Would one of you nice people please assist me with information.

I have been a member here for 4.5 years but I only started to sell and buy here a few months ago.

I am trying to dispose of my Life-time collection of Postcards and other types of ephemera (about 400,000 items). I really enjoy listing and scanning as I am semi-retired and it stops me from becoming bored and joining the Dementure Club.

I started listing on the International site and then found I could also sell on the UK and USA sites. This enables me to list my items in the country of origin in most cases.

I have tried to list on the Italy, Canada and Switzerland sites but I am prevented from doing so unless I register with each one of them individually.

Am I missing something? Why can I also list in UK and USA but not the others?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

With thanks,
Georgie

Hello Georgie,
I am in the UK and had a similar problem but if you look at a listing you have already done then click on "sell a similar item" on that auction page and when the next page comes in select from the drop down menu which country's site you want to list it in ....I find that works OK

Let me know how you get on

Karen

Thank you for your time and advice, Karen. I truly appreciate the help.

Tonight, whilst you are asleep, I shall sneak in and try to list some items on the Italian or French sites.

I will let you know how it goes if I don't get sent to Siberia for tring it.

Have a nice day! It's already tomorrow here in Australia.

Georgie

It should work if you make a Login with a "Multi Sign in" at the beginning. Otherwise you have to log in separately for every "new" country.
Well, and you should have in mind, that selling e.g. in Italy italian language is most welcome, most people expect on their "home" site their normal language. It might cause problems, if you don't offer or communicate in their own language "using" their site.
For what you plan to do I guess Delcampe International (and just that) is the best choice - and don't worry, people will find you in there.

Thank you for your thoughts, Alf. I appreciate the time you invested in me.

You are right about the expectations of the other "sister" sites. My problem is that I have a prior buyer list of more than 1700 who have purchased from me on other sites and I am trying to bring them to my listings on Delcampe International not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of all sellers here. (I now only sell on this and one other site.)

My old buyers don't appear to have a problem visiting me on the other site (which is in Australia) but when it comes to getting them to look at my listings on Delcampe International I receive confusing messages like: "I only use the Italian site" or "... if you list them on the French site" or "I suppose I could go to the USA site".

I know that if I list on International it should be seen by members in all other sites but I have found evidence that this is not so sometimes.

Your views on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Georgie

Hi,

I would suggest listing on the International site and "one other" for your listings.

The one other can be the nation of origin of the postcard you are listing.

This greatly increases the number of visits to your items (It is what I do).

By listing in the International or specific country site only, your are limiting your customer base.

Example : Most of my Italian & German cards I sell go to US or UK buyers.

I would also suggest listing many of your items (I list over 98% this way) in the store buy-it now format. This greatly increases sales and also gets your items listed directly into Googlebase. That also increases traffic to your items and gets you customers outside of the Delcampe buying base.

Those new customers help everybody.

Last: Send an email to each of your prevous customers (Only do this once so as not to be "spamming") with the web address of "your" Delcampe listings. That will get your loyal customers a place to track & buy your specific listings.

Good Luck. Enjoy your "retirement".

Stefano.

Hi to down under,

I guess it would be best to guide your buyers to your "shop" in here. Auctions, as well as most other acting in the net, is mainly a question of confidence. Your buyers trust in you and your offers, so just show them what you offer in here. That will be possible whereever you placed the auctions. 1,700 buyers will never talk with one voice, so just leave it up to them, if they want to discover other parts of Delcampe - and leave it as well up to them, what way they want to do it.

Thank you all for your valued help. It is refreshing that this site has so many excellent members who are prepared to help new members, even possible competitors. This is my philosophy, too.

I still can't find an easy solution to my problem. I am easily able to list on the UK and US sites without additional registration but not on any of the others unless I register with them individually. (This includes Canada). For example. I just discovered a box with thousands of circa 1900 items from France but to list them in France I have to open another account on the French site. To me this appears to be a necessity because the Postcard Descriptions are in French e.g. Troyes - Monument des enfants de l'aube 1902

My alternative is to translate into English and list on the International Site. Either way, the French title means little on the International site and the same for the English translation on the French site. Am I wrong?

From my point of view, if I wanted to buy French Postcards I would first of all go to the French site. True?

I suppose that I can't have it both ways but it would be nice.

Thanks,
Georgie

Thank you all for your valued help. It is refreshing that this site has so many excellent members who are prepared to help new members, even possible competitors. This is my philosophy, too.

I still can't find an easy solution to my problem. I am easily able to list on the UK and US sites without additional registration but not on any of the others unless I register with them individually. (This includes Canada). For example. I just discovered a box with thousands of circa 1900 items from France but to list them in France I have to open another account on the French site. To me this appears to be a necessity because the Postcard Descriptions are in French e.g. Troyes - Monument des enfants de l'aube 1902

My alternative is to translate into English and list on the International Site. Either way, the French title means little on the International site and the same for the English translation on the French site. Am I wrong?

From my point of view, if I wanted to buy French Postcards I would first of all go to the French site. True?

I suppose that I can't have it both ways but it would be nice.

Thanks,
Georgie

In a way you're right. But what would happen to you in there? A lot nice old postcards, of which you don't understand what they're about - because descriptions, terms and conditions are in french.
I added my french cards on international site (as well as british, swedish, american or german cards). Seems, that people are able to find them in there without problems. I only marked those languages as available what will insure that I will not be accused for killing any language, even if there are a few more I can partly understand. Descriptions are just and only in german. As result, I sold to about 15 different countries, so I don't think, that there is any problem - as long, as people don't want to see any. Like I do, I try to stay away from problems, because for me auctions are just hobby and should be fun - for both, buyer and seller.

Hello! you are wright, I'm in France, and if I want to see more post-cards, I always look at international post-cards..For the translation, it is not a problem.. when I 'm selling, I choose France and international. I think that every seller has to do that: international and their own country (if they want, of course, to sell out )
Sorry for my bad english... Best regards J.A.

Thank you all again. Slowly it is sinking in. The wisdom of Scview ... the understanding of _alf_ and Lynejos cannot be easily overlooked.

My problem is that I list from Australia and really have no "home" on Delcampe like you guys in USA, France and Germany have. A couple of years ago I had an antique shop and sold antiques online as well. I had the knowledge and expertise to obtain the best possible result for any piece of Dresden, Lalique, Shelley, Doulton or Sevres, etc.

With postcards it is different for me as I do not have the required expertise at this stage and am probably too old to learn. Although selling now is only a hobby for me, I find it very rewarding and stimulating.

For me, if I wanted to buy an "xyz French Porcelain Vase" I would look first on a French site and do a search for "xyz vase" in French and not in English, Italian, German or Spanish. Of course, I may still find what I'm looking for but the point is that it would be "lucky" if I did. My best chances of obtaining the "xyz vase" would logically be on the French site in French. That's assuming the seller hasn't listed it as "xzy vaso", in which case I would never find it.

Therefore, in my ignorant state I think it would be the same for Postcards. A Buyer may accidentally stumble upon some rare and desirable Frenh postcard I may have listed in International with an incorrect title but as online buying and selling is generally only as good as the search engine and the query string sent out, the law of averages would mean that I wouldn't sell very much.

Actually, I am more than pleased with my current sales. I want to make my listings better.

For better or worse (because I don't read or write French) I shall list the majority of my items on the International Site and have some on the UK and USA sites as well.

I'll revisit the problem in three months and perhaps seek your valuable comments again.

Many thanks,
Georgie