The word 'conditions' sounds mighty judicial, but I think it is only fair to
write down what you can expect and state what I cannot offer to you. Of
course we will try to find an agreement suiting equally to both. But instead of
writing 100 long letters about my intentions and suggestions it is better to
note them down point for point in here:
The way of trading I can offer:
Generally speaking : if you have been collecting stamps for over 90 years
and only are missing very few expensive items from the late 1850s I'm surely
the wrong partner.
I kindly ask you that we always keep the rhythm of you sending
and me answering. This helps me organize many trade partners and to lead
a rather simple inbox/outbox system without tracing who's turn it is. And it
helps my deep need to send always back same or more value and same or more
quality. I thank those 100% of my trading partners who can live with that.
Please be patient with me. My job keeps me running, please allow up
to 14 days of response time for preparation. After that duration of postal
service may differ from distance to distance or continent. If it should take
even longer you will receive a mail. Or if it should take too long I will
return your letter if you wish.
I'm sorry that I can NOT handle wish lists or want lists. So if you
should ever send me want lists please never do expect me to fulfill
them. On the other hand I will also never send out want lists expecting that
you look at them.
I will never promise to meet your topical interests. My
stocks are sorted countrywise and within the countries after any criteria
but topics. If you should be a pure topical collector I might not be the
right partner. If you are collecting several topics besides major country or
region collections I could do my best but never promise to find some
topicals for you (btw there's a guy who has already collected over 140
stamps with ostriches, strong effort)
The fact that makes me answer is the arrival of your letter, not
the prediction that it is on the way. I had some bad experiences in
the past where traders said that they would be sending (or would have sent) but
never did.
If you should live in a location where postal service is uncertain we can
agree on sending registered letters. Of course this is expensive as
hell here where I live, but it avoids problems with each other. In this case
we should agree on larger trades to make postage pay off (otherwise this
gives us the possibility to use more interesting items for postage, see SSSP
program)
We may start with smaller quantities, in general I like bigger trades (not
20 for 20 or so) to make postage pay off
Personally I prefer multiple-to-multiple trades (see the remarks on
my offer page) because this gets me
something to trade further and my sorting systems are designed to react
faster in these kind of trades
I only collect used stamps (singles, sheets, blocks, panes, strips,
booklets) and FDCs, with clean round cancellations absolutely preferred.
Please do not send stamps in mint condition (except explicitly
requested)
If we should trade countrywise I may politely ask you not to spread the
contents of your packet over hundred years, but if possible within a decade
or just a few years (e.g. New Zealand 90s instead of Pacific 1850-2002).
Some traders try to produce extra variation (nice intention anyway), but it
gets me hours to find the stamps in the catalogues (e.g. Spain, USA) and I
need much longer to answer your letter.
I spend a lot of time to avoid any damaged stamps in my collection
and in my stocks for trading. I suppose you do the same.
Nobody is perfect and misunderstandings can happen. If you should be
unsatisfied with my answer we can agree that...
... I send an additional answer to fulfill fairness (only happened
once because I forgot something due to sickness)
...we reverse trade (never happened so far).
If you should send material not meeting our agreement I will return that
material.
It is natural that we communicate over email, inform each other, send
requests, maybe also develop friendships. I may beg you to follow the
internet netiquette when it comes to email:
Please type a meaningful subject line or my spam filter could kill your mails
Please do not send large attachments (if necessary compress with ZIP
and add notes what's inside)
Please do not just 'drop off' between the lines I've sent you, maybe I
could miss out important information
Please never pass further my email adress(es) without my permission (I
will do the same of course)
Please never include my email adress(es) in your homepage without
my permission (I will do the same of course)
It is no tragedy if we should not find any agreement. Could you marry
every woman/man? And if one of us should say stop we both never take that
personal.