Stamps
Stamp collecting was a hobby enjoyed by both Bob and Chris. In March 2017, Chris began selling pieces of his late father's collection on eBay, lying several times about needing to pay bills, but actually spending his profit on toys instead. He followed up by offering his own stamp album for $1,000. He also hatched a new business scheme, consisting of a raffle in which participants could enter by purchasing stamps for a chance to win a Son-Chu figure and/or merchandise of Chris's Skylanders avatar.
The hobby
Bob started his collection in the mid-1930s, when he was around eight years old. It began with a stamp from Romania, and the collection continued to reflect his interest in foreign countries and the United Nations. By the time of his death in 2011, he had amassed six boxes worth of stamp books[1]. The Romanian stamp, which he had kept through the decades, was still in his possession.[2]
Chris began his collection in 1992, at the age of ten. Bob had introduced him to the hobby, as he wanted to share his interests, and purchased a beginner's stamp album for him. Chris had filled in dozens of spaces in the book, indicating that he liked the hobby.
Sales
In 2017, Chris began offering stamp covers from Bob's set and his own stamp album on eBay, ostensibly to pay bills. However, this was quickly proven to be a lie, as he had actually used the money to buy toys, as soon as one day after the first batch of Bob's stamp covers were listed.
He set prices for Bob's pieces at wildly fluctuating levels, some starting at $2, with others as high as $30. In a display of his ego, he then tried to sell his personal stamp album for $1,000, despite the fact that Bob's stamps were decades old and more valuable whereas Chris's consisted of more recent releases.
Bob's stamp collection
On 1 March 2017, Chris began selling pieces of Bob's stamp collection. In a video advertising the sales, he mentioned having six boxes of stamp books. Initial responses were good; in the first day, he made $63 in sales from eight listings. However, sales quickly stagnated, bouncing back only after subsequent mentions on Facebook. On 19 March, following ten days of no sales, he begged for more, and white knights swiftly responded by purchasing $41.50 across seven stamp covers. This was followed by another lull, and sales shot up again on 27 March after Chris announced a raffle ($35 in a day). However, on two subsequent mentions (the Son-chu Review video and more pleas for sales following a tantrum over his refusal to get a job), he received $0 for his efforts.
An example of one listing's description is below:
| Region: United Nations Year of Issue: 1967 Topic: Flags, National Emblems Cancellation Type: First Day of Issue Color:Rainbow Quality: Lightly Hinged
|
| Number of stamps offered | Number sold | Sales revenue | Revenue after fees, shipping | Promotional expenses[3] | Net profit | Profit wasted on toys[4] [5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 55 | $341 | $269.17 | $790 | Negative $520.83 | $90 |
The following is a list of stamps Chris put up for sale, along with notes on pricing and when they were sold. All listings offer free shipping (meaning a piece of his revenue goes to cover shipping, about 50) cents per sale).
| List of stamp covers offered for sale |
|---|
|
Chris's stamp album
Two days after offering pieces of Bob's stamp collection for sale, generally for $5 per piece, Chris listed his personal stamp album for a whopping $1,000. Unsurprisingly, it failed to sell and the listing expired from eBay the next month. Chris then relisted it, still asking for the full $1,000 price, eventually cutting the price 50%. It again failed to sell, and he relisted it again in May; a day later, he slashed the price to $250.
- Listed: 3 March 2017, as Buy It Now
- Price: $1,000, reduced to $500 on 17 April and reduced to $250 on 5 May.
- Shipping: Free
|
As owned by Christine Weston Chandler, formally known as Christopher, followed by Christian, as signed back in 1992 at 10 years old; she is to become famous for her art and comics of her very own Sonichu and Rosechu characters, is this unique copy of "A First Stamp Album for Beginners", from Robert Obojski, published in 1984. As shown in the images, and in between the remaining pages, are a variety of select stamps personally added into the book's pages, and then some with additional pages, and a few loose stamps that remained in there from as early as June, 1992. As a collectible, and educational material, you can take a page from my book to get a start in your own Stamp Collection, and the enclosed stamps are quite valuable too; more than a hundred various stamps included. Very Sentimental too. |
Bonus stamps
A troll asked a stamp collector friend to contact Chris and attempt to inform him that his asking price was too high. Chris responded[7]:
| As the actual person, herself, I wrote my original name way back in 1992, before I had my name legally changed from Christopher to Christian, and I added the "ian" shortly after that name change. And I added my current name recently. I have created Sonichu and Rosechu; more than eleven books of content about them and all related therein. I have been famous for them as early as March, 2000. I am still talked about by thousands to millions of people online. So there. If you don't like it, you don't have to buy this actual item from me. Have a good and safe day now. :) |
On 13 March, Chris tried to sweeten the deal by offering some of Bob's stamps as a bonus.
| **BONUS**
Set of Seven commemorative packs of gently used stamps (an $11-plus value). And Ten randomly selected UN Stamp Covers, counting the two predetermined covers in the photo above (a $100-plus value) -1971 UN International School UNICEF First Day Issue Pablo Picasso stamps -1971 UN Eliminate Racial Discrimination First Day Issue |
On 7 April, he again added to the bonuses:
| -Bonuses for Son-Chu Giveaway: Son-Chu Figure, CWC Skylander Figure, matching Funtional Card, and T-Shirt. See above photos. |
He removed the Skylanders bonuses after the raffle concluded.
Reviews
One of the buyers, who bought a stamp cover for #2.50, reported that it had been crumpled up and stained, with a smudge of possible bodily fluid on the mailed envelope. He posted to Kiwi Farms:
| Stamps came in today and the collectors value of the stamps themselves have been ruined. The envelope which the stamps are on has been crumpled and stained lightly, even within the protective sleeve. This means at some time, Chris took the stamps out of the sleeve, mishandled it, put in back into the three fold sleeve and shipped it.
The mailing envelope it came in on also has some type of smudge that I haven't dared to figure out what it is. It kind of looks like dried bloody snot, I dare not touch it. All in all, Chris has ruined the value of the stamps just by handling them improperly, and has possibly attached something disgusting to his package. Would not recommend buying from again. Also, I purchased only one set of stamps, I'm not the mass buyer.[8] |
Some people left feedback on his eBay profile, mostly positive, although a few had complaints.
| came okay, clearly mishandled though, but in a decent enough condition |
- Regardless, the feedback was rated positive. The sale had been for "United Nations Pavilion EXPO cachet 1967 first day cover, Gold Seal" for $6.
| Never sent item, never responded to email, payment refunded. Avoid. |
- Negative feedback, for the $5 "United Nations Water Conference cachet 1977 first day cover."
| ship it faster man |
- Neutral feedback, for the $5 "United Nations 1973 Decade of Disarmment."
Raffle
Near the end of his first month of stamp sales, Chris announced a giveaway contest, in which people could enter between "March 27, 2017 and April 31st, 2017 at 11:59 PM, Eastern Standard Time; 3:59 AM Pacific Time."[9]
| Number of sales | Number of participants | Sales revenue during the raffle | Revenue after fees, shipping | Promotional expenses[10] | Net profit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | 12 | $209.50 | $165.76 | $790 | Negative $624.24 | 18 of the stamp covers, at a cost of $76, were bought by one person. |
Cost of entry was described as buying one of the stamp covers or the album, with a limit of one entry per person. The prizes are as follows:
- One winner to receive a Son-Chu custom figure and a Skylanders avatar doll.
- Fifteen runners-up to each receive a Skylanders avatar card.
- A person who buys the $1,000 album would win a set of all three.
See also
References
- ↑ I'm selling my father's stamp collection; come on down and buy some of it
- ↑ BlueSpike PSN Chat 3.7
- ↑ $750 for Skylanders, $40 for Son-Chu figure
- ↑ List of toys#Bought in 2017 from eBay
- ↑ List of Chris's video games#PlayStation 4 (PS4)
- ↑ https://kiwifarms.net/threads/fb-3-1-selling-bobs-stamp-collection.28698/page-11#post-2098923
- ↑ https://kiwifarms.net/threads/fb-3-1-selling-bobs-stamp-collection.28698/page-15#post-2114976
- ↑ https://kiwifarms.net/threads/fb-3-27-raffle-to-win-a-son-chu-figure.29536/page-8#post-2166887
- ↑ March 2017 Facebook Posts#Raffle for new merch
- ↑ $750 for Skylanders, $40 for Son-Chu figure
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