I am a philatelist and have been buying stamps through ebay. I have the following suggestions for listing of items:
- In the 'Condition' filter, their should be further classification viz., Mint | Cancelled , Never Hinged | Hinged, White gum | Yellow Gum | Spots on gum-side, Print side perfect | Print side has some spots or damage. This has to be mentioned very clearly by the seller for the item
- Usually it is observed that sellers put some dummy image of the stamps and later on supply something else to the buyer. The scan for each item has to be an actual one.
- For each item scan of both front and back side should be compulsorily provided, for buyer to assess the item in a better way.
I have faced problems several times with received item condition, and finally zeroed-down to very few sellers who always supplied good condition and only as described in listing. It is well known fact that in our Indian 'Philatelihood' a very meagre quantity of people exercise standard storing practices for stamps viz. standard quality stamp mounts, archival grade acid-free album pages, dust-free area, optimum moisture and light exposure etc. This is evident from fact, that for same issue of stamps some sellers can boast of 'MNH, white gum, excellent condition' while others have pre-warning attached below almost every item listed by them saying 'tropical conditions, gum might be yellow, foxing etc etc.'. The difference is in their storage practices. People who associate themselves with philately for business would never invest any money or time on their proper storage as they plan to sell them sooner or later. The hobbyist who finally gets the stamps will suffer for it later on in every way.
Hope my views are well understood and somehow applied effectively by concerned people.
Best regards.
