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Don't you wish we could just rent stamps? Like movies. I find all these sets I had to have last year or the year before look dated to me and I really want all the new stuff, but then next year, this year's new stuff will be outdated and I'll want others. Kind of a "been there, done that" thing. Seems like such a waste! My personal tastes change so frequently. What's a stamper to do? (Maybe it's just me...I seem to never be satisfied!) But renting would be so cool! You could use the stamps until you got tired of them, then return them and get something else! Sounds like a great idea to me! Hmmmm...maybe there's a business idea in there somewhere...
Yeah, something like Netflix or Blockbuster. Rent so many a month, have a wish list, return one stamp, get a new one mailed to you in a few days. Sign me up!
I think it is a fabulous idea and has great business potential. For instance right now I am trying to make a housewarming invitation and done have a house stamp - i dont really want to purchase one as i will probably never use it again - i could do an image swap i suppose, but that seems to iffy - when i really need it...ahhh....i dont know. I am checking with all my friends who stamp to see if they have anything that would work....
A local store used to do that but even with a $25 deposit on rentals they were losing stamps. It was not good for the business of selling stamps either.
M
There have been businesses like that. A local store here had that "Rent A Stamp" concept. Until they went out of business, sadly. When another store opened up she purchased the other gal's RAS inventory and has that going on in her stamp store now. I don't go there so I don't know how successful it is.
My mom and I were just talking about this very thing. You know, it would even be better if it was all free, kind of like a library. I thought about trying to set that up, you know, a network of people with this set or that, etc. Then you contact the person with the set you want. Problem is, someone would always ruin it or be too rough on the stamps. LOVE the idea, though.
That's something I've long thought of. But someone had said something at one time about all the copyright laws. I'm like the rest of you, you need a stamp for something specific, spend $10 or more on it and then can't come up with anything else to use it for!
I think it would be hard to offer "clean" stamps though and some people are fanatical about keeping the wood/rubber clean. I'm not so it wouldn't bother me at all!
Maybe that'll be my retirement business in a few years.
speaking of renting check out the message on my blog it might explain a few renting ideas...or pm for the link i have a rental site open on retired SU sets. i got the clearance from SU
I find a project I just "Have " to make and then I buy the stamps for it. I make a couple and I am ready to move on. Renting stamps would be so great when I can't find a friend to borrow from, which is most of the time!
thats why i rent my retired stamps it has been working out really good so far and i keep adding more retired sets as i get them.. The best place i have found to get the retired stuff for the business is garage sales. DH said to me why not put those to good use instead of having them sit here and collect dust. So we thought of a name for it and got the LLC and off we went. The funny thing is that he is doing all the leg work i just sit back and get them ready to be shipped oh and stamp all the images so that they can be posted on the site. We are still working on making the site look pretty but we can do that all in time. I'm not sure if i can post a link to it in my signature or not so its on my blog if anyone wants to browse it
Dawn, if you are a SU Demo, isn't that a violation of the demo contract clause about not working for or representing another stamp company? The separate business is another stamp company. Even if you are renting SU stamps, it would be considered a competitor for their current stamps.
Kathy
__________________ I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about. ~ Oscar Wilde
There is a group right here on SCS that trades images. It's under the RAK forum.. Called IRAK for Image RAK. The way it works is you start off with a few wishes. You post what you wish for. Others in the group grant what they have. To earn more wishes all you need to do is grant wishes. You can keep a wish on the list until you receive all you want. It is a nice concept.
She said she got the clearance from SU!, so I guess they think it's different enough.
It's a cool concept. I think the pricing would have to be done in such a way to make it worth it for both parties. Could be a fine line to walk there.
Oh, didn't read that; then that's an interesting idea. But I would be more inclined to just get the images on paper rather than pay for the stamp rental plus shipping both ways. Mailing the images would be so much less expensive, too. I know I can always borrow sets from some friends, but for those really hard to find sets (like the ones on ebay that go for big bucks), then it's nice to have an image exchange like they have here on SCS.
Kathy
__________________ I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about. ~ Oscar Wilde
Actually the renter doesnt pay for the shipping we do the only thing we are still working out is the shipping back to us we are looking into several options like fed ex or ups.. but so far its been good. SU told me as long as they are retired sets and i'm not reproducing the images even though i am a demo once they retire i was told i could do what i want with them.....I actually called DS 2 times on seperate days just to make sure that one person told me one thing and another told me something else. So i made sure i was covered with that stuff.. We started off with local rental at first to test the waters and it was going pretty good they came back clean and on time. I'm not the type of person to get all upset when the wood gets stained that means they are well loved to me...So if your ever in need just look me up..
oh and to funny the advertisement on this page is for blockbuster rentals lol
Dawn, doesn't it cut into your SU business? I mean, I wonder how many folks are less inclined to buy sets when they can rent? I guess I'm trying to wrap my head around it all, lol. Actually it does make more sense to rent out whole sets; I never could understand renting just one stamp....gosh after a couple of days you could've bought the stamp!
That's very clever of you to come up with that concept. My question is, how do you make money if you have to pay for shipping on both ends? I'm just thinking as a consumer. I am good at getting retired sets CHEAP, so I wouldn't really want to pay much at all to rent. I do think it's cool if you can pull it off!
We actually have a stamp store here in Cincy that has an annual used stamp sale. The store's regular customers can clean out their stamp collections, price them and drop them off at the store. At the end of the sale, you get a store credit for 75% of the revenue from the sale of your stamps. The store keeps the 25% as a handling fee. It is a very popular sale. Granted, you need to price them at garage sale prices, but it beats them sitting in a box in your crafting room waiting to be used.
We actually have a stamp store here in Cincy that has an annual used stamp sale. The store's regular customers can clean out their stamp collections, price them and drop them off at the store. At the end of the sale, you get a store credit for 75% of the revenue from the sale of your stamps. The store keeps the 25% as a handling fee. It is a very popular sale. Granted, you need to price them at garage sale prices, but it beats them sitting in a box in your crafting room waiting to be used.
What is the name of the store and when is the sale? Sounds like a place I need to visit.
the whole concept isnt really to make tons of money just to share the retired sets that i have. yes i have invested. but as the site becomes more up to date ppl will find that renting 4 sets compaired to 1 set would make more sense. It doesnt really take away from my demo business i am more of a Hobby Demo. I do have some girls that order from me now. So far its been working out good we started just local so i brought the sets to them but now we are expanding out so it looks like fed ex is the way to go. atleast it garentees me getting the sets back. there is a small deposit required and with paypal it works it self out.
My DREAM is to open a "library" so to speak where people can come on in for a fee and use all my non-consumables! I think it would be a FABULOUS resource!! Could you imagine going to a crop and only bringing ink, cardstock adhesive and embelishments?? Oh how I wish!!
i jsut called hubby at work to tell him heis going to try to make it work in a few. the server we use had a major crash the other day thank god he backed up all the stamp sets we hould have it up and working by tonight..Please check back thanks...
We actually have a stamp store here in Cincy that has an annual used stamp sale.
I live near Cincy, so I wanna know too! (How could something like that be going on right under my nose and me not know??)
Wow! I had no idea my random thoughts produced from bordom at work were realities in someone else's world!I like the library idea. I may just keep my retired old sets and set up just something for local people (don't want to have to deal with the shipping hassle). But the rental idea is great too.
Our Arts & Crafts Center on our military base has stamp rentals... You can rent them for a week at a time... It's great... especially if you're looking for "that one stamp" you don't have in the inventory...
the whole concept isnt really to make tons of money just to share the retired sets that i have. yes i have invested. but as the site becomes more up to date ppl will find that renting 4 sets compaired to 1 set would make more sense. but now we are expanding out so it looks like fed ex is the way to go. atleast it garentees me getting the sets back. there is a small deposit required and with paypal it works it self out.
I think this is a terrific idea. I bookmarked your page. As your inventory grows, I'm sure there will be times I would rather rent than buy a set. I'm glad you took the plunge and set something like this up. Image RAKs are good, too, but sometimes I just don't plan far enough ahead to enable someone else to help me out. Or what if I want to do a funky technique where I actually need the stamp in hand? Both the I/W-RAK and your rental place are great ideas, I'm sure both are/will be used.
In my circle of stampers, we keep track of what each other buys so we don't have repeats (except maybe sentiments and such that you always need) and we share all the time. Or do the buy/sell/trade.....swap out for something new.
In my circle of stampers, we keep track of what each other buys so we don't have repeats (except maybe sentiments and such that you always need) and we share all the time. Or do the buy/sell/trade.....swap out for something new.
That's what two of the gals who buy TAC stamps from me and SU stamps from my SU demo (Hi Deb!). They keep track of what the other has and compare their orders, etc.
When I was still single and living in west central MN, a few of my friends used me as their "lending library." I think they only had a few sets and I had billions of stamps. I didn't mind as long as they were returned cleaned. I'm haven't ever been a fanatic about keeping the wood unstained because accidents happen. (A stained stamp is a well-loved stamp.)
Kimberly
__________________ "There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." -- Dave Barry
How can I find the rental website for teh stamps? I did not see a link to click on...
Me either. My bet is she's changed her signature since then and SCS only displays the current signature, not the one at the time of the posting. If you find out, please let me know as I am interested, too (and also from WI)
I wish...
