When a buyer pays you with PayPal, PayPal charges you a fee of 30c + 2.9%. None of that fee in any way goes to HipStamp (we charge you an 8% Final Value Fee which you pay on the first of the month). The amount PayPal charges has been the same for many years.
If you sell an item for 45c, with free shipping, and the buyer pays you 45c via PayPal, PayPal would then take 34c. However, in general, you should ensure that the cost of doing business is reflected within the price of the items you sell, and that your shipping charges are set accordingly.
In taking a quick look at your account, it's currently on extended vacation mode - which means buyers won't be able to place sales with you (outside of offers, etc. which you can still accept). You can review your Vacation Settings from the Store page or Global Settings page. If you're looking to currently accept sales, you definitely will want to ensure you do not have Vacation Mode turned on: https://www.hipstamp.com/members/tools/global-settings
If you have any other questions, please feel free to Contact Us using the Contact Us link in our footer, and we'll be happy to help.
I try not to list stamps that are selling for less than 50 cents, and most of the time I try to keep things above a $. There is just no way to make any money selling low price stamps unless they are combined into packets.
This was a set of 2 German stamps at catalogue price I can't imagine why a buyer would only purchase 1 set of stamps. I try to keep prices low so customer do not think I am asking too much. but I do have to send the stamps I can't just say sorry you haven't bought enough....... I imagined buyer would purchase more than one set , but alas no, going on a long cruise in a few days time maybe I can come back with a better feeling than I have now. I have been refunded by paypal for the stamps just sold. Have sold very little since I started 4 months ago that you for your insight I do understand what uou are saying I have always been a collector and now find I have to downsize getting too old for this
Thanks for your comment I will try and make it more business like I was aware that a percentage was deducted and was informed it was 2.65% and I find that they have taken a percentage of the postage too its that part of the deductions too?? Not all my stamps are cheap and I have listed many sets not just single stamps ..................away for 6 weeks so I will come back refreshed
When you sell low-priced items, the onesies will get you every time. Sometimes you break even, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you just squeak out a meager profit of a cent or two. Just a way of life. Often new buyers will buy one or two items from a seller they don't know just to find out how the seller handles sales. In the long run, if you have the patience for it, things will end up in the positive.
Given the figures being quoted for overseas sales it still beggars belief that many sellers here refuse to business outside of the US. I have contacted 3-4 sellers to express my interest in many $100's of stamps they have for sale only to be told that they wont ship to Australia. Is it really that difficult....I doubt it.
I agree - how hard can it be to address an envelope and put a few stamps on it! Here in Australia we HAVE to use International Postage stamps - not any odds and ends to make up the $3 postage, I have been told there is a TAX on overseas stamps and they must be marked International Post. So far most people I have bought from DO post to Australia and it is great to get an envelope covered with lots of older USA stamps THAT SOAK OFF EASILY! NO difficulty from you in USA for ME!
I would starve to death if I only shipped to my home country of Canada. Australia has always been a good market even when the currency runs a race with the Canadian $ to go lower. I will ship anywhere that has a functioning postal system. Over the years there have been a few loses but less than would get shoplifted at a stamp show or in a stamp store. If US sellers want to be lazy and ignore the worldwide market that just leaves more customers for me.
I sure don't have any problems shipping outside the USA. As Dennis said there are occasional losses, but those have even occured within the USA. I just recently sent an order to Australia that arrived in 6 days.
I've never had an item go missing, and things usually arrive from the US in around 4-6 business days.
My problem is that despite having a wants list of 10600-ish items, they can be very hard to source given that they are all pre 1936 British Empire.
Pages like the one below from my collection are very hard to fill so I find it frustrating when sellers have items I'm after, at good prices, yet refuse to ship to Australia!
Those of you that do ship here thank you and be sure if you have something I'm after I will buy it!
I post all over the world, not only HipStamps. I am in Australia, nothing has ever gone missing. One thing one does not do is make the envelope look like a pretty Christmas Tree, keep it simple, no one will take any notice off it. Photos enclosed, do not bend, etc, are warning bells to the rip off postal employee
Elizabeth, Quote"Here in Australia we HAVE to use International Postage stamps"End Quote That is incorrect. The international Postage Stamps have no GST. So how I get around this is add 10% to the postage cost. So an item sent to the US at 50 grams is AUD$2.95, add 10% to this makes it AUD$3.25. So I put a minimum of AUD$3.25 of stamps of older 1980's issues for postage, I have never had one sent back.
Wow I was charging 2.45 at first how wrong I was........ I will still have to raise it again a great deal of money if only purchasing 2 sets of stamps still its no fault of ours, maybe the postage will go down now that the CEO has left and saving 4 million
I purchase a lot of stamps from a number of dealers and have found service great with no problems whatsoever and even postage is good, I love surfing the stamp sites but find selling stamps for the first time hair raising
Hi Patricia, I'm also in Australia and similar to Sam, add 50c to the basic postal rates to cover packaging and the minimum PayPal fee. So within Australia my postage is $1.50, NZ it's $2.45, Asia it's $2.60 and the rest of the world $3.50, with free postage on orders $50 and over. You should also consider setting a minimum value for which you will sell a stamp, for me it's $1.00, even if it shows a cv of 20c (as long as you offer good quality and not 5c space fillers).
Fees here are not just the 8% mentioned earlier by Mark, but also the cost of your basic store of $US5.00 per month. If you generate AU$100 per month in sales on HipStamp, then your costs here are approximately 15% in total (US$5.00 = AU$6.60, or 6.6% of AU$100 sales/month).
OMG I have so much to learn and I am very grateful for the suggestions, I have never had a head for business will change everything on my return from Holidays
Hi, I've been a buyer on hipstamps for about 4 months now. All of my purchases have gone well.....until today. I spent about 1/2 hr going through a US sellers offerings. I placed 3 items into my cart for a total of around $7.50 only to be told on checkout that the seller doesn't ship to Canada and that I have to delete the items. What a waste of my time. Perhaps the seller wants a wall on this border also? Thanks for your time.
Wow. I would think that if a Seller excludes you, there should be big red flags on the listing to garner your attention to that unfortunate fact. Sorry you had to waste your time.
I would recommend when you make a purchase either shortly before or after check the shipping tab and you will not run into that problem. Different sellers ship to various places for specific reasons.
The shipping is the first thing I check, with a dealer from whom I haven't previously dealt with. I want to know what I'm up against before I start shopping.
Unfortunately Ted All postal charges have risen beyond anyone have thought due to no smail mail anymore so they have to make their money somehow to keep open, I would imagine this is a problem all over the world
I agree with you, Patricia. I'm not faulting anybody. I'm just saying, as Andrew did, any buyer should find out all the terms of a sale before starting a shopping spree.
Here in Australia most of the Post Offices are franchised.....only major centres and of course the sorting and so on are under Australia Post Most Franchises now sell heaps of other things - books, chocolates, phone etc. etc. hoping to keep their offices going. I don't begrudge the price of postage IF their service were 100% efficient and reliable. Of course the cost goes up not annually but often after a few months and then it gets really annoying - and not just 1 or 2 cents but 5 -25! I guess we all have to wear it - but collectors of all sorts of things still need the postal service (even Ebay etc.) I try and make my purchases enough to warrent the postage cost and hope that when it is stamps the seller will be good and put lots of nice stamps on the outside. I would like to think that having sold over $195,00 worth of stamps - collectors will keep buying and hold the postage rates at a non increasing rate (Dreaming I guess)
Comments
When a buyer pays you with PayPal, PayPal charges you a fee of 30c + 2.9%. None of that fee in any way goes to HipStamp (we charge you an 8% Final Value Fee which you pay on the first of the month). The amount PayPal charges has been the same for many years.
If you sell an item for 45c, with free shipping, and the buyer pays you 45c via PayPal, PayPal would then take 34c. However, in general, you should ensure that the cost of doing business is reflected within the price of the items you sell, and that your shipping charges are set accordingly.
In taking a quick look at your account, it's currently on extended vacation mode - which means buyers won't be able to place sales with you (outside of offers, etc. which you can still accept). You can review your Vacation Settings from the Store page or Global Settings page. If you're looking to currently accept sales, you definitely will want to ensure you do not have Vacation Mode turned on:
https://www.hipstamp.com/members/tools/global-settings
If you have any other questions, please feel free to Contact Us using the Contact Us link in our footer, and we'll be happy to help.
I have contacted 3-4 sellers to express my interest in many $100's of stamps they have for sale only to be told that they wont ship to Australia.
Is it really that difficult....I doubt it.
Here in Australia we HAVE to use International Postage stamps - not any odds and ends to make up the $3 postage, I have been told there is a TAX on overseas stamps and they must be marked International Post.
So far most people I have bought from DO post to Australia and it is great to get an envelope covered with lots of older USA stamps THAT SOAK OFF EASILY!
NO difficulty from you in USA for ME!
My problem is that despite having a wants list of 10600-ish items, they can be very hard to source given that they are all pre 1936 British Empire.
Pages like the one below from my collection are very hard to fill so I find it frustrating when sellers have items I'm after, at good prices, yet refuse to ship to Australia!
Those of you that do ship here thank you and be sure if you have something I'm after I will buy it!
I am in Australia, nothing has ever gone missing.
One thing one does not do is make the envelope look like a pretty Christmas Tree, keep it simple, no one will take any notice off it.
Photos enclosed, do not bend, etc, are warning bells to the rip off postal employee
Quote"Here in Australia we HAVE to use International Postage stamps"End Quote
That is incorrect. The international Postage Stamps have no GST.
So how I get around this is add 10% to the postage cost.
So an item sent to the US at 50 grams is AUD$2.95, add 10% to this makes it AUD$3.25.
So I put a minimum of AUD$3.25 of stamps of older 1980's issues for postage, I have never had one sent back.
Fees here are not just the 8% mentioned earlier by Mark, but also the cost of your basic store of $US5.00 per month. If you generate AU$100 per month in sales on HipStamp, then your costs here are approximately 15% in total (US$5.00 = AU$6.60, or 6.6% of AU$100 sales/month).
I've been a buyer on hipstamps for about 4 months now. All of my purchases have gone well.....until today. I spent about 1/2 hr going through a US sellers offerings. I placed 3 items into my cart for a total of around $7.50 only to be told on checkout that the seller doesn't ship to Canada and that I have to delete the items. What a waste of my time. Perhaps the seller wants a wall on this border also?
Thanks for your time.
I don't begrudge the price of postage IF their service were 100% efficient and reliable.
Of course the cost goes up not annually but often after a few months and then it gets really annoying - and not just 1 or 2 cents but 5 -25!
I guess we all have to wear it - but collectors of all sorts of things still need the postal service (even Ebay etc.)
I try and make my purchases enough to warrent the postage cost and hope that when it is stamps the seller will be good and put lots of nice stamps on the outside.
I would like to think that having sold over $195,00 worth of stamps - collectors will keep buying and hold the postage rates at a non increasing rate (Dreaming I guess)