Recently I saw 3 auction items that I thought would make an interesting post.
The 1st is on
eBay;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/25260311216...RK:MEBIDX:ITThe 2nd is also from
eBay;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12223172405...RK:MEBIDX:ITThe third item is from Rasdales recent auction #430 and it was lot #220
What do these three items have in common? They are all basically the same, they are all large accumulations of subscription items. Subscription items are usually sold monthly and are covers produced specifically for the uninformed public and are marketed aggressively as philatelic collections. Gold Foil covers are a good example of this genre. These items are discussed in detail in the Forum in 2014;
http://goscf.com/t/8712&whichpage=2...tive,societyThis explains it better than I could but I thought Don's post which refers to Postal Commemorative Society was pertinent to my post Don said;
Quote:
In one large lot of material I once purchased was a large quantity of PSC type covers. Also included was a box of letters from the old collector who had gotten to the end of his life and was looking to liquidate his stamps. His letters included all kinds of places and replies to his inquires on disposition of his holdings. He had a series of ever increasing frustration letters back to PSC where he outlined how he felt he had been taken. They blew him off. It is really kind of sad.
I almost wanted to scan all the letters and post them so others could see the pain this fellow went through. He invested a lot over the years, used it to springboard into the hobby, but later found out that he wasted his money. I can only hope he got some enjoyment from the hobby and did not take this bitterness to his grave with him.
Don
Now for the auctions. The first one offers 22 Albums for $5000, the seller bases his asking price on the Antiques Road show which said one album was worth $500 wow! Even at the asking price of $5000 I doubt he is getting his money back.
The 2nd collection includes 22 of these albums and interestingly the price was reduced to $995 while I was preparing this post. Originally I think this seller was also asking $5000.
The third auction is from Rasdale. This is a large group of these subscription albums plus a US album and $200 US postage. This one sold for $425 against an estimate of $220. Clearly Rasdale knows the value of this material.
The point of my post is twofold, first to alert people of the folly of buying these subscription type collections. They have no real value and after you pay $6 or $7 for a cover it is immediately worth about 15c. The second point was to illustrate the divergence of prices across similar items. I think
eBay is a great place to buy or sell stamps but without knowledge of the material you can make a very bad purchase. I would suggest that if you're are considering a purchase of a stamp or stamps that you are not sure about ask the Forum for help before you buy because it will be too late afterward.
Posted 12/02/2016 3:26 pm
Newly listed items on eBay by KRelyea. 
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