What Advice Can You Pass On.. Stamp/Post Card/Fdc Collecting

What ADVICE can you pass on to us Newbies about stamp/post card/FDC collecting??

For instance, philb said to "shop around" when looking for particular stamp items.Some one may be collecting a certain stamp theme and may want to find a new home for some that YOU may be looking for.This translates to a good deal $$$.

nr-notrare recently advised me that I was over paying for some FDC's --saving me $$$.

laswabbie listed "Top TEN Beginners Mistakes".Definately $$$ saving advice!

bobggg mentioned some post card buying advice-"very little aging,nice readable cancels...no rounded corners."

t360 noted when talking about FDC's "When you buy inexpensive items in bulk they can be substantially discounted from the minimum value listed in the catalogue." Another $$$ saver!

Triggersmob says to find out what members' interests are, go to and CLICK on "What Our Members Collect". Start here and this may save you some $$$

The collectors here are TOP NOTCH advisors when you have questions or are considering a purchase! All you gotta do is ASK! And while you're at it, WHY NOT JOIN???

What advice can you pass on?

Gussyboy1

One of my thoughts about advice is: learn to read the catalogues.
They're not just any old catalogues. You have to learn to read them to use them--it takes alittle time, but it is a big advantage in the end!

Gussyboy1

Gussyboy1

Lets talk about catalog value, this is another big mistake that a new collector can make.

Catalog value is the suggested selling price of a stamp or cover.

When I purchase items that I need, on the Internet, I never bid on an item, that is listed for more that 50 percent of catalog price.

There is always an exception, for example, if I see a stamp, that I have been looking for, for many years, I will bid 1-2 times the catalog price, but that's it..

Ok, heres a bit of wisdom that was told to my friend in Ottawa by his friend a coin and stamp dealer..."sooner or later everything comes around" and its pretty much true..you may think you missed out on a certain stamp or cover..but with todays electronic market, unless its a one of a kind item..what are the odds ? Someone will almost surely make it availabel again !!

Good advice - especially Phil's bit about items coming on the market. Unless you're collecting VERY rare material there are thousands to hundreds of thousands of every item out there somewhere, and there are dozens of online outlets now. It just takes patience sometimes.

Great advice guys! I am trying to keep that in mind when looking at items on ebay! Patience is hard when you see something that you just gotta have now. But ,passing the word around--like listing here on the forum under "ITEMS YOU WANT TO BUY" is very helpful--several members sent me stamps I was looking for and they were FREE!


Thanks!
Gussyboy1

Here's a short list of ideas that I use......


1....NEVER believe any listing that claims an item is "rare". Very few items qualify, and none of them will be on ebay listed for just a few dollars.

2....Only buy what you like, never buy something simply because someone tells you "it's a great deal."

3....Avoid buying 99% of all items that have obvious faults. Exceptions would be higher value items.

4....Avoid buying from sellers whose listings all have tiny or worthless pictures. There is usually a reason they don't want you to have a good look at what they're selling.

5....NEVER bid early, wait until the last 30-40 seconds......if you want an item, why give others a chance to out bid you? I win 95% or more of everything I bid on, if I loose it's only because someone was willing to pay more.

6....Do not bid on something without knowing the value of it. If you don't know it's value, how can you know when you are paying too much ?

quote:

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6....Do not bid on something without knowing the value of it. If you don't know it's value, how can you know when you are paying too much ?

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I'm bad about this one with my non-German material! After all . . . . it's only a couple of bucks.

I always pay too much for a vehicle and give it away at trade in time..my Daddy should have been a business man !!