Receiving Best Price When Selling US Classics?

With mixed feelings I've decided to sell my US Classics collection.


I've gotten to the point that most of the missing stamps in my US Classics album are too pricey for me to continue seriously now that I'm retired. Instead, I plan to focus on on my British Commonwealth collection.

Any thoughts or suggestions from personal experience regarding how to receive fair sales price for a collection would be greatly appreciated.

Since every dealer and auction house advertises that they pay the top prices, I realize as a first-time seller I need to do some homework beginning with a a solid appraisal. As a starting point, I'm currently determining CV as best I can.

I'm leery about relying on an auction offering. Will I be better off selling the entire collection of some 560 items through 1934, or breaking up into groups (1847 to 67, banknotes, entire Pictorial Issues, complete Columbian and Trans-Mississippi, Bureau Issues, Zeps)?

Many thanks in advance for any shared wisdom!

Dan

Dan, I see your point. But......the world's most expensive stamp, is it not British, sort of?

Peter

Peter, I don't expect to complete a collection of the most rare issues...

I already started collecting British Commonwealth and there are many more choices of beautiful classic period stamps from all the British colonies, protectorates, etc that are affordable than there are pre-1900 US issues. I have a library of albums covering Africa, Asia, Canada, Australia, Americas, India, and Great Britain. My budget is better suited to widen my focus.

Dan

My sense from looking at, and buying from, auctions is that houses will be in a good position to determine whether to leave the collection intact or pull out desirable items. One can often tell that a particular lot has had some material stripped out by the auctioneer and put into separate lots. The other thing to bear in mind is the commission - usually about 18% here, including value added tax.

The next question would be whether to sell direct to the house or take your chances - which can be hedged with a reserve - at the auction itself.

This link is a Q&A from an English auction house from which I regularly buy - I assume reputable US companies would follow similar practices, although the greater distances may make in-person valuation more difficult.

http://www.warwickandwarwick.com/services/selling

Good luck!

Geoff

It depends on the channel. Offered on your own at retail, almost certainly it would be better to break it into groups and even to offer it as singles. I sense the only reason you didn't mention selling singles is the sheer work involved in approaching that as an individual. Sale as 560 items in a single group almost certainly will attract fewer buyers, and a lower total price, because the buyer likely won't inspect every item and will presume that such a group lot includes at least some items with faults, and discount their offer accordingly. Smaller groups both increase the number of buyers to include all those who just need a particular group, and should increase price by assuring that buyers inspect all items in a group.

It will be a tradeoff of proceeds versus work for you. Consigning all 560 items for auction house sale, perhaps as singles, obviously is easiest but will provide the lowest yield.

It's also a tradeoff of time versus money. Consignment to an auction means you will get a check maybe 4 months later in the best circumstances. Bulk sale to a dealer would yield an immediate check, but at a wholesale price.

Geoff, as always, your comments are helpful...thanks for the link. I've bought many items on ebay -- including albums, pages & singles.
And I've sold a fair number of lots and singles via online auction. But I wonder if the dealers and auction houses would bring in collectors willing to pay a higher amount than would ebay bidders.




cjPalermo...bingo! While I hope to realize a decent sale price, I don't want to spend months scanning and posting a myriad of lots.
I've never placed stamps on consignment, or sold to a dealer, and would like to understand differences between the two approaches.

So, if we seek quick payment, we sell entire collection outright either via our own online sale, or to a dealer. Either way we realize lower sales price.

Consignment sales can take months; and incurs a substantial fee.

Maximum revenue will likely come from our own sale of multiple lots/singles which requires time investment to prepare postings, collect sales & package shipments, etc.

All input is very helpful as I consider course of action.
Has anyone experienced better than typical sales experience via a particular dealer or auction house?

From my experience, selling individual, single, stamps will yield higher prices than a bulk sale; this attracts more collectors that want to "fill holes" in their collection. However, getting cv prices in either case — retail vs. action house — is very unlikely due to the amount of competition out there; higher prices in retail, lower from auction houses.

I would suggest, if you can, take your time in selling the collection; separate your more valuable stamps out of the collection and try to sell them first; retail, BIN cost, or auction listing with a starting price you're comfortable with. There are a lot of online portals to sell on [and you can list the same stamps on multiple sites; if a stamp sells, just close out listings on other sites]. Starting out with higher value singles will give you the resources to work on your British Commonwealth collection.

But if you don't feel comfortable about selling on your own, make sure you do your research on any auction house before you approach. If you have any [trusted] association with local dealers, you can always pick their brains on the subject . . .

dcaraz1949 -
you might get more help if you give a better description of the material you want to sell beyond "560 items through 1934." Mint or used? Hinged or NH? Faulty or sound? Average centering or VF/XF? What are the best 5 or so stamps out of the 560 that you want to sell?
The best way to sell high quality scarce material will not be the best way to sell low quality common material.

Walter, I agree that if I put in the time investment and spread out sales of smaller lots I will surely increase total sales.

SPQR, I'm not sure a better description will help here. I realize collection is a mixed bag including a decent percentage of higher end issues. What I seek most is a better understanding of the pros and cons comparing consignment to a major auction house vs. out right sale to a dealer.

The sales venue I understand best is my own direct online sales via ebay.

My friend was a Brick & Mortar dealer for 35+ years and upon retirement he became an agent who marketed collections for former customers and estates. He was commissioned to sell a nice British Colonies mint collection which he cataloged at $180,000. He sent the collection to one of the top auction houses. The contact person at the auction house told him there was no market for hinged British Colonies, it wouldn't fit in there auction etc. and the best they could do was offer him $5000. He told them to return it and he sent it to Dutch Country. They broke in down into many smaller lots and sold it for over $40,000! My advice is to get multiple offers and be careful "it's a jungle out there".

I think your best return would be to sell it on ebay with buy it nows and take time to reasearch what you have actually sells for so you get the most you can but dont sit there forever hoping for a mirical price.

No, no, no. You are likely to make some mistakes at first, so you don't want to start with your best stuff.




This is true if you are trying to sell outright, but if you are shopping auction houses some of them will overhype what they say it will bring and you won't know that is the case until it is too late after it has been auctioned. You need to do some research - look for similar items in similar condition and see what they have sold for in recent auctions by the various auction firms you are considering.

As for dealers, you may get very different offers. Some dealers are just cheap, and some might not be cheap but they might not need much of what you are offering and thus will still not make a strong offer.

An auction will put your stuff in front of far more potential buyers than contacting a few dealers on your own

The more prestigeous an action house, they fewer individual items they will break out as they have a higher minimum for individual lots.

That's exactly my take; and the reason I posted my question.
I have built my collections via buying on ebay and have sold many lots on ebay as well. So that's my reference point. Meanwhile, EVERY dealer ad claims to pay the highest prices. It's the Wild West!

RE: Dealers & Auction houses
It's very easy for a dealer to inflate a projected sale price they might claim you could get from an auction. Frankly, I'm not interested in receiving a disappointingly low buy price PLUS paying a fee on top of that.

I think I'd rather get a fair firm offer to buy the entire collection. I had hoped some experienced sellers might share names of dealers that have delivered decent prices.

I had a fairly nice 19th C. collection that I put together stamp by stamp almost all from ebay. I always liked nice cancels so nearly every stamp was nice looking. I didn't have any heavy hitters but I think the overall value was about $6000. When I decided to sell I just sold on ebay some singles some sets. It didn't take too long and in the end I pretty much got back what I'd paid.

eyeonwall, This is what I am asking for guidance on. Which auction houses are viewed as the better sources to the buying market???

I assume Regency Superior is in this group? Regency charges 20% buyer's premium above buy price. Others?

kRelyea, thanks for mentioning Dutch Country as a dealer who will take the time and effort to break a collection into lots. I am willing to give up a percentage if a dealer or auction house is willing to
a) pay me a reasonable payout for the entire collection, and
b) market the items in smaller lots (saving me significant effort).

BTW -- no one has mentioned the need to post quality page scans for an entire album -- a basic requirement in order to self auction a collection. ebay provides too few scan images which means the seller of an album needs to utilize decent photos, plus the image library software dealers use. I currently do neither.