Organisation listing postcards

Hi can someone offer any advice about the best way to list postcards and organise them so they are simple to find.

I must have about 40,000 cards but they tend to mixed together with different countries and places. It would take me an eternity to sort into separate countries and I probably do not have enough shoe boxes for that anyway.

Things got so muddled once I had to just stop all my listings and start from scratch! Also I have had to search for hours on occasions for 'missing' cards!

I have had some success on a relatively small number of listings but I just wonder if any small postcard dealer can offer organizational advice??

I have noticed that it is much easier to list in the same category from a bulk collection lot than have to keep swapping and chopping the categories you are listing in and also you can keep a similar description and with a different reference for each card.

Any advice or tips would be most appreciated.

May I add Happy Christmas and New Year 2012 to all

Regards Plumpostcards

I find it simplest to organise material (in my case stamps, but it's the same thing ultimately) by putting material in discreet boxes or stockbooks. I normally label the book or box with a note of the material in it - country name(s) and a note of the Delcampe listing number which the listing started from. This way at least I know which book or box to look in (Can't say I haven't still had a panic when I can't find it for looking at it!).
I know some other sellers put a code letter/number/sequence after the actual listing as they list the item which is resumably a 'picking' reference. It does take a bit more time, but as you've obviously had a few problems, worth it in the long run!

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Thanks for your replies.

I must add I think I have a lot of cards that will never get listed as I am a 'one man' show. So maybe it is a good idea to sort through ones I think will be of interest and then go on listing them and clear the rest at local auction or the 'other place' in bulk.

I tend to list the majority of mine as fixed price as I feel this is the price I would like for the card, although it may be better shifting more at auction at a lower starting price.

I think I need to get listing moew regularly again say an hour a day. I suppose a good way is making a reference for each box as you list and noting this on the listing.

I have definitely noticed that the more you list the more success you have. Though I remember listing about 3000 cards and having very limited success once and it did not seem worth the effort. It could be the cards were too ordinary. though I suppose some people are needing more basic cards.

I do notice on Delcampe though more than that other place you sometimes think you have quite an interesting card. List it, and then find there are about 15 of the exact card you have listed so hardly worth listing here in my opinion.

More interesting 'topic' cards seem to do better here.

Plumpostcards

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My unlisted stuff is "unsorted" in shoeboxes, apart from the boxes I am currently listing from. I simultaneously work out of 3 boxes, which means that in any given period of time I am listing 3 different counties and/or countries and/or topics. (at the moment it's London, USA and royalty). Once one of those boxes is nearly empty I sort another box and replace the empty one.

I list in batches of between 20 and 30 cards at the time. Each card in a batch is given the same stock number (the ref number at the top of my item description) and this number is also placed in the "personal reference" field directly below the title on the selling form.

Once I'm finished listing a batch of cards, they get placed in order in shoeboxes, which are numbered. Each batch is seperated by an index card which has the stock number written on it. I have a list which shows which batches are in each box. Any sales I get I can than just pull out the relevant batch of cards and look through them for the one that's been sold.

You'll find that many shoe shops are happy to give you their surplus boxes.

I haven't listed any postcards for a long time (I concentrate more on stamps).

However, I do have more than 1,100 postcards listed.

The way I keep a track of my postcards is to allocate a personal reference number (PRN) to each card when they are listed (which you can do within Delcampe and via the Lister if listing in bulk).

I keep all my postcards in storage boxes, similar to a shoe box, in sections of 25 cards each with an index card separating each batch of 25 regardless of subject/category/etc. I write on the index card the PRN within each batch - ie 1-25, 26-50, 51-75, etc . When a card is sold, the PRN is shown and the maximum number of cards I then have to sort through is 25 to find the card that has sold.

I don't bother to put them in plastic wallets (or similar) until they are sold as this would just tie up stocks of these.

That's very similar to me, except that I don't give each card an individual number.

It works fine for me and during my illness in the summer son was coping very well with the system.

Yes ~ I meant to say that my system was very similar to yours!

A further comment I'd like to add regarding the "Personal Reference" field is that the reference doesn't have to be a number. It can be anything you like; "Blue Shoe Box" , "Top Drawer", "Under the Mattress" - just any reminder as to where the card is stored. Reference numbers can then be added at the end of that field - "Blue Shoe Box 001" ........ "Blue Shoe Box 999" etc. . These references are then only seen by the seller rather than by everyone else - which is the case if you put it in the item's title (which I think looks ugly anyway).

I always use this field when listing stamps to say where they are stored - "Red Stock Book", "Blue FDC Album" etc. As all my listing is done via the Delcampe Lister using Excel spreadsheets, everything is automated and it makes adding references very easy. This method could quite easily be applied to postcards also.