StampOffers.com Announcements - Most Recent On Top

2008 announcements click here.

2007 announcements click here.

To all:

I wanted to give you an update of what is occurring on the site as some of you have experienced auction errors when relisting or listing items.

Currently there are 535,000 items in the data base. Of these, 67,000 are items which are templates and 361,000 are items which have been relisted. Thus leaving 107,000 active items. The server which hosts Stampoffers is big enough to handle about 530,000 active items. Once there is more item than this, the sites space is all used up and no more items can be listed/relisted. 

So even if an item has 10 auto relists, there is no space for these items to be relisted in the database so they go into the unsuccessful area. When members go into the unsuccessful to relist the items, there is still no space in the data bases so the members receives an error message.

With the above being said, I will attempt to tell you how Stampoffers currently runs. When you list an item to run for 3, we will call it item number 1, it ends after three days. When you relist the item, it changes its item number to 2 and a template is made which becomes item number 3. So for the first time a item is made, after three days there is 3 identical items taking up space in the database. If you repeat this process over 60 days, well it is easy to see how 500,000 items can end up on the server.

As the site reaches its database max, the site starts to slow down. The server was not designed to keep this much information on it. Added to this, the more people we have on the server, the slow the server will get.

So the solutions.

1) Admin (my self) can go into the site every day and delete old items which closed over 60 days ago. I take great risk in deleting items greater than 60 days old as some members like to rotate their stock. I may inadvertently delete part of their stock items waiting to be relisted which are older than 60 days. Example, using the items above, item 1 would be deleted but item number 2 and 3 would remain on the site.

2) Even if I delete all the old items after 60 days, the system does not delete templates. (67,000 items)

3) Split up the site and make it run on two different servers.

4) Program the site to keep the items numbers the same and not make a template of each item.

All the above options are all being addressed by myself and the programmers.

So how can you help??

1) List items to run for a longer period of time. Lets say 7 days.

2) DELETE ALL THE ITEMS OUT OF YOUR TEMPLATE AREA!!!!

As a gesture of my appreciation to all of you who have continued to support stampoffers and myself, I have removed all fees from the site until Jan 1st. No upgrade fees, no store fees, 100% free!!

Darren

30 October 2009 - StampOffers.com is Acquired by Wensy.com

Fellow Philatelist:

For nearly seven years I have dedicated much of my time and expense to the development, promotion and running of StampOffers.com.  Alas, I have reached a point in my career that I am just not able to commit the amount of time needed for such a great site and community.

Therefore, I am announcing that effective immediately, StampOffers.com has been acquired by Wensy.com.

Wensy.com has been on the internet for 2 years and has done some great things in such a short time. In two years they have achieved over 6040 members and 113,000 items. They have done a great job promoting their site and will do the same here for StampOffers.com.

I want to thank each and every one of you for all that you have done in the past seven years.  You have not only become members of my site but have become friends.   I will be around and will be assisting with any transition and I will personally continue to support the site in the long run by continuing to buy and sell whenever possible.  I will also maintain administrative rights and have access to the e-mail system on StampOffers should you want to ask a question or just to send a note to say hi. I am sure you will extend the same personal friendship to the new owner that you have extended me. 

Thank you and God bless my friends.  It has been fun!

James

15 August 2009 - New Feature and LOWER PRICES

Today we implemented a new feature to help your use of the site improve immensely.  You will now notice a thumbnail image next to all listing when browsing throughout StampOffers.com.  No longer do you need to click into each auction to get an idea of what you are looking at.

Also, we have LOWERED prices on all the EXTRA features!  What? Lower prices when everyone else is raising them?  That is right!!  Would you expect anything more from StampOffers.com?  Now adding your item to the gallery, highlighting your listing, or creating a featured item is even less!

StampOffers.com - Tell a friend about us!

08 August 2009 - Seller's Assist Page

Want to know what it takes to sell in an online auction?  StampOffers.com has created a sellers assist page to help you maximize your selling experience on StampOffers.com.  CLICK HERE

29 July 2009 - FIXED Errors in Bidding Process

The error we have been experiencing since the latest upgrade has been fixed.

Thank you for your patience.

StampOffers.com

28 July 2009 - Errors in Bidding Process

Since to upgrade done on 27 July, we have been experiencing errors in the bidding/buying process.  When the site takes the buyer to the confirmation page, the error occurs and does not allow the auction to get "placed" into its proper location.  Therefore, although the the auction was successful, it does not show in the seller's or buyer's successful list.  Emails are going out with the correct info.

We hope to have this resolved soon but ask for your patience and understanding from both parties when attempting to complete a transaction.

Thank you.

StampOffers.com

27 July 2009 - MORE SITE CHANGES!!

Just FIVE days after a round of upgrades, StampOffers.com made some more adjustments to the site today and added another upgrade:

 - IMAGES!  You can upload up to TEN (10) images in your listings!  AND YES!!  They are ALL FREE!!

 - STORE LISTINGS!  The stores are now sorted in descending order by the number of items a seller has in their store.  The store with the most listings will show up on the top of the list and is the first one seen when a user enters the stores area.  Will your store be the first?

 - STATISTICS!  The statistics on the home page have been rearranged to provide more insight.  Also, you will now see a list of the last five registered users and when they registered.  If those users have set up a store since registering, you will be able to see that store by clicking on their user ID in the list.

 - BLOCK BIDDERS!!  Yes, we finally have the option for sellers to block bidders from bidding on their items.  We were hoping we would never have to do this but with growth comes the demand. This option can by found under MY ACCOUNT and under the LISTINGS column.

- ACTIVE ITEMS!! As a seller, you will see nice changes to the ACTIVE ITEMS listings to include: images for easy identification, choose the number of items to display on the page, and the ability to end all items early if needed. 

We are looking forward to more upgrades within the next few months and your donations are greatly appreciated.  

StampOffers.com - Buy, Sell, and Trade for FREE!

22 July 2009 - Site Upgrades!

StampOffers.com made three upgrades to the site today:

 - BULK LOADER!!  The long awaited and heavily requested bulk loader has finally arrived!  Now sellers can upload hundreds of items at one time.  The bulk loader is an Excel csv driven program that is easy to understand and utilize.  To find the bulk loader, simply log into MY ACCOUNT and scroll down to the last link on the left.

 - STORE CATEGORIES!  We have totally redesigned the store category layout.  To find particular categories with items within and individual store prior to the upgrade was extremely difficult.  Not only that, it made a mess on the upper portion of the store page when attempting to view an individual's store.  Now the categories mirror what one would see on the home page of the site; thus, creating a more pleasurable user experience and making the task of finding items within an individual store MUCH easier.

 - UNSUCCESSFUL LISTINGS!  It use to be when an item ended, it would show up in the unsuccessful listings.  This would cause difficulty in determining whether the item was truly unsuccessful or was it just "waiting" in the queue for the automatic relist.  Now the items will not show up in the unsuccessful until all the automatic relists have expired.

The next round of upgrades are now being determined and should be implemented shortly.

Thank you and please tell your philatelic acquaintances about us!

StampOffers.com - Buy, Sell, and Trade for FREE!

30 June 2009 - Fees for "Extras"

Effective January 1, 2010, the fees associated with the "extras" (I.e. bold, gallery, featured, etc) will be applied with each relist.  Currently, the fees are applied only during the initial listing and the relists were all free.

Thank you,

StampOffers.com - Tell a Friend About Us!

23 May 2009 - Site Speed

As we are prepping the site for the next upgrade, users may experience site speed issues for the next 24 hours.  This is temporary but need to be done.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

StampOffers.com - Buy, Sell, & Trade for FREE!

13 March 2009 - Quick Links Revisited

We have made a change to the layout of the site by removing the Quick Links from the top of the page and moved it to the right side of the site.  This will allow us to make a more dynamic area for quick adjustments and adding as we progress.  

You can also have a link to your offerings within the new Quick Link section.  Simply click on the "Advertise Here" link for more information.

StampOffers.com - Tell a Friend About Us!

01 February 2009 - Top 25 Sellers List

Last month the Top 25 Sellers List stopped working as it should.  The programmer had thought it was fixed and we decided to wait until the new month (February) to see if the data would "reset" and begin displaying properly.  Unfortunately, this did not happen.  We are working to correct this issue and hope to have it resolved soon.

StampOffers.com

21 January 2009 - StampOffers.com Surpasses 1000!

Today StampOffers.com had its 1000th user register.  We continue to grow as more and more collectors from around the world find us.  With your continued referrals of new users to the site, we can look forward to even more growth throughout 2009.  Perhaps we can get an additional 500 members this new year!

StampOffers.com - The World Is Finding Us!