Why Ebay Will Always Be Number One For Sellers

I was at a country auction a few weeks ago - they auction old stamp collections and postcards occasionally. There was an old Chinese card offered with lot of odd markings. I bid about 20$ but I was amazed when it sold for about 200$. This is the card:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/China-posta...191768213177

I could not believe I would ever see it again, and so soon - or the price!

Look at the bright side -- your original max bid would have been enough to cover shipping on this auction!

What is it about the card that brought such a high closing cost?

Chasa,

The seller started this sale at $399, so he must have had some knowledge about Chinese postal history when he outbid you.

And still.....I wish I could see his face impression when his ebay auction was ended. Probably something seen often in a cardiology departments of major hospitals

And here's me thinking big ticket items will not do well on ebay.

I am not surprised at the realisation, a bit high and I would have guestimated about $2,500. I am more surprised that it turned up at a non stamp auction and that even there no one realised it's potential (except you),

Okka

Son of a puppy dog!! Goes to show that knowledge is power (or cash). Imagine had it been won for the $20 bid and tucked away in an album just because its interesting. Now consider how many potential interesting items are tucked away in cigar boxes and the like all over the planet. And some say you can't find treasures anymore.

Hi to all

Sometimes treasures do turn up. That is why I love estate auctions. And persons who ask me if I would be interested in buying the Grandparents old albums I never turn them down and I usually get them for less than $50 dollars.
I have tens of thousands of stamps which my family has accumulated, and I also buy for my own personal collection.
I sort them into countries and when I can afford it I buy specialized catalogues.
I probably will sell them all when I retire, but at the moment I enjoy the chase.
Australia is a good hunting ground for the unusual, so long as you stay away from the mainstream of Australian Classics. Everytime I go to a thrift shop I notice that more and more persons have been asking if they have stamps and stamp collections so it is getting hard to find good items. Unfortunately many thrift shops are getting on the band wagon and when collections come in they break them up into sellable packets of 100 stamps and some times they are not so careful and good stamps get damage.
Ebay will also be a better place to sell as the market is world wide at the touch of a key.
I hope chasa that some-day you will make that elusive find, just like me keep searching. Most importantly, read, read and do some more reading. And of course the best place in the world for stamp knowledge is right here on this forum.
Regards
Horamakhet

Yes, treasures do show up. Since eBay is a worldwide marketplace, bidders all over the world have their "fingers on the trigger" when rare and desirable material shows up.

This seller would probably have gotten a couple of thousand more dollars for his listing, had he had better photos and an actual DESCRIPTION.

Actually, treasures are potentially EVERYwhere, if you have some expertise.

A few years ago, I found a "D-30" cancel on a QV Hong Kong stamp... part of a "stock sheet lot" in a dealer's $20 "collection remnants" box. The lowest possible value for a D-30 cancel on Hong Kong is UK £4000.00, according to Stanley Gibbons. What you experienced was much the same kind of thing, I suspect...

Stamp collecting IS a form of treasure hunting!

~Peter

All's well unless the buyer reports non-receipt which is always plausible with eBay

Go look at the listing again. Seems to have sold (resold?) for $5,400.

Yes 5400$, that is the point. Only a venue with world-wide reach (or a major auction house) could score that big. Here is a scan of the cover so you can see it once ebay takes the picture down.