From One New Collector - To Other New Collectors......

[Gary B]

Originally Posted by Calpe

Hi Gary,

The other off putting thing with eBay is their Global Postage fees. Charging over £20 for delivery of one badge is a bit too much for me. Having to pay this amount for a badge that costs £5 or £6 is an exorbitant amount. Having said all this I have managed to find some good deals and also managed to get a reasonable postal fee from sellers. As has already been mentioned in this post, you have to do your research and not jump into the purchase. Like everything in this day and age there are good eBay sellers and there are not so good eBay sellers.

Happy hunting,

Ian

Ian - I agree with you, some of the postage charges are ridiculous. I had several instances when I'd paid £5+ for P&P on top of my purchase price and the badges eventually came wrapped in one sheet of kitchen roll, in a normal paper envelope and the cheapest 2nd class stamp available. Some of the e-bay dealers clearly use postal costs to inflate their margins...

But the same old argument pops up again - "if you don't like it, don't buy it" - so I don't now.... Forum members & fares for me from now on mate!

[Gary B]

Originally Posted by royston

Gary B

Further to the last, again from the internet:

How do I find ww2 naval records?
How to find Royal Navy service records | Who Do You Think You ...
Records for Royal Navy personnel serving after 1924, including in the Second World War are held by the Ministry of Defence. They are generally only accessible to the individual concerned or their next of kin. If you meet the criteria, you can find out how to request the records here.

John

Thanks for that John - I've asked around and apparently the responses can take ages. I'm looking for a father-in-law and an Uncle particularly, so I'll give it a try. (I was hoping to learn which vessels they served on.)
G

[Gary B]

Originally Posted by Mike B

I agree the forum has lots to offer the new entrant into the badge collecting world - sellers also tend to offer items at very reasonable cost - and suspect items are policed / vetted by fellow members.
HOWEVER
Do not become too reliant on the forum alone
Choose a specialist area - local regiment or other area of interest - to provide focus. Expand this as expertise grows
Do research in your chosen area - do not try to collect everything. Then you can share your specialist learning and everyone will gain.
The ultimate aim must be to add to the total sum knowledge collectors posses, and then share it. Remembering others helped teach you.
The forum provides a form of apprenticeship, but do not be afraid to challenge convention - no one is a total expert - a newbie can often spot something new, after tired old eyes have missed it.
A forensic approach based on Research, Research and more Research is the way forward - also observing the mantra 'if in doubt, leave it out'.
Mike

Mike, some solid and valuable advice there, thanks so much!

I'm collecting badges which relate to the headstones I clean for the CWGC; so in reality, not so much in terms of specialism or rarity - but just good old, honest WW1 & WW2 Commonwealth regimental cap badges. (I research all of the fallen whose graves I tend anyway, and adding their regimental badges to the notes I've made on them is really the basis of my approach - hence, nothing too specialist or thread-worthy).

To be honest though, the feeling I get when I hold a genuine, well-worn badge with fantastic patina is incredible.... irrespective of the regiment or the badge's rarity/value... If only they could talk!!!!!

All the best - Gary B

[Home Guard]

My experience with the eBay Global Shipping is that it is almost a scam, When listing an item, at least the last time I did, it made that option the default unless you went in and changed it. When my item sold, and after shipping it I refunded the buyer the difference eBay charged and what the actual shipping was. One should not make money on shipping.

I have also had some dealers who wnat double or more to mail a single cloth patch, so I have to just let them go!

Guess some things are meant to be and some are not.

Terry

[royston]

For some reason I have managed to opt out of global shipping and successfully posted items abroard. I agree Global seems to be a rip off.

John

[sapper533]

Having moved to Greece with my collection, even buying a badge for a couple of pounds from ebay costs £15
global shipping plus VAT on top and then a handling charge from Greek Post Office....its become ridiculous.

[Hawthorn]

Haven't sold anything on Ebay for quite a while but always thought it was the Seller who had the ability to disable the Global Shipping option and deal with postage themselves, has this changed now?

Smon.

[54Bty]

Originally Posted by sapper533

Having moved to Greece with my collection, even buying a badge for a couple of pounds from ebay costs £15
global shipping plus VAT on top and then a handling charge from Greek Post Office....its become ridiculous.

From the Royal Mail website:

International Standard, An affordable service for everyday international mail
Max 2kg. Delivery aim 3 to 5 working days. From £2.20

[Gary B]

Originally Posted by 54Bty

From the Royal Mail website:

International Standard, An affordable service for everyday international mail
Max 2kg. Delivery aim 3 to 5 working days. From £2.20

Blimey mate - "International Standard" - so how come I've paid £5.00+ for a small item from Grimsby to Kiddy and it's taken eight days?!? I blame our Postie, he's a Villa fan....

[Mike B]

Originally Posted by Gary B

Mike, some solid and valuable advice there, thanks so much!

I'm collecting badges which relate to the headstones I clean for the CWGC; so in reality, not so much in terms of specialism or rarity - but just good old, honest WW1 & WW2 Commonwealth regimental cap badges. (I research all of the fallen whose graves I tend anyway, and adding their regimental badges to the notes I've made on them is really the basis of my approach - hence, nothing too specialist or thread-worthy).

To be honest though, the feeling I get when I hold a genuine, well-worn badge with fantastic patina is incredible.... irrespective of the regiment or the badge's rarity/value... If only they could talk!!!!!

All the best - Gary B

That to me, for one, is the sign of a genuine collector - well said!
How many times have we wished 'if only this item could talk' ... the stories are where the value of items lie, not in sales prices

[royston]

Reference Global Shipping. you are quite right about the seller being able to disable global shipping. Below International postage there is a disable button.

I have had no problems taking the item to the post office and getting a fair postage rate for the buyer.

John

[Gary B]

Originally Posted by royston

Reference Global Shipping. you are quite right about the seller being able to disable global shipping. Below International postage there is a disable button.

I have had no problems taking the item to the post office and getting a fair postage rate for the buyer.

John

John,
If only ALL e-bay sellers were like you!
G

[Hawthorn]

Originally Posted by royston

Reference Global Shipping. you are quite right about the seller being able to disable global shipping. Below International postage there is a disable button.

I have had no problems taking the item to the post office and getting a fair postage rate for the buyer.

John

Thanks John, glad that's still the case, I disabled it when selling Internationally because I thought it was not only an unfair rip off but very embarrassing when I found out how much Buyers had been charged.

Simon.

[kingsley]

Eb*y's Global Priority is a double-dipping ripoff. They make it the default postage option to trick vendors into using it but sellers can easily list with the Post Office instead. It won't even allow combined postage, so for two purchases you have to pay FOUR times what the Post Office charges. After you buy, of course a vendor can't send you a different invoice.
Even worse, the $AUD is very low against STG, and Australia now adds 10% VAT on combined item and postage cost. Better to buy another badge from someone else.
Things might change if enough collectors exercise buyer resistance. I often send vendors a message like this: "An interesting item, but I never buy anything that uses Global Priority shipping, whch is twice the cost of the P.O. for the same service."

[Gary B]

IMO, more collectors/buyers should do as you've done Kingsley and refuse to use sites which seek to inflate purchase prices via the application of unreasonable P&P costs.

With the minimum amount of detective work you can usually identify alternative communication routes to most of the reliable, honest and trustworthy e-bay traders and buy from them directly, thus bypassing some of the e-bay associated nonsense.
Gary B