Canada Errors...(3)

"Full disclosure" is the name of the game to attain the status of HONEST SELLER in any business. There are those who operate with that goal and those who don't. A smart buyer seeks out those who do. Society/Association memberships, while no 100% guarantee of integrity, go a long way to inentifying those who are willing to operate in an honorable fashion.

Unfortunately, online venues like ebay are perfect breeding grounds for the ethically-challenged who will try to avoid full disclosure as much as possible. This manifests itself in many ways in listings;

Inaccurate identifications, misleading or incorrect quoted values, inferior pictures, unwillingness to show the backs of stamps, no word descriptions at all - just pictures, unfair or inadequate return terms (such as selling "AS IS" items that are well-known to be faked, such as better flat plate coils, etc.

It behooves all buyers to "be careful out there". The ethically-challanged are all over the place. Support a site like Stamp Smarter whose mission is to try to help rid online venues from problematic material by educating both buyers and sellers. You can help. Please do.

This particular listing is misleadingly unclear.

If I had this stamp and wished to sell it, first, I would do the test gportch recommended.

If that seemed to support the missing colour, then I would sent it for a certificate (to VG Greene - the experts on Canadian stamps - and they do not charge for a "no opinion").

If it was inconclusive (ie. showed the feathered tagging, etc), I would sell it as a "possible" missing colour, with clear disclosure that this stamp is probably a fake created by chemical means (based on my experience with Canadian varieties, I am 90% certain that it is indeed a fake).

If I listed it with no certificate, I would do so at auction with a start of perhaps $10 as a curiosity (and let the buyer decide what it is worth to them with the provisos given.

I agree that I could not feel good about selling the stamp the way it is listed presently (sorry, not trying to offend anyone - that's the way I do business).