The goal of the APS StampStore is to provide a safe and reliable buying and selling experience. Buyers have the added confidence of knowing they are dealing exclusively with APS members when they make their purchases through StampStore.

A buyer’s expectation is to receive items properly described and fairly priced. Few things are more disappointing than receiving an order just to find that a stamp described as “never-hinged” is in fact hinged. This is one of our biggest reasons for returns, and one which easily could be avoided if sellers took the time to properly describe their material.

Another major reason for return is for items that the seller did not fully disclose faults that cannot be seen from the image. These include creases, tears, toning, pinholes, repairs, regumming, pencil notations and the like — faults that the buyer had no reason to anticipate and which can seriously diminish the value of the item. When buyers are disappointed with misdescribed material, they lose confidence not only with the seller, but with StampStore overall.

In order to give buyers an improved shopping experience, we are making a few changes:

• New selling platform — in early 2020 we will be launching a new selling platform to improve the buying experience for our customers. The platform will make it easier for the customer to navigate and purchase items. We will also be able to feature sale and premium items and help customers identify other items that might be of interest. Additionally, a future goal for the new platform is to give sellers the option to self-post their items and fulfill sales at home instead of submitting all stamps to be posted and fulfilled at APS. We will keep you informed as we get closer to our launch date.
• Uniform postings — in order to encourage sellers to provide essential stamp details, we will be updating our submission form with additional fields and providing our sellers with tips on writing successful descriptions. Properly described items tend to sell much better, result in fewer returns and reduce the need for refunds.
• Seller fines instituted — beginning on January 1, items returned because they have been misidentified or have faults not listed by the seller will be charged 50¢ per item in addition to the 1% return fee and postage costs. There is a lot of unprofitable work and significant bank fees involved in handling customer returns and refunds. This cannot continue if we are to render the best service to our many customers. Therefore, sellers will now be held accountable for all inaccurate listings provided.
• Posting fee increase — as of January 1, the seller posting fee will increase from 15¢ for each item posted to 20¢. This will help to offset StampStore’s increased costs of entry, scanning, and order fulfillment.
• Higher priced material will require an expertizing certificate — previously, all items priced at $1,000 or more were required to be expertized. As of January 1, all items submitted priced at $500 or more must be accompanied by an expertizing certificate from the past ten years. Having a certificate in advance results in better sales and reduced returns. Having stamps authenticated instills confidence for both buyer and seller.

These improvements should enhance the buyer experience and improve sales for our sellers. Feel free to contact our sales team if you have any questions, stampstore@stamps.org.

Editor's Note: The column was published in the December 2019 issue of the American Philatelist, available for members to read digitally. We will be posting the columns of APS executives on this website to provide updates about American Philatelic Society. Membership information is available through this link.