Where To Buy Stamps For Reseling?

Maybe stupid,but still a question.Where to online buy stamps (in EU )for reseling?

You can not buy on line for resale ,you need to sit and examine the stamps first. I can fool everybody with worthless and defective stamps thru on-line scans and correctly described lots . I would use the correct wording like ....don't know the material......unchecked lot......sold as received from a estate .......trust me ,I can dance thru any issue you start crying about to ebay or your lawyers .
The first thing you need to learn is where the REAL unpicked over lots are being sold .

"The first thing you need to learn is where the REAL unpicked over lots are being sold ."


That it the question.

Estate sales, yard sales, flea markets, antique shops and even then the chance of it being unpicked is only like 1 out of a 100.

You are right.But where the stamp stores buy stamps for such a low prices and resel them to make a decent profit? I am naive and sorry about that.

Good morning Pope. You need a business model. For example, are you looking for high end sales where you can make much money on one or two sales - or making many sales with a small return per sale? Are you looking to sell new? Used? One country? World? Do you plan to buy / sell on line or in person? Do you plan to deal with want lists? These are some of the questions you need to address first.

If I were only looking at my local dealers at the monthly show, I would say most buy from each other or the estates of deceased collectors that use to be their buyers.

Some of the larger dealers buy from various national auction houses, many of which can be found here: http://stampauctionnetwork.com/auctions.cfm

It would be ideal to be at the auction in person to see the lots as floortrader indicated, but for many it's not practical. Not everyone can easily travel to where an auction is held. I've bought from Regency while I'm here in upstate New York. I don't have the means or time to travel to auction to buy in person. I buy large bulk lots online and do just fine, but I deal with covers and that's quite a different game than stamps alone.

Hello Canada. I am thinking about making many sales with return per sale,worldwide (no matter from where but the stamps that can be sold),mint,used...

The absolute best place to buy material for resale is to run locate ads and offer to buy everything at one price .
IF you can't put out thousands of dollars for each purchase then look at major worldwide stamp auctions firms for what is at the end of the auction .If those prices still are out of play for you then review some of the small regional stamp auctions that have hundreds of bulk lots.
Any thing less like bourses ,estate sale auctions, garage sales,or dealer special offers you are now into being a second level buyer .

Should of made clear that buying from older collectors or their families is the top of the pecking order , everything being purchased from stamp auction firms mostly likely has been reviewed once for major items . I have to believe anything your purchasing on line has already been picked over three or more people have gone thru it . A good experience seller will know how to "salt" lots so they looked untouched .

And of course getting the stamps is only the first step. Selling them is the second, and presents its own challenges.

Hi Pope I found more money in pre ww2 stamps on covers and stampless covers than loose stamps. Try get a hold of some GB penny black stamps on covers, you need to know the stamps market. Be aware of fake stamps. You need to be careful with selling to some countries as if you don't send registered you will get item not received and negative fb assuming your going to sell on ebay. Happy to give more advise if you send me a message and contact by email.

In response to the fact that buying from families and collectors is the "top of the pecking order", I have been reluctant to run any local ads because of the stories I have heard of people thinking their stamps are worth more than they are, or that all dealers/re-sellers are considered by the general (non-collecting) public to be unscrupulous.

Can anyone who has actually placed a local ad and dealt with the family/collector tell of their experiences?

It would be enlightening I'm sure and may change my mind about making a local ad.

There's two stamp stores in my area. When I visit it seems they always have someone calling in or stopping by with collection of stamps or first day covers they inherited. It seems the majority of the time it's a children's/starter collection or one of those books of 24k gold replicas or other subscription based FDC programs. I fear you would have to wade through a lot of redundant low value material before someone came to you with anything worth the seller's and buyer's time if you placed an ad anywhere unless it's a philatelic resource of sorts.

I would also hope that anyone who puts any serious amount of resources and money into a collection would make sure that whomever inherited it would know of its value and had made plans to sell it through proper channels and not leave them floundering on their own to sell through something like Craigslist.

Speaking of Craigslist, I look on there here and then to see if there's anything of interest. I haven't seen a thing yet aside from modern U.S. mint and beginner's material. I've had better luck at antique stores as some of those sellers acquire material through house cleanouts and estate sales. Sometimes they acquire the hoard of family mail and sometimes in that cache there's some interesting covers. However, be warned many antique dealers tend to price stamps and covers on the high end regardless of value and condition. But sometimes a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.

The "back of the auction" advice is probably good advice. I mainly collect covers, and was going through the latest auction catalog I received from Mccusker, and at the back were a number of large lots of mixed and unprocessed covers, one of which was even described as "good for the ebay seller" (or something similar). Established auction houses and dealers will receive lots of smaller valued estate lots that they don't have the time to sort through, and will often try to sell them this way.

But really, the knowledge required to do what it sounds like you want to do is usually acquired slowly, over many years. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

It takes a couple of years to find your niche if your going to sell stamps online, I learned at the beginning there is no money in selling stamps. You have to work very hard if your going to sell lots at a time and many will go to cheap below your cost. If you pay top dollar for a stamp likely you'll loose money if you try to resell it. Fakes are a big problem, you can loose big money if your not careful. I find an entire letter pre 1840 or stampless letter pre 1855 or stamped covers till world war two a lot easier to sell as every item is unique. Pope you really need to talk to a few seasoned ebay sellers of philatelic stamps and covers. Don't rush in blind without knowing what your in for if your going to sell online. Its very hard to find stamps not picked over by dealers and collectors.