INTRODUCTION
Stamp
dealing perhaps surprisingly, is one of those businesses which
can
provide a very handsome and regular income without the need for
any
experience, and with the injection of little or no capital at all.
In the latter
case, many dealers start trading with the
surplus of their
own, often gigantic, collections.
Granted,
to set out one's
stall with a wide range of tempting, rare
specimens, each
one carefully graded, accurately described,
and bearing a
high but usually realistic price tag, demands a
great deal of
experience, cash, and hours of straining one's
eyes looking for
the minutest detail that will differentiate a
stamp worth
several thousands of pounds from one worth a token
5p. Personally I would go spare at the thought of
devoting
many weeks of
investigative work with eyes sore and strained,
to find my
goodies bag of recently acquired and potentially
valuable
philatelic specimens contains nothing but fodder for
the juvenile
collector.
Several
possibilities exist for the sale of stamps and most offer a very
good
living, without the pre-requisite of experience or capital.
Of
course if you have a very good knowledge of stamps and feel you can
profit
by doing so, then by all means enter the world of the specialist
stamp
dealer offering rare and highly competitive and to my mind, more
than
a little cut-throat. They live, a lot of
them, at their wits' end,
and
I can't help but wonder if the search for a little extra income and
prestige
is worth the pain they go through.
But
not all of the bigger dealers struggle in this way. Some seem to
make
a positive fortune for themselves whilst never suffering any apparent
stress,
and they proceed happily in a business they enjoy, never seeming
to
put a foot wrong.
This
manual though, will lead you through the less high-powered ways
in
which to become a stamp dealer, primarily since the alternative
requires
an experience that can only come with time and practice.
Ask
any dealer in rare specimens and he or she has probably collected
stamps
avidly since childhood. We don't want to
wait that long - so
off
we go.
WHAT
OPPORTUNITIES EXIST?
The
scope of your business depends largely upon what time and capital
you
have, or are prepared to invest in your new venture, and what previous
experience
you have in the identification and classification of stamps.
Remember
though that to operate a highly successful stamp business, no
previous
experience is necessary. I reiterate
that unless you enter the
world
of the high-class stamp dealer, you are unlikely to need more than
a
small amount of capital, and perhaps only an hour or two a night, with
which
to make your business work.
Much
also depends on whether you intend to sell your stamps to the
customer
personally, or alternatively offer them by mail.
Many
people deal entirely in the provision of stamps by approval, that is,
they
send suitable postal selections to their customers, who then return
what
items they do not require, together with payment for those items
they
intend keeping.
Others
sell their stock at the many Stamp Collectors' Fairs and Flea markets
around
the country. Others simply packet their
stamps into saleable
lots
which they then supply to other businesses and so have little or
no
contact with the ultimate collector.
Many dealers operate via a sales
list
issued regularly to customers who then pay cash with order for the
items
they require.
WHAT
EXPERIENCE DO I NEED?
When
you think of the stereotype image of the philatelist or stamp
collector,
with magnifying glass in hand, his mind focused exclusively
on
that one small piece of paper almost buried in the mounds of
reference
books and albums that litter the scene, it's hard, perhaps
impossible
to believe that anyone could start a business dealing in
perhaps
many thousands, even millions of stamps each year, whilst
possessing
not one iota of previous experience or knowledge. But it
is
in fact one of the easiest things in the world to do, as long of
course,
as no long-time collectors of rare specimens ask your opinion
on
a subject that has long baffled even them.
The chances though,
of
you ever actually selling anything to one of them is extremely
remote,
and all you need feel obliged to offer them in the early days
is
a little politeness and perhaps a space filler or two for their
offspring's
collections. The new and inexperienced
stamp dealer will
almost
certainly deal in items for the lower and beginners' end of
the
market.
Some
deal in approvals for one category of collector, perhaps the
schoolboy
or girl, or else for the collectors of stamps from individual
countries. Others deal in all categories of collector up
to, but not
including,
the serious collector of rare and interesting specimens, who
at
this stage in his collecting career must look at vast quantities of
stamps
before he finds the one he wants - if he finds the one he wants.
This
type of customers is best left to the big boys in their exclusive
City
premises. They've been in the business
for years, and quite frankly
I
think they deserve every penny of the profit they make when you
consider
the long, long hours of work and many pounds of capital outlay
they
must put into their ventures.
We,
in this manual, will stick to ground level where our profits will
reflect
the amount of work we are prepared to put into our businesses,
whether
they be part of full-time ventures.
Incidentally, it is almost
entirely
up to you as to whether you operate part-time or extend to
provide
a full-time service, though it's always better to work part-time
until
you feel confident, and competent enough to make the transition.
WHAT
CAPITAL DO I NEED?
For
the purposes of selling stamps by approval, or preparing packets
for
sale in shops, even selling stamp at collectors' fairs and flea markets,
many
new dealers can get by with little more than the cost of their first
advertisements
or stall fee at their chosen fair. As
stated earlier,
many
new stamp dealers start trading with the surplus of their own,
mammoth
collections and accumulations. All that
remains or them to do
is
decide which selling medium appeals to them most and to prepare their
stock
accordingly.
My
advice to the more determined amongst you is not to limit your
attentions
to one sales method or any particular category of customer.
It
is entirely possible, time permitting, to operate an approvals
service
during the week and to spend one's weekends selling at Flea markets,
Collectors'
Fairs, or even the more up-market Stamp Fairs.
I've
attended a few Stamp Fairs in my time and I can assure you that
the
majority of dealers do not trade exclusively in Penny Blacks and
the
fakes and forgeries of the philatelic world.
Many set up their
stalls
with plastic containers full of the unlikeliest looking of
specimens,
or with albums into which are sorted the stamps of one
particular
country or theme. If it sounds unlikely
they'll make much
profit
at these venues then I ask you, why do they turn up time and
time
again.
For
those starting with no backlog of stamps, then certainly the
injection
of œ100 will provide enough stock to start up your business,
as
long as you remember that for the first few months at least, your
profits
should be ploughed back almost one hundred percent for the
purpose
of increasing the range, quality and quantity of your stock.
If
you have œ500 at your disposal then your problems are over. This
sum
would be more than adequate to finance a level of stock sufficient
to
begin an approval business, and, to stock a stall at local Flea markets
and
Collectors' Fairs.
WHERE
DO I BEGIN?
You
can make no finer start than to arm yourself with copies of the many
specialist
magazines catering for stamp dealers and collectors of all
types
and standards. The following are but a
few:
'STAMP
AND COIN MART'
'STAMPS'
'THE
PHILATELIC EXPORTER'
'STAMP
LOVER'
'STAMP
MAGAZINE'
'STAMPS
MONTHLY'
'STAMP
HISTORY NEWS'
Remember
that other magazines, whilst not specialising in stamps or
stamp
collecting also carry advertisements placed by dealers. Most
notable
amongst these is 'Exchange and Mart' with its huge
Leisure-Collecting
section part of which is dedicated to stamp collecting.
Study
the advertisements placed by firms buying stock as well as those
selling
it. Look at the diaries of events:
fairs, auctions, exhibitions,
and
so on, and enter as many dates in your diary as time and resources
will
allow you to investigate further by way of a personal visit.
As
you glance through the advertisements in these magazines consider what
they
have to offer YOU. Can you for instance
buy a cheap bulk lot of
world
mix stamps with which to fill the pages of a hundred or so approvals
booklets,
or perhaps half a dozen or so plastic containers with the
mountain
of stamps so many collectors just love to rummage through?
Is
there any business idea contained in those advertisements that attracts
you,
and which you feel might be worth investigating further for possible
incorporation
into your own, soon to be an established venture?
Buy
the same magazines for two or three consecutive weeks and study
those
advertisements that appealed to you on first viewing. If the
same
advertisement crops up every week then someone, somewhere is
operating
a very viable business, since no-one is mad enough to keep
on
paying money for advertisements that don't earn something in return.
Consider
why certain advertisements appear week after week, or month
after
month in the case of many of the bigger stamp collecting magazines.
Do
they for instance provide a large range of approval types, do make
bargain
offers, or are they making an irresistible introductory offer
with
which to attract new customers?
When
you have read as much as you feel necessary, and visited as many
fairs
and auctions as you can, perhaps even joined one or two approvals
services
as a customer yourself to see how the operation works, then
it's
time to decide which course you will take.
Only you can make this
decision
and it's not one to be taken lightly, and usually depends
primarily
on the time you have to devote to your business. If time
is
not a problem then take on as many types of trading methods as you
feel
comfortable with. One might surface as
ideal; others you might
decide
are not for you and can be sold, or the stock assimilated into
a
more appropriate or enjoyable proposition.
PLAN
ONE - RICH REWARDS FOR PRECIOUS LITTLE EFFORT
Several
years ago, as an extension of my already established business
selling
postcards and ephemera at local Collectors' Fairs and Flea markets,
I
decided to add stamps to my stock.
I
worked hard and long, suffered tremendous eyestrain, and ended with a
massive
outlay for stock, and not a penny profit to show for it.
My
stamps were then sold in bulk at a fraction of their actual cost
to
myself. I had you see, decided to sell
my stamps individually or
in
sets, each stamp painstakingly identified and itemised (a labour
or
love in itself to the inexperienced) and neatly filed by country
of
origin. My inexperience had let me down
and I realise now that
stamps
should only be catalogued in this manner by someone with lots
of
time to spare and a lot of experience to boot.
I didn't know what
the
selective customers wanted, and whilst they flocked to other stalls
offering
items in a similar manner, they avoided my stock like the plague.
I
was selling juvenile, and frankly, rubbish stamps which no-one really
wanted
in other than approval books, or else in bulk.
The
end of this side of my business came the day I saw a young man
arrive
at the fair with about ten of those plastic storage boxes that
now
are so readily available. He set them
all out on his stall.
In
each was the biggest load of junk I'd even seen; some stamps were
on
paper, some weren't Some were on
envelopes, some were still in
batches
as taken from their original perforated sheets.
In
came the day's customers, who flocked guess where? Yes - to the
young
man's stall, or should I say 'stalls', for he had taken more than one.
This
action should really have spoken for itself since the rental for
these
stalls is anything but cheap. He was
obviously expecting a good
days'
profit and I don't think in all the time I knew him that I ever
saw
him disappointed at the end of the day.
His customers simply rifled
their
way through his boxes much like kiddies in a bran tub. They then
presented
him with handfuls of stamps, and here came the only real
work
I ever saw him undertake. He simply
counted the stamps they
offered,
then multiplied them by 2, or 2p per stamp was what he asked.
He
then put the purchases into a packet and took his cash.
Sorry,
I tell a lie. He did actually have
another job to do, in that
at
convenient intervals during the day, and most certainly at the end
of
the day, he swept up the stamps that littered the floor beneath his
stall
as a result of his buyers' mad panic to reach the potential
gems
lurking at the bottom of the boxes.
And
I have seen his customers flaunting their gems, for the young man
bought
his stamps in bulk, massive bulk, and did not to my knowledge,
sort
them out in the slightest. He was
unlikely to find any extremely
high
value stamps amongst the huge bargain lots he bought from his
wholesalers,
but these bargain lots, of necessity to the wholesaler
and
buyer-dealer will contain a fair smattering of 'out of the 5p token
value'
range.
All
he needed in addition to his stock, were the boxes he threw the
stamps
into, and the packets for their neat presentation to his customers.
Oh
yes - and a sizeable container for his takings.
PLAN
2 SELLING STAMPS BY APPROVAL
One
major advantage of a stamp approval business is the ability to work
in
the comfort of one's own home. The
dealer might venture outdoors
only
to post stock to his clients, then sit back to await the return
of
unwanted items and a cheque for stamps retained.
The
approvals dealer must however often be prepared to work a little
harder
at advertising, and in the preparing of items for customers'
inspection.
Such
dealers exist in great profusion as again the specialist collectors'
magazine
will prove. The approvals service is
advertised and potential
customers
are invited to send for a selection of stamps, often with a small
gift
as an inducement.
Stock
is presented in approvals booklets or on stockcards, sometimes
loose
in small boxes, and is usually arranged thematically or by country
of
origin. I have however, come by dealers
who offer a real hotch-potch
of
stamps loose in small boxes, all stamps having a common price.
Imagine
the small amount of work involved in the presentation here, but
for
some collectors a delve into the unknown is like receiving a cheque
from
Littlewoods!
The
dealer, now in contact with potential customers, then selects suitable
items
and sends a batch with not too high a financial cost to new customers.
When
the approvals book or stockcard is returned with unwanted items and
payment
for stamps retained, the dealer then seeks further items to send
to
the customer at periods as previously determined.
In
my experience, the vast majority of customers are extremely honest and
once
a first successful transaction has taken place there is very little
reason
to suspect that future deals will not be similarly as trouble-free.
I
sell old postcards and ephemera by mail and would guess that out of
one
hundred customers, there will surface one of doubtful motives.
If
though I haven't sent that person a lot of stock which subsequently
becomes
'lost in the mail'. I cross him or her
off my customer list
and
mark the whole thing down to experience.
Then I forget about the
entire
incident and look for another one hundred customers - or should
I
say ninety nine.
Customers
come in all shapes and sizes, from the school boy or girl
wanting
the big, beautiful, thematic types, to the usually older person
wanting
to increase his collection of one-country specimens, or perhaps
his
or her world-wide collection of better than boyhood beauties.
You
are unlikely, except with a few highly specialised approvals dealers
to
find anyone requiring or being offered valuable stamps by approval.
Such
collectors are highly selective and prefer to visit dealers
personally
to inspect their stocks.
Many
approval dealers offer gifts, discounts and novelties as incentives
to
new customers. You may for instance say
'œ5 of stamps free with
request
for approvals'. What you then do is
select 100 stamps, each
bearing
a nominal catalogue value of 5p or more, and send these items
in
a packet along with your first selection of approvals, chosen to
represent
the collecting interests of the potential new customer, as
indicated
in his initial response to your advertisement.
The
following inducements appeared in recent advertisements in stamp
collector'
magazines:
'GOOD
DISCOUNT ON ALL ORDERS TAKEN'
'25%
DISCOUNT ON ORDERS OF œ1 AND OVER'
'100
BRITISH COMMONWEALTH PLUS 25 G.B. COMMEMORATIVES'
'STAMP
ALBUM FREE!'
Discounts
are sometimes offered to customers who buy over a stipulated
amount
of stock from each approval selection.
The discount might be in
the
form of 'further selections may be reduced by 10%', or by means of
a
discount voucher forwarded to the customer with his next batch of stamps.
Approval
stock can be housed in small booklets available from specialist
wholesalers
or else you can make suitable booklets yourself. Selections,
particularly
better or mint stamps, can be offered on stockcards, again
available
from specialist wholesalers. They can
also be presented, if
that
is the right word, in small robust boxes which often take the form
of
recycled photographic print containers.
In the latter case the
stamps
contained in each box must almost certainly be offered at a set
price
per stamp, unless of course you want to check and count literally
thousands
of stamps each time a customer returns unwanted stock to you.
If
making approvals booklets yourself, all you need are 4 pages of A4
plain
white paper and another, if you like thicker, coloured sheets.
Lay
the pages down horizontally, with the coloured piece on the bottom
and
fold the pages, then staple twice along the fold. Booklet accomplished!
Don't
try to put too many stamps into a booklet.
It looks unprofessional
and
increases the chances of stock being lost to a new 'customer'.
Non-mint
inexpensive specimens should be hinged approximately eight to
a
page with your price written under each stamp, or a standard price for
each
stamp indicated. With better than boy
trade stamps then it is
advisable
to indicate the appropriate Stanley Gibbons' catalogue number
beneath
each stamp along with the price you are asking.
Mint
and expensive stamps offered in approval booklets should be placed
in
black mounts that can then be stuck onto the album page. Suitable
mounts
are again available from specialist wholesalers.
These
custom-made mounts have the added advantage that once a stamp has
been
removed by the customer, the dealer can replace it with a similar
example,
thereby avoiding the often messy job of tearing out old hinges
and
replacing them with new. They also look
much more professional and
even
if you are offering only lesser value stamps, professionalism is
not
a bad thing to aim for.
Your
approvals booklet, or envelope that holds your stockcards, should
have
a label attached giving your business name, address and transaction
details. A small pro-forma sheet can be inserted for
the customers'
use
enabling them to indicate what stock has been taken and at what cost
to
them. They may also make comments on
your service in general and
inform
you of any specific needs they may have.
A
FEW EXAMPLES OF ADVERTISEMENTS FROM RECENT COLLECTORS' MAGAZINES
'COMMONWEALTH
APPROVALS. Most Countries available. Low
prices....'
'BRITISH
COMMONWEALTH and some world approvals from 1-10th catalogue..
'BUTTERFLIES
BIRDS PLUS 100 free.
Request
pictorial approvals, singles, sets, packets....'
'FREE
200 WORLD STAMPS Request approvals
prices at 2p, 5p, and 10p each....'
'GREAT
BRITAIN APPROVALS Fast efficient and
friendly service without
gimmicks....'
'SELECT
THE BEST from our superb 10p each
lots....'
'APPROVALS
BY COUNTRY OR THEME....'
'*
G.B * AUSTRALIA * EIRE Superb quality
approvals at competitive prices.
Many
other countries covered....'
'SINGLE
COUNTRY APPROVALS....'
'WORLD
APPROVALS - BAGS 2 stamps for 1p, 3p per stamp, 5p per stamp.
APPROVAL
CARDS stamps 15p upwards....'
'WORLD
APPROVALS Most countries, to suit
beginners and medium
collectors....'
'Do
you collect modern USED stamps? Do you
want to purchase single
items? Do you want to see approvals selections
nicely presented?
WHAT
CUSTOMER RECORDS DO I NEED TO KEEP?
Once
a potential customer has contacted you, you should make out a
reference
card specifically for him or her. The
record cards you find
at
good stationers are ideal since they often have accompanying index
cards
and plastic containers in which to keep them.
Some
keep record cards only for postal customers, but I prefer to have
one
for every customer, including those I meet only at the fairs. This
enables
me to contact them when suitable stock becomes available, and
also
to send them regular lists of those fairs I will be attending in
the
near future.
On
each card put the customers' name, address and telephone number,
together
with the means by which he came to know of your service.
Alongside,
list his or her interests down to the smallest detail.
On
the reverse side keep a record of all items sent to that customer
together
with the date of despatch. List also any
reminders you might
have
to make if the customer is late in replying to you. If several
weeks
and reminders pass by, it is time to take that record card from
your
box and write of both the loss AND the customer. The latter
will
of course occupy a space in your little black book of 'Never to
deal
with again' personnel.
It's
simply not worth the time or trouble it takes to chase up some
people,
particularly when it becomes obvious after two or three
reminders
that they have no intention of replying to you.
I prefer
to
channel my energy into the search for new customers as opposed to
chasing
one I don't want to have further contact with anyway. It
is
unwise to send more than a token amount of stock to non-established
customers,
but rather to test them before upping the amounts you send.
In
my opinion, two or three successful transactions should be
sufficient
to convince you of their suitability or otherwise for
trusted
customer status.
HOW
DO I KNOW IF AN ADVERTISEMENT IS WORKING
It
is vitally important that you know exactly how effective your
advertising
strategy is, since it is not unknown for a dealer to think
all
of his advertisements are paying good dividends when in actual fact
some
are losing him money.
Advertisements
can be coded to indicate the magazine they were placed
in,
and even to reveal the date of publication.
For instance an
advertisement
placed in 'Stamps' in June might after the dealer's
name
carry the reference 'SJ' (Stamps - June).
Make
a card out for each publication and when replies come in, score
each
on the card. You will soon know whether
one advertisement attract
more
new customers than another and hence you might consider it wise
to
cancel the one not seemingly paying its way.
Alternatively you might
still
consider it worthwhile to continue that advertisement, if you
find
from experience that the customers it draws tend to be long-staying
collectors
with obviously higher budgets.
PLAN
3 PACKET AND PACKAGE MAKING
A
further source of income may be made by 'packeting' stamps for sale
to
other dealers, or for display and sale in shops, and to customers
at
local fairs.
Other
stamp dealers are unlikely to want packets of stamps, unless in
vast
quantities and at a very low proportion of the intended cost to
the
customer. They might however, purchase
attractive packets, or rather
bundles,
of world stamps for sale to unspecialised collector. When
seeking
to sell to other dealers always check out their requirements
in
advance, since some would prefer to devote a few nights to preparing
these
items for themselves. Thereby keeping
their costs as low as possible.
Can
you remember as child going into local
sweetshops and newsagents and
drooling
over those display stands with their dozens of packets of stamps
from
this and that country, the square, triangular and even odder shaped
pictorial
beauties, that you couldn't wait to get home to have adorned
your
cherished collection? I can, but I
thought until very recently that
they
were prepared for sale by some huge business enterprise. It would
never
have entered my head that a humble kitchen table might be the
assembly
point for this lucrative business.
To
supply to shops, both local and further afield, make display boards
from
thick card or mounting board cut neatly to shape and provided with
an
attractive heading. Often rub-down
lettering available from most
stationers
will be more than adequate. The heading
should give some
business
title or else just indicate what the board contains, perhaps
with
a good logo or stamp montage to set the whole thing off. Staple
out
each board, overlapping see-through packets of stamps of one
particular
type. For instance, one board could hold
world stamps,
another
stamps from individual countries, and another big bold pictorials
or
thematics. Each individual packet should
have a printed folded
piece
of paper stapled to the top, indicating what the packet contains
even
if this is obvious to the naked eye. The
price i perhaps best
kept
uniform for all packets on each board and incorporated into the
heading
you have designed for the board itself.
If you wish, the price
can
be repeated in smaller print on the packets themselves.
All
you do now is contact local shops and ask them to consider taking
your
stock. It will cost them nothing to do
so, since they will make
their
profits from sales, handling back to you your pre-determined
percentage
of the takings which of necessity will be higher than the
cut
they take. You then return to the shop
at regular intervals or
on
request, to replenish the stock or else to take the old board away
and
put a new one in its place. You also
take away your share of the
profits
from the stock sold. You then add fresh
stock to the old board
and
start all over again. If however the
board becomes too tatty from
the
repeated tugs of little hands keen to avail themselves of your stock,
it's
probably time to make a fresh one - appearances, remember, are
always
important.
A
good profit awaits those who bundle hundreds of stamps into packets
for
sale on their own stalls, or for sale to postal customers. Stamps
should
be arranged attractively, all facing upwards, and sealed in a
see-through
protective packet. The thicker the pile
of stamps the
packet
contains the better, since human curiosity being what it is,
most
customers can't resist finding out just what is hidden under those
stamps
on view. The packet or bundle should
have thick card at the base
to
keep it in shape and must be labelled as professionally as possible.
Labels
should indicate the contents, and of course your price.
Many
dealers choose to sell their packet and package lots through
advertisements
in Collectors' Magazines, and such as 'Exchange and Mart',
as
the following examples will illustrate.
'œ1.99
EACH UNSORTED KILOWARE PACKETS....'
OFF
PAPER G.B. COMMEMORATIVES. 4oz œ6. 300
USA, 200 Israel, œ5 each.
Thematics
60 different œ1....'
'WORLD
KILOWARE AS IT COMES œ12 kilo post
paid. 100 different Channel
Islands
œ3.25, 200 different œ8, 300 different G>B œ3.20....'
'AUSTRALIAN
KILOWARE. 1-2 lb packets of quality
mixture œ4 each....'
'G.B.
BARGAIN PACKETS, mint and used. 50 -
50p. 100 - 90p.
.25
higher value commems œ2.50....'
'WORLD
MINT. 100 - œ1.50, 200 -œ3, World used
100 - œ1.
Thematic
- Bird 100 - œ1, Planes 100 - œ1....'
'500
DIFFERENT ALL World Stamps œ4.20 inc. P&P....'
'GUERNSEY
KILOWARE'
'THEMATICS:
- Aircraft, Birds, Football....
100+
all different œ2 post free. (C.W.O)....'
'FROM
A WORLD-WIDE COLLECTION. Send œ5 for 200
different commems
and
pictorials only. No junk, fine
condition....'
PLAN
4 SELLING AT STAMP FAIRS, COLLECTORS'
FAIRS FLEA MARKETS
Here
we have an extremely lucrative business proposition that possesses
the
added advantage of meeting your customers face-to-face, and allows
the
dealer the facility to trade with other like-minded businessmen
and
women. You can learn a lot from other
traders by watching them
as
they operate, and by studying the presentation and prices of their
stock.
Specialist
stamp fair organisers tend to charge higher prices for
their
stalls, since they attract fewer dealers than one finds at a
flea
market or collectors' fair with their droves of non-specialist
stall
holders.
There
will be fewer customers entering the doors at these specialist
fairs
but they are not usually browsers, and hence you will still
make
high profits but with fewer customers.
At
flea markets and collectors' fairs a lot of business is made from
passing
trade; people who come for a day out and subsequently see
something
they fancy - and they buy it!
Consequently at the stamp
air
you might make your profit on two or three good sales whilst at
the
flea markets your profit may come as a result of small sales to a
great
many customers.
Hiring
a stall at your chosen venue is an extremely easy exercise.
Either
attend one as a customer and ask the person taking entry fees
for
details of their future events, or telephone them from an advert
you
will find in the local press, or more likely in the diaries section
of
the stamp collectors' magazines for the more specialised stamp fairs.
When
you arrive at the venue to set up your stall, you will find trestle
tables
laid out around the hall, or whatever room is being used. Your
place
will normally be indicated by means of a sign on the table.
All
you need to set up is cloth (a curtain
will do as long as it isn't
gaudy
or brightly patterned). Then lay out
your stock neatly on the
table
and arrange some chairs at the customers' side of the table.
Stamp
collectors like a little comfort whilst pondering their purchases
for
the day.
If
possible take someone with you to mind your stall while you look
around
or take a break. Nearby stallholders
will watch your stall for
you
as long as course, as the favour is reciprocated. Always take your
cash
and valuables with you though, in the event they might be distracted
by
a high spending individual, much to the advantage of the light-fingered
onlooker.
Arrive
as early as possible and have a look around at other dealers' stock.
They
might have surplus items, perhaps being offered in bulk, that are
just
what you need for the approvals side of your business.
Most
dealers buying from you will expect a trade discount. I always
give
this, usually at a level of 10%, the reason being that they will
most
likely offer the same to me, and for lots of other reasons it's
best
to keep on good terms with fellow traders.
There's a wealth of
experience
out there waiting for you to tap.
Starter
dealers often offer their stock in albums, again available from
specialist
wholesalers. Sometimes an album contains
only stamps from
one
particular country or with a common theme.
It's not unusual either,
particularly
in the case of lesser value stamps to find all in one
album
bear a common price. This make work very
much easier for the
dealer,
who after all can find more profitable things to occupy him
than
the individual cataloguing and pricing of inexpensive specimens.
Some
dealer offer this type of stock in small boxes or in pocket-size
stamp
albums, whilst others simply have a box set to one side, in which
are
contained approvals books not currently on offer to postal customers.
Stock
can be presented on sheets whether they be sheets of blank white
paper
or sheets from old albums. The stamps
are mounted in much the same
manner
as they would be in an approvals booklet, and the entire sheet
is
then placed inside a protective see-through wrapper, again available
from
specialist wholesalers. Not only do
protective wrappers shield
the
contents from harm, but they also create an extremely professional
look,
something you should always strive to achieve.
Nothing on a stall,
in
a booklet or album, in covers or in boxes, looks inviting if the
presentation
is tatty, and conveys a 'couldn't care less as long as I
get
my money' impression. The professional
image you portray in the
presentation
of your stock will transcend into the image the customer
has
of you as a reputable, genuine and thoroughly competent dealer.
PLAN
5 BY LIST OF INDIVIDUAL AND PACKETED
ITEMS, BULK ITEMS, SETS,
INDIVIDUAL
STAMPS
Some
deal exclusively by list. Details of all
items or sale, or perhaps
just
a selection of items, are forwarded to customers. One advantage of
this
method lies in the ability to inform all customers of all items
available. It also allows customers to make their
selections in the
comfort
and privacy of their own homes, instead of having to travel
sometimes
miles to an appropriate stamp fair, or else wait several weeks
or
months for a fair to be held in the locality.
For
some dealers the biggest advantage of this sales method is that it
allows
them to ask 'C.W.O.' Or 'Cash With Order', and unless a cheque
bounces,
there is little or no risk of non-payment by unscrupulous
customers.
There
are a few disadvantages to the method however, perhaps the greatest
being
type work involved in itemising, describing nd listing perhaps
thousands
of items. If you undertake the typing
yourself, perhaps to
save
the cost of having the work done for you, never underestimate the
sheer
length of time a professional typing job will take. If you aren't
a
competent typist, or don't have access to that brilliant invention,
the
word processor, then it might be better to consider the cost of a
professional
typist as minimal when compared to the ours you will waste
in
typing when you could be undertaking more profitable work.
The
following are extracts from advertisements that have appeared recently
in
stamp collectors' magazines:
'CYPRUS,
MALTS, EIRE, GIBRALTAR, S AFRICA, TRISTAN.
Extensive price
list
free on request....'
'FOR
MALAYA for our monthly lists....'
'SCANDINAVIA. Price list Denmark, Faroes, Greenland,
Finland....'
'GERMANY
Please send 17p stamp for comprehensive listing of Germany
1872
to date using Stanley Gibbons catalogue numbers....'
'SPECIALISED
DECIMAL MACHINS CYLINDER BLOCKS.
Comprehensive Price List
now
available....'
'U.S.A.'
New lit now available....'
'*
PRICE LISTS - USED STAMPS *....'
'FRANCE
Mint, Used, FDC, Maxi cards, Philatelic Documents, Booklets,
Eprevures
de luxe; List 25p....'
'IRELAND
1990 Price List and Summer Discount List now available....'
'FREE
64 PAGE G.B. PRICE LIST, 1840 TO DATE....'
The
maxim: 'The Customer i Always Right' is
best well-remembered by
this
category of dealer. You are listing
items for which the customer
will
pay before he has had the chance to inspect them. Even with the
most
professional description in the world, problems will arise and
customers
can become extremely agitated if they decide an item they
have
paid for, is not what they expected it to be.
Even if you consider
them
one hundred per cent wrong, my advice is always offer them a
replacement
item, credit, or if you can bring yourself to do it, give
them
their money back. Ensure always though
that the item, when returned,
is
in the same condition as when it left you.
The
best way to carry out your side of the obligation is to pack the
item
well for its journey to the customer.
Pack all fragile items in
thick
card and good quality envelopes that won't drop apart in the post
on
a rainy day.
For
anything sent in the post, whether from a list or on approval,
always
add your name and address to the back of the packet to facilitate
its
return in the case of non-delivery. This
of course saves the
postal
services from having to open the package to assess its
sender
- they might not repack it as well s you would have wished!
WHERE
DO I GET STOCK?
This
is one business where your problems of obtaining suitable stock
should
never rise above zero.
Look
inside the many magazines available, which were listed earlier.
You'll
find numerous suppliers of stamps; some are charity suppliers,
some
wholesalers, other are dealers who prefer to sell their stock in
bulk. Time and experience will tell you which are
your best suppliers,
and
some will offer various discounts and inducements or bigger purchases.
Tread
warily in the early days, and don't be tempted to buy massive
quantities
of stock which might not be entirely suitable for you, only
to
end up with 10% extra of similar stock you might find hard to shift.
At
the stamp and collectors' fairs you will very often find dealers with
bulk
stamps they wish to dispose of. Here you
have the chance to
inspect
before you buy, so always consider purchasing anything they
have
on offer.
Because
it is always advantageous to see before you buy, it might even
be
worthwhile making a special business trip to some of the larger
sellers,
if of course finances and business commitments allow.
Once
you find a source that suits you, further transactions can be
handled
by post.
WHERE
DO I GET CUSTOMERS?
This
section should perhaps be more appropriately entitled: 'Where do
I
get Customers (and more importantly how do I keep them?)'
This
question should be given your most serious consideration since your
greatest
financial rewards will often be from repeat custom from those
with
whom you have established a good relationship, particularly if you
are
in the business of selling by approval and from lists.
Even
if you think you have sufficient customers to present a viable
business
opportunity, never neglect your advertising.
Some customers,
through
no fault of yours, will cease to buy stock from you. They might
go
elsewhere or they may simply stop collecting.
Always have more
customers
than a steady income requires, merely to protect against a
drop
in customer numbers in the future.
Continued advertising also
brings
in good trade contacts from time to time,
and
keeps the dealer in the public eye ensuring that he or she will not
lose
a potentially good source of stock acquisition or sales, simply
because
a magazine's readership decides he or she has disappeared from
the
scene.
Always
be courteous to customers if you expect their repeated custom.
This
applies whether you sell face-to-face with the customer or by
approval
or sales list. Be as helpful as you can
but if possible resist
the
urge to overpower the customer by hounding him for a sale.
Personally
I am extremely put off by a dealer who repeatedly asks me
if
I need help, or asks me to look at a particular offer in which I
have
absolutely no interest. He or she
usually hovers over me from a
distance
of six inches - that infuriates me too!
Of
course you must ask if a customer needs your assistance but if that
customer
says no, then don't push it. He or she
will return to you if
it
appears the items being sought are not easy to find.
HOW
DO I PRICE MY STOCK
When
I first ventured into the world of stamp dealing the problem which
most
occupied my thoughts was how to price my stock at a level that
would
give me an adequate return on my cost and efforts, whilst ensuring
that
I did not charge higher prices than my competitors and consequently
cut
myself out of the market - before I'd even got started.
I
thought the problem over for months.
Even as I priced items, I
worried
as to whether they were right, or were they too high too low?
I
would in retrospect have been better advised to channel my energies
in
other directions since the problem to which I devoted much time and
thought
to finding an answer simply didn't have one.
There
is no standard price at which to sell your items. Catalogues,
of
which the Stanley Gibbons edition is probably the most widely accepted,
gives
only a guide to values, albeit a very good guide and one which you
may
if you wish, always refer to and abide by.
You could if you wish
price
all of your stock at exactly the price a catalogue estimates it
to
be worth. But will you sell
anything? For rare specimens probably
yes! For cheap, common items I venture to say
almost certainly not - well
not
sufficient to compensate for the many, many hours you'll put into
the
exercise.
Look
back into the magazines and publications that have helped us so much
this
far into the guide. Do the advertisers
offer items at catalogue
value,
or do they say '1-10th Cat. Val' or 10p each?
Some even offer
bargain
sales whereby much of their items already sold at a fraction
of
catalogue value are reduced even further.
So there we have it!
YOU
decide on how low you can go to achieve sales whilst still making
a
profit. You might consider it worthwhile
to price as low as any
other
dealer you know, whilst at the same time accepting that you
will
have to carry out an extensive advertising campaign to increase
your
potential market share.
You
might decide to sell all stamps at one price, as did my friend with
the
plastic storage boxes overflowing with 2p gems.
With stock such as
he
had it would have presented tremendous difficulties to identify and
price
each stamp. He didn't need to anyway, if
the smile he sported
at
the end of each day was anything to go by!
Much
therefore obviously depends on the quality of the stock you are
carrying. Penny Blacks will be catalogued, graded, then
priced and
individually
displayed. Kiloware almost certainly
won't!
A
FEW HELPFUL HINTS
As
we already know, there are stamps, and there are stamps! If I'm
stating
the obvious then I apologise. What I
mean to imply is that
there
are rare specimens which must be treated like priceless works
of
art, and there are others and a great many others, that simply are
not
worth the paper they're printed on. But,
'One Man's Meat...',
or
so they say and you can bet that even the most uninteresting and
common
of philatelic specimens will have someone, somewhere, anxious
to
have it take its place in their collection.
How
we treat such vastly different specimens on their journey from
original
Post Office counter sale, or by whatever other means they
reached
the original customer, to their final destination with a collector
who
requires them for anything but their intended use, namely to
transport
a message, is a matter of extreme importance.
Mint
stamps should stay that way. Mint stamps
re unused and the real
definition
of a mint stamp does not include an unused stamp that has
been
hinged into an album. This is 'mounted
mint' and some collectors
of
mint stamps will not under any circumstances consider purchasing one
that
has been hinged, however lightly. For
this reason specialist mount
available
from wholesalers should be used for the stocking of mint stamps,
even
those that have been previously hinged.
The special mounts
normally
consist of a black strip which is moistened for sticking into
an
album or onto a sheet. The stamp is
inserted between the other side
of
the black strip (a gum-free surface) and a clear see through strip
attached
to it.
Never
touch stamps of any value with your fingers.
Fingertips re moist
and
can damage the stamp in many ways, not least of all by causing any
gum
to stick to another stamp thereby ruining two perfectly good specimens.
Tweezers
are available with which to handle stamps.
Some have blunt
ends
for an extra delicate touch, others have pointed ends, some have
square
shover-shaped ends. All types serve a
good purpose, but with
the
exception of being as gentle as possible at all times, there is
very
little that a dealer in all but rare specimens can't accomplish
with
standard collectors' tweezers.
You
might find yourself with vast supplies of inexpensive stamps still on
paper
from the envelopes they originally were adhered to. Some method is
required
by which to remove them from all remnants of paper. The
following
method is ideal BUT only for inexpensive stamps. Anything
of
value must be treated differently and specialist solutions are available
for
the purpose of removing good stamps from paper.
Our manual though,
does
not deal with rare specimens - and so on to my method of removing
kiloware,
commemoratives and everyday specimens rom paper. Fill a bowl
with
warm water into which has been added a few teaspoonfuls of kitchen
salt. Soak the stamps preferably face down. If there are masses of
stamps
to be treated though, don't waste time positioning them in this
manner;
just make sure that there is sufficient room for the water to
reach
all of the stamps and wait for the water to do its job, in its
own
time. That time will be clear if you
take one stamp from the water,
and
if it is still sticking to the paper, however slightly, then it
should
be returned to the bowl. Eventually
stamps and their paper will
part
company without any help from you, with the added advantage that
you
can be sure all glue has been removed and there will be fewer
problems
experienced in the drying process.
To
dry the stamps after soaking, you should preferably have access to a
large,
flat, smooth surface. Formica is ideal
and I remember a Formica
cover
I had for my old twin-tub washing machine.
It never seemed to
serve
as much more than a cosmetic camouflage for my unattractive washer,
but
it did a great job when it came to drying out stamps.
But
cutting out the sarcasm, why not if you intend making a serious go
of
this business, invest in a few large sheets of Formica, and at least
know
you are doing the job as well as it can be done?
The
wet stamps are placed, facing upwards this time, on the Formica.
They
will still be wet and you should make no effort to dry them manually.
Don't
of course have them placed on the board absolutely dripping
wet
- they'll never dry that way. With your
fingers gently transfer
the
stamps from water to board and allow excess moisture to drip off
along
the way. When the board is full, put it
somewhere dry but not
near
a source of heat since the stamps are likely to crinkle. In time,
usually
anything from an hour to three or four hours, the stamps will
part
company, this time with the board, and they are ready to be put
into
stock.
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