Your Own Stamp Business

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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.

USEFUL ADDRESSES

I list below just a few of the very many specialists in each category.
Those chosen are ones I have come by in the course of my own business
dealings.

SPECIALIST WHOLESALE STATIONERS AND SUPPLIERS OF ACCESSORIES

G Barrington Smith, Cross Street, Oadby, Leicester LE2 4DD

The Post Box (NW) Ltd., P.O. Box 219, Liverpool, L69 7DB

AUCTION HOUSES

Great Britain Postal Auctions, Manfield House, 376 Strand, London WC2R 0LR

Acorn Philatelic Auctions, 27 Pine Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 0UZ

Liverpool Street Philatelic Auctions, 101 Eton Rise, Eton College Road,
London NW3 2DD

NWP Auctions, West Kirby, Merseyside, L48 4EW

Brian Reeve Stamp Auctions, 27 Maiden Lane, London WC2E 7JS

Interstamps, 4 Woods View Road, Bournemouth BH9 2LN

Tony Lester Public Auctions, 20 Momus Boulevard, Binley Road, Stoke,
Coventry CV2 5NA

South Eastern Philatelic Auctions, 182 Turners Hill, Cheshunt,
Herts EN8 9DE

FAIRS ORGANISERS - Telephone Contact Given

Nationwide 0484 862679
Nottingham Collector Fair 0607 74079
Symes Promotions 0272 501074
Nottingham Coin & Stamp Fairs 0602 411402
Key Stamp Fairs 0296 87089
P K Stamp Fairs 0323 899565
Midland Stamp & Coin Fairs 0203 715425
I P M 0273 675757
Upminster Stamp Fairs 0708 22255
Glasgow Stamp & Postcard Fair 03552 35691
Trio Fairs 0782 394147
Ron Emmett Promotions 0703 504561