Buying Supplies On Ebay

I am beginning to think buying things like mounts, supplements, etc from ebay vendors is getting to be too much of a risk lately. I almost never return a purchase, in the past month I hve had to return three purchases- maybe there's a pattern here or not.

Biggest complaint- the vendors of allegedly 'vintage' hinges- the Dennisons, etc. Like any product in increasingly short supply I think scammers are moving in. I bought a pack of 'Fold-O-Hinges' that turned out to have NO gum on them at all. Other packs I think may have been modern stuff repacked under counterfeit Dennison labels.

I may have posted recently about a purchase of Hawid mounts that had little adhesive on them. Then twice in the past week I had to contact sellers about album page sets listed as 'like new' that were not, both faded (fading did not show on scans). One set of White Ace pages was awful, huge ding on lower left corner and all pages chewed up on edge. Another set of pages had foxing and smelled of mildew.

My bargain hunting days may be ending. It seems clear that a lot of sellers do not check stuff they put out there, open packages, etc. Then again maybe it's me. Comments welcome.

I am in remote area and rely on ebay for mounts. As I normally use glue stick and never adhesive doesn't bother me as long as they're intact and not yellowed.I usually buy large lots of assorted sizes and very rarely never have right size.Even if you end up spending $100 for twenty packs you come out ahead.I have also learned different brands have different sizes so don't restrict yourself to one brand.

With th exception of Dennison hinges, I shop around for supplies: ebay, Subway, Mystic, even Amazon. Due to low shipping charges, my last set of Hawid mounts were purchased from Stanley Gibbions in the UK. US shipping charges can be high so don't rule out overseas vendors if you are willing to wait.

I order mounts from Global Stamps in Olympia, WA. www.globalstamps.com
Service has been extremely quick and they ship in philatelic covers.
$2 per precut pack of Scott mounts is hard to beat.

I've bought a lot of dealer sales cards, pages, binders, storage boxes, stock pages, etc., and after comparison shopping all over the place, ebay is usually NOT the cheapest place to get supplies. I do all my buying from Subway Stamp.

http://www.subwaystamp.com

Note that when you just go to the site you see retail prices. In order to see the discounted prices you have to have an account and log in.

firstfrog. I too live in a remote area. I too use Glue sticks and use Mystic and showguard mounts. Here is a place you might consider.

http://showgardseconds.com/catalog

I buy my glue sticks in the school supply Isle at the closest Dollar store to me 14 miles away. Three in a pack for a buck.

Glue sticks? Is this how you guys are mounting your paper-mounted ( original trimmed mailing envelope ) stamps onto your album pages? Thanks for clarifying.

I need to get caught up in mounting my stamps in my Liberty album. Been wondering the best way to mount my paper-mounted stamps onto the page without creating future problems if I wish to remove any at a later time.

Actually, I need to go to the local stamp supply seller and buy the newest album(s) with the latest pages. My last new album only goes up to 2003. I believe buying a new album will be cheaper than buying all those supplements. My original Liberty album was probably bought in the mid '70s in my youth.

I usually buy "Hawid-style" strips in packs. 100 black strips, 217mm long and 31mm high cost £16.40. The same number and length of strips 48mm high cost £19.95. Other sizes are availble, but these meet most of my neda. Don't know how this compares with US prices. I usually buy Lighthouse Grande binders etc from the same people:

http://www.worldstamps.co.uk/

I usually dab the backs with glue stick, but I have found albums where more obsessive collectors have mounted their mounts with hinges. I don't use Showgard - life and my patience are too short.

Geoff

cjpalermo, I buy my Scott/Prinz mounts from Global too. I think they were a little less than $2 last time I needed some. Great price, plus free shipping with real stamps when you spend $25 or more. Last time I checked they were the lowest price I could find.

Lately I've been buying used stamps and have enough Dennison's to keep me busy for a loooong time.

I am appreciative of all the replies. I thought someone would comment on the poor quality of hinges being sold at inflated prices as 'vintage' when in fact they may be repackaged or old defective stock. Probably few others hinge anything. I have to- I have a classic global collection and cannot begin to use mounts for all of those.

Modern hinges aren't *that* bad if one is very careful with the moisture. I use as little as possible and if I apply too much to the hinge, will wipe it off before putting it on the stamp. I usually don't have too much trouble peeling them off as a result. I use modern hinges for pretty much all the really common stamps regardless of age, but I do keep some Dennison hinges around for higher value or more fragile stamps.

Glue sticks are used with mounts. Rather than moisten the back of the mount, and risk water and/or saliva wicking into the mount, you simply use a glue stick on the back of the mount, since glue sticks are moisture free, and naturally acid free.

You folks make me feel like a real prima donna!
Here I am shopping for a hingeless US album and comparing page samples and the ease of inserting stamps into the pre-installed mounts...while this group seems to have accumulated stock rooms of bulk mounts, mount cutters, and glue sticks. I admire your dedication, but I'm not sure I have the patience to assemble each custom mount. However, I am seeing vast differences between available hingeless album systems.

Never heard of this before. How much do you apply to the mount? Just a little dab at the top or bottom depending on the mount? Have you tried this on longer mount strips (such as a Hawid-style strip) not cut up for individual stamp mounting, but rather used to mount multiple stamps together?

Correct. A patch about 4mm x 4mm is all you need.



Yes. Two, three or four patches spaced apart along the strip work great.

The owner of my local stamp store told me to use glue sticks. Since the glue in a glue has no moisture in it, it won't warp the page it's sticking to.