Weird Sg Catalogue Pricing On Amazon?

So I was looking for a SG for India and states on Amazon and came across this.

This is where I am confused with the pricing:

New: CAD 26.42
Used:CAD 85.00

Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.ca/Stanley-Gibbon...02554&sr=8-1

Why is the used catalogue priced at CAD 85?

Hi Mindpsyche,

Both those outfits are resellers taking a chance on their pricing. The cheaper one I dealt with once only. Book arrived in damaged condition in perfect packing, and was returned for refund. The second lot (they have a UK operation also I believe) are in orbit on their pricing generally. Amazon has become a minefield with a poor search engine and too many chancers. You might be better off on the bay. The same 2009 catalogue is on sale new on ebay from Stanley Gibbons for £9.95 plus £8.00 shipping charge (total around CA$28.50). The item number on ebay UK is 140453943611. And they pack well.

Good luck,
Terry

SG frequently has older versions of catalogues on sale, sometimes for discounts as high as 80%, more often 20% - 50%. I just received a shipment from them a couple of weeks ago, and now I have all of the country catalogues that they sell. All but 3 of them were discounted to some amount, I just waited for them to pop up on their site and over the last 3 years or so they've all come up at least once. There are a couple of odd anomalies in there, as countries have been swapped in and out of various regional volumes (Central Africa was one of them, as I recall, maybe Southern Africa).

But considering I don't get new stamps too often, I'm happy to have all these SG catalogues and I'm not too worried that they're a few years old. I'll continue updating my Scott volumes every 5 years or so, and Michel and SG volumes are just something I pick up as I happen to spot deals on them.

Ryan

Hi Ryan,

That is good advice. I also only buy the older, heavily discounted catalogues as I only collect older stamps. Hardly anything past 1935. I find catalogue values meaningless as they rarely reflect actual prices obtained in the market. A few minutes on-line will usually give a better indication of realistic values. So not only are older catalogues cheaper, I am not paying for information on issues and prices that is of no use to me.

Terry

Older catalogues may be quite alright for some areas, but for the faster moving ones like India and the States, 2009 catalogue prices look fairly historic. To take just one example: Cochin SG 76. In 2009 it was cat. at £6; in the 2013 Part 1 it's at £11.

Another point: older catalogues do lack a lot of more current information. Gibbons has added 29 new items to India, and 67 to the Indian States between the 2010 and 2013 Part 1s alone. If you're collecting India and the States by a 2009 India catalogue, you're missing near enough to a hundred new items.

Thanks a ton for the advice. Tony my budget is a little tight at the moment and i'm not too worried about the CV's yet, I will probably keep all my Indian states stamps (which at the moment stand at 0) until I buy an updated SG.

By the way Tony, remember that ebay bid I had linked in the other thread, I lost out on that one, someone bid $ 100.00 on it and I could not compete with that at this time :/

I only wish I was intelligent enough to understand why the catalogue prices are always so far removed from reality. After all, they state their pricing is from dealers, auction houses etc. It seems to me if all of that is true the pricing should be more realistic.It just seems irresponsible on the part of the catalog editors, but I suppose, that is the American way.

Hi falconrw,

Not just the American way. Stanley Gibbons excels in outrageously overvalued catalogue prices. Essentially their catalogues are nothing more than price lists for stamps they would like to sell at those prices. The real value of catalogues lies in the philatelic information they provide. So if an old catalogue has what I need I will buy it. And put the savings made towards my stamp budget. At the bottom end they state that the minimum CV of common stamps is 10 pence, but if they sell one to you they will charge you £1.00. I have been to their Strand, London shop and haven't been impressed by the stuff in their top dollar showcases. So I buy elsewhere.

Terry

Prices for the Indian States on ebay have been very strong recently. I was watching a lot of Barwani (my particular specialisation) the other day: it went for near enough to full Gibbons catalogue value, and I know that there was nothing of great value hidden in it.

I can only repeat: buy an old Gibbons India etc volume, by all means. Don't rely on the catalogue values, though

If you find the stamps listed in Scott someplace for sale, in the condition that scott values them in. You should expect to pay close to catalog value. I have paid much higher then CV for stamps, because they were in excellent condition.

Now Mystic, on the other hand is a total ripoff for buying stamps from them.