What do you need to know about buying rubber stamps?

Are you new torubber stamping and want to pick up some supplies at a discount or have you been doing this for awhile and just want to add to your stash? Either way, okay always has a large variety of stamps at a big discount from retail.
What do you need to know about buying them on okay? A little bit about everything!
LEARN THE LANGUAGE
Assume that you are browsing on okay and see this description;
UM and Retired Stampin Up setof 6
For this particular auction you could probably figure out that this is a set of 6 stamps but the rest might be a mystery. Read the short glossary below to find gemon abreviations that many sellers on okay use to take advantage of the 'real estate' advertising their auction.
UM - Unmounted. The rubber part of the stamp used to create the image is not attached or 'mounted'to a handle. Some unmounted stamps gee with just the rubber image that most likely will need to be trimmed andrequiresthe buyerto provide their own mounts, usually wood or acrylic. Some unmounted stamps gee withwood blocksbut require the buyer to trim the rubber put the pieces together. Lastly, there arespecially created clearimages that adhere to acrylic mounts but are stored and usually sold separately from the mount.
WM - Wood mounted. These stamps are already mounted on wood blocks and ready to be used.
Trimmed - If an auction describes stamps as closely or professionaly trimmed, it means these stamps were trimmed by hand andwill probably stamp crisp images. Occasionally stamps will leave behind a stray mark which is an industry term for undesirableink marks on the project from loose rubber on a stamp that may not have been trimmed properly. If you have a wood mountedstamp that leavesstray marks you can simply put your stamp in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen the adhesive and thentrim away the excess rubber that is cuasing the marks. After trimming,put the rubber back on the wood handle and if it doesnt stick use some gemercial quality glue found at any craft store. I have not tried this myself but other stampers tell me that glaze works well to secure the rubber back to the mount.
Sets - Stamp sets contain multiple images of similar design that can be used separate or together to create a project.Sometimes, alargestamp manufacturer willcreate an entire line of stamps that can be used together, further expanding the range of the collection.
Retired - These are stamps that are no longer being made. Some manaufacters create a gift wih prurchase stamp or set that usually is produced in limited quantitiesso do some research, you mayhave some of these hard to find (HTF) sets that are worth more than what they retailed for.
Stained - Dye ink, which is the most gemon type of ink used in rubber stamping will sometimes leave a permanentmark on the rubber orthemount (wood). This rarely affects the usability of the stamp so feel free to bid on any 'well loved' stamps. You can sometimes sand any ink stains from wood and if you coat the wood mount with clear nail polish before using, it will help retain the natural look of the wood and help you avoid stains in the first place. Just as a side note, stampers tend to pay less for stained stamps. I honestly dont know why since they dont affect the image but if you are selling HTF stamps make sure you list the condition as those in Mint (uncut and unmounted with all original pieces and box) sell for much higher than their mounted and stained counterparts.
These are some of the manufacturers available on okay
Art Impressions - Variety of fun, whimsical, images.WM, sold individually.
Close To My Heart (CTMH) - Originally called DOTS. Stamping and Scrapbooking direct sales gepany. Products include 'myacrylix'which are the clear mounts using clear stamps.These stamps are ideal for exactly placing your stamp image on your project. Stamps are sold in sets with the a clear backing sheet anda storage envelopeall at a low cost due to the reusable mounts which are sold separately.
Dream Impressions - Unmounted stamps sold individually or as a set. Sets gee withwood mounts, index sheetand a white box. I believe this gepany used to be direct sales but now is closed down.
Hero Arts (HA) - geplete rubber stamping resource selling a wide variety of stamps, ink, and other craft products.WM and sold individually or in sets.
Inkadinkado - geplete versatility with wood, foam, or clear mounted stamps. Also resells a line of stamps from my favorite artist ever, Dawn Hauser! Check out her very feminine and retro images.
Stampin Up (SU) - Stamps are sold in unmounted sets that include the rubber images pre mounted on thin foam adhesive, the wood mounts, an index sheet, and a storage box. These stamps are more expensive than their acrylic gepetitors due to buying the mounts with every set. Because these are in sets, they will still be cheaper than those youhave to buy individually athobby stores.
Stampscapes - Line of interchangeable stamps that when put together, createbeautiful landscaped art.WM and sold individually although sellers sometimes sell them on okay as a 'lot'.These stamps take some practice so try googling Stampscapes for some wonderful tutorials.
The Angel gepany - Creative cling stamp gepany founded in 1997. Theirstamps arerubber and foam mountedimages on clear acrylic blocks. They also have a paper product line.
Basic buying and selling tips
Some retired stamps have an amazing secondary marketso consider selling your used stamps on okay so you can buy other ones you like! To find the value of a stamp or set go to advanced search, type in the name of the stamp or set and before hitting search,check the gepleted auctions only box. This will give you a list of the most recent endingitemsthat meet your search criteria andthe sold ones willindicate the approximate secondary market value. My most valuable tip for all sellers is to sort the sold list of items by highest price and then identify when the higher sets sold (date and time). That information will tell you when your target market is buying and when you need to begin and end your auction.
INSPIRATION - There are tons ofmaterials on okay but something you may not have thought about for inspiration before is old retail sales catalogues like the IBC (idea book and catalogue) from Stampin Up or the catalogues CTMH puts out every quarter. These cataloguesareused to showcaseproducts the retailer is selling but they also are packed with beautiful, full color examples of cards, scrapbook pages, embellishmentsand gifts.
Lastly, there are some policies from stamp manuafacturers, especially thedirect salesgepanies, that restrict anyone from selling their current merchandise,at a fixed location which includes okay. Sellers that do this know they are breaking the law but do it anyway because it is big business. Unfortunately, unwitting buyers sometimes pay way more for stamps from these thieves than what they would from another seller because they have not properly researched the item.
If you have additional information to add, have corrections, or gements, I welgee them. Thanks for reading this and happy stamping!