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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 13:13:04 GMT
A bit about our private life selling stamps!
As a stamp seller a lot of time has and is taken to source the best cheapest stock possible to make for a great selling environment.
It is hard work trying to constantly find replacement stock. Still nothing new!
But a very clever person has followed are eBay business over a period of time and has collected our sales info and has and still is offering the exact stock at the best prices I have ever come across. Over the last 3 months or so we have built a strong business relationship.
It has been a long hard journey but our stock has grown to an unbeleivable level.
It is starting to pay off big time with the people we use to supply us with all the bits and pieces that our business needs to make it all work.
So my point is if you are selling do not stop it can only get better as time goes by.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2013 5:47:27 GMT
So we are at the end of our 3rd year apprenticeship and still growing in knowledge and wisdom, having a great time as well in between the confusion, tiredness and at times heart ache.
Our lot as sellers has become very clear now. We sell Australia only and mainly used from 1990 to very recent.
Each day we offer a different part of this stamp era we call our selling area.
I say "we" because there is four of us from my family that do all the work as a joint effort.
We only sell quality stamps unless described differently.
If I need a chunk of money in a hurry I sell my KGV's but only when under pressure and I have not won a KGV lot for a long time. This area will take up the best part of our 4th year apprenticeship. I have a plan so it is a good way to start.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2013 8:59:22 GMT
The most important way to start selling stamps on a shoe string is kiloware.
Kiloware is to experiment with the damaged stamps and the rest is, sort, grade,
soak and store for easy use when preparing for an image to list that set etc.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2013 22:40:51 GMT
The stamps from kiloware are still very important for us. The stamps we take off paper are all sold on one day and it is the only items we sell that day.
We have split Australia decimal into two areas. One being from 1992 to 2002 and the other from 2003 to very recent.
We list 1992 to 2002 one week and the other 2003 to very recent the next week. We list and relist 120 to 150 sets per the listing day.
We spend about 7 weeks a year taking stamps off paper it is very important to our income that we do this as the profit from the effort makes for a very good return.
We have built a business by taking stamps off paper.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2013 23:12:34 GMT
It costs us $20 per kilo delivered for stamps straight from a charity source and it takes me 2 weeks to sort the stamps into denominations which is 50c, 55c and 60c. It then takes my wife about 5 days to sort them into sets.
We loose about half the stamps when sorting. We end up with about 25,000 stamps on paper at a cost of one and a quarter cents per stamp. They sell for about 40c each.
It takes us about one day to take 1,000 stamps off paper which we do for 5 days a week and one day per week we put all the stamps into stock books.
I can not stress enough how important this process is for the survival of our business.
The taking of stamps off paper happens from January to the middle of February as stamp sales all but stop in this period mentioned. At present I am sorting kiloware. My wife will start sorting in a couple of days time.
Everything is heating up for the annual taking stamps off paper family event!
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Ryan
Moderator 
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749 
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Oct 30, 2013 3:27:12 GMT
It costs us $20 per kilo delivered for stamps straight from a charity source and it takes me 2 weeks to sort the stamps into denominations which is 50c, 55c and 60c. It then takes my wife about 5 days to sort them into sets. We loose about half the stamps when sorting. We end up with about 25,000 stamps on paper at a cost of one and a quarter cents per stamp. They sell for about 40c each. It takes us about one day to take 1,000 stamps off paper which we do for 5 days a week and one day per week we put all the stamps into stock books. Interesting stats for me. I soak batches of particular size, 40g for trimmed on-paper and 16g for off-paper (average of about 200 stamps per batch, more if small-sized definitives, less if large-sized commemoratives). This fills about 4 1/2 pages in an A4-sized drying book. The amount of time required is variable depending on what kind of gum I might have to fight with - 1950s USA and Canada come off their paper with zero problems and can be finished very quickly, whereas KGV-era British stamps might take twice as long. In general, however, a batch of this size takes about 2 hours to complete. If the stamps were a worldwide mix, then sorting the contents of a 10-page drying book into country piles might take about 45 minutes or so. That would be a very busy day for me, soaking 5 sinks full of stamps to get 1000 done per day! Ryan |
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I.L.S.
Departed
Rest in Peace
I am in Clearfield, Pa. I love US Classic covers!
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Post by I.L.S. on Oct 30, 2013 12:31:02 GMT
I once tried using the bathtub! I worked like a champ but the only real issue was having enough room to blot and press to dry them. If one could figure that out you could corner/flood the marketplace! And before you ask - NO - I wasn't in the tub with them...lol Although admittedly the thought did cross my mind!  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2013 23:02:07 GMT
Ryan It nice to see that you have got your work load worked out. It helps a lot to know what can be done before having to go elsewhere.
I keep buying very recent kiloware and sorting until we have 5kgs to take off paper or 25,000 stamps. That is why I like to start sorting towards the end of October.
ILS my wife just really intensely disliked me taking stamps off paper in her kitchen. I would have stamps drying all over her chest freezer, breakfast bar and kitchen benches.
After some very harsh words from my wife about soaking stamps and her kitchen my mind went to drying books.
After a lot of experimenting I found that if I do things to right way we can get 250 stamps to a drying book and with four drying books it holds a days work for two people.
By using extra blotting paper we have found we only need to press our stamps for 24hrs. So we have 4 drying books we can use each day
and as my wife says that these drying books make everything so neat and tidy. She was so impressed she started helping me take stamp off paper and we have never looked back.
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