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The new business cards arrived today:
http://pierrelebel.com/pics/canada/BusinessCard.jpg
My eBay store will be closing next week. 
All the best to you Pierre!
Please tell us you won't be abandoning us completely -- somehow perusing these boards without seeing Yoda will just not seem right! I've always enjoyed a good discussion with you, even if we didn't agree 100% on every topic. 
Maybe this is a good time to start a stamp collecting hobby, and let someone else do all the work of selling them to you -- 
"A retirement hard earned.... "
Actually, I retired several years ago, when I closed my website. I stopped purchasing new stamp inventory four years ago. My first year of "retirement" was my busiest as I was selling my stamp inventory to other dealers, wholesalers, established customers, through philatelic auction houses (in Canada and the USA) and through eBay.
The following two years, I quietly continued selling my excess inventory. In early 2014 I re-opened my eBay store when eBay lowered the fees to the point it made more sense to have a store than selling without one. Currently, eBay is charging a TRS store owner only 4.8% FVF in the "Stamps" category. That is cheaper than I was paying way back in 1998. And, with the current fee structure, a seller can divide his listings between eBay.com and eBay.ca and basically eliminate all listing fees. It does not get any cheaper than that!
Now, to make a long story short, after nearly eighteen years in this large house, we are getting a bit older and Mary decided it is time to downsize. She also wants to relocate to be closer to her sisters. We have spent a great deal of time in the last few months looking for the perfect house. Easier said than done! We are doing open houses every weekend in addition to arranging private viewings from time to time. We feel we are getting closer to find "the one"!
That means packing, moving and relocating. So I started packing the remaining of my stamp inventory. Despite having retired three years ago and selling most of my worldwide stamps it is amazing that there is still so much left to pack! So the plan is to close my eBay store next week and (maybe) re-open next year to complete the liquidation from our new location.
Thank you all for your kind words and good wishes.
Here's a loaded question that only someone like you might be able to answer, but that you might not want to answer (please don't feel obliged) :
If one were going to start a stamp collection, but on a restricted budget, what general topic, or country, or area of the world would be good to focus on? I'm thinking maybe a theme, such as birds or flowers or insects, or perhaps island nations of the world, that sort of thing. Any words of advice from wise Yoda?
"Any words of advice from wise Yoda? "
Much depends on the budget available for stamp collecting.
If one is looking to collect stamps to build a long term collection, accumulating stamps from the country (Canada) makes sense.
If one is looking to have a bit more fun, one can go "topical" or "thematic", collecting low cost stamps from many countries, usually used or cancelled-to-order, covering a specific topic such as flowers, animals, Disney characters, etc....
Either way, these stamps will not increase in value. The money paid to a seller is represented by the enjoyment one receives from collecting and showing the collection to friends and family members. The residual value (if any) is negligible.
Most folks collect stamps for fun.
Now, if one has the time and the means to spend some real money into the hobby, it is quite possible to build a great collection which may appreciate over time IF great care was taken early on to always buy quality (not important when dealing with thematics).
All the best to you Pierre! Enjoy your move to a new home and your "official" retirement from eBay! 
Once knew a fellow who had business cards printed up stating he was a "Certified Armchair Tester".
@pierrelebel wrote:"A retirement hard earned.... "
Actually, I retired several years ago, when I closed my website. I stopped purchasing new stamp inventory four years ago. My first year of "retirement" was my busiest as I was selling my stamp inventory to other dealers, wholesalers, established customers, through philatelic auction houses (in Canada and the USA) and through eBay.
The following two years, I quietly continued selling my excess inventory. In early 2014 I re-opened my eBay store when eBay lowered the fees to the point it made more sense to have a store than selling without one. Currently, eBay is charging a TRS store owner only 4.8% FVF in the "Stamps" category. That is cheaper than I was paying way back in 1998. And, with the current fee structure, a seller can divide his listings between eBay.com and eBay.ca and basically eliminate all listing fees. It does not get any cheaper than that!
Now, to make a long story short, after nearly eighteen years in this large house, we are getting a bit older and Mary decided it is time to downsize. She also wants to relocate to be closer to her sisters. We have spent a great deal of time in the last few months looking for the perfect house. Easier said than done! We are doing open houses every weekend in addition to arranging private viewings from time to time. We feel we are getting closer to find "the one"!
That means packing, moving and relocating. So I started packing the remaining of my stamp inventory. Despite having retired three years ago and selling most of my worldwide stamps it is amazing that there is still so much left to pack! So the plan is to close my eBay store next week and (maybe) re-open next year to complete the liquidation from our new location.
Thank you all for your kind words and good wishes.
Pierre. Over here in Dauphin Manitoba, there is an inventory, ongoing, of about 90 houses. Population around 12,000. We have looked, easily, twenty of them. This should have been easier and is not. The best houses are not in the area we want. The best prices are across a busy road in a slightly less desirable area.
We kept running into houses that would take a lot of de-construction, and then construction, to get even half way to where we wanted. Ended up buying a $95K house that had not been messed with, not in any way. We can move in and upgrade as we live there.
We had resigned ourselves to buying the best of the worst which is what we did.
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