USA (& Cda) - Selling As Postage Or Collection - And What %?

Normally if I have a large accumulation of Canada or US Modern unused I will sell at around 70-80% of face value with no issues - however in these cases it has always been just a mixed lot of "whatever" I have piled up. My new situation is a bit different.

I bought a huge estate that has 6-7 thick albums of unused USA from around the 40's to 2005. It is carefully mounted on nice pages with clear sleeves placed over the whole page. It includes singles, blocks, sheets, booklets, etc and is pretty much complete. I haven't done a full tally yet but the face value will be likely $2000+.

I am really struggling to break this up and sell chunks for postage as it is just so nicely put together. Is this just a mental block I need to get over or should I be looking to sell as a collection or bust it up into lots for postage use and pull it out of the pages?

I also have a collection of Canada exactly the same.

Thanks for any feedback!

been trying to figure out same thing for a few years now. Have About 4k worth of canadian but mostly full sheets and booklets and just can't pry myself to dump it below face . The longer you look and ponder the more apt you are to hold on to it. Some stuff basically 50's through 80's just will never go anywhere but when you get into higher denominations and lower print runs you would expect at some point in the next 20-50years it will go up (delusions of grandeur maybe). When you find yourself sitting on the collection and still buying discount postage to use then you know your sorta stuck with it.

Hi stamps101 and nitrolures,

US stamps are my principal collecting area, but I stop at 1940. I would have no hesitation in selling both your entire 1940 up stamps accumulations, no matter how nicely they are arranged, and spending the money on US classics. Stamps that have beauty, history and a certain value. I feel exactly the same about nearly the entire British stamp issue post King George Vl.

Terry

What % do you normally see paid, especially for the higher denominations?

And thanks for the advice!

Am I missing something, because I have a few gaps that I plan on filling in a few months, like some of the recent US Lunar New Years stamps for instance, and instead of paying anything below the 44 or so cents per stamp, it'll probably end up being $1.25 or so on ebay. Including shipping and materials, I don't think they're making a loss.
And forget about current panes, they sell more on ebay than if I bought it from the PO.

Unless we're talking about catalog value, I interpreted "face value" to mean the price that stamp was. If not ignore my rantings.

I just did the same thing on a smaller scale, a very nice US album of about $300 face. I tried selling $5 lots HERE @ 80% but no takers. I figured a lot of SCF-ers had the stamps hinged and would welcome the chance to buy never-hinged below face, then use the hinged stamps for postage. Fat chance of that, it turns out. I finally put them on CraigsList and got lucky, selling the complete album at 84%.

I had bought a larger collection for its foreign, and the US was just a nuisance I had to deal with.

By the way, I noticed ebay bumped its commission from 9% to 10% today.

Jeffy, yes generally large lots and collections sell under face value for Canada and USA for post 1940. To a genuine collector this collection would be an amazing buy even at face value due to the completeness and presentation. The pages, mounts, and sleeve covers alone would cost hundreds, let alone the stamps.

Ultimately I would love to sell to a collector, not only for better $ sake but also my conscious would be clearer knowing it's being appreciated. Unfortunately I have tied up a signifcant chunk of money into this estate so before I can purchase things for my own collecting interests I need to free up my budget.

I guess I'll poke around and advertise it a bit for the next month and see what happens. First I need to add up the face value which will take awhile.

Unfortunately, there are not a whole lot of US issues from the 40's to 2005 that are worth more than postage. You can probably get close to 80% for $1 and up denominations (maybe even for 50c and up), less for lower values (the worst are probably the 6c & 8c values).
You didn't say if the pages were home made or preprinted, but someone might want the albums without the stamps.

I would be interested in something like this, but I just can't afford that much. I have most of the issues in that year range, but some are hinged, and some don't have the best centering, just missing a few here and there too. I just have to think that there is some new USA collector out there that would love to have this without you having to break it up. Maybe just a matter of finding the right person.

I agree with those saying sell it intact. There is value in the amount of time and money that was put into purchasing/mounting/selecting stamps into nice albums. This value should not be discounted too much if it was so nicely done.

I may be interested in a few pictures to see how it was put together by the previous collector. The material, or a chunk of it, may interest me as well.

Count me in if you sell by the entire album, especially the albums after 1995.

I'm interested too. P.M. me. I collect U.S.only