Looking To Add To The Pre-1940 Part Of My USA Collection And Need Vendor Recommendations

Hi,
I just finished a year long relocation project on my WW collection, and am now looking to go back to the USA Nationals and add to them.

The collection is pretty far along, complete from the late '30s thru 2000 with almost all mint stamps - all in Scott mounts. Pre 1940s is mostly used however and I've got a number of open spaces.

So far, my stamps have come from Ebay and some later ones from Mystic. Now I'm looking for additional internet USA suppliers, and of course there are many out there.

My needs at this point are very good quality used stamps, although what lower value stamps I still may need will likely be mint.

So to get to the point, what internet suppliers have you used that gave you good value and service for your USA needs?

Thank you!

eBay is a catch-all obviously for many many "internet dealers". When buying older material one has to be very cautious as unfortunately eBay feedback is not a reliable way to evaluate dealers.

My view is there are plenty of high quality dealers whose descriptions and return policies are reliable. But getting to know which are which is hard.

I'm not too comfortable naming specific dealers.

Most important thing to look for: Very rare items that are never hinged or perfectly centered are just plain dangerous on eBay. Regumming and reperfing has been made into an art form and it can be impossible to know from the pictures people post in their auctions.

Look for return policy - does it say "returns accepted if description is not accurate" or "returns accepted" with no conditions.

Descriptions can be tricky. Some people use the word "mint" to include "may be regummed" etc - so they get tricky.

Good luck!

I don't collect a lot of US, but I have made purchases from Ken Srail (www.srailstamps.com) over the years. Great service and highly reliable.

You can get a lot of stamps at or below face value on-line at stamps2go.com

Most sellers have a limited $ value you have to reach before they will make a sale, so check out the seller's minimum order before you try to buy a bunch of stamps.

You probably need to find one or two sellers you like as most sellers have a minimum $ per order, so you may find 10 stamps you like, but if they are from 10 different sellers, you may not have enough from any single seller to make a purchase.

I usually find a stamp I like then select that seller to view all his/her offering before I move on to something else.

Also APS (if you are a member) has an on-line stamp store: http://stamps.org/Stampstore I don't find it the most user friendly site, but they have a lot of material.

I highly recommend Ed Reiser of Century Stamps (http://www.century-stamps.com, emr47 on eBay). In my first philatelic life I built up a high-quality general US collection of used up to Scott #218 and mint Scott #219 and later, and I bought many lovely pieces from him over many years. I understand rlsny's reluctance to name specific dealers in a forum like this, but Ed is one I do not hesitate to recommend.

Hi again,
I should have added to my original post...........
I'm not looking for any negative information on dealers, just those that have worked well for you.
Also, I am an APS member but I'm just not willing to jump into their process at this point.

mobilman44, not to ignore what you just said, but for future reference: I decided this year to concentrate on completing the US section of the Volume One International and I'm largely doing so via the APS. I've bought a few stamps from the Store, but I'm mainly using the sales circuits: US 1900-1940 Mint & Used, US before 1940, and 19th Century US. I've had very good experience with the circuits with the exception of a few sellers who overprice. I particularly like being able to examine the stamps in person before I buy. (Also, a few years ago I used the cut squares circuit to complete that section of the International.)

+1 for Century Stamps.

However, it's essential to phone Ed to confirm that an item is still in stock before mailing an order form and check. He is very good about updating his website as sales occur, but if the stamp you wanted sold to someone else today or yesterday, it might still be shown on the website.

I know Ed, and he is a good honest dealer.

Hopefully, here's a workable link for Century Stamps: http://www.century-stamps.com/ I'm not sure why dudley's didn't work.

So, USA from the beginning up to about1930? Ha! We all have empty spaces in our albums in that era-sooo so many high dollar stamps in that era--There's something about a perfect Scott# 292 that I just cant afford either--good luck

Would you care to elaborate? Buying from stampstore.org is a simple process, you always have the right of return (something that can be a hassle on eBay), and you'd be supporting the organization. I buy from the APS store every month or two.

mobileman44,

I have had good luck with Oceanview Stamps. Cottonfieldauctions, and our own SCF member Kevin504; all on EBay.

Jack Kelley

Another very good reason to buy high value items from the APS store - you can request free APS certification. You have to pay for the item immediately, but it doesn't ship until you approve the certification results. If the certificate reveals undescribed faults, you can cancel the sale and the seller has to pay the APS certification fee.

Additionally, depending on the catalog value of the item in question, you effectively get a discount on the cost of expertization, as the expertization through the stamp store is a flat $25, considerably less expensive than the other services. Of course the marketplace doesn't value APS certs as much as PF and to a lesser extent PSE certs. But as long as you are getting the cert for piece of mind rather than resale purposes, you should be fine.

The cert is only free to you if the cert comes back bad, if it comes back good you py for the cert.