More William Langs Lack Of Ethics...

I used to point out Bill Lang's fakes and erroneous listings to him privately via ebay, but he has now blocked me from contacting him, so I guess I'll just point them out publicly when I see them.

This "RARE" stamp is not what he claims it is:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/R13e-ULTRAM...em2eb87e4d53



It is NOT an R13e, but a regular R13c, which catalogs $0.40. This stamp is worth 10 cents at most (when you consider the horrific centering, but that's a different issue... his calling this "Fine" is a different rant for a different day). For a supposed revenue expert to list this shade as ultramarine tells me it's a deliberate attempt to land a sucker that doesn't know any better.

The regular blue and lighter "milky blue" shades of R13 show up in approximately equal proportions. There is no premium for one versus the other, which is presumably why the milky blue is not listed as a variety in Scott.

Only the ultramarine shade is particularly scarce compared to the other two shades, thus the listing as R13e. It is VERY distinctive; there is no mistaking it.

Here is a picture of all 3 shades scanned together on the same pass. From left to right: ultramarine, milky blue, blue.




Once a scammer, always a scammer. Shame!

I have had dealings with him a few times. Luckily I didn't come up short. I often find a lot of amusement with his listings.

I wonder how he has 2 ebay ID names? "billsbargainstamps" & "wmlangs" isn't this a No, No?

Never had any experience with this firm, but just checked his web site which suggests that under "wmlangs" he currently has 18,832 ebay listings and under "billsbargainstamps" he has 23,978 ebay listings, for a total of 42,810 ebay listings. Is that some sort of a record?

While not specifically mentioned, the two ebay addresses imply that "wmlangs" is more specialized in "rare" stamps; and "billsbargainstamps" should contain more modestly priced specimens.

Is this an item that should have a certificate?

Not necessarily. Ultramarine is a very definitive shade. Anyone who is experienced in the 1st-issue revenues should be able to recognize what is or is not ultramarine. This mislisting is NOT accidental.

While mentioned here at SC only recently, Langs has a loooooooong track record of ethical issues. Some reading on other boards will will reveal them.

It's a good thing you don't have to rely on me for a determination ... I can't tell the difference between the one listed and the authentic one you showed. In fact, the authentic stamp you posted looks more like the one lang listed than any of the others.

He also uses the ebay user ID Earlyretire with the name Mark Lane Stamps. His wife is the contact for this account, which I discovered some time ago when I purchased a Canada item from him.

Is there a limit on the number of accounts you can have?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/118-Mint-VF...em4a97fb3ecf

Really? You don't see a huge difference between the listed stamp and the LEFT stamp in the picture I posted?

The left stamp in my image is the ultramarine, not the middle stamp.

The color differences are obvious to me. Thanks for sharing.

I'm colorblind, Rev. I have to rely on certificates or honest sellers.

Ahh, sorry. Had no idea. It's a pretty stark difference in my opinion.

You can have unlimited ebay accounts. You just need a different email address for each account.

I don't see anyplace on ebay where accounts are cross-referenced. Bummer.

~~ Mary-Jane ~~

I know nothing of revenues, and even less about Mr. Lang, but let me play devil's advocate
I agree that his stamp is not even in the same universe as ultramarine, in fact looks a lot closer to your milky blue stamp. But could this be a matter of a poor quality scan? We all know how different scanners and monitors can be. (You may well argue that if he's a professional, his scans should be spot on)
I ask because I do see some colour distortion in the ink script cancel. It's taking on (on my monitor) an almost greenish tinge. The iron based ink should have a reddish brown colouration as with you two script examples.
So again I ask, could his monitor need recalibrating?

Pretty sure I read an exstensive thread awhile back regarding some reperffing and actually causing one to get his philatelic membership either removed or some how penalized. Never personally dealt with the named but surely sounds like if given an inch he'll take a mile and with close to 50,000 listings I'll bet there is a few if not quite a few other questionables. Also to note (from what I read) this isn't just an ebay seller but actual dealer who has been caught with hands in the cookie jar before. Good heads up Rev!

Ok, I'll play.

If that were the case, and his monitor and/or scanner were THAT far off so as to turn ultramarine into a greenish blue, wouldn't you expect to see the same color shift in all the pictures listed by that seller within the same time period, i.e., ALL of his posted images would be considerably off?

revenuecollector,

I'm glad you brought this up. All of the SCF members should be aware of this dealer.

I assume that a good percentage of the SCF membership also read the VSC forum as well. If not, then you should.

This person deals under many names, including Stuart Katz, an employee of his ( ebay Seller ID: stukatz-stamps). The way Lang sells is to "Make An Offer" starting with an outrageously high number. Even if you offer 50% of that amount it's still 200% more than what its worth. Not every time of course, but enough.

Keep in mind that every once in awhile you can get a decent stamp at a decent price. The U.S. Scott 10a catalogs for $150.00 and I made an offer and bought one from Stuart Katz for $50.00. It was a fairly lightly cancelled, no thins, 4 margin XF copy, as certified by Bill Weiss. I feel that I was one of the lucky ones.

Me, I don't have any negative experience with him. There are a lot of others who do.

Everyone who is thinking of buying a stamp from Bill Lang or any of his aliases' should keep in mind that what they are bidding MAY NOT be what they think it is, is described incorrectly or incompletely.

So, Buyer Beware. Do a check of the dealer's location and if it indicates Hampton, New Hampshire then it's probably him or one of his other names.

You can read a lot more and get more details about Bill Lang on VSC.

Art