You're being very generous with those outrageously priced stamps. There are a lot of sellers on eBay that are trying to lure in the unknowledgeable with lots of disposable income. AKA...scammers.
I think most of them just don't know. They inherit dad's or grandad's stamps and see some of what they have that are listed on ebay for thousands of dollars so they do it too. The blind leading the blind and on and on it goes...
here's what I do. go to the main page. Click on "shop by catagory" then click on "collectibles and art" then about three inches from the top of the page you will see the word "stamps" click on that. Now you are in eBay's massive philatelic store with literally millions of stamps for sale. At this point you just type in the scott # in the search window and click enter. You don't even have to type the word "scott" You will get lots of other stamps but much of the listings will be for the one you want. For example if you type "c18" you will get mostly baby zeps and hundreds of them and prices are really all over the place. So on the left hand collumn you scroll down and you have all kinds of filters you can apply. Look for the one that says: "BUYING FORMAT" ( ) All Listings ( ) Accepts Offers ( ) Auction ( ) Buy It Now click on "accepts Offers" More than half of the sellers will consider an offer you make other than the "buy it now" price and this is where you can save a ton. Here is the secret: Dealers are more desperate to sell you a stamp than you are to buy a stamp. 60% of all sellers of stamps will be willing to reduce their price just for you. It's like buying a car. The sticker price most of the time isn't the real price. So now you just go shopping down the list. Be mindful of shipping prices. One dealer may be selling the stamp you want for $25 but offers free shipping then another has the same stamp for $20 but charges $10 in shipping. Once you find the stamp you want for the lowest advertised price (including shipping) click on "Make Offer." Do NOT click on "Buy it Now." Don't be afraid to test the waters. They aren't going to file a complaint with eBay if you make a low ball offer. You just never know. But do understand that when you make an offer, if the seller accepts then you are legally obligated to buy so don't make an offer if you don't want the item. So last night I saw a Scott #C3, 24 cent Jenny, the one that was famous for having the biplane in the middle upside down. It was an arrow block of four in mint never hinged condition. There were at least two others that I saw, one listed for $180 and another listed for $125 but the one I liked was perfectly centered in flawless condition and priced at $65. The seller also offered free shipping and had a feedback score of 100% and had a score above 10,000 all good signs that they are trustworthy. So I clicked on "Make Offer" and a screen comes up and you enter the amount you would like to offer. eBay advises against low ball offers and in fact will command you to offer a higher amount if you offer less than 75% of the asking price. Ignore that advice. The worst any seller will do is decline your offer. So I offered them $30. An hour later he countered with $55. So already he came down by a whipping 15%. So I countered with $35. An hour later he countered with $50. At this point do NOT suggest splitting the difference because that is when the seller knows he's won. Just match his increments until you get somewhere in the middle. I went $40 and he went $45 and I went $42.5 and he sold it to me for that price. Mystic lists a single mint of he same issue for $150! I got a prime block of four with the arrow in the margin, a choice block for $42.50. Mystic is often just under Scott values. But you don't get to view the exact stamp you want with Mystic normally though they probably will send you a scan if it is an expensive stamp. In any case you have to ask to speak to a sales person over the phone because they don't even list blocks in their catalog and if they did this would probably have sold for at least $650 and so I got mine for a 93% discount!. Though you really don't want to judge by Mystic prices. They charge a premium for everything. Now the above example is not usual. I got lucky last night and occasionally I get lucky. Most sellers will give you between 20% and 35% off a stamp and if you flood them with a bunch of offers for several listings all at once they are all the more likely to say yes and take your first offer. A couple of weeks ago I bought 23 different stamps from the same dealer and again started off by offering him 50% of his Buy It Now price and he turned me down but countered with 40% off with a note saying that he gave me an extra deal due to me buying a bunch at a time. A lot of collectors don't have the means to buy a Scott catalog. Even ten year old used editions can cost $50 a volume. As it happens I obtained a full set of 2013 Scott Catalogs three years ago by offering to buy the full set if the dealer would give me a discount and I got them for 35% off his already low asking price. He didn't want to give them away but he also didn't need them as he had just gotten the new edition. Most prices don't change dramatically from year to year so the only real use for buying a new one every year is if you absolutely need to be kept updated on every one of last years issues around the world. I don't because I mostly collect classics but it's nice to have a full set for reference. If you don't have the money even for a used edition, most public libraries have copies though most don't get a new copy every year. Some will let you check out an older edition. One good thing about Mystic is that they will send you a free catalog. They will also send you packets of junk stamps "on approval" but you just stick them back in the post paid envelope and hand them back to the mailman. They will keep sending them for a while so you just keep putting them back in the envelope a few times until they get the hint (usually takes them 4-6 months of noticing you are not buying stamps before they will stop. Meanwhile you get a very hand reference guide free of charge. Pay little attention to their prices. That's not why you want the catalog. They include illustrated examples of nearly every postage stamp, and air male stamp. They don't have any other back of book material in their catalog but they do offer occasional "deals" but you will do better on eBay. eBay is NOT the only online market place where you can bid on or make offers on stamps and in fact HipStamp dot com is even better with higher prices stamps. The other day I bought a very nice cover that had an 1848 post mark on it tied to a near perfect Scott #1. They were willing to negotiate so I negotiated them right down to $95. Yes, you read that correctly. On Friday I bought a near perfect Scott #1 Ben Franklin medium brown with a light corner cancelation showing all of Franklin's face quite clearly and with all the design intact (in other words not clipped into the printed part of the stamp)! This stamp is usually sells for no less than $400 if you can even find it for sale on eBay and there were NONE on eBay on Friday night and I just did a quick check and they still don't have any for sale. A cover would be untouchable on eBay for under $1000 if you could even find it. I paid $95 including shipping. The post mark said Boston and the cover was addressed to someone in New York. But the best way to actually buy stamps is not like I have discussed. The best way is to buy up the biggest collection you can afford. Pick out the ones you want to keep (don't keep more than 25% or this won't work) and break up the collection into small sets and sell them on eBay for a little more than you paid. A few months ago I paid $2500 for a collection offered for sale at $3200. Shipping was $25. I found a few hundred stamps that I liked. I kept those. The rest I broke up into 200 lots at an average of $25 per lot. I should get $20 a piece for them average (yes I will accept reasonable offers) and I should make back my $3200 and then another say, $200 and that is after eBay and PayPal collect their fees and the cost of shipping etc. I grew most of my collection that way. Last year I found a collection for sale for $14,000 and paid $10,500 for it and turned that into $15,900 and 146 really nice mint U.S. and Canada stamps all over 100 years old. Last summer I found 125 year old Scott album for sale at a flea market for $5. The person didn't collect stamps and told me it was part of a storage locker he bought a few months before that and nobody wanted the album. There were 30 pre civil war stamps worth well over $150 (or $500 if you go by Mystic) and that was just the first two pages. The stamps were glued right into the album which was a common practice among early collector
"Scott?" "Mystic?" Crap, I'm in trouble. I was given a stamp collection of international stamps from all over the world and USA and asked to sell it. I could sell fire in hell to the devil himself and it would be less intimidating than learning this.
Most of those stamps that are ridiculous prices are actually worth less than a buck. Don't be fooled, it takes many years of knowledge to even begin to understand stamps.
Yeah, you're right. I see many clueless sellers offering penny stamps for thousands of dollars. They aren't qualified to sell them on ebay. If it's happening with stamps it's happening with other catagories as well
Very informative video about dealing with eBay. You can do well if you know what you are looking at, but you need to be knowledgeable before spending a lot of money. Imagine spending thousands on a common stamp, then trying to sell it to a stamp dealer. Similarly, all the videos which people put on RU-vid, which present some of the most common stamps as “ rare and expensive “, which make the uninitiated think that they have a fortune in common stamps. I very much appreciate your honesty that you show in your videos and your generosity in encouraging others in stamp collecting. While it is always exciting to discover truly valuable stamps, the rewards of stamp collecting go far beyond money. I believe that by being honest , generous and teachable, you will be greatly rewarded.
When I look at e-bay I am just trying to see what my father's stamps would sell for in comparison to the same condition and same stamp from his collection.
Hello! I know nothing about stamps 😆, but I came across some stamps that may be worth something. According to eBay that is. I was wondering if you or someone you know would be able to maybe take a look at what I found?
Send them to me and I’ll do a video on them and go over values! Just make sure to say in a note that you want them back so I know it’s not a grab bag exchange!
Typically stamps on eBay sell for 10-20% of catalogue value… if the stamp is in demand like zeppelins then that percentage will be higher…I think making offers are great but don’t be surprised if it gets rejected!
I found that if you see a “make an offer” or “buy it now” option, if you add it “watchlist” the seller will usually message you with the real price. I’ve received anywhere from 5-50% off the listed price.
You want to be careful, some people will use pictures that arent the actual item receiving. Ive bid on coins, won, and im sure not what received.i guess,just be sure you can return it. Its too bad, when that hapoens its a waste of time and money to send back.take care, happy hunting.
One thing I have noticed on eBay is that American sellers charged absolutely outrageous shipping fees. A typical example I saw last night was an American seller offering one stamp for $1, and then charging $15.99 for shipping (to Canada). The same stamp could be had from a Canadian or British seller for the same price, plus $1.50 shipping. Avoid American sellers like rabid dogs.
Are you drunk? Do you have any idea what the US Postal Service charges us for shipping??? It has nothing to do with us. It's *what we're charged, genius!*
They could be fake but in the other hand you could have gotten lucky! Send me a photo of a few: danielmallard20 @gmail.com, I’ll look at them and try and tell, if I can’t you’ll have to ask someone like a stamp expert at a stamp show or a stamp club!
Just answered your email, and the price difference is because some people sell stamps and do not know the prices but think their stamps are valuable when in fact they are not. Do your research and find out the true value of the stamp you want and then you’ll know what prices are accurate
