What's Overvalued/Undervalued And Why?

So, in your opinion, the catalogue prices are completely arbitrary, and there´s no use on pay attention to them?
That´s a big problem for collectors, as we don't have a real market references.
We don´t know if this or that stamp in our collection is cheap or not.
It is virtually impossible to check the prices of each of our stamps on ebay, and not in the catalogues.

I´m talking about ordinary stamps, of course, not a 14,50$ stamp.

Catalog values are useful as a reference of scarcity relative to demand and as a kind of benchmark, reference price. If one knows nothing else about two different stamps, one can usually assume that $100 stamp is harder to find and/or is in more demand than a $1 stamp. Values aren't realistic, real world values, but that doesn't mean they're completely arbitrary, either.

Re: ebay dictating prices - that's kind of why I'm always nervous to sell stamps at auction on ebay. Over, say, a 10-year period, there will be thousands to tens of thousands (or more) collectors who want any given stamp for their collection, assuming it's from a relatively popular collecting area. But in any given 7-day period, the demand is a tiny, tiny fraction of that. And you have to hope that the small number of people wanting that stamp that week happen to find your auction on ebay and bid against each other. If only one person who wants it managed to see your auction, I hope your start price is higher than a penny.

Listen..the only way to find out how much any given stamp is worth is by gathering information about that stamp AND HOW MANY STILL EXIST... and in what condition..mint, used, hinged, etc...That is the true way...BUT IMPOSSIBLE to collect that information.

Well, that would address the supply side of the equation, but that's really only half of what makes something valuable. The other, and perhaps more important part is demand. Not just how many collectors want a given stamp, but also what kind of collectors. The kind of collectors who buy up souvenir sheets from Mozambique picturing pop stars are much different than those who collect 19th century US, for example. There are stamps valued at $1 or less that are much harder to find than others valued in the thousands. The reason for that is that aggregate demand is higher for that more expensive stamp and the collectors that want them can afford to spend that much on them. That's why values aren't a measure of actual scarcity, but scarcity as it relates to demand.

While the supply side stays fixed, demand can be affected by many factors over time, such as general economic conditions, collecting areas waxing or waning in popularity, currency exchange rates, etc. Catalog editors, having an imperfect picture of both supply and demand, make their best judgements on what value to put on a stamp. All in all they do a pretty good job although there are certainly anomalies sprinkled throughout the catalog.

Hi The ArtfulHnger



yes you are correct...Take for instance a silly non important and not scare stamp, say American Scott # say 444...Say it is worth a dollar, and if we COULD gather info on how many still exist..Just for arguement sake we found only 1000 exist (stupid I know, but bare with me)..Now the books..the ebay's of the world were wrong and true like you said, only the rich buy them....But that would be true stamp collecting information gathering..Does that make sense...?

I was going to at one time take one (JUST ONE) Canadian large queen stamp and place a poll on this site to see how many of us have them, BUT I would have to make sure everyone in the world saw it and input their info...Not going to happen.

So right now we have to rely on non scientific info gathering from places like ebay..That is scary.

I see where you're coming from, but yes, trying to get an accurate picture of either supply or demand is inexact at best. At the end of the day, any given thing is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. In the case of stamps, the catalog influences what people are willing to pay for a given stamp. All things being equal, I'll pay more for a stamp with a CV of $100 than I will for one with a CV of $1. I usually hope to stay under 40% of catalog for better stamps, that means I might go as high as $40 to get that $100 stamp. I'm willing to pay that much because the catalog says it's worth $100. If the catalog says it's only worth $20, I wouldn't be willing to pay $40 for it. So it kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy to a degree.

The other thing is, assuming the editors have done their homework, I'll probably *have to* pay $30-$40 or more for that $100 stamp because enough other collectors want it who are willing to pay that much. If $100 stamps are regularly selling for $3 or $4 the editors clearly haven't done their homework and something is amiss. If average, everyday "collector-grade" stamps are selling at 30-40% of catalog prices (which are based on higher grades), I don't really see that as being a problem.

I agree with TheArtfulHinger's original post at the bottom of page 1, ebay has opened up the market to so many more buyers and sellers than my local dealers. It has enabled me to sell duplicates, which would have been hard for me to sell in the past. By careful study, ebay can also reveal which collectibles are truly scarce and which are common, but overpriced. ebay has made the existing supply much more findable and often the price comes down as the competition increases. If you wait until you have perfect knowledge of the supply and demand for a given issue, then you will never buy or sell another stamp.

Wert states: "Thats the whole problem..Ebay is dictating the price of stamps." To which I say hogwash and sour grapes. HOW does ebay dictate my price? The seller sets the start price. Some sellers set a start price of 0.01 or 0.99 and let the market place determine the value while sellers at the other end of the spectrum and set their start price at full-retail and might get 1 bid. It depends on your pricing philosophy and willingness to move material quickly vs price. The fact that ebay supplies a venue, which enables more sellers to interact with more buyers, does not dictate any price, but it levels the playing field considerably and gives a truer value - sometimes more, sometimes less. There is also a certain amount of skill required in writing lot descriptions to maximize the number of hits. There are bargains to be found among mis-described lots.

I have watched these types of posts and to be not sounding ignorant, most people who back up ebay in these posts are people making money from ebay..please don't take that the wrong way...

I'm colllecting and recording in a Excel sheet the whole year prices of certain countries, according to last ebay closed operations, the results aré amazingly different than catalogue values. In ebay, the local differences in prices dissapear, it's a global market.
On the other hand, I can easily find in my local market for 5 euro cents stamps that are priced in catalogues from 0,20 to 1,50.
So, I agree that there's a sort of self-fullfilling prophecy, but, once you look directly to the market, to te closed operations, you can take your own conclusions.
Last sunday, I bought 1000 used stamps, 80% different for 10 euro. CV probably 1000x0,20=200€. Not reasonable for a fair appraisal that a catalogue is expected to provide.

I would disagree with that statement Wert, scarce and valuable are not always synonymous. Take the US Graf Zeppelins for example, they are certainly not either rare or scarce but still command a high premium.

EFO's can be considered scarce but they only appeal to a certain group of collectors similar to pre-cancels & Perfins.

ebay has many, many faults with their business model, etc., which I do not defend. The fact is that ebay is the big elephant in the room, and is here to stay, like it or not. I have both bought and sold on ebay. If that makes me one who makes "these types of posts" then so be it.

EBay, nowadays, has the sale role than the stockmarket.

To a first approximation, amongst sellers, the people who are making money from ebay are the people who have achieved a working understanding of ebay, while the people who tried to sell on ebay and failed did not achieve a working understanding of ebay.

Q/ Whose opinion shall we value?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I am surprised that someone needs to point out that catalog prices are for single stamps, bought one at a time ... but that is pointed out, if memory serves, right there in the introduction.

Therefor, they reflect the transaction costs & overhead of each sale.

You did not buy one thousand stamps in one thousand separate purchases, so the price you paid per stamp cannot be compared to the stamp-by-stamp catalog price.

If you do not accept that argument, sit with your pile, and start entering online orders, one stamp at a time, and let us know how many stamps you can buy, one-by-one, for a total of EU 10.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey