overseas, I can understand someone not wanting to deal with it, as I have had my own share of problems related to it. The main thing for me is that shipments take sooooo long these days. I have placed disclaimers in my listings before, on ebay, advising to allow 6 weeks for delivery. But, sure enough, after 5 weeks, the customer has filed a complaint with ebay and PayPal for non-delivery, and now you, the seller, are SOL, because PayPal is going to jack you for the purchase price. I have not had that issue on either BidStart or here, which is why I still offer international shipping. First time it happens, though . . .

Gina Brewer

My sales increased nicely at bidstart just prior to it being shut down. I have made a few sales here on HS. My guess is that bidstart customers that checked out HS before bidstart shut down and the migration of stores to HS saw a new site with alot of issue tthat needed to be worked out. Mark and his team have done a great job of making improvements to HS I believe when these customers revisit the site they will come back. Just need a little patience. That's my thought anyway.

Anthony Arlotta

I may have panicked too soon, yesterday and today I have received some orders. I also added the pre-approval request for those customers that like to shop and pay later. I have have one request already. Things are looking up, hope it stays that way.

Derek Marjoram

nice site, will take some time before people associate the name as a site which sells stamps . still waiting for it to work for me

Paul Cook

Anthony,
All of a sudden orders are coming in. I think something got fixed. I called PayPal yesterday Morning to find out if there was something wrong with my account ( They said there was nothing wrong ). Within 15 min I got an order. I've had 6 orders since then. After almost a week of no orders it is very welcome. I don't know what happened but I'm glad everything is back to normal.
Paul

Steven Wilner

My sales are about what I was getting on Bidstart the last few months. Mostly some of my regulars have come over here since I let them know I am running a 40% off sale this month - just to get them to come over. I had a couple of single stamp sales to a few new customers - they may be just testing the waters. Overall - I have sold more here since the site came back online last month - than the entire time my store was on SGM. I think it will take time for alot of buyers to get used to the site. As a seller I am still trying to get used to everything myself and it is taking me much longer to do my manual additions. Steve

Paul Cook

Anouther 6 orders. All small ( under $10 ). But now we are getting activity. Maybe PayPal had a problem they didn't want to admit.
Paul

Steven Mahler

Paul, I believe it is tied to the newsletter that you sent out. After a week of no activity, within 12 hours of my letter went out I had 5 sales. Another store had the identical activity.

Thomas Keesling

Ron Lenke asked: "Thomas, can I ask why you stopped selling outside the US? I've been weighing that same matter."
In a nutshell, it was a shortage of time and frustration with the constantly changing rates and rules at USPS (and Customs) and changing policies and practices at PayPal. I didn't have time to keep up.

I had a pair of minor problems arise with overseas shipments, but both were resolved. One was a long-delayed shipment that ultimately arrived and the other was a buyer in Portugal whose stamps were returned to me rather than being delivered to the buyer. It was never clear why that happened. The buyer filed a claim with PayPal and the stamps arrived back in my mail box that day or the next. He refused to withdraw the claim and I relisted the stamps.

If international shipping/customs processing ever becomes simpler again or I find more free time again, I'd start selling overseas again.

Ted Tyszka

I once shipped an order to Guatemala which took about one day shy of forever to reach my customer. Guatemala has 5-digit postal codes (e.g. 01004) , so the envelope had been sent to Massachusetts and spent several months there before some bright postal employee evidently figured out there is no city named Guatemala in that state.

Jeri Stathas

i ship quite a bit of International mail. I always type my labels (all caps) and with the exception of Canada & the UK, I put the postal code first, then the City and then the Country on a separate line. I generally use International First Class mail and as long as the envelope is under 4 oz, there is no need for a customs label.

Michael Duehr

Jeri,

Customs forms must also be used for any first class international mail containing dutiable goods per the USPS
IMM. Any merchandise even if it's shipped by first class international mail MUST have a customs form.

Per the USPS web site

2 Customs Forms (CN22V2) API

2.1 Customs Forms (CN22V2) Request

A PS Form 2976, Customs Declaration CN22 – Sender’s Declaration, must be used on all First-Class Mail International® package size items (small packets), First-Class Package International Service™ items, Priority Mail International® Small Flat Rate Boxes, M-bags, and certain Priority Mail Express International™ items. Refer to the International Mail Manual (IMM®) at pe.usps.com for additional information.

Also use this form on a First-Class Mail International mailpiece or Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelopes if ANY of the following applies:
The mailpiece weighs 16 ounces or more (the maximum weight limit is 4 pounds);
The mailpiece exceeds 3/4 inch in thickness;
The mailpiece contains dutiable goods.

https://www.usps.com/business/web-tools-apis/custom-form-label-api.htm

It is also included in the IMM 242.2

242.1 Content Eligibility
Subject to applicable weight and size limits, any article that is otherwise
acceptable and not prohibited by the Postal Service or the country of
destination may be mailed at the First-Class Mail International price.
242.2 Customs Forms Required
242.21 Dutiable Merchandise
The following conditions apply to dutiable merchandise mailed with
First-Class Mail International service:
a. Any merchandise sent to another country may be subject to duty under
the customs regulations of that country. The Postal Service does not
maintain or provide information concerning the assessment of customs
duty.
b. First-Class Mail International items may contain dutiable merchandise
unless the country of destination prohibits dutiable merchandise in
letters. (See the Individual Country Listings.)
c. When mailing an article that may be dutiable, the sender must use
PS Form 2976 (see 123) and must also follow the special instructions
under “Customs Forms Required” and “Observations” in the Individual
Country Listings.
d. The maximum value for dutiable merchandise is $400. Items exceeding
$400 must be mailed using Global Express Guaranteed service, Priority
Mail Express International service, or Priority Mail International service.

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/imm/full/imm.pdf

Doug Noernberg

Kind of funny, but every time I try to use customs forms for contents that fit in a letter-sized envelope, the postal clerk all but refuses to take it. Kind of a pain to insist that "dutiable goods" are enclosed. Frustrating.