Trades Worldwide

I'm new at this so I haven't thought through the details yet. I have lots of duplicates and I'm not sure I want to do the e-bay thing. My goal is to obtain more stamps for my collection so it seems that trading might be a good option. I'm just not sure exactly how to go about it, so I'm looking for advice. Most of my stuff is low value. I have lots of used US so I'll start with that. I could put together a group of say 100 used US before 1950 in exchange for the same from another country. These would be mostly minimum value stamps. Or I could put together a group of stamps with a value a little above the minimum and trade based on catalog value. What kind of package would be of interest to folks out there?

Ronv, that is a very general question. There is most likely interest in just about anything out there, but how do you get there? Have you maybe thought about making packets of let's say 100 and sell those on E-bay? Some folks on this forum do exactly that and are successful at it.
You could always donate some of your duplicates to the APS, they have programs to help kids start a collection.

Peter

ronv: You can also check out Keijo's stamp exchange on his blog site http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/. I've not used it myself but it seems like a good way to go.

Terry

Thanks Peter and Terry for reply. I'm going to give it a shot here. To be specific, I will send 100 different US stamps all from the 1940's or before for your 100 different, 40's or earlier from another country. We each pay postage. Any interest?

That my site / blog. Thanks for the 'praise' (you should really give my swap a go some day).


Anyway, since ronv wrote 'not sure exactly how to go about it, so I'm looking for advice', I'll try give few words of the advice.




This is probably the biggest turn-off. Most folks who have been collecting / exchanging for years (or decades) already got just about all 1940s (and 1950s, and...) US stamp, so there's very little incentive to have a go with your offer. On the other hand if you could provide something like '100 SON/SOTN/bullseye cancelled' US stamps from the era, at least a few of collectors would be jumping all over your offer by now ;) What works for me is that I provide versatile worldwide mixtures (from Aden to Zanzibar) with very few (usually zero) stamps from countries such as US and UK (because everybody's got plenty of those).

Another issue is the lack of specifics... Are you providing small or large stamps? What do you want in return. And.. The more details about your offer you provide, the better response you get.

And finally, the amount... It's not easy to come up with 100 different pre-1950s stamp of a single country. Even experienced swappers (like yours truly) would have hard coming up with your requirement. Again, you might like to try something like '20 countries, 5 different small stamps from each' approach.

In the end this is not rocket science. A bit of common sense takes you a long way... Just my 5 cents worth,
-k-

Now I have a question for Keijo. I had seen "mostly large" or "mostly small" stamps used in kiloware descriptions but thought it was aimed at dilettantes who didn't know stamps and to whom large and small were useful descriptors but which would be ephemeral to experienced collectors.

Now I see Keijo using them. Okay. . . . . . So, does "small" mean, effectively, definitives and "large," more or less, commemoratives or non-definitives, because definitives often have been smaller than commemoratives? Or is it a reference to weight--larger stamps will weigh slightly more than smaller ones so kiloware with mostly large will have fewer stamps per gram of weight??? Or is there something else going on here??? Help me out!

Hi Hieroymys,

actually I was trying to keep things 'simplified' for ronv (especially as he was offering US stamps where the variety in size and stamp types is pretty limited). Possibly a bad idea especially when I had written the advice 'be specific', LOL.

Anyway, on my exchange I use terms 'definitive' and 'commemorative' only and go with definitions per Michel. The airmails I usually classify as definitives (though there are some exceptions that commemorate an event, and they get classified as commemorative) whereas semipostals end up with commemoratives. Postage dues, postal tax stamps, officials etc. end up on the BOB category.

But true... Drawing the line between 'large' and 'small' is difficult, and it can vary country to country.... For example I've got a '10 ounce box of large Fiji' waiting to get sorted. In reality it's about 95% pictorials (large sized definitives) and 5% commemoratives. If I was buying a similar box of US, I would expect the contents to be 95% commemomoratives and 5% defins.

Not really sure if using terms such as commemorative or definitive is any better because a lot of people can't seem to draw a line between a commemorative & definitive successfully. And these days there may not necessarily be such a line (thinking for example the Finnish Sibelius coil stamps: personally I classify them as definitives, but Michel says they are commemoratives).

No wonder everybody gets lost at it every once and awhile ;)

-k-

Hi scb. I really appreciate you responding to my post. Your advise is well taken. I can see now why trading is not easy to do. Maybe the e-bay route is the best approach. I just spent some time with your blog. Very interesting. I have a question about your exchange... If I understand, I send you a group of stamps (say 100)and you pick and choose what you want from my group. Say you pick out 50 stamps from my group. You send 50 of my stamps back along with 50 of your duplicate stamps. Do I get to pick and choose from the stamps you send me?

Hi ronv,




It's the least work (especially if you don't start splitting hairs).

Alternatively you could simply offer 'large duplicate lots' for exchange and see if there are any takers. I do such special exchanges few times a year and usually everything goes out. That said, the postage is often times significantly more than than the 'value' of stamps. But in the end I get some new "junk" to research and dig into, lol.




Nope... I understand it may sound unfair, but that's the only way to prevent a 'forever loop'.

-k-

Hey Ronv,
How's the stamp acquisition going? Have you been able to conduct any trades yet?
Was wondering if you have any recent (2000 to present) used USA stamps available for trading...

Dave N.
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Hi Dave. No trades. I had actually forgotten about this thread. I can see where meaningful trades are going to be hard to work out. I am buying collections and large lots at auction about every month and my duplicate pile is growing... and growing. I need to figure out something. I have tried e-bay and stamps2go with very little success. I know I'm not the only person with a pile of dups. It seems that there should be a way to swap... As far as your request for recent US used... I may have a few but my focus is worldwide pre 1950 so whatever I have that would interest you is accidental. Thanks for your reply...

Hi Ronv. You may want to look at http://(20130207) Not allowed by the Staff.com I have been using it for the past year, making trades with overseas members of my 'common' used US & UN-NY issues. Basic membership is free. They use their own image based catalog that lets you build pictorial wish, swap and collections lists so others can 'see' what you have to trade or are looking for. For example, look at USA in the catalog section, sort by year and click on 1940. (The Famous American series). Click on any image and you will see a list of who wants it or has it in their collection or available for swap. Clicking on a name brings up that person's profile. They have their own private message option to communicate. Hope this helps. Mike / meostamps

Hi Ronv,

How's the stamping going?
I failed to mention that I also collect WW Airmail/Airmail Semi-Postal stamps (pre 1950 or so).
Have you got any dupes along those lines?

Hi Dave. Good to hear from you again and I appreciate you keeping this thread alive. I have had no luck with trades. I may have a stray airmail or two floating around. Let me look tonight and see what I can find. What I would really like to do, I think, is to pick an area of common interest with someone (say british colonies) and swap piles of stamps. We could discuss the details ( # of stamps, all diff, etc).

Dave. I have attempted to put together a group of airmails to send you but without success. I have a few but not worth the postage. My main focus is British pre QE era and I have realized that many of the smaller colonies did not issue airmail stamps...Sorry.

My first trade.... Steve (Partime) and I have traded a group of British stamps and I have filled a few holes in my BC collection. I hope Steve is as happy with his stamps as I am. So I'm ready to do it again. Anyone else? No real rules. Catalog value for catalog value.