Everyone Was Right On The Money

You guy's were right. I took my collection to a dealer and he offered my nada for my collection. It was very depressing. I guess I will try to sell online. If anyone is looking for a particular stamp let me know I may have it. Tell me sc# and country and I will look. 90% of mine are common but I do have a few that are not. I also have a bunch of mint older stamps.

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No one takes any pleasure in being right in this case. The only stamps that dealers are willing to pay any kind of money for are the very rare an very high catalog ones that are in perfect condition in all respects - the kind you see in award winning displays or featured on the covers of stamp auction catalogs. Dealers lose money trying to sell lower value stamps since they have to consider the cost of tying up their cash, overhead costs of any employees, stores, supplies, a profit to pay their own salary, another profit to plow back into their business to make it grow, etc.

I wish the Scott and the other stamp catalog producers would put honest values on the stamps that they list. It is so common to see stamps that catalog at less than $25 be sold at pennies on the dollar for really nice examples and zero for ones with the smallest flaws.

I agree but I don't think it will ever happen. I was a dealer in used cameras for 30 years and it was a similiar business. You think they're perfect but the dealer doesn't. He wants to pay the absolute lowest price and you want the absolute max. Stamps really should just be collected to enjoy but you already know that.
Tom

I had a similar experience with coins... Dealer's offer was hilarious. I made triple the money NET on ebay selling it myself.

Dan

You're really bringing back memories for me. People didn't stop to think or didn't care that it cost the dealer money to sell the product. I might show a camera 50 times before it was purchased and it was usually sold for less than the asking price. I hated it when customers came in and told me what I could sell their equipment for. When people would tell me what they could get for it on ebay I would usually say go for it. You do all the work and your entitled to all of the profit. I never worked with triple but I did try to double my money.
Tom

Hi to all
It does not make any difference to what the collectable is, dealers will offer you the lowest price, even auction houses will sometimes tell you that something is not worth anything.
I had a collection of old cigarette cards, and the auction house told me I would be lucky to make $300.00, and after their exorbitant fees of 20% I would not make anything. I decided to try and sell them myself. From a collection of 100 cards, I sold 20 for $3500.00. Sometimes it is better to try and sell on Internet sites, and the results are sometimes amazing.
Yes dealers have to make a living, but what ever happened to a fair price, so both of you can make a profit. Not all, but some dealers and auction houses are crooks.
Regards
Horamakhet