What's Happening With German Stamps?

The quantities issued for many modern German commemorative/special issues (the self-adhesives, that is) is astounding. The Michel Deutschland-Spezial lists the quantity for the 2003 "Greetings Rose" as 927,919,540. This might even give some of our "Stars and Stripes" definitives a 'run for the money'.

And the survival rate on them is pretty high. I probably have 500 or so of those rose stamps, tied into neat little bundles of 100 each. The saving grace is that German self-adhesives soak off pretty readily, in about the same amount of time as stamps with water activated gum.

Here's the other end of the popularity of German stamps. I can't see what's driving this listing to $1,300 already - there's some good mint stamps but the balance of the lot looks mostly like relatively common material?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GERMANY-ARE...em487f9fef9f

While I agree the price is way too high, there's some nice material there. I would have estimated $400-500

Brian

A dealer willing to put in the effort would probably get >$1,300 out of that lot after breaking it up for sale. But it would require a lot of effort.

Or they could just be hoping that Oldenburg #1 (CV €1,600) in the fourth pic pays off (it won't, it's a forgery).

I would have guesstimated $500-800 based on what I see, but there is enough esoteric material outside my wheelhouse that I could be completely missing the boat on some items.

Also, don't forget that some people gamble based on what is not shown, using what IS shown as indicators. Others will factor in experience with the particular seller and how he typically describes lots. This seller is one of the better ones. I have bought quite a few lots from him. So tbat too may be contributing to the bid level. Too rich for my blood though. Well past my max.

WOW, I would love that lot but way too much for me to be spending

There is really a very simple explanation. Any particular country I become very interested in collecting suddenly becomes more expensive, and I just haven't gotten around to organizing and beefing up my Germany collection/accumulation.

And, every country I tire of and try to sell off has a depressed market. Go figure.

Interesting postscript to my original post. I have decided for now to keep the DDR collection. I got a good buy on a Lighthouse hingeless album set for DDR and will be putting the stamps in there. When it came right down to it I couldn't part with it. Who knows I may hold onto it long enough for the market to recover.

Postscript that some may find interesting:

The guy that won the 1990-97 complete run of Bundepost mint NH for $9.95 never left me any feedback. Yesterday I finally sent him a message asking why- he replied this evening. It seems there was one damaged stamp in the lot. He went on to explain that he felt this was probably an oversight on my part and that it would not be fair for him to leave me a neg for it. So he left nothing. He went on to say what a great buy he'd received.

Just sit with that a moment. He gets a terrific buy, then stiffs me on feedback because of ONE stamp?

And yes, he's been blocked by me from bidding again. I didn't want to argue with him because I have the feeling that if I do he will neg me. Just incredible..

Part of the problem here is that you are chasing feedback. Don't do that. Some buyers can get irate about it and get vindictive. Not a road you want to go down.

I never even check my seller feedback other than to make sure that there have been no negatives or neutrals, and that my stars are intact. I don't bother to look at who has left me feedback and who hasn't, as feedback has always been OPTIONAL.

If you are stressing over feedback, you're doing it wrong.

I wasn't really stressing over feedback. It was just that this guy got a nice collection for a steal from me and I was simply curious why he wouldn't leave feedback. Having realized he's hardly worth the trouble I'm not obsessing over him, I just found it sort of amusing- he gets a great buy and won't leave FB over something like this. It's really funny.

You would be surprised at how many buyers and sellers alike don't leave feedback.

I don't leave feedback if I think a seller earned less than 5 stars in any category. As a seller, I would rather someone left no feedback than give me a positive but knock off a star or two. God (read ebay) forbid any seller is less than perfect.

I aim to leave feedback whether as buyer or seller (mostly seller these days). I must admit that there are times when I don't get round to it. And there are times buyers don't leave me feedback. But I don't think it's worth worrying about either way. I don't think I'd like to be prodded for feedback by another buyer or seller, however.