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This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.
January 1999
[Going, going... what next?]
The Net is becoming the efficient market middleman, and the growth of auctions on the Net apparently knows no bounds. Since increased bidder competition generally brings higher prices and eventually bring more sellers to market, the Net's world wide reach might be philately's new best friend.
Right now there are several flavors of stamp auctions online with new varieties sure to come.
Net-service companies allow any seller to offer any stamps at any price to any bidder. They publicize offerings on their sites and handle bids, but do not offer philatelic expertise or account services to buyer or seller. Their computers simply track sellers, buyers, lots and bids, and email reports and results, and the biggest online service right now is Ebay.
Collectit.Net
http://www.collectit.net (Very new at the time of writing, and Run by Krause, Inc., publisher of the "Stamp Collector" family of newspapers, among others.)
Lycos Auction Connect,
http://auctionconnect.lycos.com (Very new at the time of writing, but powered by a big Net company.)
Auction Universe
http://www.auctionuniverse.com
Stamp Auctions
http://www.stampauctions.com
Other firms are coming on line to offer escrow services for large transactions associated with Net auction services.
Traditional philatelic auction firms now feature online lot viewing and bidding. Here, a stamp firm collects auction items in the usual brokerage manner, describes and posts them to their website, allowing collectors to view and to bid on them online.
Apfelbaum
http://www.apfelbaum.baweb.com/
Harmers of London
http://www.harmers.com
Greg Manning Stamps
http://www.vintagesports.com/
Siegel Auctions
http://siegelauctions.com/home.htm
Like all business, the online auction relies on good faith to arrange and complete the transaction so it still is good business to do business with those you trust. Many online sellers note APS membership with their lot descriptions, and the APS handles confirmations via e-mail.
Large firms and services have methods to track Net participants. Ebay has a buyer and seller rating system to address "reputation" issues, but possibly the best initial recommendation is your APS card. (You did remember to send in your dues, right?)
The Net is changing business, and companies that don't add tangible value to a product either must change the way they operate or risk closing their doors. The online stamp auction is just a ripple from a much larger wave still on the horizon.
5
[My kingdom for a horse.]
The quote illustrates the difference between value and price. The value of the aforementioned horse does not change greatly, but its price will rise and fall from time-to-time depending on the battle. Catalogs may give you general opinions of value, but you want to know the price.
6
[What hath God bought?]
Every three months or so a group of PC/Net companies begins to chaff under another's market dominance and launches a rival system or program in its defense. Some folks don't like SUN Microsystems' dominance of JAVA, a popular Net language, and are working on an alternative.
It's natural. It's competition. It's business, but what if the rival were to give away its program, and drive a stake into the heart of the competition with its "Von Helsing Cure?"
Microsoft owns the Windows operating system (OS) and sells software. A rival consortium is pushing RedHat, an OS to replace Windows. RedHat is a version of "open source" software called Linux.
"Open Source" means millions of programmers can change, fix, improve or mess with it to their heart's content, rather than wait a few years for a new OS version. It also means that it's free.
Download it, upgrade it, paint it, personalize it. It's yours. This is enough to scare any shareholder of a proprietary software company, but it is happening now. And it happened before. In the late '80s an Englishman in Switzerland solved a communications problem by inventing a programming language.
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and then gave it away for you and I and a few hundred million other people to use. Again, the Net brings changes, as PC-based proprietary companies collide with the Net's drift to open source access. Another ripple, another piece of drift wood on the beach, hints of larger things further out to sea.
The World Wide Web Consortium
http://www.w3.org
