The Biggest Cheapstake

Submitted by Todd Kunioka on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 17:07
in


With postal rates scheduled to increase by another two cents at the end of the year, the story of a guy who bought 2000 "Forever" stamps a few years ago was more than a little amusing.

If someone did a lot of first class mailing, this is a foolproof way to earn a better than four percent return on your investment. Of course, if you don't do much first class mailing, it could take many, many years for you to realize this gain. As for me, I'm still using 41, 39 and 37 cent stamps, in addition to buying the occasional 2, 3 and/or 4 cent stamps necessary to make up the difference.

You could sell books of

Submitted by night reader on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 16:25.

You could sell books of stamps to people at a small discount, and still realize some gains.

I don't believe you still have 37 cent stamps. Why did you even get the 41 centers if you still had 37s?

You know what I wish the USPS did? I wish they did parcel pickups at the door, and did it with stamps or some prepaid online thing.

The internet has made it so much simpler to buy and sell online. I have sent more packages in the past several years than I have my entire life before then.

It's probably a combination

Submitted by Todd Kunioka on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 19:55.

It's probably a combination of misplacing then finding long-lost books of stamps and the fact taht my wife and I didn't always know when the other had bought stamps.

I used to sell quite a bit of stuff via eBay, but the last few things I offered either didn't sell or I wound up spending my entire margin on listing fees, seller fees, PayPal fees, and shipping fees. Also, now that I know about eMeg, I feel less warm and fuzzy about the company.

The thing I notice about ebay

Submitted by night reader on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 00:41.

The thing I notice about ebay now is that the buyers are not that savvy, so they bid the prices too high. So it's not a great place to buy.

Consequently, it's also not a great place to sell, because the buyers left aren't good bargain hunters. You can't sell unusual, special items, even at a great discount, because the buyers don't know the products.

It reminds me of what happened to the old-style swapmeets. They used to be for selling unusual things, but, now the markets are dominated by families selling new products imported from China. It went from old and funky to new and junky.

Yep, eBay sales are really

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 00:42.

Yep, eBay sales are really inconsistent--some things that seem WAY overpriced, and somethings that just don't attract any bids. I think it used to work better before.