Ebay's "What's Hot"

In "What's Hot" today, I came across this auction:

1934 MANCHUKUO Cover to Secretary of State Washington (Roosevelt Collection). Sold for $20,100

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1934-MANCHU...047675.l2557

Aside from the provenance (was in FDR collection), is this cover especially rare?

Brian

*bump*

I'm still curious what makes this cover so rare. Anyone have some input?

Today's diamond in the rough?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Scott-Inter...em3a7e0643a1

Interesting to see it started at only 99c.

Most of the items I start at 99c often sell at 99c, although I have had a few surprises......with $80 being about the highest on a postal card.

If an item has any demand, it is described well, good photos and the seller has a good reputation/service then an item will sell at the proper going market value regardless of start price. I've sold items from $400 to $1300 and they also started at 99 cents. Of course some 99 cents items are just 99 cents items, but many people are quite happy with collecting them too.

It started for 99 cents, but also with $50 shipping, and that's a lot.

The one thing I found would always do well on ebay with a 99 cent start was a good collection.

This album had nearly 19,000 probably almost exclusively pre-1940 classics.

Most collectors never get half that many stamps into their album, even a multi-volume set -- let alone one that covers "The First Hundred Year Of Philately" as the first volumes of the Scott International and International Junior albums proclaimed

In other words, it's a rare album that's packed with that many old stamps and so goes beyond the most common material.

He got a good price for that collection of 19,000 stamps all pre-1940 material .In a big collection like that you can expect half the better stamps are less than good condition .

It could be, but that depends on the collector. The problem is that without getting a personal look, it's hard to tell. I have bought many collections on ebay in the past. Most were what you would call 'mixed condition' and I expected that. But a couple I can remember were very nice, and assembled by collectors that took care in both choosing the quality of their material and mounting it so that the mint stamps weren't stuck down. He shows very few photographs, but I notice the mint Canada is in mounts, which I take as a positive indication as far as not being stuck down is concerned.

It is not even a cover. The seller described it as "front". However, the 15c stamp is very rare and, in pair, I have never seen one. On cover? I have never seen one or heard of any. I did collect Manchukuo before. The crazy price is also due to the booming philatelic market of Chinese stamps.

I came across this listing, this morning. It is a Russia/Mongolia cover from 1927 that sold for $10,988. I have to wonder if the seller knew what he had when he listed it, and if the buyer got a good deal? Not knowing anything about this cover, I still find it quite attractive!







http://www.ebay.com/itm/RUSSIA-MONG..._3141wt_1053

"Aside from the provenance (was in FDR collection)" - FDR had a ton of stuff in his collection and much of it was comon stuff (and some of it not in great condition either), so coming from his collection adds little value - it is the item itself that is valuable.

WHATS HOT ! on ebay -------is misleading ,what you see is a item that most likely two specialist both think is undervalued and they both are pushing the price up to get it .
Now lets talk about what is hot --------First what your seeing on ebay is a hogy-pod of priceing ,some items get pushed up and some items getting no bids,ebay is a ramdom market and it depends on timeing for being there at the right time. But there are time tested winners that sellers have found that perform year after year and more important that are making money .
Speciality items only need two determined buyers and three buyers make for even stronger and aggresive bidding . But its hard to run a successful business on once in a life time finds ,so now the question goes back to what sells week after week and that you can depend on as a seller wether your a busness person or someone looking to unload extra material.
The items that I notice that sells week after week are the collections and accumlations .Not the high price speciality stuff but the stuff that professional stamp dealers snicker about and list at the end of their sale fliers or stamp auctions .That is what is hot on ebay and firms like NYSTAMPS are selling thousands of them each year . The stock cards full of stamps or the pile of glassines even the mixture boxes are what sells and brings in a bidding war .So the pile of stamps is whats HOT on ebay.