Today, dear friends, I will write a few words about almost all the commercial practices used by the various entities involved in the purchase, sale, exchange (as far as it still exists) and gifting of philatelic products. I will divide them into several parts depending on the specifics and goals and I will describe both the good and the bad trading techniques.I. Of course, in the first place we must put the main trader determining the prices of philatelic products in Bulgaria, namely Bulgarian Posts and in particular the Specialized Division "Bulgarian Philately and Numismatics" (BPS). They impose the basic (catalog) prices of the postal issues (most of them), which unfortunately are not officially described in a document or other source of information, but in the FEPRA catalog published by the magazine "Philatelen Pregled". Thus, those who have subscribed to the magazine can receive the basic prices, and those who have not - cannot, although BPS is a state structure and information on prices of postal issues should be publicly available (free of charge).
So far, we have specified who determines the base (catalog) prices, but let's see how it offers and advertises the product. As you all know, the BFS sales network is extremely small. At the moment, it includes only 3 (three) philatelic shops located in two cities - Sofia and Plovdiv. They serve about 1/4 of the philatelists in Bulgaria. The remaining 3/4 should acquire postal issues from the so-called philatelic counters. Unfortunately, however, these structures are absolutely inefficient and do not actually carry out any activity. Philatelists who are located in zones (without philatelic shops) have to acquire new (and even old) postal issues in alternative ways. One of these ways is to purchase issues from online merchants. Most of them are located in Sofia and Plovdiv. So far, nothing to worry about, except that the issues coming from these merchants are at least 1/3 above the face value or base price. In reality, the BFS sponsors private traders at the expense of philatelists in the provinces and their own lost profits. Not to mention that some of the traders in question do not even keep stock with them, but purchase issues only upon order. They maintain close ties with BFS employees and philatelic shops. If you look at eBay, Delcampe, Philatelicmarket, etc. you will easily distinguish them. The question remains, why does the Enterprise (BFS) sponsor these "commercial entities"? Do individual employees of the BFS have any financial benefit from them and what is it? Does the BFS intentionally discriminate against philatelists from the provinces? Below I will give my proposals for the reorganization of stamp distribution on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, which I think will lead to much better financial results for the BFS.
II. Let's also pay attention to traders in Facebook groups. I will deliberately not mention names. I will divide them into several parts, although these rules partly apply to trading on other sites. So, we can divide the entities in question into the following groups:
1. Those who are not philatelists, do not collect postal products, but only resell them. In most cases, they are speculators, traders (unscrupulous traders) and sell at extremely high prices. They usually publish a large number of ads and daily (even annoying).
1. Those who are not philatelists, do not collect postal products, but only resell them. In most cases, they are speculators, traders (unscrupulous traders) and sell at extremely high prices. They usually publish a large number of ads and daily (even annoying).
2. Those who are not philatelists and their relatives have in the past used techniques for illegal enrichment, through exporting production abroad and speculatively selling it. Currently, they are illegally selling off the remnants of what they acquired.
3. Those who are not philatelists, do not collect postal products, but sell collections of their relatives acquired in one way or another in the past. They publish a moderate number of ads, but regularly.
4. Those who are not philatelists do not collect postal products, but sell postage stamps they have found somewhere, most often of poor quality, for which they do not know the price.
5. Those who are philatelists and use sales to finance (or at least partially finance) their hobby. They publish a moderate number of ads over a longer period.
6. Those who are philatelists, selling selected and quality philatelic products. They usually place few, but quality ads.
7. Antique dealers.
8. Others.
3. Those who are not philatelists, do not collect postal products, but sell collections of their relatives acquired in one way or another in the past. They publish a moderate number of ads, but regularly.
4. Those who are not philatelists do not collect postal products, but sell postage stamps they have found somewhere, most often of poor quality, for which they do not know the price.
5. Those who are philatelists and use sales to finance (or at least partially finance) their hobby. They publish a moderate number of ads over a longer period.
6. Those who are philatelists, selling selected and quality philatelic products. They usually place few, but quality ads.
7. Antique dealers.
8. Others.
The main problem for philatelists in trading in the groups in question is the inflated price in most cases. The lack of a basic trader on the market - Bulgarian Post (BPS) allows some traders to offer their products at triple and quadruple the basic (catalog) price. The lack of information and alternatives among buyers allows traders to abuse. Of course, this does not apply to unique exhibits and postal products from abroad.
The good thing to some extent is that there is also internal competition between traders, but unfortunately it cannot influence enough to normalize the market. It is rare to find colleagues who give away postal publications. Rarely, but they do exist!
What can be done so that everything falls more or less within the norms? To begin with, the basic trader in Bulgaria - Bulgarian Posts (BPS) - must fully enter the common market and provide a base price for philatelic publications and products. Its absence leads to a distorted market value of the same. I have said several times that this can happen with some kind of online trading platform. Whether it is an online store, some form of subscription or sale via e-mail request - anything would work. The presence of such a platform will also eliminate problems with resellers and will regulate the prices of Bulgarian postage stamps in the country and abroad. The number of clients will increase, and with it the profit of BPS. The available own delivery system will be a big plus. Of course, this should not be at the expense of philatelic shops and philatelic counters. And since we said counters, it is good for them to start functioning as such.
There is probably much more to be written on the subject, but ultimately, from the current state of the philatelic market, philatelists are the ones who lose first, followed by "Bulgarian Philately and Numismatics". The former lose from the high prices of resellers, and the latter from intentionally and unintentionally unrealized profits.