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February 10, 2024 10:02
Fact 1:
LD is a sales platform where buyers do not have to outbid each other, but sellers have to outdo each other by 'underbidding'.
As a result, tens of thousands of items are for sale at 0.01 euros (Stamp section).
The crazy thing is that more and more orders are coming from users who place only a few such items in their order. Orders of 2 cents, 3 cents, ...

Fact 2:
The buyer is often concerned about the stamp used for sending, not about the stamps that are ordered. Anyone who, as a seller from Belgium, has the arrogance to use old Belgian Franc adhesive stamps (often still damaged ones) ... A stamp collector can no longer laugh at that. A stamp collector-buyer wants to be respected. And you show that respect by using Euro gummed stamps for shipping.

Fact 3:
From January 2024, the bPost (Belgium) postage rate for a normalized shipment within Europe will be €2.78. For such an order of 3 '1-cent' stamps, 2.81 euros is transferred ... The shop has a turnover of ... 3 cents.
It's also fortunate that you cannot underbid lower than 0.01 cents.

Proposal:
Wouldn't it be a good idea to move the lower limit from 0.01 to 0.05?

Background thinking:
At fairs and in certain stamp shops, there is often a fairly large selection of the standard for which the term '5-cent stamps' is used. And that concept is very successful. Perhaps that standard should be adopted on LD.

The seller is then still free to grant a 5 cent discount when ordering a significant number of items.

It would make the workload less difficult for the larger shops. If you have to earn your living by finding and sending hundreds of 1 cent stamps, they will be gnome sandwiches (without toppings). And the time for those penny orders reduces the time that can be spent on serious orders.

It would give the smaller shops a little more breathing space, and quite a bit more motivation. You will only have one shop, pay as VIP, to receive 3 orders per month for 2 or 3 cents. You can't keep that up.

It's an idea. There may be supporters, but also opponents?

As far as adjustments to LD are concerned, I estimate this to be low. Only change the test 'must be greater than 0' to 'must be greater than 0.4'. The rest follows automatically and everything after that simply continues to work well.
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nlae
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  • February 10, 2024 10:21
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February 10, 2024 10:21
Raoul62 Excellent idea - For me, Eur 0.05 is the lower limit anyway
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  • 183 messages
  • February 10, 2024 10:54
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February 10, 2024 10:54
Raoul62 Great idea, will the subscription limits also be increased or is that a silly idea?
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  • 219 messages
  • February 10, 2024 10:57
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February 10, 2024 10:57
Great idea, but what do you do with the 100th, Beatrixes, Juliaantjes, Carlossen, Elisabeth, etc. etc. (Old paper I think)
I also don't do any places where there are already 100 before me.
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nlae
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February 10, 2024 11:03
Petvre I give all those 1 cent stamps to a thrift store or send them to the mission - You can also give them away to a youth department of a stamp association.
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February 10, 2024 11:45
Real bulk stamps, of which everyone has dozens in their 'doubles paradise', are not put in 100s on LD. The time you spend on it, never to lose any of it, is wasted effort. But everyone is free to spend their time on it anyway.

This concerns tens of thousands of items that are not very common in bulk (but are common), and are now priced at 1 cent due to the under-offering mechanism (whereby some providers placed it on LD a long time ago at 5, 10 or even sometimes 20 cents).

Collectors who have been at it for 40 years won't buy them, but collectors who haven't collected that much yet will. They are crazy about those '5-cent' corners in the stamp shops, or that '5-cent' stall at a fair. At a fair you usually have to wait until a spot becomes available. I am also a fan and customer.
Such a provider has less work to do. Just fill some books with stamps and the buyers choose from them. Afterwards, quickly count the number of stamps and the bill is made.
There is a lot more work to do on LD. You have to look up all those stamps and place them in your shop, with the correct stock and the price. When purchasing, you have to fish them all out of your books one by one. and then you still have to send them.
More work and yet 5 times cheaper. It is logical that the way to the 1-cent stamps is found on LD. The buyer is assured that he is buying items that he does not yet have (which is not always certain at a fair at a 5-cent stall... the buyer's memory plays a major role there).

An addition to 'Fact 2'. It also occasionally happens that someone orders a 1-cent stamp in the belief that LD and BOL are the same (ordered today, delivered tomorrow, shipping costs included).
You may also encounter a joker. Someone who creates an account at night and then orders a 1-cent stamp somewhere. Is the reality.
And then there are those who think LD is the seller. Afterwards it turns out that their order for 10 1-cent stamps involved 10 different sellers. LD doesn't sell. LD offers the platform on which sellers can do their thing.
ApiSta
With a closed question with 2 choices, you force me to answer 'silly afterthought'. :)
The pricing of the subscriptions is based on completely different criteria. Economic housekeeping.
If LD determines that there is a large surplus with the current subscription fees, they could even decrease.
With some common sense you can quickly guess whether such an economic development is realistic or not.
'Guess', because I don't make that bill. I stick to LD for collecting and section-related activities.
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  • February 10, 2024 11:48
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February 10, 2024 11:48
good idea Raoel 62. my lower limit was already 0.05.
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February 10, 2024 11:52
In principle I agree Raoul62 ,
just a simple calculation,
200 x €0.01 = €2.00
200 x €0.05 = €10.00
€8.00 more for 200 stamps that are actually worth nothing?. But they do have value for the collector.
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February 10, 2024 12:13
Charles1971
If you have an order for 200 5-cent stamps, after the work of preparing the shipment, you can freely decide for yourself that you will give that buyer an 8 euro discount (because you don't think they are worth anything).
Still: 'Not worth anything' does not apply. It concerns current stamps (not the bulk ones).
Smaller and starting shops do not get off the ground. A supplier puts one in his shop for 10 cents. The next (new) shop owner who wants to get off the ground feels obliged to be cheaper and asks 8 cents. The next...5 cents. The next 4 cents, then 3 - 2 - and finally 1 cent. Everything else is no longer acceptable and adds massively to 1 cent.
They bite each other's heads off.
As a new user, try to start a shop like this. If you then receive multiple orders for single stamps in the following months... If you are lucky enough that a buyer picks you out among the 15 other 1-cent suppliers.
New users (shop owners) give up faster. And the next year they are no longer VIP. A bad experience that benefits no one.
Buyers are also less likely to order. The gap between the purchase value of 10 stamps at 1 cent and the shipping costs is too big. They don't think it's worth the effort.
If you, as an experienced seller (many orders), have a lot of sales, then you would rather not have small, junk orders. Then you can still make the buyer happier with an extra discount afterwards. that will come back later, and who knows, with a larger budget.
LD is now also receiving the label of 'the Aldi of the stamp business'.
It's all for 1 cent, so it probably won't be much. For good work you have to be at .....
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  • February 10, 2024 12:56
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February 10, 2024 12:56
Raoul62, I knew it...silly afterthought indeed. Later I also realized that this should only apply to (exclusively) stamp sellers and not to, for example, comic book sellers. LD would have to create something special for that.
It was silly, it remains silly :)
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February 10, 2024 12:56
Raoul62, I knew it...silly afterthought indeed. Later I also realized that this should only apply to (exclusively) stamp sellers and not to, for example, comic book sellers. LD would have to create something special for that.
It was silly, it remains silly :)
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az60
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February 10, 2024 19:04
Wouldn't it be a good idea to move the lower limit from 0.01 to 0.05?
Bad idea.
First of all, the fact that you bombard your ideas as fact is telling about the character of the author. It can also be looked at differently. I collect variants. Variants are often reprints. These are mainly the long-running series, which are regularly reprinted (in large editions) and are therefore often sold as 0.01 stamps. And so I want to do some shopping. Buy in large quantities in the hope of hitting the bull's eye. A price increase from 1 cent to 5 cents means that I only get a fifth of the number of stamps and otherwise it will cost 5x as much. And yes, I am Dutch. But one who has to work hard for a meager wage. Oh yes, I don't collect the Netherlands or Belgium (where most shops are settled). So that beautiful stamp with which the purchased stamps are sent is of no use to me at all. At least, if there are no animals depicted on it
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Helv
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February 11, 2024 17:28
Raoul62 maybe check your suggestion first with Rene? This smells like price fixing and that is not allowed in Europe. I don't think so either when it literally comes down to money.
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February 11, 2024 17:48
Has nothing to do with price agreements. Certain supermarkets have no longer used pennies, sometimes even 5 cents, for a long time. The payment will be completed smoothly as soon as you want to pay in cash.

Furthermore, this is not a work order. I am not authorized to give work orders. It's a Forum post with an idea. And I see that there are some in favor and someone who has objections. With arguments that I can understand.
Depending on the response on the forum (that's what a forum is for, I thought), such an idea may or may not be picked up.
An additional advantage of launching ideas on the forum is that the fire is kept burning. That there is constant thought about the things around which LD is built. LD is not (anymore) a project, but a product. A product that must evolve with current events. It's a never ending story. It's never finished. Things can always be different. Ideally, that would be better overall. But 'different', even if it is better overall, is not always good for everyone. These are choices that are made. When you choose, you always have losses.
The balance + and - is important. It's always been that way.



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February 11, 2024 17:52
Raoul62 it doesn't take a lawyer to see what your objective is:
LD is a sales platform where buyers do not have to outbid each other, but sellers have to outdo each other by 'underbidding'.
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February 11, 2024 18:14
Raoul62 etc
We do not determine the minimum amount a seller must ask for an item. Even though it seems crazy to sell items for 1 cent and then spend half an hour finding and packaging them, that choice is made by the seller himself. That's almost the same choice a buyer makes by just ordering such a cheap item, regardless of shipping costs.

If a seller has to make too much effort for such sales prices, he can decide not to include those stamps in his shop or only put them for sale in a combination offer.
A seller also has the option to enter a minimum (total) order value.
I continue to find it curious that these many 1 cent items are also offered by countless sellers.
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February 11, 2024 18:32
Indeed, very curious.

It leads to the disappearance of a number of shops shortly after they started. The disappointment, especially among impatient users (and I have the impression that the majority are very impatient). That struck me.
And those who give up will not feel the need to become a VIP subscriber.
Anyone who does not become a VIP will not progress to the higher subscriptions...

And it is precisely those new shops that want to manifest themselves by undercutting (often by up to 1 cent) in order to get a number of (positive) reviews. After all, many potential buyers do not want to buy from a shop where there are no reviews yet. They prefer to wait until there are some valuations. But how do you get such ratings? The chicken and the egg...

Maybe someone else knows a possible solution to this issue?
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Rene
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February 11, 2024 19:01
Maybe someone else knows a possible solution to this issue?

Raoul62 , What's the problem then?
If you don't feel like having to work as a seller for very small orders, you can set a minimum order value. If you don't feel like selling items for a penny then don't do it. If you feel like it, you can do all that. You can simply decide for yourself.
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TomV
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February 11, 2024 19:57
Not in favor either. I have a lot of 1 cent stamps in my shop, and it sometimes happens that someone orders a few (yes, once even 1 cent). I then add the current Bpost shipping costs, which are not cheap (but do postage with fairly recent stamps, so that the value of even the stamped stamp is well worth it for the recipient).
If a seller does not find it worthwhile to accept a small order from a fellow collector, he or she can always increase his or her own prices or set a minimum amount in his or her shop. There are plenty of options, LD does not need to impose mandatory rules for this.
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