What Is Happening With The Price Of Modern (After 2016) US Stamps?

[quote]Excellent point!/quote]

So when are you going to pay that $20 that you didn't say you were going to pay? LOL

I just did. LOL

[quote]I just did. LOL/quote]

LOL, seriously? I'm looking myself right now.

The minimum Scott catalog value for forever stamps in 2021 was $1.10 from what I have seen. I would not be surprised if a dealer such as Gitner was supplying market information to Scott.

There are not enough "traditional" dealers left to fit Scott's pricing model.

However, if someone is not willing to pay a premium for stamp over face value then one has to rely on someone who has paid much less than face but that usually happens later. Unless the stamps are stolen, no one likely to buy a new sheet then sell it below face to a dealer.

To me if someone wants to collect mint modern US singles, I suggest a group buy (collectors get together) and then split up the stamps. I do not mail enough to even make a dent in my spares.

Of course Gitner is going to give their input to Scott, as will other dealers.

[quote]My brother is selling off packs of booklets purchased from Costco for 3x FV./quote]

I just think there is a big resurgence in stamp collecting, and the new collectors favor the more recent stuff over the older for whatever reason. Maybe they can relate to the designs more, who knows. Some may disagree, but I believe the high prices over face being paid are quite realistic, and are reflecting the demand for the newer stamps. In fact, it seems like prices start increasing rather dramatically for many select issues from the late 90's onward. These are the stamps I'm beginning to focus on, being a new collector myself.

I think any uptick in stamp sales would be a resurgence to many.

http://www.stampconnections.com/

This is the dealer I use for US new issues. His prices are a bit over 50% above face, so for example Edmonia Lewis face at US$0.58 he sells for US$0.85

Have dealt with this dealer for several years and always had good service, although the website is very old-school.

This is a situation of a dwindling number of dealers who are stocking the new issues to service collectors. It is an expensive proposition to do at any meaningful level. With Forever stamps their investment is largely protected, unlike previous denomination stamps. But-The sheets are hard to protect, take up a lot of room, there are shipping risks, and they're pricey to start. So as a dealer if you buy a level of quantity, to make it 'worthwhile' you need more than a modest markup, to make up for all the inventory that doesn't sell. This doesn't change the fact that it's still effectively usable postage, and others in the bulk/volume/auction business flip this stuff, at or below face if acquired from collections. But the competition between all of them becomes distinguished by their customer base/targets. Modernstamp auctions come to mind vs Bardo. Once the post office stops selling it, it becomes so much more challenging to avoid 'dealer pricing' for routine purchases. This should not be conflated with rare [seldom occurring stamps] or scarce [deficient in quantity]. Limited availability or perceived limited availability is not the same, though it can mimic the other two.

I think we are seeing a lot of:
You walk into a store. You like a sheet. The owner says this is his last one. You buy it, out of FOMO. You leave.
The next person walks into the store for the same sheet. Same story.

[quote][The sheets are hard to protect, take up a lot of roomquote]

This brings up something that I was just going to ask about as a beginner. Someone can move this to a more appropriate category if need be. Is there a difference in how I am to store the self adhesive sheets as opposed to their lick and stick predecessors? What is the very best way to store these sheets for 20-30 years without issues? Do they have issues that the older sheets don't when it comes to storage? I know that all stamps need to be in an acid free environment, not too hot, low humidity, but should sheets be stored in stiff envelopes vertically, or laying flat in an album with pages suited for sheets. I'm more interested in figuring out how to store duplicate sheets economically that I may have, since my single best example will be in a Vario album for visual display.

I keep my self-adhesive mini-sheets in protective sleeves in binders. You can store multiple copies in the sleeves if you do not mind them touching each other but I have put in an insert to create a front / back pocket. But the storage question has given me some renewed interest. I may start a separate thread.

The sleeves are not the cost factor. It the binders. From just the small collection I have, you would need a lot of binders to maintain a complete set of modern mini-sheets especially if you were a dealer maintaining stock. But protective sleeves and binders can be an investment since they can be repurposed.

I have some press sheets that were given to me but need a better way to store them.

FOMO - one of the oldest sales pitches

jmgi2022,
The correct format for inserting a quote is

results in this


Don