Sales Pass $2,000 Mid Way Into March And Admirals Are Nearing Completion

I am starting to feel like the business is really gaining traction now, with at least one major sale each day and a good run of steady, returning customers now. I was quite happily surprised to see that now, half way through the month, we have managed to pass the $2,000 mark again. This total has come partially from returning customers, but also from new ones, including an older lady from out east, who has just returned to the hobby again after a long absence.  I have noticed that a larger number of my new customers are beginning to engage me in responding to my welcome e-mails. This is a very good sign, as it is this engagement that really gives me the opportunity to build rapport with them. It is this rapport that leads to the development of trust and more sales.

I am now finished listing all the admirals to the end of the 20c olive green. This leaves me with just the 50c and $1 for the main stamps and then the coils and War Tax Issues. So it looks like I may be on track to complete these by the end of March. I am looking forward to getting the rest of King George V listed by the end of May.

Steph has been powering through the Elizabethan commemorative material and has really gotten the hang of assessing papers and grading now. She loves what she is doing and is getting very excited, now that she is starting 1983, that she will soon be ready to start listing that material.

Fabio is still working on the worldwide material that I had received on consignment. He is still learning about how to identify stamps and use the catalogue, but I can see that he is making great progress and enjoying himself immensely while he does it. Soon he will be ready to learn how to grade stamps and then after that, he will be in a position to start listing those items as well.

So I am hoping that come May or June, we will have three people listing material as opposed to just me. That should see our coverage on e-bay just balloon, and that, in turn should bring about a significant sales increase.

I'm still reading a lot of doom and gloom online about the future of this business and stamp prices in general. It is my belief though that many simply do not understand the nature of this business and compare it to a high-volume high turnover business like consumer electronics, or something like that where the sales cycle is short. I am finding that the stamp business is not like that. It is based to a large degree on comfort and trust, in that many customers like dealing with someone that they know and trust. It takes time to build that trust. Because of that, my stamps are not going to sell quickly. However, they are selling -  every day - to a diverse group of happy customers. And the important thing is that I am seeing the number of customers increasing regularly.