Ebay Prices

I have to think that some of the "unsorted lots" are relatively unsorted. I've seen some dealers offer many of these simultaneously and unless they were paying an army of people to sort through them, they likely would have only had a cursory glance.

I would be wary of individuals who offer a single "unsorted" lot, as it is likely a collector selling his dross. Remember, the very act of handling material involves some level of judgement and therefore "sorting"

Hi Battlestamps,

Yes, I remembered that the seller doesn't see the global shipping details from my talk with one other seller. I put a PS in my post later. The 2nd and 3rd items relate not to the global shipping item but to the other seller who wanted $180 to airmail 2 boxes of Genaral's Layout extra black pencils to me. (I buy these pencils from the US because they are the best drawing pencils and not available in the UK.) I eventually bought them from another guy in Texas who only charged me $7.25 for the shipping. Some difference, eh?

Terry

I'm pretty sure the sellers of these unsorted lots have already at least made a first pass to remove anything of high value. I would guess, either they physically make a pass or they know by the type of collection that there's little chance of anything of enormous value. Seriously, you think there's a chance of a US #1 or #2 or a zeppelin appearing in these lots? Absolutely not and that's why they can't be unpicked/unsorted.

Check out how this guy packaged these stamps- I would almost buy just for the clever storage system. I don't know if USPS would be pleased at the boxes usage but it is genus! http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUGE-US-BOX...141287767618

And that folks is my 50th post lol!

LarryBruce - I can see how those are unsorted, very common and a bad deal considering the $24.72 shipping cost. At least he is willing to show pics of the lot so any somewhat knowledgeable collector can see that it's likely all very commong material.

If I were a dealer of these "unsorted" lots, I would do the following to rationalize the concept of unsorted/unpicked to ease my conscience, while attempting to ensure I don't include anything of obvious high value:

When I purchase the material, say from an estate, an auction or elsewhere, I would examine the material to start with and assess the value (I need to come up with a value to buy the material in the first place).

If the material consists of multiple items (albums, stock books, etc.) I would classify each part as "junk" or valuable. No real classification is needed if I made a proper assessment of the material before purchasing it; I just need to put each piece, box, album in the proper bin. If the material is all relatively low value I would put it all in the "junk" bin.

I would then toss all the "junk" into boxes, stack them or put them on shelves and then take pictures of all the "junk". I want the prospective ebay buyer to see the pictures and think they are getting boxes and boxes of unsorted material and include small print later saying the buyer only gets 100,500 or 1000 unpicked stamps. Of course, the description of my ebay auction says the lots are unsorted/unpicked. I rationalize to myself that I am being honest because (1) I never really sorted the bulk material before tossing it into the boxes and (2) the lots are drawn semi-randomly from the boxes so its not picked.

Its not economically feasible for me to pick through the "junk" and sort it into meaningful lots and take all the necessary pictures, hence I reinforce my rationalization that it is unsorted.

The other more valuable material I sort and organize (by country, item type, etc.) to make attractive lots on ebay, being sure to take lots of pictures. These are sorted lots for the more discriminating buyer that won't buy my "unsorted" lots.

pjsstamps: It is hard to make much of anything on items that sell for 99 cents, but I still can make a little as I avoid the listing fees and shipping materials are just a few pennies per shipment. You have to buy them in bulk to get materials down in price from places like Xpedex in order to save. I get a number of bulk buyers too that helps.

When I get the rare buyer who pays for everything separately, I'll send every payment back to them and send one invoice. It's the reason why I repeat "combined shipping" in my listings multiple times. I try to make it clear to buyers to either request an invoice when they are done bidding or just wait till the auction is over and I'll send an invoice. 99%+ will follow through, but there's always the one who didn't read.

To clarify from my earlier post, it's always faster to buy than sell as it just takes a few clicks here and there and you too can be the proud owner of 1,000+ covers from a box lot. Then the steps for selling start - sorting and organizing, scanning (along with cropping, numbering and uploading), research/writing (my fav part) & copy/pasting, posting online, invoicing the sold, packing and shipping along with feedback/communications.

Terry: Thanks for the clarification. The seller from pic #2 & #3 could have been reported to ebay for excessive shipping prices, but knowing ebay not much would have been done.

Much what I thought Battlestamps. Still, the guy in Texas now has me as a repeat customer.

Terry

OK, you guys have peaked my interest. Lets show the guy in Texas some love.

Can someone post a link to one of his items?
Thanks.

Hi xyyz,

He doesn't do stamps. It was pencils I bought from him. General's Layout 555 Extra Black, the best blackest pencil there is. But if he did do stamps I would buy from him, for sure.

Terry

PJSTAMPS, when I click on your ebay link, I get a "seller user ID not found" error.

Terry, I'm curious. Do you have a special use for the world's blackest pencil, or is it just a personal preference?

Hi raymodj,

Yes. There are thousands of different pencils available to the artist, all of which come in the usual range of grades. They all have their individual characteristics; from soft dense black to paper cutting hard light grey. Hard pencils keep their point, soft ones don't. The perfect pencil is one that will give a wide tonal range from rich dense black to pale grey without needing to be sharpened every few minutes. There is also what I call touch, the feel of the pencil point on the paper. Some pencils are hard, some greasy, others leave shiny areas of tone.

I am a retired visual/graphic artist and had tried all the really good pencils, or thought I had until I stumbled on the General's Layout 555 Extra Black Pencil (beloved of animators I am told). It is made in the US by the Weissenborn family owned General's Pencil Company, New jersey and California, and it is the absolute best pencil ever made. Full tonal range from dense black to light grey, keeps its point, and will give a tight thin black line, deep black shadow and soft tones of grey. The touch is superb, firm on the paper yet with a responsive feel.

Why do I need them? well in between sessions with my still totally disorganised stamp collections I am working on something I have wanted to do for a long, long time. A non-superhero, serious sci-fi graphic novel. Story and plotting done and initial drawing stage well under way.

My best pencil list is a short one:

General's Layout 555 Extra Black - great for all drawing and sketching. Nice to write with, too. No other pencil as good.
Faber Castell Pitt Pastel - absolute best black chalk like carbon for old master type drawings.
Faber Castell 9000 - for layout, design and technical drawing.
Prismacolor Col-Erase 20044 Blue - for all non-photo initial drawing for black ink finishing. Comic book work mainly.

Terry
Edited for addition. TC.



Review here:
http://www.pencilrevolution.com/201...yout-pencil/

plan to try the extra black General pencils ,I use them on writing on album pages and writing on dealer cards ,thanks for the tip .

Hi Floortrader,

In addition to being a superb drawing tool, they are great for writing with. Its the only pencil you'll ever need. Here is the guy in Texas.......Smartpenguins....

ebay item number 2911 4363 5555

Terry

Edited for addition and typo. TC.

T.C. -thanks ,