Happy Holidays and Thank You!

I am very pleased to be able to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have made 2020 possible. In your own way, whether it is by visiting this site and reading my articles, participating in the discussion forum, bidding in the auction, or ordering from the retail listings, all of you reading this have contributed to our survival in 2019 and our ability to go forward into 2020 and execute the next phase of our vision.

When I became a dealer in 2015 I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish. It's all detailed on my mission statement page, so I don't need to repeat it again. But, executing it has not been easy at all, especially with e-Bay so closely controlling what it's sellers do and discriminating against sellers of long-tail inventory that does not sell lightning-fast.

E-Bay had been restricting our item views and throttling our account for 2 years and by this time last year we were almost out of money, as a direct result of their actions. Fortunately, I was able to take a contract in Toronto, which provided enough cash to get us through the summer. Because of these problems we made the heavy hearted and difficult decision to leave e-Bay completely in April of this year, so we could focus 100% on this website. As predicted, our revenue from stamp sales dropped dramatically, but the money from the contract and our bed and breakfast business kept us going while we started focusing on want lists and attending shows for the first time.

When we started attending shows, something really special happened: I started meeting all of you in person. For the first time, I was able to chat with my customers, shake hands and put faces to names. It was wonderful, and getting to this point made me feel that the all the struggle was ultimately worthwhile.

By the time we attended CANPEX in October, another opportunity to work a 6 week contract in Toronto arose, and we decided to take it, just to give us a little extra cushion to get us through the New Brunswick winter, which tends to be an expensive time. We kept our weekly auction going and secured a very important consignment while we were there: one of the most extensive collections of the 1967-1973 Centennial issue ever formed.

As we attended shows, met our customers and connected with all of you, we began to see our relationships with you developing in they way we had always hoped to do before on e-Bay, but had not been able to do successfully. So, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart and I look forward to continuing to bring you the best that Canadian philately has to offer in 2020 and beyond!