Is eBay making it difficult for stamp sellers?

An interesting article below, brought to my attention today by another Twitter follower to my account @CyprusStamps...

One particular part of the blog post certainly strikes a chord:
Problem number 2: Stamp collectors... collect stamps. It would be possible for me to make shipping less expensive by using an online shipping service, through which the USPS offers reduced priced shipping and free (or very low cost) tracking. However, that would mean using a pre-printed and encoded paper label as postage, rather than stamps. Pretty boring, for a stamp collector-- especially given how many buyers write to me (with their payment) to say "please use current commemorative stamps on your mailing." Thus following the one avenue to savings would potentially hurt my reputation, as a seller.

What part of "stamp collecting" do eBay not get?
I too get asked on many an occasion (both on eBay and on sales through my personal Cyprus Stamps website) to add current issues or even particular stamp issues as postage on the envelope I'm sending their stuff in.
Very often when sending by Registered Mail, I choose to not just pay the additional cost for registering the envelope, I put the value in stamps on the envelope instead.

So, make yourself a coffee, get comfortable and read the entire article below - then be prepared to be riled up by what you see there and "share it"!

Scandinavian Stamps: Is eBay Making Itself Obsolete for Stamp Sellers?: Yesterday, I got a notice from eBay, explaining that my "seller performance" wasn't up to snuff. As as result-- I learned-- a number of rest...

Bouganvilla in my backyard.

Bouganvilla in my backyard., a photo by CyprusPictures on Flickr.

Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU 2012 stamp.

Did you manage to get your hands on the Cyprus 2012 EU Presidency stamp yet?

We know they are in extremely limited supply. Even the post offices didn't receive their usual stock quotas for the 1st July official issue.

It was a bad day for Cyprus stamp collectors and these stamps are at present like gold dust.

Cyprus Stamps SG 2012

Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU

Mini sheet

MINT condition

Date of issue 1st July 2012

10.00 Euro Limited issue

Highest face value issued by the Republic of Cyprus

More details including the single stamp and official post office First Day Covers can be found in our Latest Stamp Issue category on Cyprus Stamps website.

What our IT Dept do to us.

Last night I complained on my Facebook page that I was sick of the sight of EURO 2012 "stuff" as in my full time job me and another colleague have spent the last week putting together promotional mailers in readiness for the next few weeks. So my head was full of headers, images and country names...
This morning when we logged into the back office admin on our laptops in the office, this is what we found!
It turned out our IT Manager had been in and made a small "fix" to our systems. It only affected our two systems. He's a bad lad!