Are We Doing Each Other A Favor By Not Calling A Spade?

this is generally a very friendly, courteous, and helpful forum. but I wonder if sometimes, in our attempt to be supportive, we sometimes go overboard. I refer to the recent #191 purchased by Stamp Virgin and referenced in the preceding post. When I looked at that stamp that Daryl had paid $380 for, I actually felt bad for him. Here was a stamp that was missing a corner, and even with the corner, still had some small faults noted on a certificate at a time when the corner was still attached. I understand that for many a 191 in any condition seems like an unreachable goal. I also understand that this is a free world and people don't have to justify to me or anyone else how they want to spend their money. But three hundred and eighty dollars is still some serious change. Spending it on that piece of junk seems crazy to me. I'm not even sure if $380 made sense for the stamp as shown on the cert. You truly need to love the material to get your money's worth out of it; because you will likely only see a small portion of your investment back when it comes time to sell, and the faultier and poor the condition of the item the lower that % will be. Daryl would never get his $380 back on that stamp. I was going to say something but then I started to notice that 90% of the responses were of the nature " great stamp," "wonderful addition to a collection," "green with envy," and I had to do a double take as I thought the responders were talking about a different stamp. I asked myself were they being serious or just courteous? I applaud the fella who first told Daryl that he thought it was a bad purchase. He was doing him a favor. I personally would like to see more of it. We all take things too personally these days. Too many things are passed over and a spade is not called a spade for fear of offending someone. In the end, we have to save each other if we cannot save ourselves.

It just takes a little effort, time and thought,
and people can assist without being confrontational and disrespectful.
Just take care with ones words, encourage, and be careful not
to force an opinion.

"Spending it on that piece of junk seems crazy to me" could be felt
by the purchaser as a slight on his/her judgement.

We should endeavor to treat people how we, would like to be treated,
sometimes it's just best for us to bite our tongues.

Rod222, Sorry, but I totally agree with Funcitypapa. He had the intestinal fortitude to be HONEST there-by possibly preventing re-ocurrence in future. An additional 50% would have been similar to banking the money, if you grasp the logic.

How many times have we heard this -- It's wiser to pay a "little more for real QUALITY" that cannot be faulted when and if re-sold later in life - it's the BIG lesson a collector learns, hopefully early in the Hobby.

I have to agree with Fun City. I too thought it was over priced, but didn't have the courage to say so, because I didn't want to be raining on his parade so to speak.

I don't look at this as being disrespectful of Daryl or his choices. In fact, he and I have communicated previously off the forum on this exact subject. Many of you who follow other forums know that Daryl is a frequent and enthusiastic participant, on at a minimum, the Virtual Stamp Club forum. He has displayed many of his stamp purchases which is the only reason I can give him any advice. From my perspective, he is a knowledgable fellow but is in a rush to fill spaces or complete pages that leads him to buy defective stamps with funds that could probably be better utilized. We have also gone back and forth on his idea that his son will inherit his collection and will appreciate it if only because his father put it together. My comments to Daryl are based on personal experience. You cannot guarantee a transfer of interest from father to son. It is either there or it is not. Hopefully he will be right; I'm just saying I wouldn't bet the farm on it. As far as stamp purchases are concerned, I don't knowingly buy defective stamps. In the US realm, I only collect classics that are precertified. But even here, I am a realist in terms of the % return I will achieve. Daryl is a big fan of Bill Weiss and I think Bill is a great contributor, teacher, and asset to this hobby. Like everyone, I have a fair number of uncertified stamps that would never have seen the "certification light of day" had I to deal with only the Big 3. Bill's reasonable rates and excellent turnaround time makes it worthwhile to send items in, whereas if I had to wait 3 months to get a response from APEX or pay the fees of PSE, PSAG, or the PF, it wouldn't have been worth it. Most of these items came in a larger grouping so they weren't bought as singles. But even here, Bill might say, knowing what I have that has already been certified and not sent in, "why are you buying this crap?" not understanding that "this crap" which is being sent to him today was maybe a not well thought out expenditure of 25 years ago or more. I don't take it personally; he's only trying to help-----and you know what, I appreciate that. It would have been easier for him to just take the money and for me to be none the wiser. that's all I am trying to offer Daryl. But Daryl, is just one example. If we are really honest with ourselves, we probably overly stroke a lot of purchases that are shown.

My opinion is that criticism should only be offered if it is asked for, whether before or after a purchase. Otherwise I believe it IS "raining on someone else's parade".

A stamp dealer once told me, "something is only worth what someone will pay for it" and thus, that stamp is "worth" $380. If it is worth that to the buyer to please him or her, then that is what it is worth. Maybe he or she does not care about value but even if they do, unless they ask for opinions, criticism should be set aside.

I have not read the thread in question, so perhaps the buyer DID ask for criticism, in which case, positive and negative feedback should be offered in a respectful manner.

I just think, personally, if I dropped a lot of money on something and was very pleased of my purchase, it would make me feel terrible if people began criticising. If I wanted criticism, I would ask before a purchase.

Just my 2c

To add to that, there is a fine line between the two viewpoints in the name of "educating" someone to be more wary so I do agree with the OP to some extent. I think context and meaning to the buyer need to be weighed. Is the buyer finally filling that spot no matter what and is very happy? If so, leave them be. Have they bought 5 stamps for way too much and mistakenly think they are a better grade? Then yes, maybe gentle education is warranted.

Tough call on this one. I'm not one to shy away from criticizing, but in this case, I don't think he got a bad deal.

Here's why:

1) Classic US stamps are in high demand, and rare stamps will bring in a higher percentage of catalogue value than common stamps ... even if flawed. In this case, SV paid less than 20% for a certified, authentic, mint stamp with minor flaws.

2) There were 18 bids by 10 different bidders. This was not the case of someone getting taken by an unscrupulous dealer. The market determined the value. The market has spoken.

3) A quick search of ebay turned up 10 copies of this stamp. All of them were listed for more than $500. I know this is anecdotal, but who's to say how long he's been looking? This is a tough stamp to find mint, in any condition.

I think he got a fair deal.

Brian

What stamp are we talking about?

Maybe I have a few?....

Thanks

Fifia

Since my name was brought up in this topic. Let me chime in.
Firstly, I appreciate ANY comments good or bad, it helps me to review my decisions.
To be honest, I bid on this stamp without seeing the back side. I was using my smart phone. SO I have learned a few lessons, make sure I see all the data available and not use my smart phone. And to take a closer look.
I have since cancelled the transaction with ckstamps, He wouldn't stand by a new cert, saying the old cert was good enough. Once I noticed considerable differences in the stamp I decided I didn't want it and would wait for another. IF I make a bad decision, I WANT TO KNOW!

I also understand that fun's comments where not meant to disparage me but the stamp, and I don't take it personal. I don't believe that any "negative" comments are aimed at the person.
Perhaps a "what were you thinking" type of question is very acceptable. That's what makes this forum good.

I tend to agree with Rod, I bite my tongue at times...but I would never give encouragement on a dubious transaction,,thats just not right !!

Just my humble opinion

I think its a very positive thing that we look out for our fellow SCF collectors. I think that is just as important as answering a "newbie's" questions about stamp collecting.

Seriously anybody can post a picture of the stamp in question?
I have a tin box with old USA stamps. Please?

To the subject of this thread. Anytime anybody posts something
one has to expect to get some feedback. Positive or negative,
it is a forum. If one does not agree with the answer(s) one can respond. It is up to each of us which tone we use. Yes, it should be respectful. Do unto others what you want them do to you...did I say this right? Well, you know what I mean. I do not think anybody of us is vicious, maybe sometimes irritated...it is all in a days work.
I do things sometimes which I think are funny, but are not to the recipient.
This forum is not a sandbox or is it? I enjoy being part of it and if there is any criticism, I suck it up or respond....

...on this note more

I have to agree with funcity.

I know that just shortly after I joined this forum, I was seeing a lot of threads with stamps that people obtained with damaged stamps included. I also stated that it was best policy to let a collector know that damaged stamps should be ignored and that one should try to get the best copies available of any given stamp.

With a lot of SCF members stating 'this is great' etc., with this lot of stamps and that lot and so forth, even though there are damaged stamps in the scan, is not a good idea because it only leads any particular collector into buying more damaged stamps again.

My opinion of course.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Fifia - have a search for SVs post. It was a USA #191.
I too thought it wasn't worth the money to me but I know nothing about US so didn't say anything.

What an interesting thread. I couldn't be more split down the middle on this one and I do agree with being honest. If anyone frequents other Stamp forums you will see that they are brutally honest on their input when someone asks a question. SCF is a completely different animal altogether in that the Topics here are not necessarily set up for questions only. If someone asks for input then I believe they have asked for an honest opinion and not a sugar coated response.I just hope that it doesn't warrant an opinion unless asked for.