Well, I've been working hard on the stamps, and not so much on the web site! I will have to change that some day, but for the moment I will have to limit it to some updates.

I have reached Great Britain and have finished everything up to the end of the George VI period. I have to tackle a few boxes of QE II commemoratives next, and I anticipate the GB will be done completely in about 9 months.

But the real reason I'm writing - Overstocks! I haven't had any in a while, but the boxes have been piling up and getting harder to sort. Here they are for the moment.

A countries - 90% reduction, probably until September 13.
Russia 1980-1989 - 80% reduction, probably for the rest of September.
Russia 1976 definitives - No reduction for the moment, but still overstocked.

I will probably see Russia 1970s being overstocked in the next few weeks, resulting in another 80% reduction.

Remember that reductions don't apply to mint postage. MNH Australia dollar values and MNH Austria Euro values still get full trade credit (125% of face value in trade credit). However, older material (Australia sterling values, Austrial Schilling values) are subject to reduction.
posted by Steven at 10:25 AM

For the time being, all discounts are off! Full value for everything. This will probably last until at least the end of February.

There should be a full web site update in about a week.
posted by Steven at 9:52 PM

NEW REDUCTIONS

Russia 1970-1979 (excluding back of book) - 80% reduction
Russia 1980-1989 (excluding back of book) - 90% reduction
Other Russia - 60% reduction

The 1980-1989 reduction should be over after this week, but will probably return in January.
posted by Steven at 9:48 PM

REDUCTIONS

Russia for the period 1980-1989 is currently reduced 90%! I don't expect this to last more than a week, but it will probably happen again in early December as I sort more Russia boxes.

All other Russia is currently reduced 70%. I expect this state of affairs to last for some time.

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE

The last processing day for receipt of material to be processed this year is Wednesday, December 24, 2008. Anything received after that date will not be processed until at least January 1, 2009, and possibly longer.

I will be sorting boxes over December 25-26 (and spending time with family!). I will start processing orders no later than December 27 to be mailed on December 29.

There will be no new Ebay lots posted the weekend of December 27.

Inventory starts after I process orders on December 27. I will not be processing anything until inventory is completed. I hope to complete this by December 30, but if I don't, there will be no orders processed the weekend of January 2-4, and all orders will be processed the following weekend, January 9-11. I will definitely be up and running that weekend with regular order processing and new Ebay lots.
posted by Steven at 10:19 PM

The reduction on Russia is currently up to 70% for all material, except new issue mint (no reduction on those). This is likely to last for some time, and is likely to get worse for some areas.

There are no other reductions at present. However, it is likely that S, U and A-E will be reduced for at least short periods until the new year.
posted by Steven at 7:00 PM

Although my Oct. 25 show was cancelled, I decided to sort through my regular eight boxes as planned. Unfortunately, I couldn't re-schedule the show, but I will be doing my regular show in December.

We now have a large number of overstocks as follows:

Russia is still overstocked and is subject to a reduction 0f 40% at present.

S countries are overstocked and will be subject to a 90% reduction for the next week.

Russia 1970s and Russia 1980s are overstocked, but there is no additional reduction on those countries.

I hope to update the entire web site this week.
posted by Steven at 10:03 PM

Wow! I haven't posted in a while, that's for sure! However, I have just turned a lot of easy to sort "R" boxes into a lot of time consuming "Russia" boxes. Russia is now overstocked, as is, for the time being, the United States. Here are the current reductions.

Russia (all except new issue postage) - 40% off
United States (all except mint postage) - 40% off

I expect the reductions for United States will be over in about a week. However, Russia will be overstocked for at least the next several months.
posted by Steven at 7:49 PM