Cinderellas Gone Awry.

I am sorry but just have to vent. This guy has been buying Cindies for some time and re-listing at unrealistic prices. He has some I have watched for over 3 years listed at outrageous pricing. Why would he keep doing this or maybe he needs a clue. Many listed at $40-$60 that always sell for $5-$10.

Here is a example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1947-New-Yo...t_500wt_1054

He calls himself an art dealer, not a stamp dealer. Holy smokes.

The pics are zoom-in-on type, artificially enhanced colours, words like fresh and XF to describe things that in my opinion are F and worn by time and use.

He uses photos, not scans, and they are slightly out of focus at times.

The prices are high, because I suppose, you are getting a gem, fresh, XF item, and should pay more for such quality. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. Ah, my heart is racing as I speak. Wait, maybe that's the coffee?

He has the 'art' of using the best high-falutin' descriptive words to make his selections seem to be more than they are. If you say something is wonderful, doesn't that make it so? Of course it does, and of course the price should match the description or you could feel the quality does not present as it should.

I suppose that is what an art dealer is. He has the 'art of selling', if you can call it that, down to a science.

Bottom line is anyone can ask anything for an item on ebay. Whether or not they get it is an entirely different story. If it is over-valued by being listed at a high "buy-it-now" price but they only realize a small fraction of that figure upon actual sales, that tells the story right there as to what the true value of the item really is.

Anyone can ask a high price for an item; the actual sales are what dictates what the real market value of a piece really is. (And that applies for most any piece, whether it be art, antiques, stamps or coins.)

I imagine that if he's been doing this for awhile, people are probably paying his asking prices.

I see it all the time on ebay. There are a lot of people new to collecting looking for something interesting. They see a used US commemorative listed for $5.00 because it is "rare" and they go ahead and bid on it. We all know that the value is usually less than $.05. If it makes the bidder happy I guess you can't argue with that. The problem is that when they start collecting for real they find out the mistake they made. It would be interesting to hear from someone (who would admit this) and tell how it affected their later purchases or lack of interest.

I think many of us have been there. Starting with the old approval stamps and the large and wonderful CTOs from Harris and Kenmore and others.

Some of this selling on ebay is just that carried forward to today's technology.

Exciting, different, carries you away in your world of imagining to far off places and times and events. Give the customer what he wants. Simple really.

It is just that when you experience all that and then learn that the real thing is much more satisfying in the long run, that you are not attracted by all that jazz and razz and dazzle.

Plus, an outrageous $4.95 for shipping 4 stamps.

$13.95 to Canada! Who's the crooks here anyway?

Being a recent convert to ebay, I have noticed that too,
I collect the jam jar labels, Ajman and Manama etc, just because
in the main they were free, and always found as fillers
in stock books and accumulations.
On ebay I notice they are generally around $5 each
I find this extraordinary.
I suppose it's a numbers thing.
Your vendor has 1500 lots approx, if he sells 1 a day overpriced
perhaps that pays?
What is the downside of listing so many?

There are listing fees from 10c to $2 per item every week (or month for a store owner) that you must pay for listing a lot of items. If only one or two sell then they must pay for all the rest of the non-sellers.

I hate to say it, but, a lot of the sellers make money by gouging on the postage, shipping and handling.

What buyers should demand is to see either the $4.95 / $13.95 in actual stamps - fat chance. For the money mentioned above, you should be able to mail a brick for less <G>

Chimo

Bujutsu