What's A Fair Price?

To me, the question is not as simple as it reads. Can you please clarify, this is for exactly 1 stamp, or a batch of minimum catalog value stamps? There is a difference. Few people will sell you a single minimum catalog value stamp of your choosing for 1c, but some might be more than willing to sell you 100 minimum catalog stamps of the seller's choosing for 1c each.

In other words, when it comes to minimum catalog value stamps, a fair price depends on how many you are buying because labor/supply costs are a significant percentage of the sales price. My opinion.

A fair price is whatever you are willing to pay, of course. What you're really asking for is "how cheap can I go and they ought to accept it".

This is a tough question because this catalog value applies to a vast majority of stamps and is based on the seller having a minimum handling cost regardless of the actual value of the stamp. Therefore, the range of the actual catalog "value" of the item can run from worthless to 20c.

This question cannot be answered. Some "20c" stamps are worth 40% of catalog, others are worth 1% (or less) of catalog. Who would pay ANYTHING for used 1c definitives?? Who wouldn't pay 8c for a used 5c 1932 Olympics? (2008 catalog value)

I cannot disagree with any of the answers given. Having said that,and as a collector for nearly 50 years, I can say there are many stamps out there of minimum catalog value for which I would gladly pay more, and sometimes much more than catalog. For example only, used in period copies of low value French colonials - particularly the postage dues. In fact there are many many worldwide stamps that are nearly impossible to find used within the approprriate issue period, yet are listed at minimum values when their mint counterpart is also of minimum value.

For most minimum catalog value stamps, the 20c (in the current Scott, it is now 25c) catalog value is dominated by "dealer overhead", not the actual stamp value.

If you have an older Scott, from the days of the 3c or even 2c catalog minimum, you get a better idea of which are "really" 25c stamps rather than penny stamps.

I would be happy to pay 10c, if they were what I wanted.
I scour the web for cheap Romania, and sometimes have to buy
a page to secure 1 common stamp ( I want the postmark)

I tend to not dwell on the price, I have a budget each month
to fall within, and if I kick my collection along with a few
nice (but slightly overpriced) commons, that's fine.
I think 10c is very fair.

Rod, remember those prophetic words when you open my parcel.

I see, then of course
there is the "bulk discount"

I think it's case by case. For the people looking for a 50 or 100 stamps' lot starting from a dollar, 10 cents for a single stamp is not necessarily cheap but for a person who is looking for a particular thing, it maybe cheap even at a dollar for that single stamp. I myself bought this year a German Reich Germania definitive issue with a minimum CV for 13 USD because of the postmark on it (it was a postmark of a small village which will be part of Memel district later). Some people are too concerned with catalog values..

I have to agree with BOBHEASMAN, there are plenty of stamps that I would gladly pay over catalog for.Most of the readers here don't understand how many minium value stamps are just not found in mixture lots and rarely found in large collections .
On the subject of fair value that doesn't enter into my thinking when im bidding against all the E-BAY sellers because they are thinking on the resale and my time frame is 5 to 10 years before looking to get my investment back .