Eid Imperf Press Sheet

I received my Eid imperf press sheet today (which I ordered almost 2 months ago). What is strange about this sheet is that it was not listed in the Q3 USPS philatelic catalogue, nor is it listed in the Q4 catalogue. Furthermore, it is NOT available for order on the USPS website.

It seems USPS is intentionally trying to limit the sheet's availability to the public. Does anyone know why?

My guess is because the Imperf Press Sheet is sold out. The USPS Store's website in the listing for the stamp has a link to the Press Sheet with the error message "not available". That's usually because it's sold out.

Remember, this is a very limited issue with only 5.5 million stamps (275,000 panes of 20) and the Press Sheet was only available in a limited quantity of 500 (as compared with 2500 for most commemoratives) so my guess is some collectors were trying to corner the market because of such a low quantity offering.

In fact, ebay has some listings for a pane of the Uncut Imperf Stamps (cut from a Press Sheet) at a BIN price of almost double face value, which is testament to how some collectors perceive these stamps to be worth a bit more than average because of the low quantities.

I think I was alerted to this sheet by a post by you in another thread some time ago, so a big thank you to you wt1.

ditto's - I only bought the press sheet because of the heads up I got on this site. 500 press sheets means only 4000 panes. An incredibly low number!

But demand has been low and prices on ebay have come down quite a bit since the stamp's release.

Print run doesn't mean much if the stamp does not appeal to the eye of the average collector.

Can you imagine a rural post office in the midwest selling these stamps to farmers?

omxfl - don't think it matters who likes the design or appeal of this issue. The fact that folks who collect mini sheets of an issue are dealing with only 4000 panes of the imperf will almost certainly make it a desirable item in the future. Remember some will keep the press sheet intact so the number of available panes of 20 of the imperf version is way less than 4000.

Yeah, but even collectors will likely give it a miss if they don't like the design.
So far, these imperf/no die-cuts stamps have not been doing well on the secondary market - bar a few exception (mixed baseball, earthscapes, modern art, made in america). The Eid sheet can still be had on ebay for $15.49 delivered. With a face value of $9.20 you'd be netting about $3-4 in profit per sheet if you were to sell one; i.e. not worth it considering the time you spend cutting the sheet, listing them and preparing deliveries. Not to mention that at least one pane per press sheet will have to be cut up to rescue the stamps not being damaged during transport...
All in all, these imperf sheets are failures as the demand just isn't there. Also, if you want a complete collection you'll be paying something like $2,130 (a complete set of all uncut sheets w/o die-cuts ordered directly from usps) for 2013 alone and the year hasn't even finished yet. This is a significant investment.

well I would say you shouldn't buy them. However, your point about collectors will ignore stamps with poor design is wrong. The quantity is what will determine the collectors buying the Eid and not the design. Again, 4000 panes. incredibly low.

To each their own but in my opinion eye appeal does have a small say in how valuable or not valuable modem stamp will become. A small issue for a modern stamp may or probably will gain in value but I don't see these as being big winners in the long run. Granted they will get some money but not enough to out run a better investment.

For the record I think they are ugly but I have bought some mainly because I buy every new usa stamp, just didn't buy a lot of these.

"Again, 4000 panes. incredibly low".

That all depends on how many people want them. If 40,000 want them it is low. If 2000 want them the market is saturated. 90% of the panes will probably never be separated, so commercially used singles on cover might prove difficult to find, but there is no guarantee that this pane will become especially valuable.

"However, your point about collectors will ignore stamps with poor design is wrong. The quantity is what will determine the collectors buying the Eid and not the design"
I have to disagree