The Certified Collectibles Group® (Ccg®) Is Hiring Stamp Experts

To start with: encapsulation of stamps. Second, too wide a scope. Third: British stamps in the UK, Irish stamps (oddly) in Germany or the early ones in UK. Dutch here at home, either NVPH, or or one or two names.

For me, the direction of selling 'certified only' stamps above a certain value on eBay is good for the hobby. It certainly would get rid of most of the silly and inane stamp listings.

Of course the rub is in the details... which certifying organization(s), the 'slab' issue, etc. I would think that eBay would demand that a partner certifying organization would have to be technically competent (i.e. able to maintain and keep current an online database of their certifications). This may be an issue with our existing cert organization and why ebay is looking in other directions.
Don

It is a complicated topic as Classic eluded to. For myself, I currently collect Russian stamps and postal history. If Ebay were to require a cert above a certain value what would the cert requirement be? I will not accept any of the large US expertizing bodies certificates for Russian material. That includes the PF. It has to be Hovest or Ceremuga or some select others. If Ebay wants to just engage in CYA it means little to educated buyers. What will the value be based upon? Scott cv or Michel or Yvert or market value etc. One size does not fit all by a long shot. And all of it is still subject to fraud by the likes of Ryle. Still, it is better than nothing. I think.

Not concerned about encapsulation because the market does not want it and they will offer an opt-out. Take that to the bank.

Not ready to judge on competency yet. For all we know they will hire or contract all of the experts that work for the other bodies and themselves.

Pretty low bar, eBay stamps is currently the 'Wild West' of misdescribed and badly described material in my opinion.
Don

True Don, but this apparently will only address items of an undetermined high value which only account for a very small percentage of the nonsense being peddled on Ebay. You can lose just as much money in $50 increments if repeated as you can making one bad high dollar purchase. There are legions of stamps in the hundreds of dollars in asking price that are faulty or outright wrongly represented. And what of auctions? What triggers the requirement?

This is exactly when Ebay should engage with collectors for input, perhaps on this forum like Tom from SAN does (do it before the fact though)

It is still a step in the right direction if implemented properly and enforced.

I don't want to take this off-topic, but I think this conversation begs the question:

Assuming eBay requires a cert for stamps over a certain amount - and let's even assume they require the cert from CCG (there, how's that for on-topic?) - what should that amount be?? From what others are saying here about certification requirements ($750 for trading cards and $2250 for coins), I find those thresholds to be awfully high for stamps. I was debating in my head $250 or $500 and landed back on $250 for stamps. Obviously, that doesn't align with sBay's expectations/philosophy for certifying other items. I think a 10%-ish bump in cost is reasonable. After all, other stamp auctions charge 15-20% 'juice' already.

How would this affect collections selling over the threshold? Sets? Small sets?

Input on the certifying threshold?

Hey Mooter. I have always thought that if you're spending 500 or more on a fraud prone issue one should require a cert.
Most eBay or Hip vendors will give you up to 30 days. Don't spend there' unless it's certified. Some issues which are pricey, think Scott 245 US, maybe not necessary. I currently am waiting on a pair of Scott 350 two months now, but not from the bay, or Hip. I think CCG will learn about stamp expertizing as Mr WTCrowe pointed out with PSE. It was part of a expertizing conglomerate, then spun off when it didn't cover costs or generate profit. As he wrote on this forum, stamps do not generate the money that coins do from an expertizing point.
Cheers, mark

Going further down the rabbit hole…

If we assume that eBay would implement this in a way that makes perfect sense for them but leaves many in this hobby wondering 'what were they thinking'; what might happen to the overall marketplace? For example, assuming that eBay partners with someone like CCG and a $500 or greater listing threshold. I do not see the hobby moving quickly to support CCG, long-term remains to be determined.

Might this open the door for other auction venues on higher valued material? Would eBay suddenly see more stamp auctions starting at $499.95? Would some sellers start adding material in the $300-$499 range or would they be headed for the door to find other online venues?

Does anyone know how it has impacted coins and cards marketplaces (if at all)?
Don

One of the most expensive sets of the Netherlands is the 1949 - 1951 'Harz' set of permanent stamps with the effigy of Queen Juliana. My 2015 NVPH lists this at € 1,660. It, mostly, is offered as a set of low values (€ 360) around € 100 - € 175, and a set of four high values (€ 1,300) around € 300 - € 400. You might be brave and only go for a certificate of the high values. Several other sets offered at € 100 - € 200 catalogue at € 500. Most I see offered on Ebay appear to have some blemish on the gummed side. I do not know if it is dust, the quality of the picture, or a 'quality' issue that would throw the value off a cliff.

If I would ever fill that 1949 gap, I might want a certificate for the low values as well as for the high values. So as for a selling price, I would certainly say € 100 for single stamps and certainly not above € 200 for a set. Considering it is Ebay, I might even prefer € 100 even for a set.

But I would only accept NVPH, Muijs / Nederlandse Keuringsdienst, or KNBF/BKD.

And the more that I think about it the more convinced I am that Ebay would only accept encapsulated stamps because they cannot realistically be tampered with or damaged (without a WHOLE lot of work/carelessness) and remove the "it WAS like that when it was certified but it NOT like that now" problem. And that would suck.

What exactly would say the $500 limit be? Cat Value? BIN price? Auction starting price? If not CV, then it will not stop the clowns who misidentify or omit faults things and start them at 99c and let t he uninformed and the dreamers bid it up.

Eyeonwall - All good points. One thing having mandatory certs would do is stop sellers from peddling misidentified stamps as more expensive similar stamps and varieties. The Ryle's of the World will still create fake/altered certs of course. I have no doubt that the overall impact would be a cleanup of some of the trash on the Bay. There will be a stampede to Hip and Delcampe who might then feel pressure to compete when it comes to buyer assurances.

PS: Every time I read this thread I think of Bill Lang and all of the "lost" certs and other shenanigans.

And would there would also be a stampede to Hip and Delcampe those who list 10 cent stamps as ***RARE**** and starting at ONLY $35,000.00!!!!! I wonder if this would drive the trash listings to these other venues?
Don

eyeonwall asks some good questions - what is the limit based on? CV? Scott? Gibbons? Someone else? Starting price? Hammer price??

Years ago, I made my living on eBay and started all my lots at 99c. I rarely regretted that, and I felt that it let the eBay community truly feel like they were setting the price. Under that philosophy, requiring a cert based on starting or BIN prices wouldn't have any impact. I rarely see sellers starting at nothing anymore, though, but I don't think there are any rules against it. Setting a cert threshold based on listing price might cause this philosophy to be 're-born'.

I sure hope not. I don't like everything on Delcampe, but one thing they do well is monitor their listings - they have "moderators" that correct listings that are misidentified, miscategorized, and most significantly, forgeries that aren't clearly called out as such. They obviously don't catch everything & sometimes make mistakes but on the whole is a benefit & I believe it has the effect of keeping sellers more honest.