Part 1 contains general information about identifying your postcard, reaching potential bidders, and giving them enough information to maximize the bids you receive. Part 2 of this guide will give you an idea of just how much they are likely to bid. If you find this guide helpful, we would appreciate your feedback via the form at the bottom of the page. If you find information missing, or if we can be of help identifying a card, please contact the author through eBay. (stanl-lym)

Actually, no one can tell you how to price your Boy Scout Postcards. That is and should be a reflection of your overall business model and philosophy.  What I can - and will - do is give you an idea of the prices you might realize for your cards and some ideas of what to include in your descriptions to help you reach those collectors who are most likely to be interested in purchasing your items.  This guide then will consist of three sections.

• A brief discussion of general pricing strategies - not specific to Boy Scout Postcards.
• Some suggestions of what information to include in the listing.
• An idea of what a collector might be willing to pay for your postcard. (In Part 2.)
  

Pricing Strategies

If you examine enough auction listings you will see four distinct strategies that sellers use. Many vendors will offer to tell you why the one that they use is the best. In reality, to develop a loyal customer base, it is probably more important to be consistent so that repeat buyers will know what to expect from you than to choose the "best" strategy.  Choose the strategy with which you personally feel the most comfortable. From time to time examine your profits and check to see whether it is working. If necessary, adjust your strategy until you are satisfied with your profits.

The strategies:

1. Start everything at one low price to attract attention and minimize listing fees.  The bidders will always determine the final selling price.  Some dealers following this strategy will start everything at one cent, or at ninty-nine cents.  Some postcard dealers start all cards at $2.00, some start all better cards at $7.99 or at $9.99.
   
2. Start high: you can always drop the price later. This is a reverse auction style.  Some dealers do not like this because it tends to lead to higher listing fees. eBay will not charge a second listing fee if an items sells, but if it takes three or four listings to sell a single item, the fees mount up. Other dealers claim that higher prices realized over time make up for the higher listing fees.
3. Start everything at "fair market value." Some dealers who don't want to be "cheated" out of their profit start at the price for which they feel an item should sell based on their experience, other auctions or price guides.
4. Start everything a little above cost. Some dealers, satisfied with making a profit, start items just above what they had to pay for them. If they paid low they start low: if they paid high they start high.
   

Selling Your Boy Scout Postcard

To maximize the price you realize for your postcard, you need to become familiar with what you are selling, and then you need to maximize the effectiveness of your title, you need to adequately describe the postcard, and you need to adequately describe its condition.

• The collector has a choice of something in excess of 3 million different Boy Scout Postcards to choose from.  In order to find the collector who wants your postcard you need to tell him something about it. Start by familiarizing yourself with the varieties of Boy Scout Postcards available to collectors. If the card is from the United States, a good place to start is the guide:   
  

                  Collecting Boy Scout Postcards From the United States

• Once you have identified the card in your own mind, it is time to build a title and pick an eBay category.  You have a limited number of characters in your title. Use them wisely. Include key words that eBayers are likely to use in their searches. Certainly include Boy, Scout, and Postcard. The two words Post Card use up an extra space and most collectors will search for both terms anyway.  If it's an Official card, make sure that term gets in the title.  Do not make up your own abbreviations, such as Off.  Few people are likely to search on that. If it is a camp postcard, get the name of the camp in the title, but you don't need the word camp.  For example, you can use Owasippi or C Owasippi rather than Camp Owasippi.  The word Camp itself returns too many hits to be a useful search term. (Although I would recommend getting the full Camp Owasippi into the description.)  If you can fit the name of the town or state in the title, that will result in more potential bidders finding your card. The more or less standard abbreviation for a Real Photo Post Card is RPPC, but make sure you know what one is before using it.  Most collectors will recognize a printed card that is mislabeled a real photo, and they immediately lose respect for the seller and become suspicious of everything else in the description. If the card contains any really unusual subject matter (in addition to the Scouts) try to get that into the title as well.

          Once you have a working title, I would recommend you use one of two categories.  Either:
          Collectibles>Postcards & Paper>Postcards>Other Postcards       or
          Collectibles>Historical Memorabilia>Fraternal Groups>Boy Scouts>Postcards, Cards

• Things about the postcard to include in your description.
• Repeat your title - it should contain important information.
  
• If the card is from a series, Official or Private (see the guides,) state which series.
• If the card is from a series, examine the back (address side) to see if you can determine the printing (from the guides,)  or include an image of the back.
  
• If you think it will help, you may quote me or provide a link to one or more of my guides.
  
• Unless it is readable in your image, give the printed caption or title of the card, if it has one.
• Tell whether the card is used or not. If used, give the date and place of the postmark. Tell whether the stamp is intact or partially or completely removed. Some collectors look for camp cards where the postmark is the camp name. Some collectors look for older postmarks from towns that no longer exist. Such features often enhance the selling price. If the card was used before 1950, the stamp is intact, and the postmark is readable, consider including a scan of the back even though an additional image costs a little more.
• Consider scanning postcards rather than photographing them. Unless someone uses a professional quality digital camera, a good scan will attract higher bids than a good photo of the exact same card.
• Be honest with yourself when describing the condition of the card. (Mint, excellent, very good, good, fair, poor.)  Don't engage in wishful thinking.  Describing a card as "excellent with the exception of one diagonal crease running from top to bottom through the center of the postcard," makes a seller sound foolish - or less than honest. This card is only "fair."
  
• Unlike stamps, where mint merely means unused, mint postcards are practically in the condition they were in when they were first printed. They are extremely rare.
• Excellent cards have no writing, front or back. The edges are complete, and the corners are sharp. There may be some yellowing or browning of the card stock (this is deterioriation due to acid content,) but it is minimal, it is even throughout the card, and it does not detract from the quality of the image.
• Very good cards have some single noticable blemish that does not detract from the card image. There may be some writing on the back, or there may be some uneven browning (most often diagonal marks on the corners where the card came in contact with a high acid content album page,) or the corners may be "bumped" or slightly worn and no longer sharp. If there is a postmark on the back, the stamp is intact and the date and location are fully legible.
  
• Good cards have multiple blemishes as above, or they may have a single blemish that invades the image but does not detract from it. They might have slight diagonal creases across one or more corners but close to the edge of the image. (These usually come from pulling them out of an old album.) The edges may be rough. The corners may be slightly rounded. There might be some slight postmark ink on the front of the card. (The postmark did not "bleed through" the card - it was transferred when the card touched another piece of mail where the ink was not dry.
• Fair cards may have a single blemish that impacts on the image on the front. It might be a significant amount of postmark ink or a crease through the card. It might be names or a message or an "X" or any otherwriting placed on the front of the card. It might be marks showing through where someone bore down on the other side with a pen or pencil. Fair cards may have residue on the back from when the card was glued onto an album page.
• Poor cards have been physically damaged. They may have a corner torn off, a tear from an edge into the card, or multiple creases. In removing a stamp or album residue from the back of the card, some of the paper from the back of the card may have been pulled off. They may have holes in the card where they were tacked to a bulletin board. There may be paper stuck to the fron of the card. They may have evidence of water damage, or there may be significant color fading due to exposure to sunlight.

Stan Lipson