Approval system or option to exchange

An Approval system works best in ones own Country.

Then again exchange is favoured locally or with overseas stamp partners.

Which would you choose ?




Have you had some good or bad experiences you would like to share briefly ?




A Kiwi friend and myself are thinking of starting such a service as there is only one here in NZ similar to the APS, of course much smaller.

I would like to receive some input from members on this site which would be much appreciated.

Erich

 

Dont mind who I exchange with home or away but as far as aprovals go I would stick with home
To many things can go wrong with international mail

 

Indeed, to some Countries international mail unregistered is hopeless even registered is problematic.

Standard Airmail to most Countries can work depending on the the receiver.

How would you think a batch/sending should look like, keeping in mind the cost effectivenis to the participants.

Do I send a batch at 10c/50c each in what or how - any ideas.

Maybe some of you had experience in handling Approvals - comments invited.

Erich

 

I get stuff from different companies but most time their prices are just too high but that's business making money I suppose. They usually send me a nice assortment with a document stating the stamps, scott numbers and their price list. I pick the ones I want check them off the list send payment and remainder of selection back. They sent me a catalog at first and a "tell me what you are looking for" query so I filled it out and so on.

You probably knew all that stuff though. It would be difficult to do that sort of thing internationally due to the cost effectiveness of postage to purchase ratios.

 

Hi Jay,

I am glad you mentioned the way the system was presented to you and yes I was aware of similar. The problem is the way it is done changes over time though it may be fairly similar.

Basically it is about checks and balances which is the real laborious part.

I remember 50 years ago some of my schoolmates receiving AB from England. Difficult to understand today how it could have benefited them cost wise apart from advertising.

Obviously to focus on the collectors Countries avoids unwanted material being sent and getting a better return.

One line of thought may be sending a group of items, sets or singles at price x to choose from.

If others are reading this, perhaps they could just enter a post if interested and in what. I can think of many handicapped stamp collectors who may be advantaged of such a service.

In all, much will still flow under the bridge.

 

I am floating this:-

What about a virtual approval system ??
Defined as image offered material from ones own website or web pages one has on the net.

This may interest also Steve Logan and others who have their images in webpages on the net.

Briefly the process would be as bofore - Client or interested party looking Fish stamps of whatever.
You know you have such stamps, know your search mechanism and thus search for whatever.

You then send the link of that or those specific items to the interested party. Of course there may be hundreds of Fish stamps so would need to narrow down or send the first ten then the next ten etc.

The buyer selects the link/s he wishes to receive and does the normal buying process from the site the image is on.

Any who sees pitfalls, let me know please ?

 

that's what I would suggest. Send an email of the stamp selection and buyer pays shipping if under say $10.00 or something like that.

 

Then it is not "Approvals" is it, it is simply buying theamaticly or otherwise on line. the entire point of the Approval system is that the buyer has the stamps in hand and can examine them, and that way can not later say they were sent a sub standard/damaged or the perf count was not the same etc item

 

I agree with the above comment by Steve R

An Approval System is having the items in your hands before you purchase them. And this helps in selling the items sometimes....I've seen stamps before online that looked only half as good as they did in person.

 

I am thinking of taking up 'hair splitting' as a hobby. I would not be the only member

 

I too agree agree fully with Steve R. and Sam B, the normal Definition of Approval entails physical inspection.

Now to the next step.
Lets call it a virtual approval system.
Having the customer/buyer request what he would like to look at the detail/ description would need to be correct. Return for replacement or refund is madatory for good trading of the seller.

Comments please.

 

I certainly feel that the tangible aspects of stamps - seeing them up close and personal and admiring the beauty simply cannot be done over the internet!

However I suppose this is where cost effective methods like the virtual approvals come in to play.

It's the balance between input and returns that must be gauged. Personally I feel this must be something that is trialled to ever get a sense of if you are heading the right direction!

 

Thank you for your input of thought-provoking points.
The price of sending mail always goes up. Then one does not want to spend unnecessary postage.

So you get sent the option the collector dictates regarding what he would like to see and then the picked items are sent after payment.

In all, you need not search through hundreds of items but get straight to the point, getting what the collector wants.

What one sends must also have cost effective packaging/postage.

Postage is going up by 16.67% in June here disgraceful. Then there is the ever escalating reduction of mail and somehow the myth that increasing the postage will balance this out.

Soon there will be no postal deliveries and only Courier services at great expenase and more Courier trucks on the road than ever.

Next step would be collecting your mail at a hup or get get or get it deliver at 4x the hub rate. These hub will be serviced now by Couriers. Postpoints are there just to handle ingoing mail - welcome to the 22nd century.

 

All round things get more expensive continuously, postage is just part of our demise. Forwarding the material with the surety of safe arrival and cost effectiveness will be challenging.

That said approval lots to foreign Countries even registered is eliminated by online auctions or sales.

Inland approval may warrant distribution of low value items in Postal secure Countries.
It may work with trusted collectors but that is problematic in itself.

In all, what the internet has not scooped, the stampfairs get. The cheap material will flood locally in Countries with some better material going to collectors overseas.

So inexpensive items will still be in demand to collectors.
The only question collectors are confonted with is how and what quantity is transacted cost effectively.