Is It Just Me, Or Have Stamp Prices On Ebay Gotten High?

What really gets up my nose is the latest stamp price catalogues that we all pay good money for do not reflect the reality of the current trend of high value used Australia.

I have purchased 90% of my stamps from ebay as a returnee. In my first week of returning being a complete beginner with no idea of the market, I walked down to a dealer and bought $ 32.00 worth of stamps based on CV :/ only to come home later and find out that I paid too much. Well it was a good lesson not only for stamps but also buying stuff in general. Don't buy anything until you are absolutely certain your paying the right price for it. Every since then, I have only bought on ebay.

I have adopted a new approach to buying. If stamp X is put up which I want. I will check the CV first just for the heck of it. However, as CV has absolute no relativity to the real market prices for most stamps, I do searches for the same stamps on ebay to make a price generalization.

What I'm trying to say is that I compare what I am paying for a stamp to other auctions / BIN's of the same stamp on ebay. CV can be used better to gauge scarcity or rarity then actual prices. By the way, prices realized at auctions are better indicators of real market values versus BIN prices.

Oh yeah, I have had some good luck with BIN items as well. However, before I do a BIN, I once again check price listings of the same item on ebay, check the stamp quality and grade of course, check the seller's ratings and then I have to convince myself that the purchase is a good one (this is the toughest part!)

So far so good :)

Very Well Said!

Mindpsyche, that is a sensible approach to buying something which is basically sight unseen. If more collectors followed it, there would fewer sorry stories.

I think prices for some areas are on the rise and I hope this reflects an increase in interest in the hobby. As far as ebay listing practices are concerned, I never bought "buy-it now" items when I started buying on ebay but am beginning to waver a bit - depends on the item and the asking price. I really like the "best offer" listings. There, I think the dealer is giving you a chance to negotiate and I have bought a lot of items after haggling over a good price. Wish more would do it.

Thanks KGV and Easyone for the kind comments.

NBStamper, I have never tried the Make Best Offer (MBO) option. I'll give that a shot next time.

KGV with regards to your frustration about SG and Scott Pricing not being true. I am sure you are not the only one who has this frustration. Imagine how stupid a collector would look in front of a non collector when trying to explain the value of his stamp.

Collector: Hey wanna see something? I have the world's first stamp, the penny black, you know how much it's worth? $ 500.
Non Collector: Hey nice, so if you were to sell it, you would get $ 500?
Collector: Hmm, no...I would get about a hundred bucks.
Non Collector: Haha then how the hell is it worth $ 500? YOU ! (Almost kills himself laughing...)

Here is an idea. Since there seem to be so many study groups who know everything about the more popular stamp collecting themes be it a US Study Group, or Commonwealth Study Group, etc...

Would it be too much for the folks in these respective groups who are best aware of the real value of stamps in their area to publish their own Catalogues? I believe this will help considerably in increasing new collectors as they would know how much to pay for a stamp, or better even how much their ex family members collection is worth...

Or all Study groups could collude and publish a real time listing of prices.

Imagine if one could go to a dealer and buy a catalogue of all the prices of GB Commonwealth stamps, sold on ebay and auction in the year 2012. (Some kind of average price for each stamp)

We find that buyers on ebay are not just interested in the price of the stamps. They are also very interested in the quality of the stamp, now it is packaged and how quick their stamp order takes to be completed by the seller.

So we find a lot of buyers will buy a stamp for $1.29 with free mailing which of coarse is a sale at a loss for us but is it? These buyers receive the same high standard of service in all respects, including bonus stamps like everyone else.

95% of buyer that do this are wanting to know all about how it all works when they buy a stamp off us so as to see if they can trust us about stamp quality, packaging, and service received. The 95% of these buyers come back many times a buy many items with a confidence from us.

Back to relisting. KGV

KGV Collector
Quality is No. 1 in my opinion, but price is very important. Too many sellers on ebay are expecting too much! As an example, look at many good quality Canadian mint listings of classic stamps. Many of the 1897-1940 issues are listed a lot and prices are all over the place. In short, there is lots of supply and no-one needs to pay the prices that some dealers are asking. I have purchased a good quality complete mint set of the Admirals for a fraction of what some perceive to be their values. Same goes for the Jubilees, although I admit the demand for the high values seems to outstrip the demand.

Lots of good points in this thread. Thought I would add my comments from the perspective of both buyer and seller (on ebay, Bidstart, delcampe mainly).

My expertise is in Canadian stamps only, so my comments may not apply to other countries necessarily.

Buyer: Deals are much harder to find on all these sites (from efven a few years ago). I agree that many sellers do overprice and wait to see (Bidstart has low fees, so this is more common than on ebay since their fees continually rise and you pay to have things sit...unless you use the free 50 listing/month option and only sell auction style)
The bargains are still there, but you have to look much more frequently and at different times. Once you find a good seller, I recommend you keep them on a short list and check back for new items on a regular basis, as KGV mentioned.

Prices: I use the Unitrade Canada Specialized as my main guide. I think the prices are fairly close to market in many areas. You really have to read the caveats and notes in the catalog, not just the prices.
The thing that many novice collectors don't always understand is that quality is crucial in value. A Fine stamp is about 50% less in value (or more) than a Very Fine stamp. Yet many assume that the stamp they have is Very Fine when it is not. Also, very fine classic and rare stamps will often sell far above catalog value because experienced buyers know that they do not come along that often and are willing to pay to add it to their collection.
For easy to get stamps, it just becomes a matter of what is a minimum price to ask in order to make it worth selling. In this, the catalog values are more or less irrelevant and are more of a place holder value.

Seller: I sell mostly fixed price with a basic ebay store. As this is a hobby, not a business (I sell extras to buy things I need), I want to help buyers find items at a good price that is fair for both. In this I have noticed a decrease in prices buyers are willing to spend compared to a few years ago, but the stamp market (like all others) has its ups and downs. It also depends a lot on what you sell as some stamps are in more demand than others at different times.

As I mentioned, I see many sellers price their items higher than I would (either through ignorance, greed, perhaps they have a clientele that does not shop around, or the seller does all the extras well and their customers are willing to pay for the service - in which case they price according to their own market and new customers may feel the prices are high if that is all they see).
I base my prices on ebay completed listings that have sold recently, and my own experience (since I sell many unique items - varieties, etc that do not come on the market very often). All buyers can check ebay completed listings if they want to see the prices that items actually sell at. I would recommend that as a good way to get a feel for the true market.

Some really good points bought up in this thread. I am only a buyer for the moment so I have experience only as a buyer.

Lets make some a list of points one should be aware of as a buyer.

1. Catalog Values from Scott or SG are only for "Very Fine" Stamps and then again these values do not reflect actual market prices.

2. Most stamps will sell for less than if not a lot less than CV with few exceptions.
An example of this exception: A stamp that is not only rare to begin with but in absolute pristine condition relative to the general condition of said rare stamp(s).

3. When buying stamps that cost $ 5.00 or upward per stamp make sure you check with many sellers to see if you are paying within the ballpark figure for said stamp. Prices between sellers can again vary based on factors such as Grade, Cancellation, Damage, specialist specific significance.

4. If your purchase price is towards the upper end of the ballpark figure, ensure the stamp is of good grade. If you are paying closer to the lower end, expect average condition stamps.

5. Examine, the stamp closely, especially in listings where sellers claim "as is" and do not specify any damage or irregularities.

6. Ask questions from sellers if something is not clear before buying.

7. Read the entire description from the Seller to see for any important points concerned with stamp condition, shipping, etc.

8. Do not forget to account for shipping when purchasing a stamp. One way to counter the shipping costs is to check the seller's inventory for anything else that might seem interesting so as to reduce the effect of shipping cost by combining shipping.

9. When making price comparisons between sellers, check auctions that are closer to completion or ended versus new listings. (1 day and over)

10. Be ready for snipers and don't feel shy to snipe yourself now and then.

Sniper: Someone who waits for the last few minutes of an auction to enter his / her bid in order to win.

If anyone has any more to add please do so. I would be very grateful for any advice on real time auctions as I have no experience about them.

Just an additional comment on catalog values.

As I mentioned I only use the Unitrade Canada catalog. I know that since Robin Harris has been the editor, he has made a concerted effort to line prices up closer to market, though this catalog has a price for both Very Fine and Fine (and it is a very important distinction).

It will never be truly accurate since markets vary all the time and a careful shopper can usually do better. Buyer beware though, since small flaws, etc diminish values quickly.

Avoid sellers that do not give clear images and do not list faults on any of their listings.

KGV
One other thing that occurred to me based on your comment about Australian high values.
Same thing was happening with modern used Canada. For a while, the prices in the catalog did not reflect the demand and scarcity of modern used Canadian commemorative stamps (and souvenir sheets).

That has since been corrected fairly well and now, many used stamps list at the same price as mint. There is also a note that says a good CDS cancel can increase the price of a stamp to even more than mint (depends on the demand and scarcity as always).

Just a stamp term error I would like to correct as many people look at these threads so we need to be careful. No insult intended!




It is the word "Flaw" which is something we all look for in stamps and usually increases the cost of a stamp. So flaw is a good word in a description and relates to something that took place when the stamp was being made.

The word that should of been use is "Fault". Which means that a stamp is damaged in some form or another.

Always Happy Stamping. KGV

So you'd have the world collector not only buy one of the priciest catalogs out there (Scott and SB) and then on top of that buy more catalogs to figure out what exact value each stamp has? I'm sorry but that is too much work.

And how would these clubs manufacture, print and sell and what price point would they have to be at for them to even break even. Penny Black catalogs like you mentioned would need someone to scan, someone to write the description, someone to evaluate the prices sold at, another person to check the prices to make sure they are correct, another one to read over and evaluate the catalog.

Who has time for all this? And who is going to pay them? You don't expect all this work for free do you? Why should they do it for free?

It is my opinion that there is no need of extra catalogs but more smart buyers.

Yes 3Dadeo!

In some high value Australia I am paying FV + 50% for mint sheets and I can only get so many of these stamps per year. I am all over online auction houses look constantly for stock in this area and it is a tuff arena to play in and a used stamp to me has broader meaning these days than when I 1st started collecting. I include this description in all our listings.