Those of you who collect stamps from other countries, do you trade or do you buy?

I have traded batches of US first day covers for foreign in the past. Usually it is an agreed amount like 10, 50 or 100 covers. I got a lot of China FDC's that way. I have filled request lists for used US (usually 20 to 50 stamps per mailing) to Europe and just ask for modern 1 for 1 in exchange. Usually I just sent off common stamps with no expectation of a return. I've got both the stamps and the postage so it is a non-cash event to me.

I guess it is building the hobby and maybe my Karma and I hope they do the same for someone else. I have been collecting so long it is hard to get anything I need in a trade, particularly from someone new to the hobby. They are the ones that can benefit the most from my excess common. In an estate purchase I ended up with 50 shoeboxes of US used and sorted into glassines by Scott number. I kept maybe 100 stamps and gave the rest to a scout troop to work on a stamp merit badge. I did keep the shoebox of cut squares. Do anyone need any? I was a a show in Florida recently when a dealer put two large storage boxes of used postcards out for anyone to take what they wanted. I loved it and took hundreds. It is hard to find 10 to 20 cent USPS postcards used for anything but a FDCs. So what I got there will take several dozen no-return mailings on my part to balance the Karma ledger

 

Hmmm - trading !

I have exchanged successfully with collectors in Russia, Bulgaria, then USSR , France, Germany, Sweden.

The gist of the transaction was to dispose my dead surplus material for material I could sell of here, so it was not for collecting which was of no importance to the other party.

Essentially the ground exchange rules are important.
You need a list of items to a catalogue you both have against a $,£ or € value and if mint or used detailed.
You expect the same from the exchange partner.

In such a way I exchanged multiple complete sets to hundreds of Euros. Large amounts due to the fact that all items are sent by costly registered mail.
Exchanging a few stamps is only cost effective to Countries with a trustworthy postal system which has to be established sending normal airmail. Sweden I found very reliable, of course there may be others - you would have to try before you can trust.

Exchanging stamps is a minefield for disasters. First world Countries have either individuals that pirate and some just do not reciprocate and pocket the stamps.
Some use the language to hide behind their wrong consignments.
Then you get the flimsy envelope, folded stamps.
Also the impatient one, thinking he can get his mail in a week instead of two weeks

Then you have the pest. The guy with whom you do not which to exchange or continue to exchange wanting to exchang his unwanted junk.
Or the chap you sent a pilot lot and he states never to have received same but wants another lot to be sent him not having received anything from him !!

A good exchange boils down to clear correspondence, state what you offer under what conditions. Ask questions, if not replied satisfactory ask again, if sidewinded the red flag would be up.

Expensive items should have the courteous registered or courier mail just to recoup some loss.

Bulky mail or nice franking attracts pirates in most Countries, it is trial and error if sent by ordinary mail.

You could send a block of mint Cape of Good Hope triangulars in a normal Airmail envelope and arrive or send in a Registered envelope and not arrive.

A good exchang partner is worth gold the opposite a curse.

 

I do a little of both, but I enjoy the exchange more. It gives you a chance to interact with people from other areas in the world on a regular basis. I agree with all comments above that you should trust your trading partner.

I have also found that if you do end up with "junk" or duplicates, you can always exchange it with another party locally who might be looking for similar items.

 

I put together a surprise trade last year. I sold two dozen space covers via EBay to a fellow that happened to live in the town where I had them stored. He asked if I had more and I said yes, maybe 20,000. I didn't want to deal with them because they were in lots 100 to 2000 of the same cover with maybe 500 different covers. I had already taken out my one or two of each for my collection. I asked what he collected besides space and it was UN FDCs, US FDCs, flight covers and HPOs, We worked out a 1 or 1 trade for just about everything he had collected. We just counted out how many full boxes of 500 we each had. Then lined them up on either side of my storage building and decided it was a fair exchange. He ended up with a new collection to work on and build a "business" and I ended up with 20,000 covers that are almost all different and could add many to my collection. I still ended up with many duplicates. Any HPO, UN or US FDC collectors out there that need to fill a few holes?

 

Sounds like a very successful trade

 

All listings per .xl and only emails.
Once a list is made up only amend when applicable, must add though that I exchange from 2x to 4x each complete set otherwise it is a time waster.

 

Majority of my stamps from other countries are just given. Some I have bought from a local collector's shop.

 

Here is an example of a very successful trading site. My wife is a very active member of PaperBackSwap.com. She posts the books she wants to trade and selects from other traders lists the books she wants. She can also post a want list as well. The power of this site is it is not a trade between two individuals. Once anyone selects her book she mails it to them at her cost. It is restricted to the US mail only. When it is received and acknowledged as in good condition she gets one credit from the website that she can use to select a book from someone else. The value principle is a 1 for 1 trade regardless of the perceived value of the book. To get the thing started you are given a couple credits but they can only be used after someone selects one of your books.

To do something like this here we would need to scan and post a "packet" that we feel has a value of say $5. If you see a packet you want you request it but the big issue is managing the accounts of all the participants. To overcome this just send the person the a $5 bill and they can use the same $5 bill on another packet or just keep the 5 bucks.

Peter, if you want to experiment with this just post 5 packets worth about $5 based on your own estimate and a list of possible interests and I will do the same. We then each choose one. The cost of mailing is your own responsibility. To expand it to more than two people include a SASE and when the packet is received the $5 can be mailed back if sending person has not requested one of your packets.
.
Does anyone have any experience with other successful trading sites where the trade is not just between tow people?

 

Maybe you get the option to pick another packet or just pay the $5. I kind of like sending the $5 bill anyway then the sender doesn't have to worry about finding something of interest. If he does find something then the $5 bill is available to be passed on to the next person. I'm OK with mailing a fiver through the USPS. I do that often when people overpay postage on combined EBay lots.

I expect the packets to have a description and some photos so the receiver can judge the value also. If Nancy gets a book that is not in good condition she can notify the sender and refuse to acknowledge it as "received" and the person that mailed it doesn't get the credit and the faulty book goes in the trash.

I 'm one of those "ready, fire, aim" kind of guys. I would just get something going and then improve the kinks. The problems I am trying to avoid are setting the packet value too high so if you don't get your return in value you would feel a significant loss and setting the packet value too low so that the cost to mail it or reply to it will use up half the value in postage.

Did you see my other note about how to we get addresses to each other without posting them for all scammers to see? Can a member send a direct email to another member?

 

There's a stamp shop near my town that has international stamps. They are not the rarest, but they're nice and I can complete my collection this way. I plan on having stamps from all the countries.

Either way, I buy them from local stamp trading sites.

 

For used stamp i used exchange 1:1 without catalogue value. I'm after local postage rate stamps as I'm trying to build my collection. Since coming back into this hobby (via Facebook) I have exchange 20,000 stamps from different people and slowly building up my collection. I also exchange (MNH) but I do that on face value using a currency converter from Bloomberg.com. For me, it isn't so much about exchanging but more about friendships formed. I have kept in touch with many people from my exchanges and from time to time we still chat with each other. I'm glad that the www exists as it's a great way to exchange and communicate with other around the world.

 

Some concerns and guidelines.

Creating an exchange platform should be international, localizing to one Country makes it limited, which you do not want.

You must keep it simple with clear instruction how members should proceed.
The USER must indicate what he offers and what he is wanting.
You have the feature here already to contact the member.

Any contract is between the the two exchange partners and you should not get involved. There should be clear guideline to participants that you rule in no disputes. There could also be some laws to consider that indemnify you against fraudsters.

What I can see as a bonus on this site, is that an image can be placed.

 

So this is a 'trial balloon' image that I was somehow able to create AND somehow able to attach. Don't ask me how I did it. but I have five more stock sheet images to try and create, then upload. Haven't been able to attach anything in the personal conversation arena. So . . . we'll open the discussion to EVERYONE!

Perhaps as important, the six images (other five yet to be posted) were created from the contents of just 4 manilla folder stock pages. I have eight more manilla stock pages, so I ought to be good for another 12? images of Polish stamps available for exchange.

 

I also noticed that the conversations did not allow a file to be uploaded. a bit of a snag when you are suggesting a trade and cannot show the material. I got several PDF's and JPG's up upload OK in this area. It just burns up my data usage. I don't have broadband at this house so I have to use my Verizon wireless and pay for usage by volume.